For starters, I reckon that today's list will be a bit controversial because no one in the world of music can agree on how different genres are defined. There is no one correct way to split music into genres, so I just decided to go with one of the many slightly wrong ways. The genres that qualify for this list aren't the very biggest broad and large umbrella terms (e.g. classical, jazz, rock etc.), but I also tried not to go too deep into subgenres upon subgenres (e.g. neoromantic modernism, swing revival revival, Scottish pirate metal etc.). Therefore I came up with a shortlist of genres that are roughly on the same level of broadness, so that they can be compared to one another. Of course, there are exceptions, as some genres are harder to divide into parts than others, and the amount of knowledge per genre that I have certainly has some influence.
I would like to emphasize that the list's title is "Top 15 genres dearest to me" and not "Top 15 best genres", because I find the idea of a 'best genres' list to be inherently stupid. All major genres have their genius masters as well as their boring lowpoints, and it feels wrong to call one genre better than another (except if you're comparing humane genres to abominations like Nazi punk and hatecore). Also, since I'm writing about the genres dearest to me, I don't have to pretend to know more than I do know about certain genres, but rather I get to give insight on which genres my specific taste on music is built on and which genres have produced the most substance to my liking.
Here are my honorable mentions: Funk, Grunge, Modal Jazz, Reggae, Swing.
15. Metal
Metal is a double-edged sword for me, and I considered should it even be on the list or not - it's a genre that I often find to be a bit overrated, because it's such a huge deal in Finnish rock circles. Metal is the #1 thing in music for so many of my friends, that I've spent a lot of time throughout the years wondering what all the hype is about. Still, because it's so big in my circles, I've gotten quite familiar with the world of metal during my life, and have therefore noticed how incredible it is at its best, even if it has never been as much 'my cup of tea' than many other genres.
Iron Maiden and Metallica are among my all-time favorite bands, and I say this fully aware of the fact that most real metalheads would shake their (metal-) heads at such mainstream and vanilla choices. I simply love the style of music those bands and many like them make, and I think Metallica's Master of Puppets is the one individual song that condenses everything great about the genre into one magnificent track. So, yeah, I suppose metal and its subgenres go into the same category for me as slasher films and Irish coffee - I might not feel like it all that often, but for a certain mood, nothing else will do.
14. Baroque
I can already hear a certain ex-girlfriend loudly responding that baroque is an era, not a genre - and she'd be right. But I see absolutely no reason why the different eras of classical music can't also be seen as genres, as they have certain characteristics that unify the artists and pieces belonging to that era/genre and set them apart from the others, just as the case is with jazz subgenres or rock subgenres. So, when making a list of the genres dearest to me, it made sense to categorize the different eras of classical music as one genre each.
Anyways, I never was the biggest classical music buff, but I do have great respect for that world and often strive to become more familiar with it. The often majestic and explosive pieces of the baroque era may not be the most chill stuff to listen to, but as was the case with metal, it's just perfect for a certain mood or context, not to mention the dazzlement that us music nerds feel when analyzing the genius thought processes of composers like Bach and Händel.
13. Cool jazz
Oh, hell yes. While jazz, much like classical, never was the #1 thing for me in music, I do have a soft spot for many subgenres of jazz, and none more so than this chill and classy variant from the 1940's and 50's. In contrast to the hectic feel of bebop that had dominated America's jazz scene until this point, cool jazz really cooled things down and gave the origin to the type of music you might hear in coffee houses and elevators.
Artists like Gerry Mulligan and Dave Brubeck, not to mention master-of-the-trade Miles Davis whose album Birth of the Cool will tell you everything about what cool jazz is all about, played a big part in my journey into familiarity with jazz - a journey that is still going on, and who knows where it might lead.
12. Suomirock
Suomirock is a specific thing. Not all Finnish rock is suomirock, and not even all Finnish-language is suomirock (although some do argue otherwise). Suomirock is a very specific kind of Finland-based, Finnish-language rock music, where the atmosphere is often steady, the sounds are subtle and the lyrics are about cars, drinking and sauna.
While suomirock doesn't always hit the spot (I think Pate Mustajärvi's woefully iconic Ukkometso highlights all my least favorite aspects of Finnish culture), at its best it is a wonderful thing. All of my top 3 favorite bands/artists from Finland are more or less suomirock - Eppu Normaali in the most traditional sense, Apulanta as a part of more modern suomirock with a punk twist, and Ursus Factory as a part of suomirock's "new wave". Speaking of the new wave of suomirock, the most obvious reason for this genre being dear to me is that my own band, Säätövara, is most definitely suomirock at heart, albeit definitely not the most traditional and typical kind.
