[Everyneurotic]

and if people are "overrated" or "underrated"

do you guys even listen to the music or you just classify them by genre and ponder for ages if they are overrated or underrated?

[AllHandsOnTheBigOne]

I don't have a problem with classifying music by genre.

[Savage Clone]

Everyneurotic is an overrated post-noise avant-punk emo poseur.

[Everyneurotic]

hahahaha

i thought i was proto-poseur

[schizophrenicroom]

I just like genres so I know what to avoid.

[sonicl]

I dunno, I reckon that categorisation is seriously underrated

[Signpost]

What's the problem with genres?

[trance feeeedback]

hmmm... i remember hereing a quote from a famous musician(can't remember who) that went like this "there are only two genres of music, good music and bad music"

[Everyneurotic]

Originally Posted by schizophrenicroom

I just like genres so I know what to avoid.

that's exactly what i was getting at.

people like the music defined to know if they'll like it or not, based on a generalization. this way, people miss out on great bands and even dismiss entire generations of good music because of that, and i think that's wrong. most sonic youth fans talk about how "open minded" musically they are when the most popular threads are "can someone list some (insert genre here) bands" or "most underrated/overrated bands ever"

take for example emo: by dismissing this label, you might as well miss out on great bands like rites of spring, sunny day real estate, jawbreaker, jawbox, nation of ulysses, still life, antioch arrow, clikatat ikatowi, heroin, swing kids, texas is the reason, saetia, union of uranus, universal order of armageddon, orchid, braid, lifetime, etc.

trance feeeedback: i heard a similar one "there's only two kinds of music: music you like and music you don't" (some attribute this to hendrix, but i remember it being credited to someone before hendrix...but i can't remember who right now)

[Glice]

Genres make it easier to talk about music without actually hearing it. For instance: I am having a conversation with a Cellist. I tell him I like medieval music. He then says, 'Ok, that is not heavy metal, perhaps I might like this'.

Endless sub-genres can get annoying, but I think it's a means of separating musical ideas applied in music without in depth theory - 'It's punk rock' rather than 'An Am arpeggio over a 4/4 beat for the first four bars, followed by a bass playing the root while the guitar, a-melodically, follows the fifths from Am, while the singer opines on on the state of democracy, changing to a staccato chorus; the song lasts 64 bars'.

(Which is something like describing Pretty Vacant in musical terms).

[trance feeeedback]

Originally Posted by Everyneurotic

trance feeeedback: i heard a similar one "there's only two kinds of music: music you like and music you don't" (some attribute this to hendrix, but i remember it being credited to someone before hendrix...but i can't remember who right now)

hmmm.. that might actually be the same quote, maybe i jus mixed it up.

[AllHandsOnTheBigOne]

Originally Posted by Glice

Genres make it easier to talk about music without actually hearing it. For instance: I am having a conversation with a Cellist. I tell him I like medieval music. He then says, 'Ok, that is not heavy metal, perhaps I might like this'.

Endless sub-genres can get annoying, but I think it's a means of separating musical ideas applied in music without in depth theory - 'It's punk rock' rather than 'An Am arpeggio over a 4/4 beat for the first four bars, followed by a bass playing the root while the guitar, a-melodically, follows the fifths from Am, while the singer opines on on the state of democracy, changing to a staccato chorus; the song lasts 64 bars'.

(Which is something like describing Pretty Vacant in musical terms).

Exactly. They're a helpful way to explain music to someone who hasn't heard it, or better understand music you yourself haven't heard. And it's an easy way to find similar music.

I don't think that genres really have any negative aspects. If people turn down a whole genre because they don't like one band that is part of it, it's solely based on the fact that some people are just close minded twats.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by AllHandsOnTheBigOne

I don't think that genres really have any negative aspects. If people turn down a whole genre because they don't like one band that is part of it, it's solely based on the fact that some people are just close minded twats.

It is difficult not to be close-minded... I mean, It's near impossible to get a decent feel for most genres and sub-genres... when you start looking at the umpteen million genres there are across the world - I like what Rai and Soukous I've heard, but I don't like any high-life I've heard. It would take me a long time to find something I did like from it, precisely because there's a million bands all over the world competing for space on my shelf. I don't think it's necessarily close-minded, just a willfull ignorance; although, there are a great many people who are close-minded, but that's because they're twats more than anything.

[Inhuman]

I think there's pros and cons in classifying genres. For the mostpart, I wish they never existed. It can help specify a sound so you can refer to that sound with a name, which is helpful, but then you have the people saying "I listen to post sadcore" and you're oblivious to what that is and there's probably only one or two bands that classify themselves as that. The other day, I was posting in a different forum and I said "Converge introduced me to hardcore" and everybody was like "Converge isn't hardcore" so I said "Hardcore Punk*" and they said they weren't hardcore punk. People get too caught up in genres altogether. There shouldn't be so many sub-genres. God, I even know a band that claims that they're "undercore".

[candymoan]

it was charlie parker who said "there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad music.."

yep, that sounds about right..
categorically i will not listen to polka..
i might listen to some pop - in its purest form, and i might actually like it..
i don't mind metal, but i prefer punk..
post-punk is great too..

it stops making sense when you reach the "industrial dance ambient jungle tweed pop" category..

[Everyneurotic]

the quote i remember is "there's two kinds of music: music you like and music you don't like"

bad music can be everything. so in one genre you have everything (good music) and on the other hand you have another genre of everything too (bad music)

[Rob Instigator]

it was Charlie Parker

genres are good fro some things. however, the sub-genres ussualy come about when bands or fans try to explain how a band is different from the others.
My favorte genre is "beard-core" hardcore music by dudes in beards. Now that is FUNNY!!!

genres are a necesary evil

[candymoan]

okay, i got confused and googled it..

"there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad music.."

attributed to:
duke ellington
count basie
kurt weill
louis armstrong
miles davis
ray charles

wheew! the ownership of the quote is slowly spiralling into anonymity...

[chuck norris]

I like what Glice said about music.

I sometimes listen to Rai music (Khaled, Daoudi, Rachid Taha), and enjoy it. I will never understand the language or get the cultural backround of this music, but it's not hard to listen to. It's really good for dancing.

But when I listen to Sonic Youth, or Bowie, or Talking Heads, it feels closer to my own life and my own worries.

Alternative rock is more important to me then Rai music (because of my own place in the world), but I don't think one music is good and one music is bad.

So my argument is: it's not that important which music you like, and there is no good or bad. The important thing is what you get out of the music, what it means to you.

[you are free]

Originally Posted by Everyneurotic

take for example emo: by dismissing this label, you might as well miss out on great bands like rites of spring, sunny day real estate, jawbreaker, jawbox, nation of ulysses, still life, antioch arrow, clikatat ikatowi, heroin, swing kids, texas is the reason, saetia, union of uranus, universal order of armageddon, orchid, braid, lifetime, etc.

so true! alot of people have looked down on me for saying i like emo. when i mean braid, cap'n jazz, american football, the promise ring, mineral, i hate myself etc. not my chemical romance or taking back sunday. tsk.