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Blues & Gospel
Blues is a music genre and musical form which was originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s by African-Americans from roots in African-American work songs, and spirituals. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common.
Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, and drums, sometimes accompanied with keyboards. It began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic, and blues rock movements.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson,
John Lee Hooker, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Cream,
The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, etc...
Punk rock is a music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often shouted political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent record labels.
The term "punk rock" was previously used by American rock critics in the early 1970s to describe the mid-1960s garage bands. Certain late 1960s and early 1970s Detroit acts, such as MC5 and Iggy and The Stooges, and others from elsewhere created out-of-the-mainstream music that became highly influential on what was to come. Glam rock in the UK and The New York Dolls from New York have also been cited as key influences. By late 1976, punk became a major cultural phenomenon in the UK. It led to a punk subculture expressing youthful rebellion through distinctive styles of clothing and adornment, often espousing various anti-authoritarian ideologies.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: The Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, MC5, Los Saicos, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, New York Dolls, The Misfits, Velvet Underground, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, etc...
Post-Punk
![Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zuuObGsB0No/maxresdefault.jpg)
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of rock music that emerged in the late 1970s as artists departed from the raw simplicity and traditionalism of punk rock, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and DIY ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with styles like funk, electronic music, jazz, and dance music; the production techniques of dub and disco; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. These communities produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines.
The movement was closely related to the development of ancillary genres such as gothic rock, neo-psychedelia, no wave, and industrial music. By the mid-1980s, post-punk had dissipated, but it provided a foundation for the New Pop movement and the later alternative and independent genres.
Towards the end of the decade, some journalists used "art punk" as a pejorative for garage rock-derived acts deemed too sophisticated and out of step with punk's dogma.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Joy Division, Bauhaus, Public Image Ltd, Siouxsie & the Banshees, the Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, Devo, Magazine, Pere Ubu, The Smiths, Talking Heads, The Cure, etc...
Stoner & Psychedelic Rock
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s. Stoner rock is typically slow-to-mid tempo and features a heavily distorted, groove-laden bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals, and "retro" production. Due to the similarities between stoner and sludge metal, there is often a crossover between the two genres. This hybrid has traits of both styles, but generally lacks stoner metal's laid back atmosphere and its usage of psychedelia.
Psychedelic rock is a diverse style of rock music inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music is intended to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs, most notably LSD. Many psychedelic groups differ in style, and the label is often applied spuriously. rave. Originating in the mid-1960s among British and American musicians, the sound of psychedelic rock invokes three core effects of LSD: depersonalization, dechronicization, and dynamization, all of which detach the user from reality. Musically, the effects may be represented via novelty studio tricks, electronic or non-Western instrumentation, disjunctive song structures, and extended instrumental segments.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Pink Floyd, Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips, The Beatles, Ozric Tentacles, Kyuss, Sleep, 35007 (Loose), etc...
Progressive Rock
Progressive rock is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the mid- to late 1960s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an outgrowth of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and composition techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its progressive label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing.
Prog is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres, involving a continuous move between formalism and eclecticism. Due to its historical reception, prog's scope is sometimes limited to a stereotype of long solos, long albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. While the genre is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture, few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, and only a handful of groups purposely emulated or referenced classical music.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: RUSH, YES, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Genesis, Emerson Lake & Palmer (ELP) , King Crimson, Supertramp, etc...
Shoegaze
Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. It emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s among neo-psychedelic groups who stood motionless during live performances in a detached, non-confrontational state with their heads down. This was because the heavy use of effects pedals meant the performers were often looking down at their pedals during concerts.
In the early 1990s, shoegaze was pushed aside by the American grunge movement and early Britpop acts, forcing the relatively unknown bands to break up or reinvent their style altogether. In the 2000s, there was renewed interest in the genre among "Nu gaze" bands. Shoegaze combines ethereal, swirling vocals with layers of distorted, bent, or flanged guitars, creating a wash of sound where no instrument is distinguishable from another. The genre was typically overwhelmingly loud, with long, droning riffs, waves of distortion, and cascades of feedback. Vocals and melodies disappeared into the walls of guitars.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Slowdive, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, Ride, etc...
