Category: Rock Genres Explained
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What Is Hard Rock? (The Final Boss Definition)
To summarize, hard rock is rock and roll music played with distorted guitars, loud drums, aggressive vocals, and high-energy tempos. Many hard rock bands incorporate keyboards and synthesizers, but electric guitar remains the designated driver of the sound. In its purest form, hard rock is blues-based rock played louder and faster than generally presumed necessary.…
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Yacht Rock Explained: The Story of Adult-Oriented Rock aka Smooth Music
Yacht rock is a playfully mocking term for an ample range of glossy, intelligent jazz rock, pop rock, soft rock, and occasionally hard rock that permeated FM radio airwaves from the mid 1970s to mid 1980s. Also associated with adult alternative rock (not to be confused with album-oriented rock) or the “West Coast Sound,” the…
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What Is Progressive Rock? The Ultimate Explainer
Frank Zappa said that “progressive rock is anything that doesn’t sound like regular rock [music].” By regular rock music, he meant all rock music that gets played on the radio and MTV. When asked if he thought Genesis was progressive rock, Zappa said, “Sometimes.” Zappa’s right about Genesis, but he also didn’t think his music…
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What Is Alternative Rock? The Ultimate Explainer
Alternative rock functions less as a singular aesthetic and more as a sprawling ideological umbrella that sheltered the fringes of guitar music for nearly two decades. It emerged as a direct rebuttal to the polished, synthesized sheen of 1980s pop and the theatrical excess and machismo of arena rock. While the genre eventually conquered the…
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Rock Genres Beginning With U–Z
Ten months, 370+ rock genres, and roughly 100,000 words later, the alphabetical odyssey has reached a destination. Rock Genres Explained arrives at a comfortable place to rest, though it’s not the end. New genres will continue to emerge from the cosmic background radiation. The letters U through Z prioritize the visual and the mythological. As…
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Rock Genres Beginning With T
As we move through the list of rock genres, we arrive at a letter that represents some of the most intense and distinct movements in musical history. The letter T represents a fascinating crossroads for the Rock Genres Explained series. Here, we see the absolute precision of technical death metal sitting alongside the carefree, salt-rimmed…
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Rock Genres Beginning With S (Sp–Sy)
As far as rock genres go, the letter S often signifies a profound shift in focus, home to subgenres defined equally by attitude and sound. This is where rock genres get surgical. We move past general categories and focus on specialized sonic aesthetics—from the abrasive, metallic aggression of specific metal variants to the melancholic, layered…
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Rock Genres Beginning With S (Sa–So)
We’re getting near the end of the Rock Genres Explained series and I’m vaguely relieved to see a glimmer of hope at the terminus. I have never so deeply underestimated a project from conception to completion. What I thought would take a month has taken nearly a year. Would I do it again? Definitely. Since…
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Rock Genres Beginning With R
The rock genre universe is constantly expanding from global rhythms and synchronized noise to political manifestos and cosplay pride parades. For the next installment of our Rock Genres Explained series, we’re diving deep into the letter ‘R’, which marks an evolution into the massive, adaptive structure we simply call types of Rock Music, and the…
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Rock Genres Beginning With Q
As the rock genres explainer rolls through the alphabetical list of rock genres, we come across one of the loneliest letters, Q, with only one genre: queercore. Not content with mediocrity, we went all out on an in-depth look into the history and future of the genre. What Is Queercore? Origin: Mid-1980s hardcore punk and…
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Rock Genres Beginning With P (Pr–Pu)
The second half of our rock genre explainer for the letter P features three of the most important genres of our lifetimes: progressive, psychedelic, and punk rock. And, as usual, the list of rock genres includes a few surprises. Let’s dig in! Progressive metal Origin: Mid-1980s U.S. & European heavy metal and progressive rock Peak…
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Rock Genres Beginning With P (Pa–Po)
Buckle up for a wild ride as we tackle some of the most important rock genres that start with P in this first half of the letter’s installment. Our rock genre explainer doesn’t quit until rock bands stop coming up with new subgenres. Pagan metal Origin: Early 1990s European extreme metal (especially Finland, Germany, Russia)…