11. Romantic
Now, to be clear, this refers to the romantic era of classical music, and not to the more usual meaning of the word in a modern context (e.g. love songs). The very best bits of classical music come, in my opinion, from this era, where wild individual expression and beautiful emotional compositions were all the rage. Most often when I feel like listening to classical music, it's bound to be something from this era, whether it's the later works of Beethoven building a bridge from Classicism into Romanticism, Jean Sibelius making Finland's voice heard with his immensely powerful works, or my personal favorite Gustav Mahler painting auditive landscapes with his atmospheric symphonies.
10. Musical
Sure, musicals are a combination of the musical and theatrical art forms more than a mere music genre, but it still qualifies for this list as the music from musicals is unique with a multitude of defining characteristics. I enjoy musicals a great deal, from the classics of the Tin Pan Alley era to the more modern groundbreakers, from the conventional Broadway hits like Les Miserables to the more out-of-the-box ones like Urinetown, from local Finnish pieces like Myrskyluodon Maija to global phenomena like West Side Story, and from the stage of a theater to the cinematic big screen adaptations.
The traditional compositional characteristics of Broadway songs, from certain emotion-invoking chord progressions to specific dramatic instrumental arrangements, may be clichés, but very positive ones in my view, as they always get the job done. I always appreciate when new ground is broken within the genre as well, as is the case with William Finn's genius melodies and rhythms in Falsettos, or the incorporation of hip hop into Broadway conventions in my all-time favorite musical Hamilton. I also find the job of actors in musicals fascinating, as the task of acting while singing requires tremendous emotional vulnerability and nuance, and this type of dramatic vocal performance is a truly underrated craft.
9. Pop
This was one of the most difficult ones to rank - A) because the field of pop is so ridiculously large and couldn't be divided into subgenres as easily as rock or jazz etc., B) because it is even harder to categorize than most other genres, and C) because it ranges from very bad to very good more than possibly any other genre. You know how in Harry Potter all of the bad wizards go to Slytherin, even though Slytherins aren't all bad by any means? That's pop. Almost all of my least favorite music happens to come from this genre, but I won't hold it against pop music too much because there is also so much amazing material in this massively influential and somewhat convoluted genre.
Any genre that has given us the genius compositions of ABBA, the smooth and suave sounds of Silk Sonic and the outlet for Adele's magnificent pipes to shatter the listener's heart, is a genre worthy of respect. And let's not forget that while the first mental image of pop music is likely one involving dance floors, modern electronic sounds and autotune, the genre has been around for a long time and has taken many forms - for example, many songs and albums from Frank Sinatra's heyday are categorized most often as "Traditional pop". So there's that.
8. Hip hop
"In my view, and in the view of my music theorist father, who went to music school, there are three elements to music: there is harmony, there is melody, and there is rhythm. And rap only fills one of these: the rhythm section. There's not a lot of melody, and there's not a lot of harmony. And, thus, it is basically, effectively, spoken rhythm, and so, it is not actually a form of music"
-Right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro, right before the world of music collectively told him to go f**k himself
If you're wondering why I'd bother including Shapiro's hilariously idiotic words here, it is because seeing him make those remarks made me realize just how much I care about rap music - I wouldn't have gotten so incredibly pissed off, if I was indifferent or lukewarm toward the genre. So, and I never thought I'd utter these words, thank you, Ben Shapiro! I never would've realized just how dear hip hop is to me if your infamous "Rap isn't music" comments hadn't riled me up so much.
While rock music and its certain subgenres have always been the #1 thing for me in many ways, my music taste continues to broaden into new directions throughout my studies, social circles and various music projects. Hip hop was actually one of the very first genres outside of rock that I discovered myself enjoying at a young age, much thanks to my brother and his recommendation of Eminem (yes, I know, how stereotypical for us white guys that Eminem is our gateway into rap). But, after becoming a big Eminem fan, I gradually started to acquaint myself more with the genre, finding some truly awesome artists and excellent pieces of music in the process.
While I'm still not super-deep into the culture, the rappers that I have familiarized myself with continue to play a big part in the music I enjoy listening to, from Childish Gambino's wildly artistic genius to the insane respect I have for trailblazers like N.W.A. and the Notorious B.I.G. Also, it's easier to have respect for a certain skill if you yourself suck at it, and as a musician who is comfortable singing but woeful at rapping, I have the utmost admiration for the lyrical wit and performative charisma of those that have mastered the art.
