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- Posted: Sat, 19 Apr 2008 03:05:13 +0000
Emo
Emo began as the name of a subgenre of hardcore punk music however since its inception, emo has come to describe several independent variations, linked loosely but with common ancestry. As such, use of the term has been the subject of much debate.
In its original incarnation, the term emo was used to describe the music of the mid-1980s Washington, DC scene and its associated bands. In later years, the term emocore, short for "emotional hardcore", was also used to describe the DC scene and some of the regional scenes that spawned from it. The term emo was derived from the fact that, on occasion, members of a band would become spontaneously and strongly emotional during performances. The most recognizable names of the period included Rites of Spring, Embrace, One Last Wish, Beefeater, Gray Matter, Fire Party, and, slightly later, Moss Icon. The first wave of emo began to fade after the breakups of most of the involved bands in the early 1990s.
Starting in the mid-1990s, the term emo began to reflect the indie scene that followed the influences of Fugazi, which itself was an offshoot of the first wave of emo. Bands including Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas Is the Reason put forth a more indie rock style of emo, more melodic and less chaotic in nature than its predecessor. The so-called "indie emo" scene survived until the late 1990s, as many of the bands either disbanded or shifted to mainstream styles.
As the remaining indie emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the more mainstream style, creating a style of music that has now earned the moniker emo within popular culture. Whereas, even in the past, the term emo was used to identify a wide variety of bands, the breadth of bands listed under today's emo is even more vast, leaving the term "emo" as more of a loose identifier than as a specific genre of music.
Hardcore
Hardcore punk (usually referred to simply as hardcore) is a subgenre of punk rock which originated in the United States of America in the late 1970s. It emerged as the first wave of punk artists disbanded or moved onto different genres and the left behind artists became more underground and 'hardcore.' The sound is thicker, heavier, and faster than 1970s-style punk rock. It is characterized by short, loud, and passionate songs
Punk
Punk rock is an anti-establishment rock music genre and movement that emerged in the mid-1970s. Preceded by a variety of protopunk music of the 1960s and early 1970s, punk rock developed between 1974 and 1977 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, where groups such as the The Sex Pistols and Ramones were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement.
Punk bands, eschewing the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock, created short, fast, hard music, with stripped-down instrumentation and often political or nihilistic lyrics. The associated punk subculture expresses youthful rebellion, distinctive clothing styles, a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies, and a DIY (do it yourself) attitude.
Punk rock became a major phenomenon in the United Kingdom during the late 1970s; its popularity elsewhere was more limited. During the 1980s, forms of punk rock emerged in small scenes around the world, often rejecting commercial success and association with mainstream culture. By the turn of the century, punk rock's legacy had led to development of the alternative rock movement, and new punk bands popularized the genre decades after its first heyday.
Pop Punk
With their love of the Beach Boys and the classic girl group sound, the Ramones had pointed the way to what would become known as pop punk from the earliest days of the punk scene. In the late 1970s, UK bands such as the Buzzcocks and The Undertones, the latter strongly influenced by glam rock, combined pop-style tunes and lyrical themes with punk's speed, concision, and chaotic edge. In the early 1980s, some of the leading bands in southern California's hardcore scene emphasized a more melodic approach than was typical of their peers: Bad Religion "layered their pissed off, politicized sound with the smoothest of harmonies"; the Descendents "wrote almost surfy, Beach Boys?inspired songs about girls and food and being young(ish)". Epitaph Records, founded by members of Bad Religion, was the base for many future pop-punk bands, including NOFX, who brought their ska-influenced skate-punk rhythms to the mix. Groups that fused punk rock with pop melodies?such as The Queers and Screeching Weasel?began appearing around the country, in turn influencing bands like Green Day and blink-182, who would bring pop punk to the mainstream. Bands like The Vandals and Guttermouth were also influential for blending pop melodies with humorous and offensive lyrics. Pop punk bands like Good Charlotte and Sum 41 maintained the popularity of the genre in the mainstream into the early 2000s. The music of such mainstream latter-day bands is criticized by many punk devotees; in critic Christine Di Bella's words, "It's punk taken to its most accessible point, a point where it barely reflects its lineage at all, except in the three-chord song structures
Heavy Metal
Heavy metal (sometimes referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed between 1969 and 1974. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the use of highly-amplified distortion and fast guitar solos. Allmusic declares, "Of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality."
Throughout its history heavy metal has had a large world-wide following of fans known by terms such as "metalheads" and "headbangers". Early heavy metal bands Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were popular but critically reviled at the time, a trend that has been present throughout the history of metal. As the original wave of heavy metal bands began to wane, the late 1970s brought the New Wave of British Heavy Metal which stripped away much of the music's blues influence instead fusing it with punk rock innovations and some of its aesthetic. Heavy metal became extremely popular in the 1980s, at which time many of the now existing subgenres first evolved. Some subgenres, often more aggressive and extreme than metal music of the past, were often restricted to underground audiences, but some like glam metal and to a lesser extent thrash metal were able to gain mainstream commercial success. In recent years subgenres like nu metal have broadened the scope of what is considered heavy metal while much of the metal music of the past is being critically reevaluated.
Grindcore
Grindcore, often shortened to grind, is an evolution of hardcore punk, most commonly associated with death metal and crust punk. Grindcore is characterized by heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, blastbeats, hardcore punk and crossover thrash influenced riffing, short songs, and a vocal style consisting of growls and higher-pitched vocals, often similar to those found in black metal. Lyrical concepts range from social and political issues to gore and horror to humor.
Death Metal
Death metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that evolved out of thrash metal during the early 1980s.
Death metal generally includes violent or dark lyrics which focus on death as a nihilistic metaphor, chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure without a standard verse-chorus arrangement; compositions instead emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs. The genre is often identified with downtuned rhythm guitars, fast percussion, and dynamic intensity. Blast beats, exceedingly fast drum patterns, are frequently used to add to the ferocity of the genre. The vocals are often grunts, snarls, and low gurgles colloquially called death grunts or death growls. Death grunts require use of the throat and guts, unlike traditional singing techniques which discourage this technique.
Metalcore
Metalcore is a rock style mixing sound of heavy metal styles and hardcore punk.
Defining the metalcore sound is not an easy task, as various bands have fused a hardcore-influenced sound and attitude with many different types of metal. The earliest signs of this before being labeled metalcore was 'crossover thrash'. The band that declared the crossover was Dirty Rotten Imbeciles on their late 1980s album of the same name. Other bands, like Nuclear Assault and Suicidal Tendencies, are leading edge pioneers themselves.
It should be noted that metalcore and crossover are generally considered separate identities, with "crossover" referring to a mix of thrash metal and hardcore punk, and metalcore being a slower, heavier, hardcore-rooted style influenced by thrash metal and death metal.
Black Metal
Black metal is a type of extreme heavy metal music that started in the early 1980s. The genre is characterized by an aggressive and abrasive sound, coupled with a dark atmosphere that rejects Right Hand Path sentiments.
The first bands with black metal characteristics included Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and Venom. These bands were thrash metal bands that formed the prototype for the later second generation of black metal. The second wave of black metal started in the late 1980s and early 1990s, primarily in Norway. Black metal has been met with considerable hostility from mainstream culture, mainly because of the hateful and anti-religious attitude of many bands. Additionally, a few black metal bands have been known to have associations with church burnings, murder, and in rare instances National Socialism (Nazism).
Grunge
Grunge music (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a genre of alternative rock inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock. Grunge was created in the mid-1980s by bands from Washington state, particularly in the Seattle area.
It became commercially successful in the first half of the 1990s, due mainly to the release of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. The genre is closely associated with Generation X in the US, since the popularity of the genre and usage of the generational term rose simultaneously. Grunge was an early defining musical phenomenon of the 1990s, which distinguished 1990s rock music from that of the 1980s.
Grunge music is generally characterized by "dirty" guitar, strong riffs, and heavy drumming. The "dirty" sound resulted both from the common use of heavy guitar distortion and feedback, and from a stylistic change in the standard method of playing punk rock. Grunge involves slower tempos and dissonant harmonies that are generally not found in punk.
The lyrics concern similar themes such as social alienation, apathy, entrapment and a desire for freedom. They are typically angst-filled — anger, frustration, ennui, fear, depression and drug addiction are often explored in grunge songs. The lyricism bears similarities to those of punk and the perceptions of Generation X. A number of factors may have influenced these lyrics. Many grunge musicians and fans displayed a general disenchantment with the state of society and discomfort with social prejudices. They were often identified as 'slackers' and drug use was widespread. Also, many grunge musicians began their careers as teenagers or young adults, when feelings of angst are common. Nonetheless, not all grunge songs dealt with such themes: Nirvana's satirical "In Bloom" is a notable example of more humorous writing. In fact, several grunge songs are filled with either a dark or fun sense of humor as well (for example, Mudhoney's "Touch Me, I'm Sick" or Tad's "Stumblin' Man" wink , though this often went unnoticed by the general public. Humor in grunge often satirized glam metal (for example, Soundgarden's "Big Dumb Sex" wink and other forms of rock music that were popular during the 1980s
Thrash Metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music, one of the extreme metal subgenres, that is characterised by its high speed and aggression.
The origins of thrash metal are generally traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a number of bands began incorporating the sound of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of hardcore punk (in particular its drum tempos), creating a new genre and developing into a separate movement from punk rock. This genre is much more aggressive compared to its relative, speed metal. There is often significant crossover from one metal category to another, and the influence of non-metal genres, including classical music and jazz, is not uncommon.
