I never understood these music genres

[PuPu]

Particularly, these four that people love to throw around

Emo
Screamo
Alternative
Indie

The first two essentially seem like the same as hardcore punk, the third seems to be essentially a buzzword for post grunge, and I have no idea what characteristics of a band's music makes them indie. So what characteristics of bands/artists causes them to be labeled as those four genres, in you opinion?

Also, what genres have you heard people using that you think are silly?

[Pheesh]

Emo: Fringe
Screamo: Fringe and Angry?
Alternative: I think post-grunge would be pretty close, but I think it also constitutes rock that includes instruments that aren't often used in the rock genre (think; Incubus, A Perfect Circle)
Indie: I'm pretty sure indie started out with the purest of intentions, it meant what the name says, an intendant (-ish) band, that played mostly underground shows, released lots of EP's etc. Now, I think you're an indie band if you either use an acoustic guitar, or appear in a film clip in bare-feet.

I never understood 'Hardcore' (to me it seems like an off-shoot of screamo?) and I think all of the different metal classifications are just silly.

[Moon Rabbits]

Emo + Screaming != Hardcore punk.

Grew out of that genre, maybe, but not hardcore punk.

[NorthernChaosGod]

The first two are nearly the same thing and are stupid labels to begin with. Whereas the second two don't even really describe the music itself, independent music is supposed to be anything not on some major record label, how did it turn into a genre of acoustic guitars and bare feet as was previously stated? And alternative is just supposed anything against the norm, how does that describe a specific genre?

Labels have their use at times, it certainly makes describing something easier, but people go overboard and start assigning all different types of labels to things. There are like 50 different types of metal and it's stupid.


Emo + Screaming != Hardcore punk.

Grew out of that genre, maybe, but not hardcore punk.

Pretty much what I was going to say.

[PuPu]

Sorry, I don't know why I said "hardcore punk." I meant to say "post hardcore (punk)" because I think that is what people refer to when they say "emo" or "screamo." In particular, "screamo" bands seem to love using harsh vocals with clean vocals, something that post hardcore bands do too. The other two seem to be terms that are used to describe the bands themselves, rather than their music.

And I disagree with the metal genres thing, to an extent. The instrumentation, vocals, and lyrics of most the varying metal genres are quite different and clearly defined. Things such as "speed metal" or "viking metal" are dumb, but metal actually does have a lot of legitimate subgenres.

[charliepanayi]

Sludge metal and drone doom are my two favourite music genre names.

I'm not too fussed about genre distinctions, in the end there's two kinds of music, good music and crap music.

[Pheesh]

in the end there's two kinds of music, good music and crap music.

^This

[NorthernChaosGod]

Heavy metal subgenres - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_subgenres)

That list of fucking ridiculous. I love metal, but that's just dumb.

[PuPu]

Black
Death
Doom
Folk
Power
Progressive
Thrash
Traditional
These are legit and the differences between them are clearly defined. These are essentially the only metal genres. (There are actually more subgenres of death metal, but have differing characteristics)


Drone
Sludge
StonerOther ways of saying doom metal. Kind of like "emo" and "scremo" with post hardcore.


Neo-classical
Symphonic
Classical and symphony music played with metal instruments


SpeedAnother way of saying thrash metal


Avant-gardeAnother way of saying progressive metal


Extreme metalUmbrella term used for Black, Death, Doom, and Thrash



GrindcoreHardcore punk influenced by thrash or death metal



Glam
Industrial
Metalcore
Nu MetalFalse metal. Not actual metal genres.



Alternative
Gothic
Groove
Christian
Crust Punk
Funk
VikingStupid terms that don't list any musical characteristics and have practically nothing to do with the music itself.

[Rantz]

I'm with charliepanayi here in that I'm not too fussed about genres. To me they're only relevant as a means of organising my own music collections, and in that context only my own connotations matter anyhow, so the categories don't need to be objectively correct.

[Shattered Dreamer]

Emo + Screamo + Indie = Being musically retarded & possessing no real musical talent or ability.

Alternative = Post-Grunge

[Cuchulainn]

Real Emo is simply Emotional Rock, like Sunny Day Real Estate or Jets To Brazil. The lyrics are usually introspective & considerably whiney.

This new 'emo' that blew up in 2003 is a fusion of emotional rock & hardcore and was originally titled 'emocore' (shortened now to just emo). The lyrics are the same as above but now instead of thick rimmed glasses & sweater vests they wear black & eyeliner & scream the lyrics with hardcore punk guitar riffs.

Screamo is similar but has not the eyeliner & 'scene' attached and was out before emocore. The music is rock but the lyrics are screamed emotionally.

