Poll, what styles of music genres do you very regularly listen to? You who vote for: Other, please tell us which genre it is. We are curious.

[audio_tony]

The Jazz / Blues category should be separated into separate categories because they do not belong to the same genre.

Agreed.

One could hardly class artists such as Luther Allison, Stevie Ray Vaughan etc. etc. as Jazz.

Additionally, I think there should be an entry for Metal as there is no category for that, and possibly - (maybe splitting hairs here) - Rock should be separated out into Rock / Classic Rock / Glam Rock.

 

[DanielT]

Should we run another poll with different styles of Rock?

Here are some links that can provide inspiration for which ten alternatives that can be included in a Rock Poll:

List of rock genres - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Most Popular Rock Genre, Ranked - StrawPoll.com

Music enthusiasts often find themselves in heated debates about which rock genre stands out as the crowd favorite. To settle these discussions, it's u...

strawpoll.com

The 100 Most Popular Rock Music Genres, Ranked

Update: Follow Ranker's official New Rock 2020 playlist on Spotify! The most popular rock genres embody the rollicking, freewheeling spirit of rock ’n’ roll in unique and fascinating ways. Whether it’s the head-banging riffs of metal or the drone of goth rock that makes you want to run and put...

www.ranker.com

Friday Top: 20 Best Rock and Metal Subgenres

As voted by UG community.

www.ultimate-guitar.com

 

[risandipra]

In Others: for me is like
1. New Age
2. Lo-Fi
3. Rain/ Fire Crackling/ Water / Forest/ Nature Sounds
4. Some High Resolution Coran Recitation.

 

[EJ3]

In Others: for me is like
1. New Age
2. Lo-Fi
3. Rain/ Fire Crackling/ Water / Forest/ Nature Sounds
4. Some High Resolution Coran Recitation.

Had those been choices, I have occasionally listened to the first 3 & enjoyed them, I have never heard of the 4th one, so presumably I don't listen to it.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Speaking of Jazz and Classical. It comes as no surprise that the results depend on who you ask. Check this out:

The most popular music genres in 2023 ranked through Spotify stats​

1. Pop
2. Electronic dance (EDM)
3. Rap
4. Rock
5. Urbano latino

Least popular music genres​

Again, this information is purely based off statistics we’ve found. We’re not suggesting music within these genres are disappointing, or that they’re unpopular with everyone. They just aren’t as popular as the top performing genres. They wouldn’t be around without people streaming them, even if they aren’t streamed as often.

Unsurprising to some, and surprising to others, Classical, Jazz and Country music are the least popular music genres. It’s possible that due to Classical music being most popular with older generations, it simply isn’t being streamed. The genre is listened to most by those who possibly reach for the radio rather than streaming platforms.

Along with this, you have Jazz, which is fantastic when performed live. Perhaps again, it comes down to listening styles. Maybe Jazz fans would rather hear this type of music performed differently, they might not be as interested in heading to Spotify and streaming their top Jazz tracks. This isn’t to say Jazz isn’t a good genre.

Best and worst music genres in 2023

What's your favourite music genre? Did it make the list for most or least popular, according to Spotify's statistics?

blog.push.fm

The genre is listened to most by those who possibly reach for the radio rather than streaming platforms.A tip in that case:
View attachment 386062View attachment 386065View attachment 386066View attachment 386067

SomehowJazz - Jazz Radio

Audiophile quality jazz radio features the best cuts from jazz funk, fusion and other contemporary genres of jazz. High quality streaming up to 320 kbps.

somehowjazz.com

I need to say why I voted for Other (among others).

I could say World, but it's really just African. This was started by listening to Andy Kershaw's* excellent radio programmes on BBC R1, and later R3 when he became marginalised. He played a lot of the stuff also played by John Peel (non-mainstream and blues-based rock, then later punk, post-punk, and so on)+. At first it was The Bhundu Boys and John Chipadura from Zimbabwe, and Felu Kuti from Nigeria. Later it was Baba Maal from Senegal, and Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté from Mali.