The genre features fast tempos, low-register, quick, complex guitar riffs, and high-register guitar solos. Palm muting is used in these tightly controlled riffs to create a "chugging" sound. Thrash guitar solos are almost exclusively played at high speed, as they are usually characterised by shredding, and use techniques such as sweep picking, legato phrasing, alternate picking, string skipping, and two-hand tapping. Thrash lead guitarists are rooted in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, but with more influence from progressive rock and speed metal. As with many other metal subgenres, thrash lead guitarists are often influenced by outside musical genres too, such as jazz fusion (Ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland) and classical music , such as Marty Friedman and Alex Skolnick, have lead styles that could be grouped in the neoclassical shred genre.
The speed and pacing of the songs is what defines thrash metal. The music tends to have a visceral, propellant feel to it due to the often intense drumming, most commonly utilizing the snare drum on the 1/2 beat, or the 2nd and 4th beats of the measure. Frantic bass drum use is also common. Thrash drummers use two foot-pedaled bass drums, known as "double bass" or a "double kick" almost exclusively. Many thrash drummers, such as Dave Lombardo, Jürgen Reil, Gene Hoglan, Lars Ulrich, and Charlie Benante, are revered as some of the best drummers in rock music, due to their ability with the double bass as well as adequately keeping time. Due to the genre's high speed, many thrash bassists use a pick to keep up with the other instruments. However, a few prominent bassists in the subgenre, including Carl Peterson, Frank Bello, Greg Christian and Cliff Burton have shunned the use of the pick. Distorted bass (popularized by Burton and Lemmy) is not uncommon.
Speed Metal
Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that spawned in the mid-late 1970s and was the direct musical progenitor of thrash metal. When Speed metal first emerged as a genre, it innovatively increased the tempo of the music template set forth by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple while keeping their melodic ideas. Speed Metal can find its significant beginnings with NWOBHM bands.
Many speed metal bands also ostensibly fall within the categories of other heavy metal sub-genres, typically Thrash metal, Shred metal and Power metal. This is mainly due to the influence speed metal had on the development of these genres, although it should also be mentioned that Speed metal was used by some Glam metal and NWOBHM groups during the 1980s. Many Japanese bands from the 1980s to the present can also be described as speed metal, largely due to the success of X Japan.
Power Metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal music with the aim of evoking an "epic" feel, incorporating characteristics of primarily traditional metal along with thrash metal or speed metal, often within symphonic context. There is some dispute about the term, which can refer to two different, but related styles: one pioneered and largely practiced in North America, and one based in Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. In contemporary usage, "power metal" describes music influenced by or derived from the European variant, with the exception of several American bands that are associated with both power metal and thrash metal. (Iced Earth and Nevermore.)
Power metal, as the term is used today, is associated with an epic sound, one tempered by some of the characteristics of speed metal, the genre's musical forerunner. Power metal's lyrics are unique in that they tend not to relate to "the real world" - personal experience, historical incidents, social commentary. Instead, common sources of power metal lyrics are religion, mythology, science fiction and fantasy. (Especially high fantasy) Power metal lyrics are widely associated with being "upbeat" or "optimistic." Though this is not always the case, many bands do adopt such a lyrical style.
Power metal is a style highly focused on the vocalist, with "clean" vocals being much more prevalent than the growling vocals often associated with death metal and black metal. Following in the tradition of Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford and other heavy metal vocalists, power metal vocals are often in a high register. The majority of the genre's vocalists sing in the tenor range with the ability to hit very high notes (with the exception of former Iced Earth frontman Matt Barlow (although in certain songs like Creator Failure, Barlow hits very high notes reminiscent of Rob Halford) and Sabaton frontman Joakim Broden, who sing in either baritone or bass range). Some power metal vocalists, including Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian and Matt Smith of Theocracy, record multi-layered vocals reminiscent of Queen, creating a choral effect. Few power metal bands include vocalists that double as instrumentalists, but this setup is not unheard of, though it is somewhat uncommon.
Power metal guitarists and bassists generally play rapid streams of notes, but change chords comparatively slowly, with a harmonic tempo of once per measure or slower. Fast and demanding guitar solos, however, are almost guaranteed.
A number of power metal drummers generally play with two bass drums for added speed, utilizing them to play a constant stream of sixteenth notes (semiquavers) with snare drum accents on the beat. This style is fairly common in power metal as in other heavy metal subgenres, though it is by no means universal.
Power metal bands often incorporate keyboards into their musical arrangements, though their usage varies from subtle accents to a full-blown melody line. The Italian band Rhapsody of Fire has also been known to record with more symphonic elements, and as such, they utilize a full orchestra to fill the role a keyboard plays in other power metal bands.
This style is very popular, but slowly diminishing in Europe, Japan, and some countries of South America (including Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile), and has a slow popularity in North America, notably in the province of Quebec, Canada, where it has a very strong fan base. The popularity of power metal has been largely increased by the British band DragonForce.
Glam Metal
Glam metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that arose in the late 1970s in the United States. It was a dominant genre in popular rock music throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
The genre is also referred to, often by detractors, as hair metal. This term was popularized by MTV in the 1990s and derives from the tendency amongst some bands to style their long hair in a teased-up fashion. In modern culture, fans of the style have embraced the term glam metal. During its heyday, the genre was often referred to as heavy metal or simply metal
Generally, glam metal has hedonistic lyrics, often focuses on sex, alcohol, and drugs, and many of the first wave bands had songs pertaining to the occult. Musically, glam metal songs often featured distorted guitar riffs, shred guitar solos, anthemic choruses, hard hitting drumming, and complementary bass. Glam metal is often frowned upon by other genres of metal as being too pop influenced. Nevertheless, this can vary from band to band and depends largely on which time frame they played the style.
Many glam metal performers became infamous for their debauched lifestyles, long, teased hair, and use of make-up, gaudy clothing, and accessories – traits somewhat reminiscent of glam rock, a music genre which first emerged in the United Kingdom during the early 1970s. However, the earlier groups of the genre also implemented some of the leather and studs imagery which had previously been made famous by Judas Priest.
The genre took influence heavily from 1970s rock and heavy metal bands, with large sections taking influence from the likes of; Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, KISS, Led Zeppelin, New York Dolls, Queen, The Sweet, Van Halen, and others. Equally important was the influence of later new wave of British heavy metal bands such as Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Saxon and Iron Maiden.
A few bands had previously experimented with mixing glam rock and heavy metal prior to the 1980s when glam metal became emerged as a fully fledged genre. Angel, Starz, and Legs Diamond were prime examples of this. However, it wasn't until the early 1980s that the genre truly began to gather speed and thus some of the earlier bands mentioned are not always viewed as part of it.
Industrial
Industrial music is a loose term for a number of different styles of electronic and experimental music. First used in the mid-1970s to describe the then-unique sound of Industrial Records artists, a wide variety of labels and artists have since come to be called "Industrial". This definition may include avant-garde performance artists such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten, Coil and Laibach; noise projects like Merzbow or Sutcliffe Jugend or writers like William S. Burroughs and J.G. Ballard.
The term was meant by its creators to evoke the idea of music created for a new generation of people, previous music being more "agricultural". Specifically, it might have referred to the streamlined process by which the music was being made, although many people now interpret the word as a poetic reference to an "industrial" aesthetic, recalling factories and inhuman machinery. On this topic, Peter Christopherson of Industrial Records once remarked, "the original idea of Industrial Records was to reject what the growing industry was telling you at the time what music was supposed to be."
Industrial Metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre which draws elements from industrial music and heavy metal music. Industrial metal music is usually centered around metal guitar riffs and industrial synthesizer/sequencer lines, heavily distorted, very low pitched guitars, as well as harsh vocals, but in some instances can have clean vocals. This term is used quite loosely, describing everything from industrial bands sampling metal riffs to heavy metal groups augmented with sequencers. Industrial metal encompasses industrial subgenres such as aggro-industrial and coldwave (see list of industrial music subgenres) and often overlaps some elements of nu-metal and post-punk.
It is difficult to distinguish many industrial metal artists and industrial rock because both genres leave much room for ingenuity and creativity. By convention, all industrial metal artists may be more vaguely described as industrial rock as well, but not all industrial rock artists are properly described as industrial metal.
Deathcore/Death Metalcore
Deathcore (or Death Metalcore) is an amalgamation of two musical styles: metalcore and death metal. While similar to slam death metal and deathgrind, deathcore's aesthetics and following are more closely related to metalcore, but is at the same time influenced by death metal in its speed, heaviness, and approach to riffing. The lyrics may not always be in the death metal vein, but traditional growls, pig-like vocals (known as "pig squeals" wink , and shrieks predominate, with metalcore vocals rarely being used. Though the genre's breakdowns are attributed to a metalcore influence, death metal bands have used breakdowns in the past, as can be heard on Morta Skuld's 1991 demo, Prolong the Agony. Death metal veterans Suffocation were also among one of the first death metal groups to make the breakdown a staple in their music.
Some bands, such as Abscess, Unseen Terror, and Six Feet Under, have used the term "deathcore" to describe hardcore punk/death metal hybrids, though these groups have little in common with the metalcore-derived bands of today. "Deathcore" was also used as early as the mid-1980s by at least one extreme metal band, Germany's Blood, though the group used "deathcore" only as the title for their 1986 demo. Others such as Norwegian industrial black/death metal act Amok have used the word "deathcore" without any relation to the currently developing homogenized American style of metal that goes by the same name, most recently in their 2006 release "Necrospiritual Deathcore". It should be noted that many of these earlier deathcore groups were formed by members (or future members) of established death metal acts, including Shane Embury of Napalm Death, Chris Barnes of Cannibal Corpse, and both Danny Coralles and Chris Reifert of Autopsy.
