Genres
 

What's with all of the different genres, also is there any list of all of them? It just seems that whenever I go through threads, people fight over what genre a certain band is with genres that sound more or less the same, so I would like some enlightenment on the topic of the sub-genres within metal.

Haha, a list of them would be too difficult to compile. There's Symphonic metal to Christian metal to Stoner metal and everything in between. I've even heard of Cello metal..

Wikipedia has a page on "Heavy metal subgenres" which gives a brief overview of the main one's, so I'd google that if you're really trying to figure out what's what.

People's opinion's are always gonna vary.

It seems that everyday there are new genres being created the latest one I''ve come across is mathcore which is apparently all about weird time signatures.

Now this may be showing my stupidity but haven'twe been listeningto weird time signatures since the dawn of music and just called it 'creativity'?

I just don't think you'll ever find a definitive list to be honest.

Genres are a bit like a dictionary, you think you know them all and then Google becomes a word.

Haha yeah I know what you mean, I dunno why people are so intent in placing music in these little boxes.

"Barely even different" is the standard impression an outsider gets when hearing about all the subgenres - but telling black metal from classic heavy metal is just too easy.
Oh, and you wanted enlightenment? Here you go. ;)

I'm all for enlightenment but I only have the weekend and I'm a slow reader :laughing:

Bro tip: when trying to compare genres, listen to samples or important songs in the specific genres, and try to compare them. Mathcore isn't ALL about weird time signatures - they can be found in jazz, math rock, electronic music, most genres really. Mathcore is like a mix between math rock and metalcore. I don't know musch about the genre myself, but my tip is checking out the bands and albums listed in this Wikipedia article. This forum has good educational threads about genres, they are totally worth checking out. I find them more thrustworthy than wikipedia articles. Links:


Punk
Emo
Screamo
Rock, metal and progressive rock
Progressive rock
Rap
Ska and reggae
Indie
Jazz and blues
Electronic
List of soul and funk artists

If you don't know what they are don't use them.
Has anybody got any common sense anymore?

So, because I do not know what they are, I am unable to try to learn about them? I didn't start this thread by saying that I throw out lots of different sub-genres when I talk or write and have no clue what they are. I started this thread because I wanted some enlightenment on why there are so many sub-genres within metal.

Thank you Briks for the links, it's very useful.

Just FYI there's no apostrophe in the word "genres". It's a plural not a possessive.

Learning comes with listening.

The more you listen the more you pick up subtle differences.
When you know what these subtle differences are then you may need something to distinguish them when describing them. You're trying to do it the other way around.

You said they all sound the same for you, so you're not in the position of needing to know.

In other words, it's not important, just carry on listening to music and don't worry about it.

Perhaps but it's weird time signatures being applied to rock music that hadn't happened before. Prog bands made the push and then math rock came about when people used even more complex time signatures/chord patterns and even changed time signatures throughout songs. That's a really oversimplified explanation and there's other qualities to it, if you're interested read the Wikipedia article.

That's math rock anyway, mathcore is that combined with hardcore punk.

Yeah, like:
The dog had a toy. I tossed away the dog's toy.
The dogs had toys. I tossed away the dogs' toys.

Well, I didn't say they all sound the same, I said that people fight over songs being in a certain genre that sounds more or less the same as another genre, so there are differences, however, I do not feel there are enough differences to warrent a whole new genre. I hope that makes sense.

Also, thank you Janszoon as I wasn't sure on which spelling was correct.

Fair point.

To be honest I think we're all making the same point here, if it sounds good then whats it matter if its mathcore, hardcore or britneyspearscore (I may have made the last one up). :beer:

Genres('s,s' whatever) is never going to be a subject that everyone agrees on but it could go on until the next millenium!

The reality is that the metal gender by now is very much complicated to define, ahahah it's war between metalheads, but they don't know for what war fighting.

Pretty comprehensive list here:

List of popular music genres - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you try too hard to define music by genres, how will you truly enjoy what you're listening to? You're missing the whole point.

Never realy liked this genre issue... Why to categorize bands in genres? I understand it's easier for people to relate to new bands based on their genre, but what happen if a band comes up with an album that has different genres inside this one album? the best artists I know are ones that invented them selves again and again not related to a specific expected genre

So metalheads identify as an entirely different gender as opposed to male or female? :)