I go though cycles of returning to music I've owned for ages (so easy with it all on a NAS) and recently did that with Toumani Diabaté. This music is among the most gorgeous I've ever heard and I was thinking that he might be my favourite living musician, someone I wanted to see in concert when he's next in the UK, so I was shocked and saddened to learn that he died on 19 Jul at the age of a mere 58. (I really, really, want people to give him a listen. He's done a lot of cross-cultural collaborations for those who want an easier way in.)

*Andy has been doing a podcast for a while now <https://andykershaw.co.uk/podcast-30-11th-june-2024/>

+Edit: forgot to say ", but also played stuff I hadn't heard before. He even showed me that Country was a genre with some artists worth listening to."

 

[risandipra]

Should we run another poll with different styles of Rock?

Here are some links that can provide inspiration for which ten alternatives that can be included in a Rock Poll:

List of rock genres - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Most Popular Rock Genre, Ranked - StrawPoll.com

Music enthusiasts often find themselves in heated debates about which rock genre stands out as the crowd favorite. To settle these discussions, it's u...

strawpoll.com

The 100 Most Popular Rock Music Genres, Ranked

Update: Follow Ranker's official New Rock 2020 playlist on Spotify! The most popular rock genres embody the rollicking, freewheeling spirit of rock ’n’ roll in unique and fascinating ways. Whether it’s the head-banging riffs of metal or the drone of goth rock that makes you want to run and put...

www.ranker.com

Friday Top: 20 Best Rock and Metal Subgenres

As voted by UG community.

www.ultimate-guitar.com

I need to say why I voted for Other (among others).

I could say World, but it's really just African. This was started by listening to Andy Kershaw's* excellent radio programmes on BBC R1, and later R3 when he became marginalised. He played a lot of the stuff also played by John Peel (non-mainstream and blues-based rock, then later punk, post-punk, and so on)+. At first it was The Bhundu Boys and John Chipadura from Zimbabwe, and Felu Kuti from Nigeria. Later it was Baba Maal from Senegal, and Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté from Mali.

I go though cycles of returning to music I've owned for ages (so easy with it all on a NAS) and recently did that with Toumani Diabaté. This music is among the most gorgeous I've ever heard and I was thinking that he might be my favourite living musician, someone I wanted to see in concert when he's next in the UK, so I was shocked and saddened to learn that he died on 19 Jul at the age of a mere 58. (I really, really, want people to give him a listen. He's done a lot of cross-cultural collaborations for those who want an easier way in.)

*Andy has been doing a podcast for a while now <https://andykershaw.co.uk/podcast-30-11th-june-2024/>

+Edit: forgot to say ", but also played stuff I hadn't heard before. He even showed me that Country was a genre with some artists worth listening to."

Thanks for you're suggestion. I'm listening to Diabate now. Lovely.

[Richard Bona is from Mali as well, IIRC. He made me unable to listen to Pat Metheny Group's Speaking of Now per track. It's got to be from "As It Is" to "Wherever You Go" un-skipped. One coherent songs within an album. "You" and "On Her Way" are bridged by his voice in CD version, even on the Live Video Album of the band.]

 

[Philbo King]

Edit:
Forget the text below. The choice for the vote is made via the suggestions Voodooless received via ChatGPT. You can select multiple options and then change them if you want.

____

Yes, I know it's not possible to vote, YET. That's because it kind of short-circuited in my head when I was going to enter the options. They will come but please help me with suggestions.
Just put in some suggestions. You don't have to justify your proposals, if you don't want to. I sort it all out when I compile the voting list.

Can twenty different voting options be reasonable to have?

Like this to show the challenge of what to include in the vote. A quick google search on:
Different music styles gives as a first suggestion

Country blues
Contemporary classical music
Country rap
Electronic
Jazz
Pop
Progressive house
Coat
Soul
J-pop
Indie people
Arena rock
Kind of punk
Crossover music
Contemporary R&B
Crust punk
Disco
Experimental rock
Folktronica
Electronic dance music
Hip hop
Lo-fi

I think that list is pretty bad I must say so we can make a better one.
Criticism of list above:
For example Rock, wouldn't it be more interesting to have subgroups such as classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, progressive and so on and skip categories such as crust punk and a few more on that list? Fusion jazz/rock is not included as a category. I listen to that a lot, but that's me. Maybe you don't want to include fusion as a category to vote for? Where is Reggae?
Folktronica, que? Where is Classical Music, other than Contemporary classical music? By the way who listens to Contemporary classical music (prejudice from my side)? Perhaps a poll could provide an answer to that.
Maybe Classical music up to and including the 19th century, Classical music from the 19th century onwards? Or maybe it gets confusing with such alternatives? Country rap instead of just Country is weird and so on..

