The 20th century brought us many new sounds. Rock was born. Jazz thrived. Music, being such a wonderful vehicle for creativity, has given people more and more new ways of expression. Previous role models in music have set examples for us to either follow, or break. Everyone can discover new ideas on their own, too. With so many choices, you can do so much. And with so much, you need a name to label this "so much". Thus we have genres.
Genres are styles of music. Genres formerly used to be somewhat simple, but today, have evolved into something greater. Artists now each have their own unique sound; their own personality. But is it really necessary to live by genre names, dictating music by the name, and not the sound?
One word that I'm sure any music-lover predicted hearing in this article is alternative. I've heard people have a dissenting opinion over this term. Originating from the 90's Grunge-era, it was used to coin the new, different genre. When the 2000's hit, new artists and bands came with it, and they simply went on being called 'alternative'. Some people may not take a liking to the term, but if you think about it, it's not easy to name a whole style of music. Let alone music where each band could have a style of its own.
I've heard of some fairly descriptive sorts of music. Emphasis on 'descriptive'. Acid jazz, melodic death metal, euro-dance, industrial hip hop. Sounds pretty crazy, huh? Just hearing one of these labels may stave you away from music that you may (you never know...) like. And herein lies the problem. Its understandable trying to name a style of music, but nowadays its just getting too complicated. All sorts of adjectives can be added in front of "rock" or "metal", but until you listen to it, you aren't going to know exactly what it sounds like. Music is one all-time thing you should never judge by its cover. I, and I'm sure all you musicians and music aficionados out there, have had a band or artist that they listened to at first and weren't all that impressed. But after time, the music grows on you. If you shut a group out because it had an odd name, you'll never give it its chance to show you what they're about (after all, we aren't record labels.)
To anyone with interests in music, listen to the next band you hear about. Sure, they might be called something that makes you wonder where they got it from, or a name your sure they got off of the back of a cereal box, but they could be the next most-listened on your Ipod.
Genres are styles of music. Genres formerly used to be somewhat simple, but today, have evolved into something greater. Artists now each have their own unique sound; their own personality. But is it really necessary to live by genre names, dictating music by the name, and not the sound?
One word that I'm sure any music-lover predicted hearing in this article is alternative. I've heard people have a dissenting opinion over this term. Originating from the 90's Grunge-era, it was used to coin the new, different genre. When the 2000's hit, new artists and bands came with it, and they simply went on being called 'alternative'. Some people may not take a liking to the term, but if you think about it, it's not easy to name a whole style of music. Let alone music where each band could have a style of its own.
I've heard of some fairly descriptive sorts of music. Emphasis on 'descriptive'. Acid jazz, melodic death metal, euro-dance, industrial hip hop. Sounds pretty crazy, huh? Just hearing one of these labels may stave you away from music that you may (you never know...) like. And herein lies the problem. Its understandable trying to name a style of music, but nowadays its just getting too complicated. All sorts of adjectives can be added in front of "rock" or "metal", but until you listen to it, you aren't going to know exactly what it sounds like. Music is one all-time thing you should never judge by its cover. I, and I'm sure all you musicians and music aficionados out there, have had a band or artist that they listened to at first and weren't all that impressed. But after time, the music grows on you. If you shut a group out because it had an odd name, you'll never give it its chance to show you what they're about (after all, we aren't record labels.)
To anyone with interests in music, listen to the next band you hear about. Sure, they might be called something that makes you wonder where they got it from, or a name your sure they got off of the back of a cereal box, but they could be the next most-listened on your Ipod.
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