About Music Genres

[ Drum n Bass ] [ UK Garage ] [ House ] [ Trance ] [ Rock ] [ Blues ] [ Pop ]

Drum N Bass

Characteristics
Fast paced "breakbeat" styled drums with predominant bassline structure of either an acousitc or electronic nature. Modern day characterics though could range from a broad base of inspirations including jazz / hip hop / techno / house and various ethnic based music forms.

Evolution
Around 1996.

Drum N Bass Artists
John B, Dillinja, Ram Trilogy, Dom & Roland, Cycom, Waveshaper.

History and Description
The term Drum & Bass evolved from the early 90's club explosion of "Jungle." As Jungle grew up and started to gain some respectability through the music press, the term "drum & bass" came about and it was agreed that the term described the style of music that was now constantly changing from its original junglistic origins.

UK Garage

aka The Sunday Scene, aka Underground Garage, aka Speed Garage.

Characteristics
Most recognisable for its clipped 2step beats, at around 130bpm, and deep basses reminiscent of drum and bass. Vocals are almost essential, either house style singing or hip-hop style rapping. Melodies are usually very basic but catchy.

Evolution
London, 1997 onwards.

UK Garage Artists
Armand Van Helden, Dreem Teem, Artful Dodger, True Steppers, So Solid Crew.

History and Description
One of the hardest genres to pin down in terms of its origins, broadly speaking UK Garage came off the back of the drum and bass explosion of the early-to-mid 1990s. Garage music, which originated in the US as a cousin of house music, had been pushed out of the UK clubs by the commercialised Jungle and Hardcore scenes, but like most electronic music genres, continued to evolve quietly on the underground scene. The turning point of this evolution began, however, when drum and bass artists became disillusioned by the commercialisation of jungle music, and themselves retreated back into the underground to evolve the music on their own terms. At some stage their ideas started to merge, probably as a result of the garage producers pushing the tempo of their music up while drum and bass producers pushed their own tempo down, until they met at the 130bpm point. Gradually the two genres started borrowing from each other, and a new style started to emerge.

Top

House Music

Characteristics
Defined by four-four beats, rasping hi-hats, artificial hand claps, bass loops and drum rolls, House drew inspiration from jazz, rap, soul, R&B, Synth Pop, and Dub Reggae.

Evolution
Late 1970's early 1980's.

House artists
DJ Dan, Carl Cox, Danny Tenaglia, Deep Dish, Frankie Knuckles.

History and description
The name comes from a now defunct club called the Warehouse in Chicago. It's attendees were so enthralled by the groovy, soulful style of Disco that resident DJ Frankie Knuckles played there, that they shortened Warehouse to House and birthed the moniker House Music. Frankie played Philly Disco and Garage-type Disco from New York, where he was from originally for a mostly gay crowd of about 250 people on Saturday nights. Other DJs started playing this music for the much bigger and straight crowd on the Southside, the name stuck because a few of them used to go to the Warehouse and had heard the music before.

Top

Trance

Characteristics
As with all "new" kinds of music, Trance took a bit of technology, some existing dance music formulas like 4-4 beats at a danceable bmp, and created a new unique sound to call its own containing lots of very psychadelic sounding wobbly noises, and acidy sounds. Tracks generally go on for ages.

Evolution
Started in the late 1980's.

Trance artists
Robert Miles, Sasha and John Digweed, Juno Reactor, Dirty Vegas, William Orbit, Paul Okenfold.

History and description
Trance music started evolving in the late 80's under three main influences: the first was the electronic new wave/industrial music, the second was the electronic techno disco of Detroit; and the third was the psychedelic music of the seventies. The first step towards what we know nowadays as Trance or Goa Trance was done in 1988 with the introduction of the TB 303 sound into straight beat dance music, and the amazing effect it was found to perform over people dancing. This effect was further enhanced by the administration of a rediscovered drug Ecstasy and so Acid music was born and brought upon the UK summer of love. Trance was the starting point for such specialized sounds such as Hard Trance, Acid Trance, Trancecore (a mixture of Trance and Hardcore) and eventually - Goa Trance/Psychedelic Trance and Progressive Trance.

Top

Rock

Characteristics
Rock is a type of popular music with a strong loud beat which is usually played with electric guitars and drums.

Evolution
Originating in the 1950s

Rock artists
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Oasis, Blur, The Rolling Stones

History and description
Rock music is a very general term as there are so many different parts to it. From an "alternative" point of view (non-commercial) there were three watershed years in the history of rock music: 1955, when Chuck Berry started making rock and roll; 1966, when Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, the Doors, the Velvet Underground and others caused a massive revolution in a slumbering music scene; 1976, when the "new wave" and punk-rock caused a similar revolution in a similarly slumbering scene. Each of these golden ages was followed by an era of "re-alignment" in which creativity was replaced by sell-out, as the record industry (and commercial bands) capitalized on the innovations of the previous years.

Top

Blues

Characteristics
The 12 bar blues harmonic progression (the one-four-five) is most often agreed to be the following: four bars of tonic, two of subdominant, two of tonic, two of dominant, and two of tonic. Or, alternatively, I,I,I,I,IV,IV,I,I,V,V,I,I. Each roman numeral indicates a chord built on a specific tone in the major scale.

Evolution
Evolved from the as far back as the 1860's as aresult of the slave trade.

Blues artists
Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Magic Slim, Huddie Ledbetter

History and description
Blues music began as the primary artistic expression of a minority culture: It was created mainly by black working class men and women. Through its simplicity, sensuality, poetry, humor and irony, it mirrored the qualities and the attitudes of blacks in America for three-quarters of a century. As the blues was created largely by illiterate musicians, scarcely any of whom could read music, improvisation, both verbal and musical, was an essential part of it, though not to the extent that it was in jazz. In its early years, the blues was wholly an African-American art form. Influential in its development were the collective unaccompanied work songs of the plantation culture, which followed a responsorial "leader-and-chorus" form with an emphasis on rhythm and meter similar in nature to the marching songs of the military.

Top

Pop

Characteristics
Pop music is generally music created for the sole purpose of making money. Today much of it is manufactured and pop stars are often no more than puppets on a string. The music itself doesn't have its own style; as any style can be "pop" so long as it is popular.

Evolution
Pop music evolved from the day someone said, "hey, we could make alot of money out of this"

Pop artists
Anything from Elvis to the Spice Girls.

History and description
The term "Popular Music" can apply to anything from music hall ballads to salsa. "Pop", a more specific genre, includes everything from 1950s Rock N Roll to the 1990s Rap. Rock N Roll was the first music to speak directly to the youth. It mixed African-American Rhythm & Blues with Country Music. Elvis Presley made Rock N Roll a worldwide phenomenon. The Beatles added their top-selling songwriting skills to Rock N Roll, while The Rolling Stones incorporated Chicago Blues into their music. The Stones' loud, tough sound paved the way for Heavy Metal. Meanwhile, Americans such as Artha Franklin created a new blend of Rhythm & Blues and Gospel Music which came to be known as Soul. Disco, which made heavy use of synthesizers, and Rap Music, are direct descendants of Soul. In the late 1970s, a new generation produced its own wild version of Rock N Roll called Punk Rock. Played at a frenzied speed, Punk Rock produced bands such as the Sex Pistols. The 1980s and early 1990s saw new superstars like Michael Jackson and Madonna, and groups such as U2, filling huge stadiums. The 1990s also saw the birth of Alternative Music or Grunge, an offshoot of Rock. Bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Radiohead became an instant rage.

Top