Please note this is mostly intended as a fun poll. It will not be the definitive ultimate list. Incidentally, it can never be created due to too many wishes.
There will always be those who think that a vote on 20 different music styles lacks X, unnecessary that Y is included and so on,thats how it is BUT I'm grateful for feedback, suggestions on what to add to the list.

Also, I'll create the voting list later tonight, if you haven't made a suggestion before then you can't complain on the list option (if you're reading this thread after that, sorry).

For example, if I mention that Blues should (of course) - be included as a category, then there are different styles to choose from, the question then is which and how many? See here:

• Blues
  
  • Acoustic Blues
  • African Blues
  • Blues Rock
  • Blues Shouter
  • British Blues
  • Canadian Blues
  • Chicago Blues
  • Classic Blues
  • Classic Female Blues
  • Contemporary Blues
  • Contemporary R&B
  • Country Blues
  • Dark Blues
  • Delta Blues
  • Detroit Blues
  • Doom Blues
  • Electric Blues
  • Folk Blues
  • Gospel Blues
  • Harmonica Blues
  • Hill Country Blues
  • Hokum Blues
  • Jazz Blues
  • Jump Blues
  • Kansas City Blues
  • Louisiana Blues
  • Memphis Blues
  • Modern Blues
  • New Orlean Blues
  • NY Blues
  • Piano Blues
  • Piedmont Blues
  • Punk Blues
  • Ragtime Blues
  • Rhythm Blues
  • Soul Blues
  • St. Louis Blues
  • Soul Blues
  • Swamp Blues
  • Texas Blues
  • Urban Blues
  • Vandeville
  • West Coast Blues
  • Zydeco (also under ‘World’ genre)

Music Genre List - A complete list of music styles, types and genres

Genres of Music | The Most Definitive Music Genre List on the Web. Contribute, share and discover almost every music type, genre or style on the Internet!

www.musicgenreslist.com

If you want inspiration when thinking about suggestions, here is a list of 6000 styles:

https://www.chosic.com/list-of-music-genres/

So.. no Nordic Deathmetal Polka Folkpunk?

 

[EJ3]

So.. no Nordic Deathmetal Polka Folkpunk?

Might be a bit too mainstream!

 

[AudioSceptic]

Thanks for you're suggestion. I'm listening to Diabate now. Lovely.

[Richard Bona is from Mali as well, IIRC. He made me unable to listen to Pat Metheny Group's Speaking of Now per track. It's got to be from "As It Is" to "Wherever You Go" un-skipped. One coherent songs within an album. "You" and "On Her Way" are bridged by his voice in CD version, even on the Live Video Album of the band.]

I'm so pleased. It all started for me with
In the Heart of the Moon (with Ali Farka Touré)
Gosh, that's nearly 20 years ago!

Other albums easy to recommend are
Kaira (solo, 1st album)
New Ancient Strings (duets with Balaké Sissoko)
Kulanjan (with Taj Mahal)
The Mandé Variations (solo)
Toumani and Sidiki (duets with his son).

Richard Bona rings a bell, thanks!

 

[DanielT]

So.. no Nordic Deathmetal Polka Folkpunk?

I haven't found anything like that.

On the other hand, folk-based music mixed with Jazz. Here are two songs from an incredibly popular record from 1964:

Jazz på svenska ("Jazz in Swedish") is an album by the Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson. It was issued in 1964 and consists of jazz arrangements of Swedish folk songs. All arrangements are very sparse, consisting only of Johansson on piano and Georg Riedel on double bass. It went on to become the best selling Swedish jazz album of all time, selling a quarter of a million copies.[1] Many of the tracks hold a distinct renown in Swedish society, especially the lead track "Visa från Utanmyra" (Song from Utanmyra).

