Music genres

By Jasmine

Music is seen as very popular all around the world and can be classed as different genres. These genres are all a way of placing different music tastes into different group categories. For example the following:

Rock music- Otherwise known as 'Rock'n' Roll', mainly contains instruments such as, drums,guitars,guitar acoustics, electric guitars etc. It is also known to be split up into several different sub-genres such as indie rock, punk rock, emo rock and so on......

Rock music had first originated in the late 1940's to early 1950's in the US and was first started as a mixture of genres which was the blues and jazz music.

The king of Rock 'n' Roll, aka Elvis Presley, was one of the most famous legends of our time. His most famous song which had became very popular in 1957 and still popular now, is called the 'Jailhouse Rock'. He had released this specific song as Elvis was introducing the film he had starred in so that he could persuade more viewers to watch the film. He had also included other songs from the film itself, such as 'Don't leave me now' and '(You're so square) Baby i dont care'. This had topped the charts and many of his songs became number one for a number of weeks due to people purchasing his album.
Elvis sadly passed away in 1977 from a cardiac arrhythmia and his music and features are missed by many millions. Elvis is still even more popular now as many people see him as a role model in society today. Elvis's songs have also been used as a way of remembering the king himself. Such as his famous song,'A little less conversation', but in 2002 remixed by Dj junkie DXL. Even though this famous song was released it sadly only got to the 31st position in the UK charts. However, we still see the king as being one of our most missed artists in the world.

Here is the music video I have downloaded from Youtube of Elvis presley performing "A little less conversation":


Whereas, 2002's 'A little less conversation' is some what different...:

Rock Fashion- Fashion has been seen as a huge craze throughout most of our history, and it creates personality's towards each individual.

Gothic subcultures

Gothics are people who wear dark, mysterious clothing to show their emotions of their lifestyle and culture. Famous rock bands such as Marilyn Manson, Evanesense and Black Sabbath all have these features to their clothing. The darkness of their clothing also shows a rebellious side towards them as black may symbolise death.The image shown on the right is of a woman wearing a skull and bones jumper,fish net tights, netted skirt and bright red short hair. This is all so that she can create a powerful statement that she simply 'does not care' about what people think of her even though her image is quite strong to create a rebellious side to her.

The main idea behind gothic clothing lines is to re-create the clothing from the gothic era (16th century), which was also about arcitechture (Pointy arches - Notre Dame in Paris for example) and religon/folklore. The simple misunderstanding is that Marilyn Manson indeed is a 'goth' when he is actually an 'acid metaller' and the goth's usually are seen wearing vampiristic almost majestic clothes, usually in silver, blue, pink, red, purple, green and black. Vampires were seen as neat, clean tidy and perfect creatures and this is the idea the Goths are trying to obtain with lacey corsages, long gowns and robes - which can be related to the Japanese Lolita trend. Artists dressing like the classical Goth you see artists such as Evanesence, Siouxie and the Banshees and Bauhaus, classic gothic looking bands although Evanesence only look the part yet do not participate in the musical category. Goth music of the 70's to present usually consists of a steady drum beat, bass and keyboard music. The lyrics are almost like poetry.

Marilyn Manson

Evanescence

Punk rock-Usually contains instruments such as: vocals, electric guitar, bass and drums

Punk rock had first became a hit in the late 70's in the U.S and Australia. They had consisted of garage rock and other types of protopunk music so that it could combine and create the mainstream of rock music. Punk rock music is also known to be fast paced and strong to create the rebellious side of rock itself. Bands such as "Green Day" and "the Offspring" had created a phenomenon, as most people had become hooked to this new punk rock music and had widespread its popularity all over the world.

Punk Fashion

To belong in the punk subculture you must have the following variables:
*Clothing

-Usually T-shirt, Jeans and leather jacket

-They believed that second hand clothing seemed far better than expensive colourful clothing in the disco scene.

-Offensive T-shirts became very popular in the early punk scene.

-Ripped or torn clothing was seen as fashionable in the punk subculture.

-Clothing is often used to create a statement

-Fishnet stockings (sometimes torn)

*Hairstyles

-Usually long and spiked up to create a mohican

-Often dyed in outrageous colours

*Jewellery

-Spike bands or other types of studs are used commonly

-Safety pins used to hold ripped pieces of material together purposely

-Body piercings
-Silver bracelets

*Cosemetics
-Dark eyeliner is often used, particularly on women as they would often rebel about society sterotyping women. As they would stereotype them as the average women who would wear "pretty delicate clothing".

Some celebrities have influenced the punk subculture and has taught society that everyone is different, such as:

*Pink

As you can see in this picture, Pink (the singer) has got a striking attitude and has produced a statement that she simply 'does not care'. Her hair is dyed pink to represent her stage name and has been spiked up a bit to show the punk side of her.

*Kelly Osbourne

This picture on the right is of Kelly Osbourne, otherwise known as Ozzy Osbournes daughter (the lead singer off Black Sabbath). Kelly had succeeded in many areas such as becoming a successful fashion designer, singer, actress and model. I believe that Kelly's fashion is quite sinister and creates strong references of rebellion. This is because she has been known to mainly wear dark clothing. However, she may have been brought up to dress like she does as her father is 'The Prince Of Darkness'. Her punk subculture and her characteristics show that she is a tough cookie and will not let anyone get in the way, this is most common for a typical punk, as many of the females believe that they should not be stereotyped as the typical woman.

The Ramones- The Ramones along with 'The Sex Pistols' and 'The Clash', were the first ever band to be recognised as 'Punk Rock'. This had created a new musical movement in the late 70's.

Folk- Usually contains instruments such as, acoustics guitars, percussion instruments etc.

Folk music had first originated in the 19th century and was better known as 'Folklore'. A band which had first became a hit with folk music was a group called 'The Almanac Singers'. Most of their songs had linked to the labour government to promote debates around the world. This is so that people from all over the world could see what they believe what is happening in society today. In some cases they would write songs about promoting racial and religious inclusiveness and workers rights. This is due to them feeling strongly about this and they would produce songs in order to achieve their goals.
I have uploaded a video via youtube so that you can see what their song is like, enjoy :) ....: