The Genre Discussion

The idea of categorising media and creative output is almost as old human history itself. These days though, with barriers collapsing around genres and even mediums, there is a strong argument that any traditional ideas of genre categorisation do not work with modern media, and more specifically, music.

Genres are usually thought to have originated in Ancient Greece, as Plato and Aristotle came up with categories in which to group various types of theatre and poetry together. This made sense for traditional theatre and film later, as most productions had to hit on core themes or plot points that were unique to the genre they fell in. It also, to an extent, made sense when applied to music. Contrary to popular belief, the categorisation of music into genres is actually supposed to be done by musicologists rather than a listener with some time on their hands. The idea is that musicologists should have a great enough understanding of what characterises different types of music that they would be able to set up a system of categorisation that would funnel listeners towards more music that they would like, rather than have listeners trawl through huge amounts of music until they happen across something they enjoy. In fact, it could be argued that that is what genres really do; they just don’t work as well as we would like.

There are two main issues that seem to turn up with this idea of genres. The first one is that many people feel the system doesn’t actually work to begin with. When you do come across a genre it’s either been categorised by some kid with iTunes or at best via a group consensus on a forum. Even then most people will simply disagree with the definition put forward if it doesn’t fit with what they feel is important or distinctive about the genre. There seems to be little to no real input by anyone who is actually studied in the subject, meaning any idea that our genres have been set up to help us find more music simply doesn’t fit. The other argument is that, even when this system of genres does work, it’s too constrictive to both listeners and musicians. In many cases genres have become concrete, constricting development of the music and funnelling listeners away from anything new or different, instead directing them back to the small group of genres they’ve always listened to. Musicians too seem to be defined by how much they have conformed to certain genres, rather than the genres being defined by what music is being made.

Of course neither of these points are universally true and there is apparently a good deal of genuine musicology that goes into categorising music into the genres on online music stores such as iTunes or Bleep. One way or the other, genres do seem to still be a big factor in the way we interact with music and it is worth taking a look at their role in our listening.