These first few posts are going to be a little broad and general. I just want to lay down the groundwork early so that you readers can understand where I'm coming from and why I'm writing the things I write about. Here are a couple genres of music that I will be focusing on in future writings.
1) Classical - Classical music is great. There are no words. It is all sounds. Strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion. For hundreds and hundreds of years, this is all the music that we had. It's a crying shame that more people don't appreciate this form of music. If you didn't do music in school or had parents that raised you listening to classical music, chances are you haven't listened to a good deal of it beyond Beethoven's 9th or 1812 Overture (Tchaikovsky) or really common things like that. Furthermore, chances are that you've heard these pieces of music and like them but don't know the name of the piece or who wrote them. I will be attempting to instruct you readers in the way of classical music so you too can understand what I understand about classical music. It is hard to put into words.
2) Rock - This is an extremely broad category. I will be focusing on the following subgenres of rock
Classic Rock. This is stuff your dad probably listens to but you don't. Change that immediately. Classic rock 99% of the time is more inventive, more complex both musically and lyrically, and generally better most popular 'rock' produced today. Whether you want to admit it or not, most of today's KCRAP (note: when I want to refer to mainstream rock, I am going to refer to it as 'KCRAP'. Why? Because this is all KROQ plays. Be prepared for a rant about Los Angeles radio stations coming soon. Maybe even next most) owes its heritage to classic rock. Many guitar techniques, vocal techniques, etc were pioneered by the greats of the 60's and 70's. Like The Beatles. Like Elvis. Like The Doors. Whether Fallout Boy (gagpuke) realizes it or not, his style of music owes its development to punk of the 80s. Punk itself owes its heritage to the rockers of the 70s, and was a reactionary development to the developing rock-metal scene going on then. More on that later
Punk. I love punk. Punk defined my high school years. It's so cliche, it's silly, it's dorky, it's simple. But that's the genius of punk. Everyone who plays guitar probably learned Blitzkreig Bob (Ramones) as one of their first songs. There's three fucking power chords for most of the song. Yet the Ramones were one of, if not the most, influential punk groups of the 80s. It was fast, catchy, and simple. And it gave voice to a generation of people who felt outside the mainstream (we see this trend again and again in the development of popular music.) Punk is to rock/metal what jazz was to classical music in the 1920s and 30s. When rockers heard the punk kids with their syncopated drum beats going nuts, its very akin to the revolutionary swing rhythm that jazz popularized running counter to the nice 4/4, 2/4, 2/2 time signatures of popular classical music. Punk is high energy. Punk is catchy. Punk is a musical middle finger. I love punk. Another related genre to punk that I'll probably write about is hardcore, sort of a punk-metal bastard child. Speaking of metal...
METAL. Metal owns. Metal is loud, aggressive, and shreds souls. People don't realize it, but metal itself has many subgenres, but I won't get into that just yet. One of the reasons I like metal is that it is extremely technically complex. Most of the world's best musicians play metal. You need to be to be able to keep up with what is being produced in the world of metal. When a metal guitarist is shredding some wicked solo, he is using the same skillset that a clarinetist uses when they do crazy wicked fast scalar runs. To be able to shred, you must have a good understanding about scales, chords, how they interplay, etc. This is why I have infinite respect for metal musicians. Metal is fast, crazy loud, emotional, and it just fucking rocks. Any guitar player worth his salt wishes he could shred like Megadeth or _________ (insert favorite band or guitarist here)
3) Electronica. This is a HUGE genre of music that is pretty unpopular in the United States. All the best electronic artists come from Europe or Asia. And pretty much that's what people in those parts of the world listen and dance to in clubs. We in the US love our rap, hip hop, and R&B. I don't. This puts me in the minority here. I am convinced however that electronica is the future of music. Classical music is dead. Rock is dead. Punk is dead. Metal isn't dead, yet. Electronica is the future, and I have my reasons for this theory. Firstly, the amount of new electronica that is being put out every year is astounding. It is an extremely prolific genre. When was the last great punk or rock release? Punk drew its last breath in my opinion around 2000 (and many would say earlier, which I would probably agree with). I don't even remember the last time a true rock band put out a good album. Maybe Wolfmother. I have my hopes for them. But electronica huge, alive, and constantly putting out new and good stuff. Case in point are the recent Infected Mushroom releases, Vicious Delicious (2007) and The Legend of the Black Shawarma (2009). While admittedly mainstream, they have brought Goa/Psytrance out of Israel into clubs and raves worldwide. They're practically a household name in discussing electronic music.
Furthermore, electronic music is slowly seeping into the states via rap/hiphop artists who are beginning to use interesting electronic beats in their songs. Case in point - Kid Cuti's Day and Night. Another way electronic music is seeping into the US is through the medium of mixups and mashups, primarily the latter. They'll take rap lyrics and throw them over an electronic music. More on mashups later.
Futhermore, Benny Bennasi. Everybody likes Satisfaction and I Love my Sex. True story. Even sorority girls.
This is an overview about what I will be writing about. As you can see I have a lot to cover. Genres of music that I don't like, including mainstream rap and country music will not be discussed very much at all because it's my blog and I don't have to. Look forward to a real post coming up soon
-RJW
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