7. World
Cards on the table, it would be more accurate to categorize the traditional folk music of each country/area in the world as their own genre. But I don't know enough about most music cultures to qualify them as their own genres for this list, and it would be even more of a mess if I included "Finnish traditional music" as one genre but "Asian traditional music" as an other and so on. So I decided that under this one genre, I have all of the traditional folk music from different cultures around the world, and you just have to deal with it.
Also, I don't subscribe to the outdated division of 'western traditional/folk music' and 'world music', which is a woeful relic from the 'us and them' worldview where white Europeans had to be the center of everything and the rest of the world was seen as exotic otherness. I use the term 'world music' in the way that a great teacher at my university taught me to use it, to mean the traditional music of any culture in the world, with no narratives of 'our music' and 'their music' in the fold. Some of the coolest stuff I've gotten to learn in my university studies has been in the courses regarding world music, as it's so mind-blowing to learn how Indian melodic scales are so wildly different from the ones westerners are used to from the very get-go, or how Thai music is built on a whole array of instruments that I've never heard of but that sound amazing.
While there are incredibly many culture areas whose traditional music has a place in my heart, from the magical sounds of Celtic music to the mysterious and beautiful harmonies of the Middle East, I have to give a special shout-out to the islands of Polynesia. My discovery of Polynesian traditional music played a big part in my journey of realizing just how special world music is, and I love incorporating elements of Polynesian music into my piano playing or my compositions. It would be an absolute dream come true to someday travel to Tuvalu or Tonga, and get to jam with the locals.
6. Soundtrack
Yes, I know, it must be shocking that the guy whose movie/TV blog you're reading likes the music that is heard in movies and TV shows. In music circles, one comes across many forms of elitism, and one of the most frustrating views I've heard from music elitists is that movie soundtracks are bad because they sound like a cheap rip-off of classical music. Just no. Cinematic music is a beautiful and wonderful thing, which obviously is derived from classical and owes a lot of tribute to it, but has become its own thing in a very positive manner, as the decades have shifted movie music to a point of perfection where it is exactly the kind of music that fits the world of cinema the best, and I don't see why anyone should bother to have a problem with that except for wanting to show that you're smarter and better than everyone else. Did I mention that I don't like music elitism?
Anyways, for my love of movie soundtracks - it's a huge part of what makes cinema so special and magical. Can you imagine The Lord of the Rings without Howard Shore's epic score that so perfectly resonates with Tolkien's fantasy realm? Or Star Wars without John Williams' magnificent large-scale arrangements? What about Inception without Hans Zimmer's blaring horn sections, that escalate into more and more intense tracks until the movie's final scene unravels to the backdrop of Time, one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever created? And John Carpenter's Halloween wouldn't be half as scary if it wasn't for the brilliantly frightening main theme, while the climactic scene from Avengers: Endgame wouldn't feel nearly as massive if it wasn't for Alan Silvestri's dramatic and explosive arrangement of the main Avengers theme. So, yeah, soundtracks are a very important pillar of my music taste.
5. Blues
The genre that started as the field hollers of an oppressed people trying to find solace in music, and that grew into a massive phenomenon that played an integral part in the birth of rock music, will forever have a place in my heart. In addition to listening to it, blues has always been one of my very favorite genres to play, ever since my Aunt Diane taught me how the 12-bar blues works on the piano and I realized that the classical piano education I had received was somewhat restrictive on my creativity.
As a pianist, as a drummer and as a vocalist, I do much better on blues than I do on most other genres, and the genre's trademark mentality where jamming and improvisation play a massive part has always felt more close to home than genres where precision and playing 'by the book' are emphasized. From the early ruminations of icons like Robert Johnson, through the 1940's electric blues revolution in Chicago all the way to the transitional artists that brought blues to its peak while giving birth to rock n' roll, like Little Richard and Chuck Berry, this is one special genre.
4. Folk
Just to be clear, as 'folk' means two very different things in music, this does not refer to the traditional folk songs of various cultures that were discussed in #7. This refers to the contemporary genre that came to be in the 20th century - the one with the protest songs and the contemplating lyrics and the feeling of coming together to make the world a better place. Compositionally and instrumentally, American folk music is weirdly close to country music, but the key difference between the two is mentality, as folk has always been more open-minded and forward-thinking. Country is more "I'm gonna ride my tractor and drink a beer while the ol' wife does the dishes in the background", while folk is more "I travel across the country, describing the suffering I see, wishing for a less bleak tomorrow".