Grunge & 90's Rock
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal, featuring the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other.
Like these genres, grunge typically uses electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals. Grunge also incorporates influences from indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth. Lyrics are typically angst-filled and introspective, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self doubt, betrayal, social and emotional isolation, psychological trauma and a desire for freedom.
The early grunge movement revolved around Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop and the region's underground music scene. The owners of Sub Pop marketed the style shrewdly, encouraging the media to describe it as "grunge"; and it became known as a hybrid of punk and metal.
Brit-Pop & Rock
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music and culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the UK's own shoegazing music scene. The movement brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British popular cultural movement, Cool Britannia, which evoked the Swinging Sixties and the British guitar pop of that decade.
Britpop was a media-driven focus on bands which emerged from the independent music scene of the early 1990s. Although the term was viewed as a marketing tool, and more of a cultural moment than a musical style or genre, its associated bands typically drew from the British pop music of the 1960s, glam rock and punk rock of the 1970s and indie pop of the 1980s.
The timespan of Britpop is generally considered to be 1993–1997, and its peak years to be 1994–1995. During the late 1990s, many Britpop acts began to falter commercially or break up, or otherwise moved towards new genres or styles like teen pop.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Oasis, Blur, Suede, Pulp, Supergrass, Elastica,
The Verve, The Stone Roses, Manic Street Preacher, etc...
Dream-Pop
Dream Pop is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that is characterized for its breathy vocals, use of guitar effects, dense productions, and preoccupation with sonic texture and atmosphere as much as melody. It often overlaps with the related genre of shoegaze, and the two genre terms have at times been used interchangeably.
The genre came into prominence in the 1980s, through the work of Cocteau Twins, A.R. Kane, and their contemporaries. Following the emergence of shoegaze, ambient pop developed as a variant of dream pop that incorporates electronic textures.
Dream pop is thought to relate to the "immersion" in the music experienced by the listener. The AllMusic Guide to Electronica (2003) defined dream pop as "an atmospheric subgenre of alternative rock that relies on sonic textures as much as melody". Common characteristics are breathy vocals, the use of guitar effects, and a densely produced sound. The music tends to focus on textures and moods rather than propulsive rock riffs. Lyrics are often introspective or existential in nature.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Cocteau Twins, A.R. Kane, Little Dragon, M83, STRFKR, Bjork, Galaxie 500, Blonde Redhead, Lush, The XX, etc...
Alternative Rock & Revival
Alternative rock is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop music. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their collective debt to either the musical style or simply the independent, DIY ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music. Traditionally, alternative rock varied greatly in terms of its sound, social context and regional roots. Throughout the 1980s, magazines and zines, college radio airplay, and word of mouth had increased the prominence and highlighted the diversity of alternative rock, helping to define a number of distinct styles (and music scenes) such as indie rock, grunge, and shoegazing.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several alternative rock bands emerged, including the Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and the Rapture that drew primary inspiration from post-punk and new wave, establishing the post-punk revival movement. Preceded by the success of bands such as the Strokes and the White Stripes earlier in the decade, an influx of new alternative rock bands, including several postpunk revival artists found commercial success in the early 2000s.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: R.E.M., Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Kasabian, The Strokes, White Stripes, The Cure, Arctic Monkeys, etc...
Nu Metal & Alt. Metal
Nu metal is a subgenre of alternative metal that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu metal bands have drawn elements and influences from a variety of musical styles, including multiple genres of heavy metal. Nu metal rarely features guitar solos or other displays of technical competence; the genre is heavily syncopated and based on guitar riffs. Many nu metal guitarists use seven-string guitars that are down-tuned to play a heavier sound. DJs are occasionally featured in nu metal to provide instrumentation such as sampling, turntable scratching and electronic backgrounds. Vocal styles in nu metal include singing, rapping, screaming and growling. Nu metal is one of the key genres of the new wave of American heavy metal.
