Musical Musings

"All I can do is be me, whoever that is."
 Bob Dylan

Recently I was waxing enthusiastic to a friend about an artist/tune I had heard (Sia / Soon We'll Be) and she asked what kind of music it was. I found myself fumbling: "Not rock… not exactly pop… not jazz…". I simply couldn't come up with an accurate label.

It made me recall an incident in the late 80's. My significant other at the time was writing a paper on the subject of Reggae for her Ethnomusicology course. I arranged for us to have dinner with a music business acquaintance in Toronto who was an expert. It was a fruitful meeting that not only helped my gf produce a paper that her professor subsequently used as a teaching aid, but opened my eyes to many things about the social/political origins of one of my fave musical genres.

During the post-meal chit chat the subject of awards came up and Daniel suggested it was becoming a difficult subject, citing as an example the fact that the previous year Sade won an award as "Best Jazz Vocalist". (Was there ever a woman as utterly cool as Ms Adu? Not in my mind.) The point was obvious: if Sade is a Jazz artist, what were Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme? Labeling had reached a difficult point.

When I was a teenager, popular music was simple: There was rock and there was R&B. You liked one or the other. The kind of music you  listened to was part of who you were - a big part of identity you were developing. There were vague sub-genres, of course. Did you like more edgy, blues influenced rock or lighter, melodic pop. Were you a Stones guy or a Beatles guy? And in the UK there was that peculiar war between rock'n'roll (rockabilly - old school - Elvis, Gene Vincent, et al) and rock leading to the infamous Mods/Rockers weekend punch-ups in Brighton. (To learn about that amusing social blip check out the under-rated, overlooked classic film backed by The Who: Quadrophenia.)

Naturally, as recording technology developed, communications media grew and more talent entered the pool rock and R&B evolved giving rise to Disco, Fusion and everything since. Early on though, it was reasonably clear-cut: Rock or R&B.

I often tell people I am glad I am not really young. The pressures, the influences, the choices are just so much greater than those that my generation or Gen X had to confront. I often think we older folk just don't get how hard it is for kids. Aside from drugs, sex, politics etc. I wonder that all teenagers are not barking mad when they now have to choose which of the following define them (courtesy of Wikepedia) - and this is just from one genre - electronic:

    * Ambient
          o Ambient house
          o Ambient industrial
          o Ambient techno
          o Black ambient
          o Dark ambient
          o Drone music
          o Lowercase
          o Psybient
          o Space music

    * Breakbeat
          o Baltimore Club
          o Big beat
          o Broken beat
          o Chemical breaks
          o Florida breaks
          o Nu skool breaks
          o Progressive breaks

    * Disco
          o Cosmic disco
          o Eurodance
          o Euro disco
          o Hi-NRG
          o Italo dance
          o Italo disco
          o Nu-disco
          o Spacesynth

    * Downtempo
          o Acid jazz
          o Balearic Beat
          o Chill out
          o Ethnic electronica
          o Glitch
          o Illbient
          o Minimal Electronica
          o New Age music
          o Nu jazz
          o Trip hop

    * Electronic music
          o Berlin School
          o Electroacoustic

    * Electro
          o Electro-hop
          o Electro backbeat
          o Freestyle music
          o Techno bass

    * Electronica
          o Electropop
          o Folktronica
          o Glitch
          o IDM
          o Nu Jazz
          o Trip hop
   
    * (UK) Garage (UKG)
          o 2-step
          o 4×4
          o Bassline
          o Breakstep
          o Dubstep
          o Funky
          o Grime
          o Speed garage

    * Hardcore/Hard dance
          o Bouncy techno
          o Breakbeat Hardcore
          o Breakcore
          o Darkcore
          o Digital hardcore
          o Doomcore
          o Freeform hardcore
          o Gabber
          o Happy hardcore
          o Hardstyle
          o Jumpstyle
          o Makina
          o Noisecore
          o Speedcore
          o Terrorcore
          o UK Hardcore
          o J-Core

    * House
          o Acid house
          o Bubblegum dance
          o Chicago house
          o Dark house
          o Deep house
          o Disco house
          o Electro house
          o Fidget house
          o French house
          o Freestyle house
          o NY Garage
          o Ghetto house
          o Grind house
          o Hi-NRG
          o UK Hard house
          o Hip house
          o Italo house
          o Jumpstyle
          o Kwaito
          o Latin house
          o Merenhouse
          o Minimal house/Microhouse
          o Progressive house
          o Scouse house
          o Skacid
          o Tribal house
          o Tech house

      * Industrial
          o Ambient industrial
          o Cybergrind
          o Dark ambient
          o Dark electro
          o Death industrial
          o Electronic body music
          o Electro-industrial
          o Futurepop
          o Industrial DnB
          o Industrial metal
          o Industrial rock
          o Industrial techno
          o Japanoise
          o Martial industrial
          o Neofolk
          o Noise
          o Power noise

    * Jungle music/Drum and bass
          o Clownstep
          o Darkstep
          o Drumfunk
          o Futurestep
          o Hardstep
          o Intelligent drum and bass
          o Jump-Up
          o Liquid funk
          o Neurofunk
          o Raggacore
          o Sambass
          o Techstep
          o Trancestep

    * Rock/Punk influenced electronic music
          o Alternative dance
          o Cyber metal
          o Dance-punk
          o Dark Wave
          o Digital hardcore
          o Electroclash
          o Electro rock
          o Electropunk
          o Ethereal Wave
          o Industrial rock
          o Industrial metal
          o New Rave
          o New Romantic
          o New Wave
          o Synthpop
          o Synthpunk

      * Techno
          o Acid techno
          o Detroit techno
          o Freetekno
          o Ghettotech
          o Jtek
          o Minimal
          o New beat
          o Nortec
          o Techno rave
          o Schranz
          o Wonky techno
          o Technopera

    * Trance
          o Acid trance
          o Ambient trance
          o Classic trance
          o Dream trance
          o Euro-trance
          o Hard trance
          o Hardstyle
          o Nu-NRG
          o Progressive trance
          o Tech trance
          o Uplifting trance
          o Vocal trance

    * Psychedelic trance/Goa trance
          o Dark psy
          o Full on
          o Nitzhonot
                + Uplifting
          o Psyprog
          o Psybient
          o Psybreaks
          o South African psytrance
          o Suomisaundi

    * Nu rave
          o Hardcore breaks
          o Rave breaks
          o Jungle techno

    * Chiptune
          o 8-bit
          o Bitpop
          o Demoscene music
          o Chiptune
          o Nintendocore
          o Picopop
          o Game Boy music
          o Gamewave

    * Oldschool jungle
          o Ragga-jungle
          o Intelligent jungle
          o Darkside jungle

Lables! Yikes!