Jazz på svenska - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Then in the 1970s it became prog.Folk music (or inspired by folk music) mixed with rock and or jazz/blues such as:

There's a 50 second intro before it gets going properly:

 

[Multicore]

I haven't found anything like that.

On the other hand, folk-based music mixed with Jazz. Here are two songs from an incredibly popular record from 1964:

Jazz på svenska ("Jazz in Swedish") is an album by the Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson. It was issued in 1964 and consists of jazz arrangements of Swedish folk songs. All arrangements are very sparse, consisting only of Johansson on piano and Georg Riedel on double bass. It went on to become the best selling Swedish jazz album of all time, selling a quarter of a million copies.[1] Many of the tracks hold a distinct renown in Swedish society, especially the lead track "Visa från Utanmyra" (Song from Utanmyra).

Thanks for sharing. I didn't know it. It's good. Visa från Utanmyra has a bit of that Brubeck super-cool style. I like Gånglek från Älvdalen even more. 1964, eh? It made me wonder if the album could be a progenitor of the chamber jazz that swept Europe and ECM made its main thing in the 70s.

 

[Multicore]

It would be interesting to statistically summarize how many of the 10 check boxes each voter checked. I don't suppose the forum software does that.

 

[Multicore]

What's interesting here is that Jazz and Classical are dramatically over-represented when you look at more gen-pop surveys of music genre listening habits. If you look up similar data from elsewhere, they both tend to get single digit percentages.

Some bins are fatter than others. "Popular" music (industrially produced recordings for commercial sale) is here divided into six (6) voting options, while jazz and blues got lumped into one, classical presumably wraps up over 5 centuries with everything from Palestrina to Xenakis and beyond, and I guess folk/country is where we put all the world's indigenous and local specialties.

But assuming the elsewhere data you're comparing with is similarly binned, what explains that? idk. Perhaps people who measure their rooms with calibrated mics and so forth are attracted to "seriousness" by some definition. isdk.

 

[Multicore]

I gave them all a vote except for hip hop, which I still listen to but it’s becoming rarer and rarer. Still love me some Malk de Koijn and Wu-Tang from time to time though.
In my teens I was a huge music snob. I listened to ‘real music’ and scoffed at peeps who listened to hip hop, pop and most of what was playing over the radio. If it was too mainstream/popular, I was out.

Growing up a bit and having various friends act as gurus in whatever genre of music I didn’t know well helped me out tremendously in trying out new stuff (alright a bit of space tobacco may have helped things along as well). It’s nice to have someone knowleadgable, who knows your tastes in music and is willing to direct you at albums/artists in X genre that perhaps utilise some of the same sonic trades that you dig.

Last couple of days has consisted of:
Pharoah Sanders - Karma
Siouxsiee & The Banshees - Hyena
The Budos Band - ll
Solar Fields - Movements l
Waste Of Space Orchestra - Synthesis
Penderecki - Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima
Caravan - In The Land Of Grey & Pink
The Future Sound Of London - Lifeforms
Magma - Kobaïa
Material - Hallucination Engine
Perry Leopold - Christian Lucifer
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Amon Düül ll - Wolf City
Men At Work - Business As Usual
Neurosis - Through Silver In Blood
Tim Maia - s/t
The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
The Jacksons - Triumph

That's a lotta lot of music to listen to in 2 days!

Apart form Men At Work I'm down with all of that. I also checked all but one box: R&B/Soul. But you reminded me maybe I should have checked that too given the P-Funk and Material for example. (The Third Power is a fave of both me and my wife.)

On the snob aspect, Brit culture in the 70s and 80s encouraged that and I was a victim too, for example, keeping my filthy prog habits private for years, but aversion to the extremely popular is still a real thing. The commercial FM heavy rotation playlists ruined some perfectly serviceable music along with the dross. There's some good stuff on Physical Graffiti but all of Zep was permanently ruined by being played to death a long time ago. And I remember being really angry when I noticed Talking Heads in those playlists made to fill the gaps between ads. I guess overexposure isn't necessarily the same as snobbery.