Screamo
Screamo is a musical genre which evolved from emocore, hardcore punk in the early 1990s. Characteristic of the genre are screaming vocals, harmonized guitars, and fast-paced riffs. Breakdowns in screamo songs are often slower and more melodic than in other genres, less of a "beatdown" and more of an opportunity for introspection (and rest for the musicians). Other than that, it is fairly hard to classify (particularly since the rule about screaming vocals is bent fairly often). In addition to that, screamo has significant overlap with other genres like grindcore and even post rock.
Post-Rock
Post-rock is a music genre characterized by non-traditional use of rock instruments and high musical density. Although firmly rooted in the indie scene, post-rock's style bears little resemblance musically to that of indie rock. However, as post-rock music is often recorded on independent labels, indie and post-rock often share the same level of obscurity.
Celtic Metal
This popular variation of folk metal uses the melodies and/or instrumentation of Celtic folk music. The large number of bands pursuing a Celtic metal direction include Amorphis (The Karelian Isthmus), Cruachan, Geasa, Waylander, Primordial, Mael Mórdha, Eluveitie, Aes Dana, Tuatha de Danann, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Bran Barr, Heol Telwen and Thanateros.
Folk punk
Folk punk, in its most general sense, is a genre (or set of genres) of music that combine elements of folk and punk rock music. It can also describe the people, culture, etc that surround such a genre. In some usage (especially American) it describes fusion with American folk music; other blends of punk and folk/traditional genres may be described differently (e.g. Celtic punk), although the usage and delineation of such terms varies. Folk punk can also be seen as a subgenre of folk rock, as well as punk and folk music.
Like its punk and folk roots, folk punk usually focuses on political issues from the radical left and anarchist side of the spectrum, but often incorporates a personal perspective to these views. Folk punk embraces a legacy of traditional folk music, typified by themes of working class solidarity and resistance in the face of the perceived problems of industrialization and modern capitalism.
Mathcore
Mathcore (also known as tech. hardcore) is a style of metalcore recognized for a high level of technical musicianship. The subgenre has its roots in bands like Deadguy, Converge, Kiss It Goodbye, August Burns Red, Training for Utopia, Botch, The Hubble Constant, Coalesce, Bloodlet, Gorguts, Groundwork, Resurrection, The Human Abstract, Acme, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The End, Sikth, Nerv, Into the Moat, Starkweather, The Number 12 Looks Like You, and Between The Buried and Me.
The music is usually filled with discordant, somewhat technical riffing, complex time signatures and song structures, and passionate, energetic vocals. Songs played by bands of this style tend to vary from mere seconds in length to over 15 minutes and rarely feature a conventional verse-chorus song structure. Bands of the mathcore genre, because they are not commercially viable, are often categorized differently depending upon the whims of journalists. Because metalcore is a hardcore punk/heavy metal crossover, bands such as Converge, and The Dillinger Escape Plan are often referred to as "hardcore," and still others, such as As the Sun Sets and Daughters, are labelled as grindcore and noisecore, though only influenced by one or both genres. Other styles of music, such as blues-rock and free jazz, have been known to inspire various mathcore bands. Coalesce have been influenced by the former, to the extent of releasing a Led Zeppelin cover EP named There Is Nothing New Under the Sun, whereas The Dillinger Escape Plan are known to credit the latter.
Horror Punk
Horror punk (ghoul rock) is a music genre that was defined by the band The Misfits, blending horror movie lyrical themes and imagery with musical influences from early punk rock, doo-wop, and, to a lesser degree, rockabilly.
Horror punk bands usually tell tales through their lyrics, which are often related to horror films, black humor, and horror stories or novels. The horror punk genre has a thriving underground following, with websites and concert festivals, such as the Fiend Fest. The fan base has been tied to the resurgence of the closely-related genres, psychobilly and deathrock.
Anarcho-punk
A surge of popular interest in anarchism occurred during the 1970s in the United Kingdom following the birth of punk rock, in particular the Situationist-influenced graphics of Sex Pistols artist Jamie Reid, as well as that band's first single, "Anarchy in the UK." However, while the early punk scene appropriated anarchist imagery mainly for its shock value, Crass may have been the first punk band to expound serious anarchist and pacifist ideas. The concept of anarcho-punk was quickly picked up on by bands like Flux of Pink Indians and Conflict. Crass co-founder Penny Rimbaud has said he feels that the anarcho-punks were representative of true punk, while bands such as Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned were nothing more than "music business puppets".
As the 1980s progressed, two new punk styles evolved out of anarcho-punk: crust punk and d-beat. Crust punk mixed anarcho-punk with an extreme metal sound, and was pioneered by bands such as Antisect, Sacrilege and Amebix. D-beat was a faster, more brutal form of punk music, and was created by bands like Discharge and The Varukers. Somewhat later on in the 1980s, grindcore developed out of anarcho-punk. Similar to crust punk but perhaps even more musically extreme (grindcore employed blast beats and incomprihensible vocals), it was pioneered by bands such as Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror. Parallel to the development of these subgenres, many bands in the American hardcore punk scene were adopting anarcho-punk ideology, including MDC and Reagan Youth.
Anarcho-punk in the 2000s has been more musically diverse than in the 1970s and 1980s. In adition to previously established subgenres, anarcho-punk encompasses punk blues artists like Darren Deicide, pop punk artists such as Girlband and Propagandhi, New Wave artists such as Honey Bane, and folk punk bands such as The Weakerthans and Against Me!. Some anarcho-punk bands even incorporate indie rock or indie pop, such as the Nation of Ulysses (who became an emo band later on). Fairly recently, bands such as Axiom, Destroy and Disrupt have fused the grindcore and crust punk sounds.
Digital Hardcore often takes an anarchist stance in their lyrics, as typified by genre pioneers Atari Teenage Riot. Digital Hardcore mixes punk (and sometimes rap) vocals with elements of many different genres, mainly Hardcore Techno, Thrash Metal, Noisecore and distorted soundscape backings.
Crust Punk
Crust punk (sometimes called crustcore or stenchcore) is one of the many extreme evolutions of anarcho-punk. Crust punk was created by combining anarcho-punk with Speed Metal/thrash metal and proto-thrash metal, with later bands incorporating elements of death metal and black metal. Crust punk is characterized by guttural or shrill vocals (often in the form of dual vocals) and an unpolished gritty, bass-heavy sound. Crust is very closely related to and influenced by D-beat, anarcho-punk, and grindcore.
D-Beat
D-beat punk is a style of hardcore punk that has existed since the early 1980s, pioneered by bands such as Discharge and the Varukers. It also refers to the drum beat that the genre is known for.
D-beat is a drum beat, specifically a fast rock beat unique to Hardcore Punk, especially in its UK and European variants and that inspired metal bands such as Hellhammer and Venom. Its name is derived from the British band Discharge, as they relied so heavily on this specific beat for the first few years of their career. Discharge's first-known use of this style appeared on their 1980 debut single, Realities Of War. The D-beat actually predates this; one earlier example can be heard in the song "You Tear Me Up" from the Buzzcocks' 1978 debut album Another Music in a Different Kitchen and in the song "Helpless" from Diamond Head on their 1980 debut album Lightning to the Nations.
Oi! Punk
Oi! is a working class street-level subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
The music and associated subculture had the goal of promoting unity between punks, skinheads and other non-aligned working class youths (sometimes called herberts). The Oi! movement was partly a response to a sense that many participants in the early punk rock scene were, in the words of The Business guitarist Steve Kent, "trendy university people using long words, trying to be artistic...and losing touch".
The Oi! genre began in the latter part of the 1970s, fusing the styles of early punk bands such as The Clash and the Ramones; early British rock (i.e. the Rolling Stones, The Who); football chants; pub rock (i.e.101ers, Eddie and the Hot Rods); and glam rock bands (i.e. Slade, Sweet). The first Oi! bands included Sham 69, c**k Sparrer, the Cockney Rejects and the Angelic Upstarts, although some of them were around for years before the word Oi! was used to describe their style of music. The first incarnation of Skrewdriver, which began in 1976, is often described as Oi!, although the band never participated in the official Oi! scene. The original wave of Oi! bands was followed by groups such as The Business, The Last Resort, The 4-Skins, Blitz, Combat 84, Infa Riot, The Blood, Condemned 84 and The Oppressed.
Originally the music style was called street punk, streetpunk, new punk or real punk. Other terms that have been used at certain points are street rock, street rock 'n' roll, Oi!/street punk streetpunk/Oi!. It wasn't until the early 1980s that music journalist Garry Bushell labeled the movement Oi!, supposedly derived from the Cockney Rejects song Oi! Oi! Oi!. The word Oi! is an old Cockney expression, simply meaning hey! or hello! The general ideology of the original Oi! movement was a rough sort of quasi-socialist working class populism. Lyrical topics included unemployment, workers' rights, police harassment and government oppression. They also covered less-political topics like street violence, football (with chants), sex and alcohol. Although Oi! has become to be considered mainly a skinhead-oriented genre, the first Oi! bands were mostly comprised of punk rockers and people who fit neither the skinhead nor punk label.
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of "rock n’ roll" music to emerge during the 1950s. It is a combination of Hillbilly Boogie, Western Swing, and Jump blues. Although there are notable exceptions, its origins lie in the American South. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, rockabilly enjoyed a major revival of popularity and has remained an important subculture since.
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a genre of music generally described as a mix between the punk rock of the 1970s and the American rockabilly of the 1950s.
The genre is characterized by lyrical references to horror films, violence, exploitation films, lurid sexuality and other topics generally considered taboo — sometimes presented in a comedic, tongue-in-cheek fashion. Psychobilly music is often played with an upright bass instead of an electric bass.
