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Subgenre Descriptions

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Revision as of 18:59, 2 February 2014 by Nightmare Lyra (talk | contribs) (→‎Metal)

Rock Band Network supports 120 subgenre groupings, under 21 major genres. These genres allow players browsing the RBN store to find exactly the kind of music they're interested in, but are only effective if the genres are properly used. Also, your song will lose points in playtesting if the genre you've selected is inaccurate.

To help make sure those problems don't happen, this page is available as a reference for what each subgenre means. A few short descriptive words, as well as a handful of major artists that represent the genre, are listed below.

Note:

This list is author maintained, and should not be taken as strict rules, but rather as flexible, evolving guidelines.

Alternative

  • Alternative:
  • College: melodic, punky
    • Typical elements: melodic pop sound, jangling guitars, post-punk/new wave experimentation
    • Example artists: R.E.M. (early), Billy Bragg
    • Example albums: Document, Talking with the Taxman About Poetry
  • Other:

Blues

  • Acoustic:
  • Chicago:
  • Classic:
  • Contemporary:
  • Country:
  • Delta:
  • Electric:
  • Other:

Classical

  • Classical:
    • Typical Elements: Any Western music created in the "old style" of pre-popular music (pre blues, jazz, rock, etc), Often utilizing orchestras or choirs
    • Example Artists: JS Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc

Classic Rock

  • Classic Rock:

Country

  • Alternative:
  • Bluegrass:
  • Contemporary:
  • Honky Tonk:
  • Outlaw:
  • Traditional Folk:
  • Other:

Emo

  • Emo:

Fusion

  • Fusion:

Glam

  • Glam:
  • Goth:
  • Other:

Grunge

  • Grunge: dirty, distorted, aggressive
    • Typical elements: distorted guitars, contrasting dynamics
    • Example artists: Nirvana, Pearl Jam
    • Example albums: Nevermind, Ten


Hip-Hop/Rap

  • Alternative Rap:
  • Gangsta:
  • Hardcore Rap:
  • Hip Hop:
  • Old School Hip Hop:
  • Rap:
  • Trip Hop:
  • Underground Rap:
  • Other:

Indie Rock

  • Indie Rock: unpolished, unconventional
    • Typical elements: lack of professional production, non-mainstream song elements
    • Example artists: Death Cab for Cutie, Guided by Voices
    • Example albums: The Moon and Antarctica, Bee Thousand
  • Lo-fi: minimal, unpolished
    • Typical elements: clear evidence of home production, unusual mixing characteristics
    • Example artists: Say Hi, Cat Power
  • Math Rock:
    • Typical elements: typical "indie" sound qualities, written with incredibly complex time signatures, chords and melodies
    • Example artists: American Football, Don Caballero, Minus the Bear
  • Noise:
    • Typical elements: Off-shoot of Post-Punk, High amounts of effects, strong levels of dissonance, complex song structures
    • Example artists: Sonic Youth, The Jesus Lizard,
  • Post-Rock:
    • Typical elements: "Rock" instruments used in unconventional ways musically, often instrumental, unusual song structures (lack of clear verse/chorus), spacey/atmospheric mixing and production
    • Example Artists: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, Sigur Ros
  • Shoegazing: spacy, layered
    • Typical elements: distorted/sustained guitar work, vocals 'as an instrument', focus on texture over riff
    • Example artists: My Bloody Valentine, Lush
  • Other:

Inspirational

  • Inspirational:

Jazz

  • Acid Jazz:
  • Contemporary:
  • Experimental:
  • Ragtime:
  • Smooth Jazz:
  • Other:

J-Rock

  • J-Rock:

Latin

  • Latin:

