When someone asks you what kind of music you like, how long does it take you to answer? I'm sure for most of you it's pretty easy, with the "Oh, I'm a metalhead" or "Hip-hop 4 life". What if I said that my favorite music included Alternative Folk and Post-Hardcore. What the hell does that even mean? Are those actual genres? Are they even necessary, who listens to stuff like that anyway? Well the thing is, when you start do delve deeper into music, the lines between various types of music starts to blur, and the only way to accurately seperate different types from each other is to create smaller, more specific genres.
Now, I completely understand that not everyone cares all that much about genres. That's fine. I have absolutely no issue with ignorance over this often obscure way to classify music. However, I do have an issue with people trying to claim that a certain band is of a certain genre without even knowing what that genre actually entails. That brings me to a thesis statement of sorts, and it's something that I've been preaching for years now.
Just because a band has harsh vocals, doesn't mean it's @#$%ing screamo.
In fact, there is probably nothing that contributes less to the genre classification of a band then the vocal style. Sure, it's the first thing most people who listen to mainstream music listen for in an artist, but theres only so many ways to successfully sing/scream to differentiate yourself. That's when you turn to the rest of the music, you know the guitar and stuff (go figure), to figure out what the hell you're listening to. So now I'm going to take you on a little journey to give you a small insight into why these genres are, in fact, needed, and in the process maybe introduce all of you who don't like screaming in music to some form you could actually enjoy.
The punk rock movement is really where the idea of harsh vocals began. If it wasn't for the early days of punk, there is a reasonable chance that screaming wouldn't even be included in music. Hardcore punk, or just hardcore, began by using the standard punk guitar tones and song structures and speeding them up, and in the process added a certain level of ferocity. This was a perfect place to funnel anger, and gave screaming a real solid foundation to build upon. Hardcore punk is still around today in full force, and one of the leading bands in the genre is Touche Amore.
After awhile the Hardcore genre could be seen flagging a bit, and this is where we get the seperation that leads us to the music we have today. There is Post-Hardcore, which keeps the standard guitar tones but slows down the overall music a good bit, and adds in clean (singing) vocals to help eliminate the edge. Here's a brilliant example of this balance, Emery.
The most popular offshoot of Hardcore is Metalcore. And it does exactly what the name suggests. Takes the standard of Hardcore and adds in the metal elements of guitars and drumming styles. A lot of the popular metal bands at this time (Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium) started as metalcore bands before transferring to a much more mainstream metal sound. Currently one of the most popular metalcore bands is August Burns Red.
As you can see, none of these bands actually sound the same, regardless of their harsh vocals. It's like comparing Rhianna to The Tallest Man on Earth just because they both sing. And to top it all off, none of these bands are ACTUALLY screamo, which is another genre in and of itself. So next time you go to call a band "screamo" just because they SCREAM, don't. It just makes you look silly.
As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. Follow me on twitter at @calebuseswords and tell me what genres you hate when people mislabel. Next week I should be reviewing the new Chevelle, and at some point before the end of the year I'll be releasing my albums of the year list. Thanks for reading.
-Caleb, he who found out that when life gets you down, all you have to do is just keep swimming.
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