The term psychobilly was first used by Wayne Kemp when he penned the Johnny Cash song "One Piece At A Time", a Top 10 hit in 1976. Although the song is not musically categorized as psychobilly, the lyrics refer to a "psychobilly Cadillac." The term came into use as a music genre a few years later, when the Cramps described their music as "psychobilly" and "rockabilly voodoo" on flyers advertising their concerts. Also called "Mutant Rockabilly". Although the Cramps rejected the idea of being a part of a psychobilly subculture, they — along with artists such as Screamin' Jay Hawkins and the Stray Cats — are considered important precursors to psychobilly. Specifically, it was the group's recorded version of "She Said" by Hasil Adkins that connected them to an earlier, more primitive rockabilly sound. Musically speaking, there are also antecedents in the garage rock genre of the 1960s and the pub rock scene of the 1970s.
The Meteors, who formed in South London in 1980, are considered the first verifiable psychobilly band. One member was part of the rockabilly subculture; another was part of the punk subculture; and the other was a horror movie fan. Their musical and lyrical ideas overlapped to create psychobilly as it is known today. The Meteors invented the idea that psychobilly should be apolitical, by encouraging their concerts to be "politics-free" zones to avoid disputes among fans, as was common in the punk rock scene of the time.
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used to describe a number of performers who were important precursors of punk rock, or who have been cited by early punk rockers as influential. Often, protopunk bands were not considered punk themselves.
Most protopunkers are rock and roll performers of the 1960s and early-1970s, though some earlier performers have been cited. Garage rock in general has been cited as quite influential in the development of punk rock. Many such garage rock artists can be found on the Nuggets compilations.
Protopunk has proven difficult to define, and many widely different groups have been so dubbed. Most had a certain attitude or appearance seen as important, as opposed to any specific musical tendencies. Significant examples include Eddie Cochran (frequently called the "godfather of punk", Lou Reed (often called the "Father of Punk" wink and the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith (jokingly referred to as the grandmother of punk) John Cale, The Fugs, Iggy Pop (commonly nicknamed the "Godfather of Punk" and claimed as influential by many early punk artists) and his band the Stooges, as well as the Who and the Kinks (both bands noted for influencing such groups as the Ramones and the Clash), the Sonics, Alice Cooper, the MC5, Blue Öyster Cult, the Monks, Rocket from the Tombs, David Bowie, Peter Hammill, the Modern Lovers, ? and the Mysterians (the first band to have been labeled under the punk rock banner), electric eels, Doctors of Madness, T. Rex, Link Wray, The Dictators, the New York Dolls, and to an extent, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
Post Punk
Post-punk was a popular musical movement beginning at the end of the 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock "explosion" of the mid 1970s.
Shoegazing
Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze or shoegazer; practitioners referred to as shoegazers) is a genre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s, lasting until the mid 1990s, peaking circa 1990 to 1991. British music press, like NME and Melody Maker, called this genre "shoegazing" because the musicians in these bands maintained a motionless performing style, where they stood on stage and stared at the floor while playing their instruments, hence the idea that they were gazing at their shoes. The shoegazing sound featured extensive use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars. Few shoegazers were dynamic performers or interesting interviewees, which prevented them from breaking through into markets in the United States. A lump description given to many of these bands was "The Scene That Celebrates Itself." In the 1990s, shoegaze groups were pushed aside by the likes of American grunge and Britpop, forcing bands to breakup or evolve into a different style
Common musical elements in shoegazing are distortion (aka "fuzzbox" wink , droning riffs and a "wall of sound" from noisy guitars. Typically, two distorted rhythm guitars are played together to give an amorphous quality to the sound. Although lead guitar riffs were often present, they were not the central focus of most shoegazing songs.
Vocals are typically subdued in volume and tone, but underneath the layers of guitars is generally a strong sense of melody. While the genres which influenced shoegazing often used drum machines, shoegazing more often features live drumming. Chapterhouse and Seefeel utilised both samples and live drumming.
The name was coined in a review in Sounds of a concert by the newly-formed Moose in which singer Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor throughout the gig. The term was picked up by the New Musical Express, who used it as a reference to the tendency of the bands' guitarists to stare at their feet (or their effects pedals), seemingly deep in concentration, while playing. Melody Maker preferred the more staid term The Scene That Celebrates Itself, referring to the habit which the bands had of attending gigs of other shoegazing bands, often in Camden, and often moonlighting in each other's bands.
New Wave
New Wave is a term that has been used to describe many developments in music, but is most commonly associated with a movement in Western popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s inspired by the punk rock movement. New Wave music was initially marketed as a more commercial or chart-friendly version of punk.[1] The style was often mixed with other genres, such as Funk, Reggae and Ska.
The term New Wave itself is a source of much confusion. Originally, Seymour Stein, the head of Sire Records, needed a term by which he could market his newly signed bands, who had frequently played the club CBGB. Because radio consultants in the U.S. had advised their clients that punk rock was a fad (and because many stations that had embraced disco had been hurt by the backlash), Stein settled on the term "new wave". He felt that the music was the musical equivalent of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s.[citation needed] Like those film makers, his new artists (most notably Talking Heads) were anti-corporate, experimental, and a generation that had grown up as critical consumers of the art they now practiced. Thus, the term "new wave" was initially interchangeable with "punk".
Darkwave
Dark Wave, also written as Darkwave, is an umbrella term which refers to a movement that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave. Building upon the basic principles of New Wave, Dark Wave evolved through the addition of dark, thoughtful lyrics and an undertone of sorrow. Dark Wave is inseparably connected with the stylistic developments of the late 1970s and the 1980s. In the 1980s a versatile subculture developed within the Dark Wave movement, whose members were called wavers.
different genres such as gothic rock, synthpop, neofolk, medieval and music styles from the post-industrial era. A few examples that are representative for these overlaps are The Sisters of Mercy, In The Nursery, Sopor Aeternus or Diary of Dreams.
GOTH ROCK
Gothic rock (sometimes called goth rock or simply, goth) is a genre of rock music that originated during the late 1970s. Originally bands from the genre were referred to as positive-punk by the music press, and had strong ties to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk styles.
The genre itself was defined as a separate movement from punk rock during the early 1980s. Some gothic rock bands were more art and introspectively based than punk rock. Gothic rock dealt with dark-themes and intellectual movements such as gothic horror, Romanticism, existential philosophy, and nihilism. Notable gothic rock bands include Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, and The Mission.
Largely separate from other genres of alternative rock of the 1980s, gothic rock gave rise to a broader goth subculture that includes goth clubs, goth fashions, and goth-oriented magazines
Deathrock
A subgenre of both goth and punk, drawing from the macabre and horro centric imagery and expression of goth with the style and energy of punk. It evolved in the early 80's late 70's almost paralleling goth in popularity peaks during this period.
New Deathrock
An evolution of the classical deathrock paralleling the progression of some pos tpunk acts into electronica/electro-punk acts. The concept and style of the music is the same, and often can be confused for older bands, but the use of synthesizers and more modern musical "sounds" shows the difference, often replacing the tribal beats for more dancy/upbeat rhythms.
bands include:
All gone dead, bella morte, p***s flytrap, astrovamps
Electronic Body music(EBM)
From wiki"
In the early 1980s artists like Front 242 or Nitzer Ebb (both influenced by acts such as Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle) started to combine German electropunk with elements of the British industrial music. The result of this mixture was a straight danceable sound that was called EBM back in 1984. Notable EBM albums include Front 242's "Official Version" and Nitzer Ebb's "That Total Age", both released in 1987."
Characterised by a 4/4 time signature, it sounds like rave music mixed with rock and roll.
Progressive Metal
Progressive metal (also known as Prog Metal or Prog) is a style of heavy metal that uses strange time signatures and complex song structure, similar to that of Progressive Rock. Some progressive metal bands are also influenced by jazz fusion and classical music. Like progressive rock songs, progressive metal songs are usually much longer than standard metal songs, and they are often thematically linked in concept albums.
The origins of progressive metal can be traced back to progressive rock bands from the late 1960s and early to mid-1970s such as Yes, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Genesis, early Queen, Uriah Heep and Rush. The latter 3 also often blended metal elements into their music. However, progressive metal did not develop into a genre of its own until the mid-1980s. Bands such as Rainbow had many qualities of progressive metal. Bands such as Fates Warning, Queensrÿche and Dream Theater took elements of these progressive rock groups – primarily the instrumentation and compositional structure of songs – and merged them with heavy metal styles associated with pre-1991 Metallica and Megadeth. The result could be described as a progressive rock mentality with heavy metal sounds.
Progressive metal received mainstream exposure in the early 1990s when Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity" (from 1990's Empire) became a radio and MTV hit. It was not a typical progressive metal song, but its popularity increased the profile of other progressive metal bands. In 1993, Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under" (from 1992's Images and Words) became popular on radio and MTV. 1990s bands such as Pain of Salvation, Opeth, Ayreon, and Symphony X developed their own signature sounds.
Pain of Salvation drew heavily on more obscure 1970s prog acts. Ayreon stayed with the traditional Prog Metal themes, but mixed them with Rock Opera influences. Symphony X married progressive elements to neoclassical metal, bridging the gap between the two sub-genres. Steve Vai's former singer and heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad's singer and guitarist Devin Townsend combined ambient elements to 1980's progressive metal on his first two solo albums Ocean Machine: Biomech and Infinity. Opeth combined their prog influence with death metal. Another influence on prog metal was "technical metal" bands, such as Death, Watchtower, Atheist and Cynic, which played complex song structures and used virtuoso instrumental playing.
Bands like Sun Caged and Circus Maximus are influenced by traditional progressive metal and several of the first wave of 1990s bands. Bands such as Dark Suns, Disillusion, or Conscience are influenced by emotional progressive metal bands like Opeth, Pain of Salvation, Green Carnation and Anathema. Sweden's Tiamat have also been influential in the progressive metal genre, especially on their 1994's breakthrough-album Wildhoney.