Metal

  • Alternative:
  • Black:
    • Typical elements: lo-fi production quality, unconventional song structures, raspy vocals, prevalence of fast tremelo-picking and blast beats over more "melodic" instrumentation
    • Emperor, Bathory, Mayhem, Darkthrone
  • Metalcore:
    • Typical elements: Combination of "traditional" metal elements and hardcore punk elements, thrash riffs, hardcore breakdowns, utilizes both aggressive and clean vocals
    • Example artists: All That Remains, The Devil Wears Prada, Underoath, As I Lay Dying
  • Death:
    • Typical elements: aggressive, loud and violent extreme Metal, often using downtuned heavy guitars, extremely fast and/or complex drumming with a lot of double bass pedal involved, and guttural growling as the main source of vocals.
    • Example artists: Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus
  • Hair:
    • Typical elements: highly-produced "pop metal" popular in the 80's, simple power chord riffs and fast, melodic soloing with standard song structures, lyrics about living the "rock star life"
    • Example artists: Poison, Motley Crue, Ratt, The Scorpions, Whitesnake, Night Ranger
  • Industrial:
    • Typical elements: mixes elements of Heavy and Thrash Metal with noise and electronic elements, sometimes using samples, effect heavy vocals, repetitive guitar and drums and playing with inhuman loudness as an artistic choice.
    • Example artists: Ministry, KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, Marilyn Manson
    • Example albums: Psalm 69, The Downward Spiral
  • Metal:
  • Power:
    • Typical elements: High tempo, highly produced, technically complex musicianship, simple, "epic feeling" major-key melodies, highly melodic vocals
    • Example artists: Dragonforce, Nightwish, Firewind, Kamelot, Helloween
  • Progressive: genre-mixing, seeks to push boundaries of what Metal can be
    • Example elements: complex rhythm, longer length, detailed instrumentation
    • Example artists: Dream Theater, Queensrÿche
  • Speed:
  • Thrash:
    • Typical elements: fast, palm-muted guitar riffs and technically complex solos, fast, straightforward drum beats, shouted or harshly-song (but still melodic) vocals
    • Example artists: "The Big 4": Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer. Other examples: Machinehead, Testament, Evile, Municipal Waste, Anvil
  • Other:

New Wave

  • Dark Wave: Somber or introspective tone + sequenced synths and / or ambient processed guitars = moody textural atmosphere. Historical precursor to Gothic Rock, now the contemporary expansion of that genre.
  • Electroclash:
  • New Wave: Brit: Mashed Punk & Disco ca. '76-'83. Amer: Rock without the "Prog", "Hard" or "Soft". Danceable, synthy songs. ca. '81-'88 . Resurfaced in the 21st Century.
  • Synthpop: Friendly, rock song structures, eschews instrumental virtuosity, signature use of arpeggiated electronics, or later into the '80s, programmed sequences.
  • Other:

Novelty

  • Novelty:

Nu-Metal

  • Nu-Metal:
    • Typical elements: Dark and heavy, yet relatively mainstream music. Mashes hip-hop style syncopated drum beats with down-tuned, chunky metal/industrial guitar riffs, and avoids guitar solos. Aggressive (but often still melodic) vocals and introspective, dark, often depressive/angry lyrics. Gained popularity in the late 90's/early 2000's, but has mostly died off since then.
    • Example artists: KoRn, Early Disturbed/Slipknot/Linkin Park (all three have moved away from nu metal since then), Saliva, Limp Bizkit, Godsmack
    • Example Albums: Life is Peachy/Follow the Leader (KoRn), The Sickness (Disturbed), Significant Other (Limp Bizkit), Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses) (Slipknot)

Pop/Dance/Electronic

  • Ambient:
  • Breakbeat:
    • Example artists: The Prodigy, The Crystal Method
  • Chiptune:
  • Dance:
  • Downtempo:
  • Dub:
  • Drum and Bass:
    • Example artists: Goldie, Squarepusher
  • Electronica:
  • Garage:
  • Hardcore Dance:
  • House:
  • Industrial:
    • Example artists: Throbbing Gristle, God Lives Underwater
  • