What Puts a Song in the Generic Genre

PHOTO COURTESY | WIKI COMMONS
Kurt Cobain inspired a generation of men singing about how much they are misunderstood.

I feel like you can take a large chunk of every music genre and just toss them together. They all fall into this pattern of hyping up the singer until the song doesn’t mean a thing. It’s different for every genre, they all value different things, but it’s a pattern you can see over and over again. In this “hype-man” genre, it’s almost like the band is kindly giving me instructions on how to be cool like them because they’ve got it all figured out. Well, I’ve got absolutely nothing figured out and plan on keeping it that way, thank you. If you want to know what I’m talking about, here are a few examples.

Country

Now I’ve probably lost half of you, seeing as if someone says, “I like all kinds of music!” there’s about a 50-50 split that includes country. There always seems to be an exception, but if all you listen to is the radio, then you may be tired of the same eight country songs. Out of these eight, about five are going to be about you not getting “it” unless you’re a “country boy” like him. Maybe we only need one that does it well. I feel like each country song gets one half-tasteful use of the word “redneck” not in the chorus. Even without it, the song can still go downhill pretty fast. Especially if they go radio-buzzword country style and just toss out things they think country fans like. Keywords include, but are not limited to: beer, booze, girls, trucks, farms, dirt and woo-hoo.

Hard/Alternative/Grunge rock

These genres are all similar enough that they share the same caveat: the misunderstood artist. Now, there is some great stuff to come out of this kind of music. Nirvana have made some great and really influential music. They’ve even inspired some stuff I kinda like with the same kind of pent-up anger to it. However, there are a lot of bands these days that really just feel like a teenager is yelling at me because school is bullshit and his parents are bullshit and girls are bullshit as he takes out his phone where his “totally-the-one” fifteen-year-old ex is his wallpaper. I don’t care about your issues. I’ll deal with that when I’m in my 40s with my own teenager and depressed because work is bullshit and bills are bullshit and my ex-wife is bullshit.

Twenty-One Pilots

Pretty much fits the category above, but this is the gravest offender of our generation. Every song I hear from them has the same message: I’m too deep for my own good. Screw it, Twenty-One Pilots can be its own genre. I only keep them in my queues so I can be annoyed with Twenty-One Pilots.

Rap

Know that I like rap as much as the next guy, but sometimes it’s a bit much. He’s trying really hard to convince you that he’s a certified no-shits-given gangsta badass. Unless, of course, we’re talking about Kanye who literally thinks he’s a god. Dude could probably get his albums tax-exempt status. Not sure if I agree with him, but I would certainly support his presidential campaign (Yeezus 2020).

I hope I’ve made it clear that I’ve got some love for all these genres and others that would make this article way too long. Hell, I still enjoy even some of the generic stuff . I would just recommend you not judge an entire genre based off of this small, but popular, section. I’d also like to add that if I’m bashing your favorite music, to each their own. I’m not about to judge someone’s music choices. Unless you are a die-hard “Twenty-One Pilots” fan in which case feel free to write a letter to the to the given address, and we can start your recovery.

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