Emo began as the name of a subgenre of hardcore punk music however since its inception, emo has come to describe several independent variations, linked loosely but with common ancestry. As such, use of the term has been the subject of much debate.
In its original incarnation, the term emo was used to describe the music of the mid-1980s Washington, DC scene and its associated bands. In later years, the term emocore, short for "emotional hardcore", was also used to describe the DC scene and some of the regional scenes that spawned from it. The term emo was derived from the fact that, on occasion, members of a band would become spontaneously and strongly emotional during performances. The most recognizable names of the period included Rites of Spring, Embrace, One Last Wish, Beefeater, Gray Matter, Fire Party, and, slightly later, Moss Icon. The first wave of emo began to fade after the breakups of most of the involved bands in the early 1990s.
Starting in the mid-1990s, the term emo began to reflect the indie scene that followed the influences of Fugazi, which itself was an offshoot of the first wave of emo. Bands including Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas Is the Reason put forth a more indie rock style of emo, more melodic and less chaotic in nature than its predecessor. The so-called "indie emo" scene survived until the late 1990s, as many of the bands either disbanded or shifted to mainstream styles.
As the remaining indie emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the more mainstream style, creating a style of music that has now earned the moniker emo within popular culture. Whereas, even in the past, the term emo was used to identify a wide variety of bands, the breadth of bands listed under today's emo is even more vast, leaving the term "emo" as more of a loose identifier than as a specific genre of music.
Hardcore
Hardcore punk (usually referred to simply as hardcore) is a subgenre of punk rock which originated in the United States of America in the late 1970s. It emerged as the first wave of punk artists disbanded or moved onto different genres and the left behind artists became more underground and 'hardcore.' The sound is thicker, heavier, and faster than 1970s-style punk rock. It is characterized by short, loud, and passionate songs
Punk
Punk rock is an anti-establishment rock music genre and movement that emerged in the mid-1970s. Preceded by a variety of protopunk music of the 1960s and early 1970s, punk rock developed between 1974 and 1977 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, where groups such as the The Sex Pistols and Ramones were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement.
Punk bands, eschewing the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock, created short, fast, hard music, with stripped-down instrumentation and often political or nihilistic lyrics. The associated punk subculture expresses youthful rebellion, distinctive clothing styles, a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies, and a DIY (do it yourself) attitude.
Punk rock became a major phenomenon in the United Kingdom during the late 1970s; its popularity elsewhere was more limited. During the 1980s, forms of punk rock emerged in small scenes around the world, often rejecting commercial success and association with mainstream culture. By the turn of the century, punk rock's legacy had led to development of the alternative rock movement, and new punk bands popularized the genre decades after its first heyday.
Pop Punk
With their love of the Beach Boys and the classic girl group sound, the Ramones had pointed the way to what would become known as pop punk from the earliest days of the punk scene. In the late 1970s, UK bands such as the Buzzcocks and The Undertones, the latter strongly influenced by glam rock, combined pop-style tunes and lyrical themes with punk's speed, concision, and chaotic edge. In the early 1980s, some of the leading bands in southern California's hardcore scene emphasized a more melodic approach than was typical of their peers: Bad Religion "layered their pissed off, politicized sound with the smoothest of harmonies"; the Descendents "wrote almost surfy, Beach Boys?inspired songs about girls and food and being young(ish)". Epitaph Records, founded by members of Bad Religion, was the base for many future pop-punk bands, including NOFX, who brought their ska-influenced skate-punk rhythms to the mix. Groups that fused punk rock with pop melodies?such as The Queers and Screeching Weasel?began appearing around the country, in turn influencing bands like Green Day and blink-182, who would bring pop punk to the mainstream. Bands like The Vandals and Guttermouth were also influential for blending pop melodies with humorous and offensive lyrics. Pop punk bands like Good Charlotte and Sum 41 maintained the popularity of the genre in the mainstream into the early 2000s. The music of such mainstream latter-day bands is criticized by many punk devotees; in critic Christine Di Bella's words, "It's punk taken to its most accessible point, a point where it barely reflects its lineage at all, except in the three-chord song structures
Heavy Metal
Heavy metal (sometimes referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed between 1969 and 1974. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the use of highly-amplified distortion and fast guitar solos. Allmusic declares, "Of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality."
Throughout its history heavy metal has had a large world-wide following of fans known by terms such as "metalheads" and "headbangers". Early heavy metal bands Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were popular but critically reviled at the time, a trend that has been present throughout the history of metal. As the original wave of heavy metal bands began to wane, the late 1970s brought the New Wave of British Heavy Metal which stripped away much of the music's blues influence instead fusing it with punk rock innovations and some of its aesthetic. Heavy metal became extremely popular in the 1980s, at which time many of the now existing subgenres first evolved. Some subgenres, often more aggressive and extreme than metal music of the past, were often restricted to underground audiences, but some like glam metal and to a lesser extent thrash metal were able to gain mainstream commercial success. In recent years subgenres like nu metal have broadened the scope of what is considered heavy metal while much of the metal music of the past is being critically reevaluated.
Grindcore
Grindcore, often shortened to grind, is an evolution of hardcore punk, most commonly associated with death metal and crust punk. Grindcore is characterized by heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, blastbeats, hardcore punk and crossover thrash influenced riffing, short songs, and a vocal style consisting of growls and higher-pitched vocals, often similar to those found in black metal. Lyrical concepts range from social and political issues to gore and horror to humor.
Death Metal
Death metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that evolved out of thrash metal during the early 1980s.
Death metal generally includes violent or dark lyrics which focus on death as a nihilistic metaphor, chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure without a standard verse-chorus arrangement; compositions instead emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs. The genre is often identified with downtuned rhythm guitars, fast percussion, and dynamic intensity. Blast beats, exceedingly fast drum patterns, are frequently used to add to the ferocity of the genre. The vocals are often grunts, snarls, and low gurgles colloquially called death grunts or death growls. Death grunts require use of the throat and guts, unlike traditional singing techniques which discourage this technique.
Metalcore
Metalcore is a rock style mixing sound of heavy metal styles and hardcore punk.
Defining the metalcore sound is not an easy task, as various bands have fused a hardcore-influenced sound and attitude with many different types of metal. The earliest signs of this before being labeled metalcore was 'crossover thrash'. The band that declared the crossover was Dirty Rotten Imbeciles on their late 1980s album of the same name. Other bands, like Nuclear Assault and Suicidal Tendencies, are leading edge pioneers themselves.
It should be noted that metalcore and crossover are generally considered separate identities, with "crossover" referring to a mix of thrash metal and hardcore punk, and metalcore being a slower, heavier, hardcore-rooted style influenced by thrash metal and death metal.
Black Metal
Black metal is a type of extreme heavy metal music that started in the early 1980s. The genre is characterized by an aggressive and abrasive sound, coupled with a dark atmosphere that rejects Right Hand Path sentiments.
The first bands with black metal characteristics included Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and Venom. These bands were thrash metal bands that formed the prototype for the later second generation of black metal. The second wave of black metal started in the late 1980s and early 1990s, primarily in Norway. Black metal has been met with considerable hostility from mainstream culture, mainly because of the hateful and anti-religious attitude of many bands. Additionally, a few black metal bands have been known to have associations with church burnings, murder, and in rare instances National Socialism (Nazism).
Grunge
Grunge music (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a genre of alternative rock inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock. Grunge was created in the mid-1980s by bands from Washington state, particularly in the Seattle area.
It became commercially successful in the first half of the 1990s, due mainly to the release of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. The genre is closely associated with Generation X in the US, since the popularity of the genre and usage of the generational term rose simultaneously. Grunge was an early defining musical phenomenon of the 1990s, which distinguished 1990s rock music from that of the 1980s.
Grunge music is generally characterized by "dirty" guitar, strong riffs, and heavy drumming. The "dirty" sound resulted both from the common use of heavy guitar distortion and feedback, and from a stylistic change in the standard method of playing punk rock. Grunge involves slower tempos and dissonant harmonies that are generally not found in punk.
The lyrics concern similar themes such as social alienation, apathy, entrapment and a desire for freedom. They are typically angst-filled — anger, frustration, ennui, fear, depression and drug addiction are often explored in grunge songs. The lyricism bears similarities to those of punk and the perceptions of Generation X. A number of factors may have influenced these lyrics. Many grunge musicians and fans displayed a general disenchantment with the state of society and discomfort with social prejudices. They were often identified as 'slackers' and drug use was widespread. Also, many grunge musicians began their careers as teenagers or young adults, when feelings of angst are common. Nonetheless, not all grunge songs dealt with such themes: Nirvana's satirical "In Bloom" is a notable example of more humorous writing. In fact, several grunge songs are filled with either a dark or fun sense of humor as well (for example, Mudhoney's "Touch Me, I'm Sick" or Tad's "Stumblin' Man" wink , though this often went unnoticed by the general public. Humor in grunge often satirized glam metal (for example, Soundgarden's "Big Dumb Sex" wink and other forms of rock music that were popular during the 1980s
Thrash Metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music, one of the extreme metal subgenres, that is characterised by its high speed and aggression.
The origins of thrash metal are generally traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a number of bands began incorporating the sound of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of hardcore punk (in particular its drum tempos), creating a new genre and developing into a separate movement from punk rock. This genre is much more aggressive compared to its relative, speed metal. There is often significant crossover from one metal category to another, and the influence of non-metal genres, including classical music and jazz, is not uncommon.
