Rock-era genres I like
Submitted by JohnnyW on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:25
Tags:
- Rockabilly
- Doo-Wop
- Surf
- Girl Group
- Wall of Sound
- Motown
- Folk-Rock
- Psychedelica
- Stax-Volt
- Garage Rock
- Blues-Rock
- Funk
- Proto-Punk
- Glam Rock (70s)
- Punk
- Post-Punk
- Avant-Garde
- Ska
- Hardcore
- College Rock (80s)
- Industrial
- Grunge
- Dream Pop
- Shoegazer
- Lo-fi
- Trip-Hop
- Electronica
- Americana
- Alternative Rock
Author Comments:
This list is in roughly chronological order. Inclusion on this list means I tend to like most stuff in this genre, but not all. Actually, sometimes I get sick of the endless genres and subgenres music is divided into, but once in awhile my geekiness shows through and I love all these labels.
Hmmm... I would be very interested to see how you divide Americana on this list from AltCountry on your dislikes list. Can you define how you separate the two, or is it more intuitive? Or is Americana basically the AltCountry artists you like? ;)
Shalom, y'all!
l. Bangs
Mr. Bangs, I do have (at least in my mind) clear divisions between some of these genres, even though they may overlap at times. I'll put some definitions and sample artists up with these as soon as possible. Watch this space!
Johnny Waco
Mr. Bangs?
I promise I am more curious than adverserial here; I am truly wondering how to draw that line between Americana and AltCountry, a division that baffles me unless Americana tends to conote older music. I perfectly understand (I think) your other divisions, and I especially applaud your division of Alternative Rock from Modern Rock, although I do tend to use Post-Grunge when discribing the latter. Tomato, Tomatoe.
I await your clarification, Mr. Waco!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
My Dear Bangs, I never took your comments as adversarial; I apologize if my reply connoted that. Regarding Americana vs. Alt-Country: I see Alt-Country as a more narrow term, a genre with more strictly defined conventions. If an album is Alt-Country, it more than likely is also Americana, but not vice versa. For example, Son Volt or Uncle Tupelo are in my mind primarily Alt-Country, but by virtue of that classification, they are also Americana. Lucinda Williams or Shelby Lynne, on the other hand, are Americana all the way without being Alt-Country. Americana is simply rootsy music with an obvious fascination with America and its people; this attitude can take in country (alt or otherwise), but also southern soul, blues, or rock. I'm sure holes could be shot in this division, but that's how my mind's working at the moment.
Johnny Waco
I can dig that tune even if I don't sing along. I still tend to see the genres as the same, especially since the blending of different genres is largely what puts the Alt in AltCountry. Still, I can sorta see what you're getting at. I think I'll understand more if I push you with yet another question. What are the "strictly defined conventions" you see segmenting AltCountry into a seperate subset of Americana?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I don't see the "Alt" in Alt-Country being an expansive thing, taking in other genres. In my mind, it's severly limiting, requiring the artists who embrace the "No Depression" moniker to go back to an earlier set of conventions and hold tightly to them. These conventions seem to include use of traditionly country instruments (steel guitar, fiddles, slide) and what they feel are traditional themes (usually downbeat). It reminds me of early white blues players from the sixties, who tried so hard to recreate something from the past that they could rarely breathe life into it in the present. To keep the difference in the terms, i would still say that i don't see artists like Lucinda Williams, Victoria Williams, or Shelby Lynne lumped together with the Old 97s, Son Volt, or Uncle Tupelo. The reason seems fairly clear: the former artists don't hem themselves in by trying to restore country to what it once was; they simply take a wide variety of musical styles and meld it together in their own unique, rootsy ways.
-ding- Now I understand your distinction, and I do see use in it. I notice, however, that many bands that would begin in your AltCountry category are now shifting to your Americana category. Wilco and Whiskeytown leap to mind. Are people jumping ship and fleeing from AltCountry, or having learned country's conventions, are they know attempting to expand the music as part of a natural progression?
I guess I tend to see the later, and as such, I also tend to blur the two terms together. Perhaps it is laziness - otherwise, when describing Wilco or Whiskeytown's body of work, I'd have to use two terms (AltCountry/Americana) instead of one (pick either). We know how lazy I get at times!
Thanks for working with me to understand you here.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Shoegazer? C'mon, I know you dig it... :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
How could I forget Shoegazer?! One of my all-time cherished genres!
Johnny Waco
Shoegazer and Dream Pop are pretty much the same thing Johnny.