Analysis of Music Genres

Music is completely defined by its genre. When the simple question is asked 'What music do you listen to?' it is always answered by the genres in which they listen to. The further we head into the 21st century however, the more the barriers of music genres are broken down.

The 2 main real genres are:

- Rock

- Pop

Pop is a generalised term, for most things in the charts. So technically, the genre changes due to time period. The word is short for 'popular' hence why it changes, as the Beatles were popular in the 60's, yet Rhianna has been popular over the past several years. So although they are 2 completely different types of music, in their respective time periods, they are popular music.

Rock music however has also come under pop music, but not through its genre, just simply because it was popular. For example, Led Zeppelin were popular, but were still a rock band with some blues influences. Rock covers quite a broad spectrum of music, as the genre has many different sub genres. The further into the 21st century, the more rock is changing, and the same thing happened from the 20th century also. Some different types of rock are; punk, metal, heavy and folk.
But more recently, the barriers that have been broken down are most noticeable within the rock business. Firstly, a band called 'Limp Bizkit' broke down the rap/rock barrier, as their vocals are completely rap, yet with heavy metal music behind. They then have recently started to develop on this also when they got Lil' Wayne to feature in one of their songs, so not only did they include popular cultured music in their sound, but they also included someone from the public eye in terms of rap music, to therefore try to promote the sound that they were creating, and maybe try to weave rock back into popular society.

It is also now very noticeable that the Japanese bands are trying to take over the heavy metal scene. However they are also trying to be noticed in different ways. They are now including techno in their metal, making a fairly unique sound, and also giving a futuristic look at the music genre.

This band Crossfaith are one of the newest Japanese techno-metal bands, and have currently taken the genre by storm.