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The Aftermath Of The Genre Explosion
By joseexist in Musings On Muses
June 25, 2011

History buffs have probably been hard pressed to keep up with the proliferation of musical genres in recent times. The metal scene alone has flowered like a nuclear detonation into a multitude of nearly uncountable sub-genres. Hip-hop may be taking the biggest market share but all the rest have diversified as new genre have been birthed and new combinations of genre have fused into mixes of styles that most probably thought would never ‘gel’ together.

To say that things have become interesting is an understatement. Artists have maintained popularity by ‘letting their influences show thru’. Most walls that once separated different musical styles have given way, or been obliterated, so that what you hear today can easily be traced stylistically back to influences far in the past.

Influences from present day to centuries ago are now all common ground to cover in a single piece of work. Throughout the history of music there have been those who reached far and wide for inspiration of music thru music. Some drew upon works by others while others shattered the status-quo by writing for combinations of instruments that were ‘outside of the box’. Some of those precedents survive to this day. Others are scarcely remembered.

When the muses inspire me genre is the last thing on my mind. I don’t even consider what style of music I may be creating until long after the song is finished. Even then I hesitate to put what I have done into a genre. Most songs are easy to classify but not all. Those rare pieces that fall into a slot easily do so mostly due to one instruments sound. Screaming guitars and long lead guitar work are my form of ‘rock-n-roll’. Beyond instruments the subject matter and lyrics also dictate classification to some extent.

I don’t knock any style of music. Every song has a story to tell. Granted, I don’t listen to everything, but I do listen to a lot. I’m a little bit country, jazz, classical, Latin, folk, blues, and a whole lot of rock-n-roll! Sub-genre and fusions of any mixture of combinations are things I’m easily open to. As long as the muses are my fuel, I will push the ‘rpms’ into the red as often as possible. Sometimes I’m slow and mellow but sometimes that just doesn’t cut it. I guess I’m at home playing ‘she loves me/ she loves me not’ on dandelion plumage, but also just as easily at home ramming super-massive black holes together. Rest assured those extremes are nowhere near the full range of what the muses inspire me to try.