The genre features fast tempos, low-register, quick, complex guitar riffs, and high-register guitar solos. Palm muting is used in these tightly controlled riffs to create a "chugging" sound. Thrash guitar solos are almost exclusively played at high speed, as they are usually characterised by shredding, and use techniques such as sweep picking, legato phrasing, alternate picking, string skipping, and two-hand tapping. Thrash lead guitarists are rooted in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, but with more influence from progressive rock and speed metal. As with many other metal subgenres, thrash lead guitarists are often influenced by outside musical genres too, such as jazz fusion (Ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland) and classical music , such as Marty Friedman and Alex Skolnick, have lead styles that could be grouped in the neoclassical shred genre.
The speed and pacing of the songs is what defines thrash metal. The music tends to have a visceral, propellant feel to it due to the often intense drumming, most commonly utilizing the snare drum on the 1/2 beat, or the 2nd and 4th beats of the measure. Frantic bass drum use is also common. Thrash drummers use two foot-pedaled bass drums, known as "double bass" or a "double kick" almost exclusively. Many thrash drummers, such as Dave Lombardo, Jürgen Reil, Gene Hoglan, Lars Ulrich, and Charlie Benante, are revered as some of the best drummers in rock music, due to their ability with the double bass as well as adequately keeping time. Due to the genre's high speed, many thrash bassists use a pick to keep up with the other instruments. However, a few prominent bassists in the subgenre, including Carl Peterson, Frank Bello, Greg Christian and Cliff Burton have shunned the use of the pick. Distorted bass (popularized by Burton and Lemmy) is not uncommon.
Speed Metal
Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that spawned in the mid-late 1970s and was the direct musical progenitor of thrash metal. When Speed metal first emerged as a genre, it innovatively increased the tempo of the music template set forth by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple while keeping their melodic ideas. Speed Metal can find its significant beginnings with NWOBHM bands.
Many speed metal bands also ostensibly fall within the categories of other heavy metal sub-genres, typically Thrash metal, Shred metal and Power metal. This is mainly due to the influence speed metal had on the development of these genres, although it should also be mentioned that Speed metal was used by some Glam metal and NWOBHM groups during the 1980s. Many Japanese bands from the 1980s to the present can also be described as speed metal, largely due to the success of X Japan.
Power Metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal music with the aim of evoking an "epic" feel, incorporating characteristics of primarily traditional metal along with thrash metal or speed metal, often within symphonic context. There is some dispute about the term, which can refer to two different, but related styles: one pioneered and largely practiced in North America, and one based in Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. In contemporary usage, "power metal" describes music influenced by or derived from the European variant, with the exception of several American bands that are associated with both power metal and thrash metal. (Iced Earth and Nevermore.)
Power metal, as the term is used today, is associated with an epic sound, one tempered by some of the characteristics of speed metal, the genre's musical forerunner. Power metal's lyrics are unique in that they tend not to relate to "the real world" - personal experience, historical incidents, social commentary. Instead, common sources of power metal lyrics are religion, mythology, science fiction and fantasy. (Especially high fantasy) Power metal lyrics are widely associated with being "upbeat" or "optimistic." Though this is not always the case, many bands do adopt such a lyrical style.
Power metal is a style highly focused on the vocalist, with "clean" vocals being much more prevalent than the growling vocals often associated with death metal and black metal. Following in the tradition of Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford and other heavy metal vocalists, power metal vocals are often in a high register. The majority of the genre's vocalists sing in the tenor range with the ability to hit very high notes (with the exception of former Iced Earth frontman Matt Barlow (although in certain songs like Creator Failure, Barlow hits very high notes reminiscent of Rob Halford) and Sabaton frontman Joakim Broden, who sing in either baritone or bass range). Some power metal vocalists, including Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian and Matt Smith of Theocracy, record multi-layered vocals reminiscent of Queen, creating a choral effect. Few power metal bands include vocalists that double as instrumentalists, but this setup is not unheard of, though it is somewhat uncommon.
Power metal guitarists and bassists generally play rapid streams of notes, but change chords comparatively slowly, with a harmonic tempo of once per measure or slower. Fast and demanding guitar solos, however, are almost guaranteed.
A number of power metal drummers generally play with two bass drums for added speed, utilizing them to play a constant stream of sixteenth notes (semiquavers) with snare drum accents on the beat. This style is fairly common in power metal as in other heavy metal subgenres, though it is by no means universal.
Power metal bands often incorporate keyboards into their musical arrangements, though their usage varies from subtle accents to a full-blown melody line. The Italian band Rhapsody of Fire has also been known to record with more symphonic elements, and as such, they utilize a full orchestra to fill the role a keyboard plays in other power metal bands.
This style is very popular, but slowly diminishing in Europe, Japan, and some countries of South America (including Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile), and has a slow popularity in North America, notably in the province of Quebec, Canada, where it has a very strong fan base. The popularity of power metal has been largely increased by the British band DragonForce.
Glam Metal
Glam metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that arose in the late 1970s in the United States. It was a dominant genre in popular rock music throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
The genre is also referred to, often by detractors, as hair metal. This term was popularized by MTV in the 1990s and derives from the tendency amongst some bands to style their long hair in a teased-up fashion. In modern culture, fans of the style have embraced the term glam metal. During its heyday, the genre was often referred to as heavy metal or simply metal
Generally, glam metal has hedonistic lyrics, often focuses on sex, alcohol, and drugs, and many of the first wave bands had songs pertaining to the occult. Musically, glam metal songs often featured distorted guitar riffs, shred guitar solos, anthemic choruses, hard hitting drumming, and complementary bass. Glam metal is often frowned upon by other genres of metal as being too pop influenced. Nevertheless, this can vary from band to band and depends largely on which time frame they played the style.
Many glam metal performers became infamous for their debauched lifestyles, long, teased hair, and use of make-up, gaudy clothing, and accessories – traits somewhat reminiscent of glam rock, a music genre which first emerged in the United Kingdom during the early 1970s. However, the earlier groups of the genre also implemented some of the leather and studs imagery which had previously been made famous by Judas Priest.
The genre took influence heavily from 1970s rock and heavy metal bands, with large sections taking influence from the likes of; Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, KISS, Led Zeppelin, New York Dolls, Queen, The Sweet, Van Halen, and others. Equally important was the influence of later new wave of British heavy metal bands such as Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Saxon and Iron Maiden.
A few bands had previously experimented with mixing glam rock and heavy metal prior to the 1980s when glam metal became emerged as a fully fledged genre. Angel, Starz, and Legs Diamond were prime examples of this. However, it wasn't until the early 1980s that the genre truly began to gather speed and thus some of the earlier bands mentioned are not always viewed as part of it.
Industrial
Industrial music is a loose term for a number of different styles of electronic and experimental music. First used in the mid-1970s to describe the then-unique sound of Industrial Records artists, a wide variety of labels and artists have since come to be called "Industrial". This definition may include avant-garde performance artists such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten, Coil and Laibach; noise projects like Merzbow or Sutcliffe Jugend or writers like William S. Burroughs and J.G. Ballard.
The term was meant by its creators to evoke the idea of music created for a new generation of people, previous music being more "agricultural". Specifically, it might have referred to the streamlined process by which the music was being made, although many people now interpret the word as a poetic reference to an "industrial" aesthetic, recalling factories and inhuman machinery. On this topic, Peter Christopherson of Industrial Records once remarked, "the original idea of Industrial Records was to reject what the growing industry was telling you at the time what music was supposed to be."
Industrial Metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre which draws elements from industrial music and heavy metal music. Industrial metal music is usually centered around metal guitar riffs and industrial synthesizer/sequencer lines, heavily distorted, very low pitched guitars, as well as harsh vocals, but in some instances can have clean vocals. This term is used quite loosely, describing everything from industrial bands sampling metal riffs to heavy metal groups augmented with sequencers. Industrial metal encompasses industrial subgenres such as aggro-industrial and coldwave (see list of industrial music subgenres) and often overlaps some elements of nu-metal and post-punk.
It is difficult to distinguish many industrial metal artists and industrial rock because both genres leave much room for ingenuity and creativity. By convention, all industrial metal artists may be more vaguely described as industrial rock as well, but not all industrial rock artists are properly described as industrial metal.
Deathcore/Death Metalcore
Deathcore (or Death Metalcore) is an amalgamation of two musical styles: metalcore and death metal. While similar to slam death metal and deathgrind, deathcore's aesthetics and following are more closely related to metalcore, but is at the same time influenced by death metal in its speed, heaviness, and approach to riffing. The lyrics may not always be in the death metal vein, but traditional growls, pig-like vocals (known as "pig squeals" wink , and shrieks predominate, with metalcore vocals rarely being used. Though the genre's breakdowns are attributed to a metalcore influence, death metal bands have used breakdowns in the past, as can be heard on Morta Skuld's 1991 demo, Prolong the Agony. Death metal veterans Suffocation were also among one of the first death metal groups to make the breakdown a staple in their music.
Some bands, such as Abscess, Unseen Terror, and Six Feet Under, have used the term "deathcore" to describe hardcore punk/death metal hybrids, though these groups have little in common with the metalcore-derived bands of today. "Deathcore" was also used as early as the mid-1980s by at least one extreme metal band, Germany's Blood, though the group used "deathcore" only as the title for their 1986 demo. Others such as Norwegian industrial black/death metal act Amok have used the word "deathcore" without any relation to the currently developing homogenized American style of metal that goes by the same name, most recently in their 2006 release "Necrospiritual Deathcore". It should be noted that many of these earlier deathcore groups were formed by members (or future members) of established death metal acts, including Shane Embury of Napalm Death, Chris Barnes of Cannibal Corpse, and both Danny Coralles and Chris Reifert of Autopsy.
