I would go with Country & Western - to include old, new & alt-country, and Grass & Roots - which would include Old Time, all the grass variants, and Roots/Americana.
I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe not in each thread, but either in a summary at the end, or in the index thread.
As promised, here’s the updated genre list:
[ul]
[li]Avant-Garde/Experimental[/li][li]Blues[/li][li]Classical[/li][li]Contemporary Classical[/li][li]Country & Western[/li][li]Electronica[/li][li]Funk[/li][li]Gospel[/li][li]Grass & Roots[/li][li]Jazz[/li][li]Metal[/li][li]Modern Rock[/li][li]Non-Western (aka “World”)[/li][li]Opera[/li][li]Pop/Dance[/li][li]Punk/Post-Punk[/li][li]R&B/Soul[/li][li]Rap/Hip-Hop[/li][li]Rock[/li][/ul]
Based on the feedback I’ve gotten so far, and what I know about the various styles, this seems like a pretty good way to organize things, except I wonder if funk really deserves its own thread. Even with that, it’s about as many threads as I wanted to do anyway, so it works out well. The rock thread tacked on to the end is what I was previously calling classic rock.
I expect that some of these will go pretty quickly, and some will last quite a while. Now I just have to decide what order to go in.
So what happened to film music? Did you ever make a decision? I still think (despite some overlap in composers) that original scores merit their own category (though song-compilation soundtracks can easily fit into your existing genres).
And what about 20th century theatrical musicals?
I meant to include but left it off the list. I’ll put in a thread for film music and musicals.
I disagree that early 20th century pop is significantly different from modern pop (even if that comment were said in jest which I’m not sure about.) Even though there’s at least 3 distinct “pop” eras if not more since 1900, they all rely on sung melody moreso than any non-classical genre, which is enough for me to lump them together. Otherwise you could say we had 4 pop genres before even the Korean War!
Now, dance OTOH, might be a separate category. Disco, synth dance, and techno and other electronica are more similar than different.
Oh, also, does progressive rock deserve a spot on this list? It seems that some pretty essential music falls into that category (some Genesis, for example).
Prog rock fits in the rock/modern rock threads.
I’ve decided to use this thread for announcements, figuring that there are probably quite a few people subscribed and I can reach them this way. Project planning has ended, so please let this thread sink until the next announcement.
Classical has been launched.
Rock has been launched.
Rock has been launched.
I know you want this to sink, but I have a question about your overall vision - do you mean essential as in “great music” or also including stuff that’s more relevant in a zeitgeist sorta way - as in, stuff that’s super-popular or iconic even if it’s not musically great?
I’m not defining what I mean by essential. That’s up to each contributor to decide for themselves. My criteria for adding something is how historically significant it was, how representative of a particular style it is, and how much I like it, but I don’t have any expectations as to whether other people will apply the same criteria.
Jazz has been launched.
Modern Rock has been launched.
The Blues has been launched.
Perhaps a topic for choral music?
Punk/Post-Punk/New Wave has been launched.
Opera has been launched.
Starting this week, I’m going to do two threads a week rather than one. Expect the next thread late Wednesday night.
Rap/Hip-Hop has been launched.