Post-Punk and Post-anything really can be a term used by guys who were in a scene & now wanna try something new as they don’t like the scene no more. Fugazi are atop my head.

Alternative is prefix to any genre which has altered slightly. Alt-Rock, Alt-disco etc. Basically a genre that's trying things of other genres mixed in.

Indie is the most bull:bou::bou::bou::bou: title of them all. It was originally bands who refused to sign to major labels to keep their artistic integrity intact & make the music they wanted not what 'The Man' wanted. Indie Hip Hop, Indie Rock etc. Again the scenesters shortened the indie rock to indie and now incorporates any pretentious rock band that needs tight jeans & a v-neck tee to stand out as every song now sounds the same. They're too cool to be just rock, when really they are soft rock at best.

There is also metalcore, I like this genre, fusion of metal & hardcore punk. This means it's more melodic than punk and has added trebles to the drum kits.

Nu metal was a short-lives Alt-metal scene that fused metal with urban culture. You'd have rapping & turntables & electronic noises & all sorts of :bou::bou::bou::bou:.

Industrial is metal with a heavy influence from 80s German Electronica.

Anything with Progressive in the title is any band trying new :bou::bou::bou::bou:. Consider it concept music, the band don’t know if it really works either but by smurf they're making it because it’s cool.


Black/Death & metal are usually suicidal Norwegians making :bou::bou::bou::bou: videos in forests dressed like homocidal KISS tributes.

Thrash...every1 should know (melodic metal powered by drums and guitars), lyrics are secondary to the rhythm.

Stoner Rock was slow melodic rock that had obvious downer-drug influences. Bands like Kyuss.

Sludge metal is AWSOME. It fuses Doom metal (like Black Sabbath) and Hardcore punk. The guitar riffs can be insanely good, bands like Down and Eyehategod.


That’s all I can be arsed with.


I bid you good day.

[Jessweeee♪]

I don't know! They show up on the "rock" station whenever I'm near a radio, so I will refer to them all as "rock of some sort."

[Pheesh]

I fell into the idea that if you want to be post rock then you're not allowed to have a singer (as that seems to be the norm; 65daysofstatic, Godspeed, Explosions etc), but I'm not sure if that's a correct classification of it.

[Tavrobel]

Emo
Screamo
Alternative
Indie


Sorry, I don't know why I said "hardcore punk." I meant to say "post hardcore (punk)" because I think that is what people refer to when they say "emo" or "screamo."

In particular, "screamo" bands seem to love using harsh vocals with clean vocals, something that post hardcore bands do too. The other two seem to be terms that are used to describe the bands themselves, rather than their music.

We forgive you. To me, there's more than enough room for these genres to be classified as almost the same as the other, but if you break everything down, there is always at least one difference between cousin genres: either this is in the form of the lyrics being sung, or the choice of instruments being played. It may be interesting to point out, that post-hardcore is more or less defined by the mixing of harsh and clean vocals, and the background music often does change to match the mood of the lyrics. Screamo doesn't have changing music, and introducing clean vocals is largely optional.

If I had to define these four genres or describe them to others:

Emo can be summed up as though you're singing out of the confessional in a church or singing self-revealing music (i.e., treads on "whining"). Though it may have the same musical origins as punk and hardcore, this one relies much more on the content of the lyrics and the singing ability of the lead, which to be classified in the least, is "not terrible." Its lyrics are more akin to dark pop than anything else, but with instrumentation that borrows from hardcore and alternative.

Screamo is just emo + screaming. The lyrics are the same, the instrumentation is the same, the singer just generally yells it out.

Back in the day, it was college rock, and this was the kind of stuff you didn't hear on rock stations. Of course, these days, this is what you hear on the radio stations that classify themselves as rock, with pre 90s stuff as being classified as classic or oldie rock. Alt- the prefix, like Cuchulainn said, is short for "has been modified." To make a short story even shorter, there's a lot of differences now.

Indie is supposed to represent not a musical difference, but a production difference. Of course, by no small count, those bands more concerned with getting their music out sound quite different compared to those who care more for the money.

Examples of emo albums might be Ocean Avenue - Yellowcard, Anhedonia - The Graduate, or anything by The Promise Ring. Some may classify Panic at the Disco or My Chemical Romance to be emo, but I disagree; none of their albums are quite nearly whiny enough.

[Shattered Dreamer]

I don't know! They show up on the "rock" station whenever I'm near a radio, so I will refer to them all as "rock of some sort."

Agreed, getting bogged down in genres is kind of a waste of time!