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Rock Genres Beginning With O
Rock has never been shy about reinventing itself, and the letter “O” captures some of the strangest and most spirited offshoots on the list of rock genres. It’s a category of “outliers.” From the occult theatrics of late-’60s bands like Coven and Black Widow to the gutter-punk sneer of the Cockney Rejects and Britain’s Oi!…
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Rock Genres Beginning With N
The letter “N” doesn’t exactly scream “rock n’ roll,” but it’s one of the most eclectic letters in the genre alphabet, thanks to its association with “neo” and “new”. From the breakneck skate-punk of nardcore to the grim extremism of National Socialist black metal, the virtuosic speed of neoclassical metal, and the dreamy textures of neo-psychedelia, these N-genres cover nearly every corner…
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Rock Genres Beginning With M
The list of rock genres will throw us a curveball every now and again. That’s why we started the Rock Genres Explained program. I got tired of saying, “Huh…what the hell does ‘metalstep‘ mean?” Every rock genre in the M category is either a subgenre of a subgenre or a term of convenience for a…
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Rock Genres Beginning With L
As far as rock genres categorized alphabetically, the letter L could stand for “lonely.” Only the letters K, Q, V, and Z have an equal number or fewer genres. Though it’s lacking in numbers, L includes at least one major genre that changed rock music. Let’s dig in and find out. Lad rock Origin: Early…
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Rock Genres Beginning With K
It’s a slow week for Rock Genres Explained. Not a lot of action over here in the letter K, but these three genres pack an interesting punch. At least one of these genres had a massive influence on the development of post-modern rock music as we know it. Keep reading to learn more! Rock Genres…
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Rock Genres Beginning With J
Some genres of rock music live in the shadows, tucked between the household names and the recycled yacht rock playlists. That’s where the rock genres beginning with J reside. From the anti-climactic improvisations of jazz fusion to the whimsical mysticism of jangle pop, each has carved out its own stubborn little niche. Many of these…
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Rock Genres Beginning With I
After the hardcore heaviness of rock genres that start with ‘H,’ we arrive at the letter ‘I,’ which carries its own idiosyncratic set of genres. Some of these are global twists on rock, others are indie offshoots that reshaped the last three decades of popular music, and a few are wonderfully obscure micro-movements. From sitar-fueled…
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Rock Genres Beginning With H
I took a break from music and blogging while I finished writing Year of the Dragon & Everything After, the fourth and final book in my Lunar New Years series. I’m back with the letter H in the rock genres explainer program, and it’s a deceptive letter. There are fewer than 10 verified legacy genres…
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Rock Genres Beginning with G
As the seventh letter of the alphabet, G represents a healthy portion of rock genres, but I’m reminded of how far I’ve yet to go before A to Z are covered. You’ll find a couple of solid headliners in the mix: garage rock, glam rock, and gothic rock, which remain popular and influential today. Likewise,…
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Rock Genres Beginning With F
With only a handful of recognized rock genres to cover, we get a bit of a breather on the letter F, but the Rock Genres Explained campaign carries on. Regardless of length, it’s a pivotal category because F stands for “folk” and “funk”, two foundational genres of popular music. I’m enjoying this educational journey through…
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Rock Genres Beginning with E
Leave it to the letter E to school me on just how much I don’t know about music. Of the 14 genres listed below, I could only write two descriptions off the top of my head. A few of these rock genres were revelations, i.e., they have a name for that? Join me on a…
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Rock Genres Beginning with D
The letters of the alphabet may have been created equal, but you can’t say the same thing about rock music genres. The letter D has more than its share of misfits and malformations. Can you guess why? I’ll give you two words: death and doom. If I knew I’d be writing about and listening to…
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Rock Genres Beginning with C
Genres of rock music are interesting concepts because some genres are media contrivances, e.g., college rock. Nobody has ever made, nor will anybody ever make “college rock.” It’s a bullshit term to categorize the audience, i.e., the kids who listen to a certain type of music. On the other hand, some genres are perfect descriptors,…