Guybrush

List of suggested traits :

1. A Capella - Does the band sometimes use a capella? (ex. Gentle Giant)
2. Accents second/fourth beat - The second and fourth beat are accented, typically by guitar chords (Bob Marley and the Wailers)
3. Acoustic - Is acoustic instrumentation central to the sound? (ex. Cat Stevens)
4. Amazing Vocal Prowess - Does the singer have an amazing vocal prowess and delivery? (ex. Mariah Carey)
5. Ambient Soundscapes - Are there often ambient soundscapes in the music? (ex. Brian Eno)
6. Anger - Does the artist or bands' music vent feelings of anger? (Rage Against the Machine)
7. Banjo - Does the band ever use the banjo in their music? (ex. Flatt and Scruggs)
8. Blues - Is the music blues or strongly blues influenced? (ex. Led Zeppelin)
9. Catchy - Does the band/artist ever make songs which are instantly likeable/will stick after the first listening? (ex. Katy Perry)
10. Choir - Is or does the band/artist ever employ a choir? (ex. Sisters of Mercy)
11. Dark - Is the music dark? (ex. Moonspell)
12. Distortion Guitar - Does the band/artist use distorted guitar? (ex. Cream)
13. Drum Machine - Did or does the band or artist sometimes use a drum machine instead of a live drummer? (ex. Buckethead)
14. Epic - Does the music sometimes have a very epic feel to it? (ex. Dream Theater)
15. Fast Tempo - Is the music fast? (ex. Megadeth)
16. Flute - Is flute ever important to the sound? (ex. Jethro Tull)
17. Growling vocals - Are lyrics often growled? (ex. Pig Destroyer)
18. Guitar band - Is guitar clearly the dominant melodic instrument? (ex. Mahavishnu Orchestra)
19. Guitar solos - Does the band play extended guitar solos? (ex. Pink Floyd)
20. Happy - Does the band/artist express feelings of happiness through their music? (ex. Caravan)
21. Horn Riffs - Does the band use horn riffs? (ex. Save Ferris)
22. Heavy - Does the music have a heavy oompfy feel? (ex. Nirvana)
23. Improvisational - Is the sound ever improvisational? (ex. Return to Forever)
24. Instrumental Skill - Does the band flaunt their instrumental skills? (ex. Yes)
25. Electronica - Does the band use mainly electronic instruments, music programs and samples? (ex. The Prodigy)
26. Danceable - Can you dance to much of the music by this band? (ex. Jamiroquai)
27. Hypnotic Beats - Does the band have a droning beat with a sort of hypnotic or danceable feel? (ex. Sisters of Mercy)
28. Instrumentalists - Is the band's music mainly instrumental as in non-verbal and lacking lyrics? (ex. Ozric Tentacles)
29. Layered vocal harmonies - Does the band have layered vocal harmonies, either with several singers or overdubbing? (ex. Queen)
30. Long songs - Does the band sometimes make songs over 10 minutes long? (ex. Genesis)
31. Miminalist instrumentation - Does or has the band or artist gotten by with very few instruments, ex. no more than one or two? (ex. Leonard Cohen)
32. Medieval - Does the music sometimes have medieval qualities? (ex. Kamelot)
33. Metal Screams - Does the artist or bands singer sometimes do high-pitched metal screams? (ex. Judas Priest)
34. Orchestral instrumentation - Is orchestral instrumentation like string, brass and woodwind instruments essential to the sound? (ex. Henry Cow)
35. Overdub - Does the band somtimes use overdubbing? (ex. The Alan Parsons Project)
36. Piano - Does piano ever take the center-stage as an instrument? (ex. Tori Amos)
37. Quiet/Loud dynamics - Does the band or artist often use quiet parts constrasted by louder parts? (ex. The Pixies)
38. Rapped lyrics - Are the lyrics sometimes or always rapped? (ex. Linkin Park)
39. Sad - Would you describe the music as often sad or melancholic? (ex. Pink Floyd)
40. Sampled drums - Does the artist or band sometimes use breakbeats along with more traditional methods? (ex. Sublime)
41. Scary - Would you describe the band/artists music as sometimes scary? (ex. The Residents)
42. Shrieked Vocals - Are vocals sometimes delivered in a high-pitched screeching manner? (ex. Cradle of Filth)
43. Sluggish - Is the music often heavy and slow, sorta sluggish? (ex. Black Sabbath)
44. Standards - Does the band/artist ever play or have made a jazz standard? (ex. Miles Davis)
45. Superfast Bass Drums - Are the drums often played in an aggressive, superfast double-kickin' fashion? (ex. Gorgoroth)
46. Symphonic - Does the band sometimes employ symphony orchestras? (ex. Mighty Rhapsody)
47. Thematic Shifts - Is the music highly thematic and shifts between themes? (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
48. Turntablism - Does the band/artist ever use a turntable for stuff like scratching or beat juggling? (ex. Beastie Boys)
49. Untraditional time signatures - Does the band sometimes use untraditional time signatures? (ex. King Crimson)
50. Whimsicality - Is the music often whimsical and a bit silly? (ex. Samla Mammas Manna)

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Something Completely Different

Neapolitan

I think it is very difficult to make a cladogram of Rock bands because almost every band claims more then one band as an influence.

Over-dubbing (esp. guitar and vocals)
Les Paul & Mary Ford. (yes)
early Elvis Presley (no)
Basicly straight live recording of a band in a studio versus heavily processed studio sound, something hard to reporduce live.

NB I'm not saying Elvis is better then other artist, I'm using him as an example of a simple live perfomance in studio that is recorded. It was Elvis acoustic guitar, Scotty Moore on electric guitar and Bill Black on stand-up bass.

I wouldn't consider King Crimson ancestral to Nirvana, unless you are thinking of something else. I heard Grunge discribes a Rock band influence by Punk, (not the other way around). Punk was diametricly opposed to Prog at least in the 70's. When combine your bands and you look at them of complex compositions and recording versus simple compositions and recording; King Crimson would be closer to Les Paul, Nirvana would be closer to early Elvis.

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