REBELS RANTS 4 GENRES… Who cares ? by SANTTU “REBEL” KASKELA
What a nice way to start another day… Out of cream, have to drink coffee black. Fuck fuck fuuuuck !!! Well, no one to blame but myself so stop that whining and get to work. Having that coffee black, alone since our dog died yesterday, listening to Terrifiers new album, my mind playing tricks on me again… Time to do some thinking about GENRES since Depressive/Death/Thrash mode is on right now.
Quite funny actually to think about the evolution of so-called Metal music. Back in early 80s when I started to get into some heavier and harder music myself I didn’t even realize music should be put to some different categories. I remember going through my Dads vinyls… Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, CCR, Canned Heat, The Who, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis etc etc. Don´t know why but they all sounded so damn good, never even thought about the differences in their musical styles… Maybe I should have, would be much wiser now.
Throughout these decades listening to “my kind of music” (whatever that even means) I’ve started to wonder why people talk about Genres and why the fuck they seem to mean so much to them. Maybe I should find out a bit more, a little education never killed anyone. Starting this project by going through my CD & Vinyl collection… Obviously I’m not a stereotype when it comes to being a total fan of 1 genre. 75 CDs, 50 vinyls, about 100 different bands or single musicians and the music itself some old blues, all kinds of rock music from 50s to newer stuff, punk (of course), something even I don’t know what the fuck it is since the band’s name/logo looks like something I personally tried to draw at the age of 2. So far my research is going nowhere, only found out that I love “some” variety in my music. Now I need help, friends in real life and in virtual reality will surely give some more details.
This is easier than I thought… Seems like there are only 26 main genres, and only 1-6 sub-genres in all of them and new ones come every once and awhile… WHAAAT & WHAAAT THE FUCK ??? Do I look like a fucking scientist who has to know everything about everyone of those ?? The answer is no. Of course I recognize the main characteristics in some of the genres, I can even name some bands, but that´s about everything.
Well hello Internet and FB metal music groups… Nice to see You all again. I’ve noticed during these years online that the most popular question about genres is simply “What is Your favorite genre ?”. Thrash gets most of the votes every time, no wonder since it´s the most popular and commercialized one… Never underestimate the power of media. What makes me wonder is the fact that no one ever tells why that specific genre is his/her favorite. My guess is that I’m not the only one who doesn´t give a fuck about genres, only know what kind of music sounds so damn good and which bands are the ones…
Meeting some of my friends tonight and as usual… Drink first talk later. After a couple of pints sharing opinions about this subject. Finally I got some explanation why genres are important… 2/4 guys claiming it makes finding new bands and music easier since You know what kind of music You love. Ok, I understand that, what else ?? 1/4 insisting You are able to find new friends easier when having same interest in music. I understand that too, but as usual 1/4 (which is me) thinks differently… I listen to bands and their music, not genres.
Never will understand how people have the energy (or need) to compare different music styles… Whether it’s about clothing, appearance, thoughts, actions, music itself, lyrical themes etc. Who the hell cares about how different progressive industrial blackened folk funk rap metal is from progressive industrial blackened folk funk hip hop metal ???
And the one thing that troubles the most… To those people who claim these genres were created by some individual bands I have only one thing to say… No band or musician has created a whole new genre, genres are just a result of metal music evolution which started over 70 years ago, hundreds and thousands of musicians have just added their personal touch during that time. The results of these actions are the ones we hear today.
Conclusion 1: There´s music and then there´s music, it’s up to You whether You can enjoy listening to it without having a compulsive need to start categorizing it.
Conclusion 2: Thinking about every fucking detail about genres gives You a fucking headache.
SANTTU “REBEL” KASKELA / MHF