Alternative metal is a rock music fusion genre that infuses heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by heavily downtuned, mid-paced guitar riffs, a mixture of accessible melodic vocals and harsh vocals and sometimes unconventional sounds within other heavy metal styles. The term has been in use since 1980s, although it came into prominence in the 90s.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: KoЯn, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Slipknot, System of a Down, Mudvayne, etc...
Progressive Metal
Progressive metal is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or "pseudo-classical" compositions of the latter. One of these experimental examples introduced to modern metal was djent. The music typically showcases the extreme technical proficiency of the performers and usually uses unorthodox harmonies as well as complex rhythms with frequent meter changes and intense syncopation. While the genre emerged towards the late-1980s, it was not until the 1990s that progressive metal achieved widespread success. Soon after the rise of the genre's popularity, other thrash and death metal bands started to incorporate elements of progressive music in their work.
The origins of the genre date back to the very beginning of heavy metal/hard rock and progressive rock when some bands began to merge the two different approaches. 1960s pioneers King Crimson maintained their musical innovation while incorporating a harder approach, using dissonance and experimental tones, yet still maintaining a relationship to the power chords of hard rock. Canadian trio Rush are widely recognized as bridging the gap between hard rock, English progressive rock, and pure heavy metal.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Dream Theater, Symphony X, Queensrÿche, Tool, Liquid Tension Experiment, Mastodon, Porcupine Tree, etc.
Heavy & Thrash Metal
![Megadeth - Live at Graspop Metal Meeting 2022 (Pro-Shot) [60fps]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qFedMfsTIoc/maxresdefault.jpg)
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States.[5] With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock, and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and loudness. The lyrics and performances are sometimes associated with aggression and machismo. In 1968, three of the genre's most famous pioneers, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, were founded. Though they came to attract wide audiences, they were often derided by critics. Several American bands modified heavy metal into more accessible forms during the 1970s: the raw, sleazy sound and shock rock of Alice Cooper and Kiss; the blues-rooted rock of Aerosmith; and the flashy guitar leads and wild party rock of Van Halen.
Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo. The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead guitar work. The lyrical subject matter often deals with criticisms of The Establishment and concern over the destruction of the environment, and at times shares a disdain for Christian dogma resembling that of their black metal counterparts. The language is typically direct and denunciatory, an approach borrowed from hardcore punk.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Slayer, Kreator, Pantera, Metallica, Motörhead, etc...
Symphonic & Power Metal
Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars of metal with different elements of orchestral classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, or just keyboard orchestration. Symphonic metal bands can feature classically trained vocalists, in which case they can be attributed nicknames such as opera metal or operatic metal.
Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contrast with the heaviness and dissonance prevalent, for example, in extreme metal. Power metal bands usually have anthem-like songs with fantasy-based subject matter and strong choruses, thus creating a theatrical, dramatic and emotionally "powerful" sound. The origins of power metal dates back to the late 1970s, when the groundwork for power metal lyrical style was laid down by Ronnie James Dio. The fantasy-oriented lyrics he wrote for Rainbow, concentrated around medieval, renaissance, folk, and science fiction themes, directly influenced modern power metal bands.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Helloween, Rhapsody, Therion, Nightwish, Rainbow, Epica, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Angra, etc...
Black & Death Metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms. During
the 1980s, several thrash metal and death metal bands formed a prototype for black metal. Initially a synonym for "Satanic metal" black metal has often sparked controversy, due to the actions and ideologies associated with the genre. Many artists express extreme anti-Christian and misanthropic views, advocating various forms of Satanism or ethnic paganism.
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, featuring featuring double kick and blast beat techniques; minor keys or atonality; abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes; and chromatic chord progressions. The lyrical themes of death metal may include slasher film-style violence, political conflict, religion, nature, philosophy, and science fiction. Building from the musical structure of thrash metal and early black metal, death metal emerged during the mid-1980s.
NOTABLE ARTISTS: Venom, Death, Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Morbid Angel, Celtic Frost, Mayhem, Mercyful Fate, Behemoth, etc...
