Salmoneus wrote:
Since I had at least a stab at trying to explain different sorts of classical music... could somebody help me with the reverse?
I'll give it a bash. I won't try to be objective, since that's not really possible anyway; much of the difference between genres has to do with perception and attitude as much as anything else. And I won't try to define them all.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 1: what is "pop"?.
Broadly speaking, what ordinary people actually listen to. More cynically, shallow fluff principally marketed at teenage girls; anything perceived as more trivial and vapid than one's preferred genre.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 2: what is "traditional pop", and how does it relate to pop?
Probably pop recorded before you were born, or which your parents grew up with. Tends to sound quaint and old-fashioned.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 4: what are the lines between "R&B", "traditional R&B", "urban contemporary", and "rap"?
b) Meanwhile, what's the difference between "R&B" and "pop" (a bunch of people have been nominated for both), and between "traditional R&B" and "traditional pop" (CeeLo Green, for instance, has been nominated for both).
c) What's the connexion between "R&B" and what used to be called rhythm and blues?
d) What's the difference between "R&B" and "dance"?
This is a minefield. As I understand it, rap is a style of vocal delivery, not so much a genre. And in broad marketing terms, R&B is black, pop is white; rhythm and blues was the popular black music of its time.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 5: what's the difference between "rock" and "pop" (or "traditional pop")? Is "rock" just old pop that Tony Bennet isn't involved in?
Rock is what you say you're into when you're worried that if you say "pop", people will automatically think of trivial vapid shallow teenage-oriented music.
Or, rock is male, pop is female.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 6: what's the difference between "rock" and "metal"? Is it just the use of raspy/breathy phonation by the singers?
b) the category's been removed, but where does hard rock fit in?
Metal is what sexually immature teenage boys claim to be into when they think if they say "rock" they'll be considered to be wimpy.
I'd putate a continuum of hardness: pop - pop/rock - rock - hard rock - metal - extreme metal. TVTropes can help you here.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 7: what's "alternative" music? How does it differ from "rock" and "pop"?
b) it's not a Grammy category, but a genre people seem to talk about: what's "indie"? how is it distinguished from pop, rock, or alternative?
This is an easy one to grok, but much harder to define. The classic definition is that indie specifically, and probably also alternative music, is made by bands who aren't signed to major labels and therefore are doing it for the love of the music and not for the money; the music is ipso facto better for one to be seen to be into. Of course it's actually a lot more nuanced and complicated than that; for some background on how the genre developed in Britain, I recommend the first chapter of
The Last Party by Jon Harris.
Essentially, indie is what you have to claim to like if you want to seem cooler than you actually are.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 9: I'm also kind of surprised to see "blues" included with folk and americana, rather than with, say, jazz. what are the differences between "blues", "traditional blues", "traditional R&B" and "jazz"? And it's not a category, but where does soul fit in?
This is jazz. Traditional blues is a black man from the American South with an acoustic guitar playing 12-bars, notionally the most "authentic" of all musical genres; non-traditional blues is similar in some but not all details. Soul is emotional music performed by black vocal groups in matching outfits.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 10: "Latin". Is it just a racial/ethnic genre? Is it a linguistic genre (lyrics not in english)? Or is there some sort of musical distinction? In particular, is "tropical Latin" just a political place-of-birth distinction, or an actual stylistic genre? Why is "latin jazz" considered a type of jazz, while "latin pop" isn't considered a type of "pop"?
Latin is anything from Latin America. Think of elaborate stage shows where it's impossible to tell how many people are on stage at any given time, or music with clave rhythms.
Salmoneus wrote:
Question 11: Is there any clear definition of "world music"?
Anything made outside the Anglo-American cultural sphere. What you claim to listen to when you want people to think that you can acknowledge cultures outside your own.
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Zompist's Markov generator wrote:
it was labelled" orange marmalade," but that is unutterably hideous.