My falling in love with folk music is such a recent event that it's hard to say for sure, but I'm guessing that I'll always remember the summer of 2021 as the summer where folk truly came into my life and swept me away. It all started when I read John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, and found myself getting in touch with a specific kind of American mentality that had always eluded me, and I felt more connected than ever to my second homeland. For the rest of this fateful summer, I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan, a lot of Johnny Cash, and a lot of Bruce Springsteen.
Oh, and I also wrote over 40 American folk songs of my own in a span of a few months, and they were some of the best stuff I've ever written. I've made songs of my own in various genres throughout my life, but never have I felt as sure of my voice as a songwriter as I felt when making those. The trip my father and I took to the U.S. last October made this connection even stronger, as walking through the landscape and culture of my second homeland that I hadn't visited for several years (especially in a place like Cedaredge, Colorado) really brought forth my inner American folk musician.
3. Progressive
If you know me as a person, this won't surprise you. The same part of me that enjoys David Lynch films, Star Trek TV shows and other such things is also into progressive rock, as its trademark creativity and outside-the-box mentality always get to me. While there are modern instances of prog rock that I enjoy a lot, like Haken and Dream Theater, the genre's golden age is definitely the era of its birth, from the late 60's and early 70's. Progressive rock from that time is so filled with imagination, free expression, and the general quest to do something that no one has done before, and to sound totally different from anything else.
The genre's experimental madness comes across well in masterpiece-level concept albums from that time, such as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here and Rush's 2112. Listening to prog rock has also had a huge influence on me as a drummer, as it was largely the drumming of Rush's Neil Peart and The Aristocrats' Marco Minnemann (not to mention my original drum teacher and prog rock mega-enthusiast Marko) that got me interested in the rabbit hole of unconventional time signatures and polyrhythms.
2. Punk
This one should surprise people who know me even less. Even before I entered my up-in-arms-liberal-active-citizen phase around 2016 (thanks, Donald Trump!), I enjoyed punk rock just because I liked how it sounded. The raw and unpolished sounds, the fast tempos and high energy, the often-snarled lyrics and instrumental parts that require little skill, there's some magic in that. Once I grew up and realized the cultural context behind punk - namely the 'fuck the system' attitude by disenfranchised people who are sick of injustice and want to make a stand with their music - my respect and sense of belonging in the world of punk grew to the next level.
From Black Flag's Rise Above and The Dead Kennedys' Nazi Punks Fuck Off to Green Day's Holiday and Rise Against's everything they have ever written, no other genre has resonated with me more than punk rock with its themes and messages. Punk has also had a major influence on my own band and my role in it: while suomirock is our main genre, I personally think that Säätövara is at its best when we let our punk influences run wild, as is the case with the song Telkkarista that you'll be able to listen to on Spotify once a certain debut album rolls out next week.
All in all, as long as our world is infected with Nazis, Donald Trumps and Vladimir Putins, we need stuff like punk rock as outlets to express the sort of rage that one might feel against these sorts of machines - hmm, someone should really form a band around that idea.
1. Rock N' Roll
In the end, it all comes down to a conversation I had with my friend Tuukka a few years ago. Upon discussing our love for rock n' roll, we went quite deep into just how inexplicable it is. I can't use any fancy terms of music theory or popular music studies to analyze why this genre, seen by some as a subgenre as rock and others as rock in its purest form, is so dear to me. It just is. I suppose anyone who has a clear 'favorite genre' can relate. It's the feel that you get, a combination of excitement and nostalgia and adrenaline, that nothing else causes in quite the same way.
For people with different favorite genres, it's a different combination of things that causes that reaction, but for me, it's the sound of distorted electric guitars, blues-influenced melodies and simple, tight drum beats in the tradition of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, CCR and AC/DC. That is the very foundation of my taste in music, and all the other directions my music taste has taken over the years have grown around that base.
And because this genre so very dear to me has an unfortunate history of being whitewashed, I want to pay my utmost respects to the African-American trailblazers who steered the evolution of blues into the birth of this wonderful genre, before it became a global phenomenon for people of all colors to enjoy. If you're familiar with Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, you should be aware that they became famous doing the same exact thing Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley and countless others had been doing long before them, but were able to spread the genre to a wider audience in a way the original maestros couldn't, due to the large-scale racism of the era. Rock music and its subgenres owe their very existence to these pioneers, which is why my recommended listening of my #1 favorite genre for today is Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for the continuation of Music Month, as I rank the top 10 bands I'd like to see live, had I a time machine at my disposal.
No comments:
Post a Comment