"There are no genres"
August 21st 2006 05:04
Now, I'm not saying I believe this, but it was an interesting point that somebody raised a little while ago. Do genres of music really exist?
I mean, there's obviously some very obvious similarities between the songs that we describe as being in one genre, Jazz for example is usually syncopated, and every genre has its own favourite instruments, but the person that raised this point mentioned as an argument, that most bands are described as "a fusion of genre A and genre B"
Is there any band, where all of their fans would describe it as the one genre. Take the Gorillaz for example, what the hell are they?
I guess what I'm really trying to ask is, does each genre have one particular exclusive attribute? Could a computer program be built to discover a song's genre, given merely the song itself and the lyrics?
Any computer buffs with way too much time on their hands, make that program, I'd be really curious as to how it would work. I spose you could have a points system, where a song gets jazz points for any jazz-like attributes it has, and the same for all other genres.
So yeah, it seems, as much as I hate to say this, that genres don't really exist outside of the human mind.
Thoughts anyone?
Peace
Gig Guide
I mean, there's obviously some very obvious similarities between the songs that we describe as being in one genre, Jazz for example is usually syncopated, and every genre has its own favourite instruments, but the person that raised this point mentioned as an argument, that most bands are described as "a fusion of genre A and genre B"
Is there any band, where all of their fans would describe it as the one genre. Take the Gorillaz for example, what the hell are they?
I guess what I'm really trying to ask is, does each genre have one particular exclusive attribute? Could a computer program be built to discover a song's genre, given merely the song itself and the lyrics?
Any computer buffs with way too much time on their hands, make that program, I'd be really curious as to how it would work. I spose you could have a points system, where a song gets jazz points for any jazz-like attributes it has, and the same for all other genres.
So yeah, it seems, as much as I hate to say this, that genres don't really exist outside of the human mind.
Thoughts anyone?
Peace
Gig Guide
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Comment by Dan
I like several so-calle 'genres' and thought it would be good to arrange my 12gb of unmanigable mp3's based on genre.
I often found myself wondering what to name folders and what songs would go in them. There are obvious R&B and hip hop songs and obvious alternative songs too, but there were so many I had no idea about.
For instance, Gnarles barkley - Crazy... It plays on the local R&B station (The Edge 96.1), though I wouldn't classify it as R&B.
How about The Roots? Hip Hop? Rock? Jazz?
There are many artists who fuse genres together and experiment. This is what I love about music, and what happens to these great musicians? Are they just heaped into an entirely new genre???
Take care and peace out...