Screamo
Screamo is a musical genre which evolved from emocore, hardcore punk in the early 1990s. Characteristic of the genre are screaming vocals, harmonized guitars, and fast-paced riffs. Breakdowns in screamo songs are often slower and more melodic than in other genres, less of a "beatdown" and more of an opportunity for introspection (and rest for the musicians). Other than that, it is fairly hard to classify (particularly since the rule about screaming vocals is bent fairly often). In addition to that, screamo has significant overlap with other genres like grindcore and even post rock.
Post-Rock
Post-rock is a music genre characterized by non-traditional use of rock instruments and high musical density. Although firmly rooted in the indie scene, post-rock's style bears little resemblance musically to that of indie rock. However, as post-rock music is often recorded on independent labels, indie and post-rock often share the same level of obscurity.
Celtic Metal
This popular variation of folk metal uses the melodies and/or instrumentation of Celtic folk music. The large number of bands pursuing a Celtic metal direction include Amorphis (The Karelian Isthmus), Cruachan, Geasa, Waylander, Primordial, Mael Mórdha, Eluveitie, Aes Dana, Tuatha de Danann, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Bran Barr, Heol Telwen and Thanateros.
Folk punk
Folk punk, in its most general sense, is a genre (or set of genres) of music that combine elements of folk and punk rock music. It can also describe the people, culture, etc that surround such a genre. In some usage (especially American) it describes fusion with American folk music; other blends of punk and folk/traditional genres may be described differently (e.g. Celtic punk), although the usage and delineation of such terms varies. Folk punk can also be seen as a subgenre of folk rock, as well as punk and folk music.
Like its punk and folk roots, folk punk usually focuses on political issues from the radical left and anarchist side of the spectrum, but often incorporates a personal perspective to these views. Folk punk embraces a legacy of traditional folk music, typified by themes of working class solidarity and resistance in the face of the perceived problems of industrialization and modern capitalism.
Mathcore
Mathcore (also known as tech. hardcore) is a style of metalcore recognized for a high level of technical musicianship. The subgenre has its roots in bands like Deadguy, Converge, Kiss It Goodbye, August Burns Red, Training for Utopia, Botch, The Hubble Constant, Coalesce, Bloodlet, Gorguts, Groundwork, Resurrection, The Human Abstract, Acme, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The End, Sikth, Nerv, Into the Moat, Starkweather, The Number 12 Looks Like You, and Between The Buried and Me.
The music is usually filled with discordant, somewhat technical riffing, complex time signatures and song structures, and passionate, energetic vocals. Songs played by bands of this style tend to vary from mere seconds in length to over 15 minutes and rarely feature a conventional verse-chorus song structure. Bands of the mathcore genre, because they are not commercially viable, are often categorized differently depending upon the whims of journalists. Because metalcore is a hardcore punk/heavy metal crossover, bands such as Converge, and The Dillinger Escape Plan are often referred to as "hardcore," and still others, such as As the Sun Sets and Daughters, are labelled as grindcore and noisecore, though only influenced by one or both genres. Other styles of music, such as blues-rock and free jazz, have been known to inspire various mathcore bands. Coalesce have been influenced by the former, to the extent of releasing a Led Zeppelin cover EP named There Is Nothing New Under the Sun, whereas The Dillinger Escape Plan are known to credit the latter.
Horror Punk
Horror punk (ghoul rock) is a music genre that was defined by the band The Misfits, blending horror movie lyrical themes and imagery with musical influences from early punk rock, doo-wop, and, to a lesser degree, rockabilly.
Horror punk bands usually tell tales through their lyrics, which are often related to horror films, black humor, and horror stories or novels. The horror punk genre has a thriving underground following, with websites and concert festivals, such as the Fiend Fest. The fan base has been tied to the resurgence of the closely-related genres, psychobilly and deathrock.
Anarcho-punk
A surge of popular interest in anarchism occurred during the 1970s in the United Kingdom following the birth of punk rock, in particular the Situationist-influenced graphics of Sex Pistols artist Jamie Reid, as well as that band's first single, "Anarchy in the UK." However, while the early punk scene appropriated anarchist imagery mainly for its shock value, Crass may have been the first punk band to expound serious anarchist and pacifist ideas. The concept of anarcho-punk was quickly picked up on by bands like Flux of Pink Indians and Conflict. Crass co-founder Penny Rimbaud has said he feels that the anarcho-punks were representative of true punk, while bands such as Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned were nothing more than "music business puppets".
As the 1980s progressed, two new punk styles evolved out of anarcho-punk: crust punk and d-beat. Crust punk mixed anarcho-punk with an extreme metal sound, and was pioneered by bands such as Antisect, Sacrilege and Amebix. D-beat was a faster, more brutal form of punk music, and was created by bands like Discharge and The Varukers. Somewhat later on in the 1980s, grindcore developed out of anarcho-punk. Similar to crust punk but perhaps even more musically extreme (grindcore employed blast beats and incomprihensible vocals), it was pioneered by bands such as Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror. Parallel to the development of these subgenres, many bands in the American hardcore punk scene were adopting anarcho-punk ideology, including MDC and Reagan Youth.
Anarcho-punk in the 2000s has been more musically diverse than in the 1970s and 1980s. In adition to previously established subgenres, anarcho-punk encompasses punk blues artists like Darren Deicide, pop punk artists such as Girlband and Propagandhi, New Wave artists such as Honey Bane, and folk punk bands such as The Weakerthans and Against Me!. Some anarcho-punk bands even incorporate indie rock or indie pop, such as the Nation of Ulysses (who became an emo band later on). Fairly recently, bands such as Axiom, Destroy and Disrupt have fused the grindcore and crust punk sounds.
Digital Hardcore often takes an anarchist stance in their lyrics, as typified by genre pioneers Atari Teenage Riot. Digital Hardcore mixes punk (and sometimes rap) vocals with elements of many different genres, mainly Hardcore Techno, Thrash Metal, Noisecore and distorted soundscape backings.
Crust Punk
Crust punk (sometimes called crustcore or stenchcore) is one of the many extreme evolutions of anarcho-punk. Crust punk was created by combining anarcho-punk with Speed Metal/thrash metal and proto-thrash metal, with later bands incorporating elements of death metal and black metal. Crust punk is characterized by guttural or shrill vocals (often in the form of dual vocals) and an unpolished gritty, bass-heavy sound. Crust is very closely related to and influenced by D-beat, anarcho-punk, and grindcore.
D-Beat
D-beat punk is a style of hardcore punk that has existed since the early 1980s, pioneered by bands such as Discharge and the Varukers. It also refers to the drum beat that the genre is known for.
D-beat is a drum beat, specifically a fast rock beat unique to Hardcore Punk, especially in its UK and European variants and that inspired metal bands such as Hellhammer and Venom. Its name is derived from the British band Discharge, as they relied so heavily on this specific beat for the first few years of their career. Discharge's first-known use of this style appeared on their 1980 debut single, Realities Of War. The D-beat actually predates this; one earlier example can be heard in the song "You Tear Me Up" from the Buzzcocks' 1978 debut album Another Music in a Different Kitchen and in the song "Helpless" from Diamond Head on their 1980 debut album Lightning to the Nations.
Oi! Punk
Oi! is a working class street-level subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
The music and associated subculture had the goal of promoting unity between punks, skinheads and other non-aligned working class youths (sometimes called herberts). The Oi! movement was partly a response to a sense that many participants in the early punk rock scene were, in the words of The Business guitarist Steve Kent, "trendy university people using long words, trying to be artistic...and losing touch".
The Oi! genre began in the latter part of the 1970s, fusing the styles of early punk bands such as The Clash and the Ramones; early British rock (i.e. the Rolling Stones, The Who); football chants; pub rock (i.e.101ers, Eddie and the Hot Rods); and glam rock bands (i.e. Slade, Sweet). The first Oi! bands included Sham 69, c**k Sparrer, the Cockney Rejects and the Angelic Upstarts, although some of them were around for years before the word Oi! was used to describe their style of music. The first incarnation of Skrewdriver, which began in 1976, is often described as Oi!, although the band never participated in the official Oi! scene. The original wave of Oi! bands was followed by groups such as The Business, The Last Resort, The 4-Skins, Blitz, Combat 84, Infa Riot, The Blood, Condemned 84 and The Oppressed.
Originally the music style was called street punk, streetpunk, new punk or real punk. Other terms that have been used at certain points are street rock, street rock 'n' roll, Oi!/street punk streetpunk/Oi!. It wasn't until the early 1980s that music journalist Garry Bushell labeled the movement Oi!, supposedly derived from the Cockney Rejects song Oi! Oi! Oi!. The word Oi! is an old Cockney expression, simply meaning hey! or hello! The general ideology of the original Oi! movement was a rough sort of quasi-socialist working class populism. Lyrical topics included unemployment, workers' rights, police harassment and government oppression. They also covered less-political topics like street violence, football (with chants), sex and alcohol. Although Oi! has become to be considered mainly a skinhead-oriented genre, the first Oi! bands were mostly comprised of punk rockers and people who fit neither the skinhead nor punk label.
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of "rock n’ roll" music to emerge during the 1950s. It is a combination of Hillbilly Boogie, Western Swing, and Jump blues. Although there are notable exceptions, its origins lie in the American South. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, rockabilly enjoyed a major revival of popularity and has remained an important subculture since.
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a genre of music generally described as a mix between the punk rock of the 1970s and the American rockabilly of the 1950s.
The genre is characterized by lyrical references to horror films, violence, exploitation films, lurid sexuality and other topics generally considered taboo — sometimes presented in a comedic, tongue-in-cheek fashion. Psychobilly music is often played with an upright bass instead of an electric bass.