 

[AudioSceptic]

That's a lotta lot of music to listen to in 2 days!

Apart form Men At Work I'm down with all of that. I also checked all but one box: R&B/Soul. But you reminded me maybe I should have checked that too given the P-Funk and Material for example. (The Third Power is a fave of both me and my wife.)

On the snob aspect, Brit culture in the 70s and 80s encouraged that and I was a victim too, for example, keeping my filthy prog habits private for years, but aversion to the extremely popular is still a real thing. The commercial FM heavy rotation playlists ruined some perfectly serviceable music along with the dross. There's some good stuff on Physical Graffiti but all of Zep was permanently ruined by being played to death a long time ago. And I remember being really angry when I noticed Talking Heads in those playlists made to fill the gaps between ads. I guess overexposure isn't necessarily the same as snobbery.

Filthy prog habits? Oh, the shame, the shame. You were wise to keep them private. ;-)

Men at Work were not for me. For me the great Aussie bands were The Triffids, The Go-Betweens and The Birthday Party.

 

[Multicore]

Bear in mind that music genres do not exist.

Not in the way that real music exists, including musical works, performances or recordings. (Yeah, I mean ontology.)

And it gets worse. Genres are words that label abstract categories that to a surprising extent the more precisely we try to specify the categories, the more the genre words seem to lose power to describe anything. They are useful by virtue of being vague.

If, however, our goal is to argue (and why not? it's fun and we can learn a lot from arguing) then again the intrinsic nonexistent unreality and imprecision of genres works great.

The best thing about genres, no matter how broad or narrowly defined, is they get us to think about (individually and socially) the relationships between the real music examples of them.

I still don't know what math rock is. Is that when playing it involves a lot of difficult counting, like Deerhoof or King Crimson?

 

[RayDunzl]

 

[Mr Swing King]

It’s been a wild ride for sure - especially after I found myself listening to stuff that I wouldn’t have touched with a ten foot pole earlier.
I found both The Prodigy and Radiohead waaaay after they were the biggest things in music..but I’m thrilled I came around.

I do get what you’re saying with regards to genres. I’ve frequented a fair few music sites and the way prog, metal or jazz heads can argue about what sticker to put on X band can be infuriating..and probably scares quite a few folks away.
Then again used in a meaningful manner these boxes can lead to new discoveries. It’s a way of using language that better communicates whatever tunes you’re looking for.
I’ve often thought about a possible solution via simply calling all music music and be done with the stickers, but it gets increasingly difficult actually finding what you’re after.
In the kitchen fx it would end up being something along the lines of: get 500 grams of food. Pour some food in to taste. Chop a little food while you prepare the food that you need to mix with the food. Remember to add food

 

[AudioSceptic]

Bear in mind that music genres do not exist.

Not in the way that real music exists, including musical works, performances or recordings. (Yeah, I mean ontology.)

And it gets worse. Genres are words that label abstract categories that to a surprising extent the more precisely we try to specify the categories, the more the genre words seem to lose power to describe anything. They are useful by virtue of being vague.

If, however, our goal is to argue (and why not? it's fun and we can learn a lot from arguing) then again the intrinsic nonexistent unreality and imprecision of genres works great.

The best thing about genres, no matter how broad or narrowly defined, is they get us to think about (individually and socially) the relationships between the real music examples of them.

I still don't know what math rock is. Is that when playing it involves a lot of difficult counting, like Deerhoof or King Crimson?

I agree. The only "genres" I still have in my library are Classical, Jazz, and World, because they are almost useful. Anything else is no use at all. Math Rock? <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_rock>

 

[Multicore]

I agree. The only "genres" I still have in my library are Classical, Jazz, and World, because they are almost useful. Anything else is no use at all. Math Rock? <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_rock>

Nice!

That wikipedia page is Exhibit A in my case. The first two sentences are ok. Proceeding from there, adding more text to its definition, it progressively loses clarity and meaning and gains confusion.