Genre..... What's a genre?!

[Minimal Justice System]

Ok so I thought this would be a good place to pose a question I find myself asking more often than ever.... Is it just me (as I'm often told) or has the world of dance music gone genre crazy?? I remember once upon a time there was Electro, House, Trance, Techno and Hardcore.... Maybe Breakbeat too but it's only just!!

Now we seem to have a specific genre for everything within each genre and it's these subgenres that are really too confusing for my old and slightly addled mind. I thought the whole point in a genre was that it had no set boundaries and was just a vague category to give a rough idea of where something belongs?

What I'm really trying to get at is when someone asks me what kind of sound I play as a DJ or when I'm producing I don't want to have to say electrotech-houseprog!!

Can't we just all agree to call it "Dance Music"??

[UKRuss]

mnml dance or hard dance?

[ThrowAway]

This has been going on for at least ten years already. I refer to it all as either good electronica or shitty electronica. Im too lazy keep learning the new names for everything.

[Minimal Justice System]

The thing that gets to me is I have some old vinyl which at the time was known as trance, but now sounds nothing like what is currently known as trance??? What am I supposed to call them now... the records formerly known as trance????

[UKRuss]

tarnce

[SubFunk]

The thing that gets to me is I have some old vinyl which at the time was known as trance, but now sounds nothing like what is currently known as trance??? What am I supposed to call them now... the records formerly known as trance????

how about calling it music?

[Minimal Justice System]

The thing that gets to me is I have some old vinyl which at the time was known as trance, but now sounds nothing like what is currently known as trance??? What am I supposed to call them now... the records formerly known as trance????

how about calling it music?

Now having been told by my elders ever since I first bought Hardfloor - Acperience back in 93 or 94 "Thats not bloody music, that's just noise" it would be going against what I was told and not something I would do without good cause!!!

[SubFunk]

The thing that gets to me is I have some old vinyl which at the time was known as trance, but now sounds nothing like what is currently known as trance??? What am I supposed to call them now... the records formerly known as trance????

how about calling it music?

Now having been told by my elders ever since I first bought Hardfloor - Acperience back in 93 or 94 "Thats not bloody music, that's just noise" it would be going against what I was told and not something I would do without good cause!!!

[starving student]

I've thought about this alot recently, the thing is music is really vast and even though I agree with you on one hand on the other I almost think we need more defined definitions cause things go haywire when not properly organized. I've always been against labels but it seems like we need them now more than ever but maybe even better labels. here's an example. there are people who love hiphop but hate hiphop with vocals, even more stupider, yes i did say stupider is there are people who hate hiphop with the music being made by a turntablist but love hiphop with the music being made by a modular synth, now wtf kind of since does that make anyway look at your first post, your first description of your music had the effect of being very informing while your second description of your music still didn't let anyone but yourself know what to expect and for me I think that's the point, for my self or for ones own music i think call it what i want but if I'm trying to reach others with my music then I have to ask do they have the right to know what to expect and I feel the answer is yes. maybe it's like languages you can opt to speak only your own but don't expect other people to understand wtf you have to say........so say the french

[Minimal Justice System]

I get what you're saying there oh student of much hunger but I just feel that people would be more inclined to "try something a little different" if we didn't feel the need to pidgeonhole everything down to the last blip or click.

Is it not better to find out for yourself than be spoon-fed someone elses view on something? Especially music!!

I think what gets me most is that these labels can often lead to people being closed to new ideas. I have friends that don't like house because it's "too slow" and "not hard enough" I say house is what you make it, you want hard and fast you play hard and fast. It doesn't need a new name before it exists!!

[starving student]

I get what you're saying there oh student of much hunger but I just feel that people would be more inclined to "try something a little different" if we didn't feel the need to pidgeonhole everything down to the last blip or click.

Is it not better to find out for yourself than be spoon-fed someone elses view on something? Especially music!!

I think what gets me most is that these labels can often lead to people being closed to new ideas. I have friends that don't like house because it's "too slow" and "not hard enough" I say house is what you make it, you want hard and fast you play hard and fast. It doesn't need a new name before it exists!!

^^ probably the best post about the topic on the whole forum I couldn't agree with you more but it's kind of like wishing for peace on earth, everybody says thats what they want but..........

[funky shit]

Just say EDM.
Electronic Dance Music

[andydes]

It's something a lot of people complain about. However, if you try to run a dance music night in a bar/club/whatever and you're not very well known, you do need to let people know what music you'll be playing. I think that's where a lot of this comes from.

If people expect funky house and they get minimal techno, they're going to be disappointed. I think the main problem is more that dance music fans have gotten too bloody picky.

Mind you, when I used to go to more rock and indy nights, I remember a lot of fliers and posters would list like 50 bands the DJ would probably be playing (does this still happen?). Same problem, just a different way of dealing with it.

And yes, it's gone too far.

[Martyn]

This is a subject close to my heart so forgive the rant

I recently bought a Murcof CD from my local HMV, it was in the "Dance" section, along with many other cds that I'm really into but could IN NO WAY dance to. Maybe some talented modern dance group might have been able to put some wild avant-garde movement together to do it some justice but I certainly couldn't, not without seriously scaring my long suffering girlfriend and the cat.

That's just one example out of a lot of music I like that I can only find in that thin little cd shelf simply because it doesn't have GUITARS ON IT!!!
I feel like picking the cd cases out and spinning then across the shop like frisbees, straight at the heads of the trendy looking twats behind the counter and screaming "here, dance to this one, and this one..and ..this one!! Stupid apathetic bastards!!!" (deep breaths...in..out...in....out) That said, I don't think HMV (for example) should have all the various "dance" sub genres because there are so many that it's just INSANE!

There should be no categories at all. I know, I know, ipods need them to sort stuff and djs need to describe what they're spinning ect, but I can't help thinking that music in general would be better off without labels completely. We can do away with music journalists at the same time, after all most labels, pidgeonholes and categories come straight from the lips/pens of those sychophantic arseholes in the first place.

Why can't we just have the artists name, and djs that just become known for what they play, why do we NEED categories?

[Anubis]

A Genre is usually a style of music that fits your hairstyle.