The term psychobilly was first used by Wayne Kemp when he penned the Johnny Cash song "One Piece At A Time", a Top 10 hit in 1976. Although the song is not musically categorized as psychobilly, the lyrics refer to a "psychobilly Cadillac." The term came into use as a music genre a few years later, when the Cramps described their music as "psychobilly" and "rockabilly voodoo" on flyers advertising their concerts. Also called "Mutant Rockabilly". Although the Cramps rejected the idea of being a part of a psychobilly subculture, they — along with artists such as Screamin' Jay Hawkins and the Stray Cats — are considered important precursors to psychobilly. Specifically, it was the group's recorded version of "She Said" by Hasil Adkins that connected them to an earlier, more primitive rockabilly sound. Musically speaking, there are also antecedents in the garage rock genre of the 1960s and the pub rock scene of the 1970s.
The Meteors, who formed in South London in 1980, are considered the first verifiable psychobilly band. One member was part of the rockabilly subculture; another was part of the punk subculture; and the other was a horror movie fan. Their musical and lyrical ideas overlapped to create psychobilly as it is known today. The Meteors invented the idea that psychobilly should be apolitical, by encouraging their concerts to be "politics-free" zones to avoid disputes among fans, as was common in the punk rock scene of the time.
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used to describe a number of performers who were important precursors of punk rock, or who have been cited by early punk rockers as influential. Often, protopunk bands were not considered punk themselves.
Most protopunkers are rock and roll performers of the 1960s and early-1970s, though some earlier performers have been cited. Garage rock in general has been cited as quite influential in the development of punk rock. Many such garage rock artists can be found on the Nuggets compilations.
Protopunk has proven difficult to define, and many widely different groups have been so dubbed. Most had a certain attitude or appearance seen as important, as opposed to any specific musical tendencies. Significant examples include Eddie Cochran (frequently called the "godfather of punk", Lou Reed (often called the "Father of Punk" wink and the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith (jokingly referred to as the grandmother of punk) John Cale, The Fugs, Iggy Pop (commonly nicknamed the "Godfather of Punk" and claimed as influential by many early punk artists) and his band the Stooges, as well as the Who and the Kinks (both bands noted for influencing such groups as the Ramones and the Clash), the Sonics, Alice Cooper, the MC5, Blue Öyster Cult, the Monks, Rocket from the Tombs, David Bowie, Peter Hammill, the Modern Lovers, ? and the Mysterians (the first band to have been labeled under the punk rock banner), electric eels, Doctors of Madness, T. Rex, Link Wray, The Dictators, the New York Dolls, and to an extent, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
Post Punk
Post-punk was a popular musical movement beginning at the end of the 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock "explosion" of the mid 1970s.
Shoegazing
Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze or shoegazer; practitioners referred to as shoegazers) is a genre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s, lasting until the mid 1990s, peaking circa 1990 to 1991. British music press, like NME and Melody Maker, called this genre "shoegazing" because the musicians in these bands maintained a motionless performing style, where they stood on stage and stared at the floor while playing their instruments, hence the idea that they were gazing at their shoes. The shoegazing sound featured extensive use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars. Few shoegazers were dynamic performers or interesting interviewees, which prevented them from breaking through into markets in the United States. A lump description given to many of these bands was "The Scene That Celebrates Itself." In the 1990s, shoegaze groups were pushed aside by the likes of American grunge and Britpop, forcing bands to breakup or evolve into a different style
Common musical elements in shoegazing are distortion (aka "fuzzbox" wink , droning riffs and a "wall of sound" from noisy guitars. Typically, two distorted rhythm guitars are played together to give an amorphous quality to the sound. Although lead guitar riffs were often present, they were not the central focus of most shoegazing songs.
Vocals are typically subdued in volume and tone, but underneath the layers of guitars is generally a strong sense of melody. While the genres which influenced shoegazing often used drum machines, shoegazing more often features live drumming. Chapterhouse and Seefeel utilised both samples and live drumming.
The name was coined in a review in Sounds of a concert by the newly-formed Moose in which singer Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor throughout the gig. The term was picked up by the New Musical Express, who used it as a reference to the tendency of the bands' guitarists to stare at their feet (or their effects pedals), seemingly deep in concentration, while playing. Melody Maker preferred the more staid term The Scene That Celebrates Itself, referring to the habit which the bands had of attending gigs of other shoegazing bands, often in Camden, and often moonlighting in each other's bands.
New Wave
New Wave is a term that has been used to describe many developments in music, but is most commonly associated with a movement in Western popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s inspired by the punk rock movement. New Wave music was initially marketed as a more commercial or chart-friendly version of punk.[1] The style was often mixed with other genres, such as Funk, Reggae and Ska.
The term New Wave itself is a source of much confusion. Originally, Seymour Stein, the head of Sire Records, needed a term by which he could market his newly signed bands, who had frequently played the club CBGB. Because radio consultants in the U.S. had advised their clients that punk rock was a fad (and because many stations that had embraced disco had been hurt by the backlash), Stein settled on the term "new wave". He felt that the music was the musical equivalent of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s.[citation needed] Like those film makers, his new artists (most notably Talking Heads) were anti-corporate, experimental, and a generation that had grown up as critical consumers of the art they now practiced. Thus, the term "new wave" was initially interchangeable with "punk".
Darkwave
Dark Wave, also written as Darkwave, is an umbrella term which refers to a movement that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave. Building upon the basic principles of New Wave, Dark Wave evolved through the addition of dark, thoughtful lyrics and an undertone of sorrow. Dark Wave is inseparably connected with the stylistic developments of the late 1970s and the 1980s. In the 1980s a versatile subculture developed within the Dark Wave movement, whose members were called wavers.
different genres such as gothic rock, synthpop, neofolk, medieval and music styles from the post-industrial era. A few examples that are representative for these overlaps are The Sisters of Mercy, In The Nursery, Sopor Aeternus or Diary of Dreams.
GOTH ROCK
Gothic rock (sometimes called goth rock or simply, goth) is a genre of rock music that originated during the late 1970s. Originally bands from the genre were referred to as positive-punk by the music press, and had strong ties to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk styles.
The genre itself was defined as a separate movement from punk rock during the early 1980s. Some gothic rock bands were more art and introspectively based than punk rock. Gothic rock dealt with dark-themes and intellectual movements such as gothic horror, Romanticism, existential philosophy, and nihilism. Notable gothic rock bands include Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, and The Mission.
Largely separate from other genres of alternative rock of the 1980s, gothic rock gave rise to a broader goth subculture that includes goth clubs, goth fashions, and goth-oriented magazines
Deathrock
A subgenre of both goth and punk, drawing from the macabre and horro centric imagery and expression of goth with the style and energy of punk. It evolved in the early 80's late 70's almost paralleling goth in popularity peaks during this period.
New Deathrock
An evolution of the classical deathrock paralleling the progression of some pos tpunk acts into electronica/electro-punk acts. The concept and style of the music is the same, and often can be confused for older bands, but the use of synthesizers and more modern musical "sounds" shows the difference, often replacing the tribal beats for more dancy/upbeat rhythms.
bands include:
All gone dead, bella morte, p***s flytrap, astrovamps
Electronic Body music(EBM)
From wiki"
In the early 1980s artists like Front 242 or Nitzer Ebb (both influenced by acts such as Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle) started to combine German electropunk with elements of the British industrial music. The result of this mixture was a straight danceable sound that was called EBM back in 1984. Notable EBM albums include Front 242's "Official Version" and Nitzer Ebb's "That Total Age", both released in 1987."
Characterised by a 4/4 time signature, it sounds like rave music mixed with rock and roll.
Progressive Metal
Progressive metal (also known as Prog Metal or Prog) is a style of heavy metal that uses strange time signatures and complex song structure, similar to that of Progressive Rock. Some progressive metal bands are also influenced by jazz fusion and classical music. Like progressive rock songs, progressive metal songs are usually much longer than standard metal songs, and they are often thematically linked in concept albums.
The origins of progressive metal can be traced back to progressive rock bands from the late 1960s and early to mid-1970s such as Yes, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Genesis, early Queen, Uriah Heep and Rush. The latter 3 also often blended metal elements into their music. However, progressive metal did not develop into a genre of its own until the mid-1980s. Bands such as Rainbow had many qualities of progressive metal. Bands such as Fates Warning, Queensrÿche and Dream Theater took elements of these progressive rock groups – primarily the instrumentation and compositional structure of songs – and merged them with heavy metal styles associated with pre-1991 Metallica and Megadeth. The result could be described as a progressive rock mentality with heavy metal sounds.
Progressive metal received mainstream exposure in the early 1990s when Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity" (from 1990's Empire) became a radio and MTV hit. It was not a typical progressive metal song, but its popularity increased the profile of other progressive metal bands. In 1993, Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under" (from 1992's Images and Words) became popular on radio and MTV. 1990s bands such as Pain of Salvation, Opeth, Ayreon, and Symphony X developed their own signature sounds.
Pain of Salvation drew heavily on more obscure 1970s prog acts. Ayreon stayed with the traditional Prog Metal themes, but mixed them with Rock Opera influences. Symphony X married progressive elements to neoclassical metal, bridging the gap between the two sub-genres. Steve Vai's former singer and heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad's singer and guitarist Devin Townsend combined ambient elements to 1980's progressive metal on his first two solo albums Ocean Machine: Biomech and Infinity. Opeth combined their prog influence with death metal. Another influence on prog metal was "technical metal" bands, such as Death, Watchtower, Atheist and Cynic, which played complex song structures and used virtuoso instrumental playing.
Bands like Sun Caged and Circus Maximus are influenced by traditional progressive metal and several of the first wave of 1990s bands. Bands such as Dark Suns, Disillusion, or Conscience are influenced by emotional progressive metal bands like Opeth, Pain of Salvation, Green Carnation and Anathema. Sweden's Tiamat have also been influential in the progressive metal genre, especially on their 1994's breakthrough-album Wildhoney.
