Another chance for me to state the obvious - so what?
I heard someone on Insta talking about artists and bands who defy categorization, they don't easily fit into the established and understood genres. Nice. It's probably where most artists would want to be if they could choose. Floating around in that cosmic minestrone.
So what's a genre anyway? Well it's a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or type of content. So in music there are some artists who some might say really only belong within their own personal genre - Zappa, Beefheart, Velvets, The Fall, Primus, Tool, The Cure and so on ... you may disagree but ... this is just my personal perspective. I could do a proper list but it would always be an opinion based thing that's hopelessly fluid.
Why genres are useful: Genres act like some shared dialect or code between artists, listeners, and industries. They can be understood. Ask anyone who runs a record shop. It makes sense.
Orientation & expectation: When you hear “jazz,” “metal,” or “folk,” you immediately anticipate certain sounds, moods, and values. That mental framework helps you enter into the music more quickly or dismiss it more easily. "Free form Jazz is a load of shit!" "Dad Rock sucks!". "Boy Bands - God help us". You can easily understand the origin of your bias. Try and work on your self awareness for a few days.
Cultural and historical context: Blue's roots in tough Black communities, Punk’s anti-establishment and rich kid bollox, Country’s ties to rural storytelling and suffering. You have a quick (but not always correct) understanding of why the music sounds the way it does and what it’s responding to and how that impacts on you. Maybe.
Community & identity: Helps people find each other. Fans don’t just like music, they bleed it. They often fixate with a scene, fashion, attitude, or worldview connected to a genre. Tattoos and T-shirts and scary, crazy fan obsessive shit.
Practical stuff: Playlists, recommendations, radio formats, festivals, more fashions, shops and marketing all normally align with scenes or non-scenes. You instinctively know what to avoid. Five years later nostalgia says you're a fan.
Do genres help us understand what it all might mean? Probably. I can't say too much about that at the moment.
Genres can try to explain: The hidden language of the music. The musician's intentions. The traditions it builds on or what it rebels against. How did we ever get ourselves into this awkward place?
There's probably more to say but this piece has gone on long enough.
How important is genre? Genres still matter in modern music but how they matter has changed a lot in my lifetime. Maybe they matter as much as you want them to, perhaps to settle a decent pub arguement or define some odd element of style or content.
Why genres are useful: Genres act like some shared dialect or code between artists, listeners, and industries. They can be understood. Ask anyone who runs a record shop. It makes sense.
Orientation & expectation: When you hear “jazz,” “metal,” or “folk,” you immediately anticipate certain sounds, moods, and values. That mental framework helps you enter into the music more quickly or dismiss it more easily. "Free form Jazz is a load of shit!" "Dad Rock sucks!". "Boy Bands - God help us". You can easily understand the origin of your bias. Try and work on your self awareness for a few days.
Cultural and historical context: Blue's roots in tough Black communities, Punk’s anti-establishment and rich kid bollox, Country’s ties to rural storytelling and suffering. You have a quick (but not always correct) understanding of why the music sounds the way it does and what it’s responding to and how that impacts on you. Maybe.
Community & identity: Helps people find each other. Fans don’t just like music, they bleed it. They often fixate with a scene, fashion, attitude, or worldview connected to a genre. Tattoos and T-shirts and scary, crazy fan obsessive shit.
Practical stuff: Playlists, recommendations, radio formats, festivals, more fashions, shops and marketing all normally align with scenes or non-scenes. You instinctively know what to avoid. Five years later nostalgia says you're a fan.
Where genres fall short: Modern music is often all over the place. It's broken, fragmented and for some, pretty tired out. Bedroom recordings and sonic experiments. AI slop isn't helping either (and that's a recent new genre nobody saw coming). Everything has it's product life cycle and there will another one along in a minute.
Things can get blurry: Artists blend rap with rock, electronic with folk, jazz with hip-hop. Rigid genre labels can feel misleading or dated. Keeping up with lists is a pain.
Algorithmic listening: Streaming platforms often sort music by mood, vibe, or activity (chill, workout, alone and so on) rather than traditional genres. They do all the heavy lifting for you, just plug yourself in. Curation is a dead thing. We shift the focus from structure and lineage to emotions and consumer convenience. Music's only another commodity after all.
Audience access: Artists draw from traditions worldwide. A single genre label could lose the complexity of multiple, diverse influences. Somebody might care about that.
Artistic intent: Some artists intentionally resist genres as a statement - it's how they might see themselves. But they may still fit into one easily just the same. Esoteric fixes and the bloated ego. They're only flesh and blood.
Things can get blurry: Artists blend rap with rock, electronic with folk, jazz with hip-hop. Rigid genre labels can feel misleading or dated. Keeping up with lists is a pain.
Algorithmic listening: Streaming platforms often sort music by mood, vibe, or activity (chill, workout, alone and so on) rather than traditional genres. They do all the heavy lifting for you, just plug yourself in. Curation is a dead thing. We shift the focus from structure and lineage to emotions and consumer convenience. Music's only another commodity after all.
Audience access: Artists draw from traditions worldwide. A single genre label could lose the complexity of multiple, diverse influences. Somebody might care about that.
Artistic intent: Some artists intentionally resist genres as a statement - it's how they might see themselves. But they may still fit into one easily just the same. Esoteric fixes and the bloated ego. They're only flesh and blood.
Do genres help us understand what it all might mean? Probably. I can't say too much about that at the moment.
Genres can try to explain: The hidden language of the music. The musician's intentions. The traditions it builds on or what it rebels against. How did we ever get ourselves into this awkward place?
So please continue to kick out the jams ... if you can be bothered.
There's probably more to say but this piece has gone on long enough.
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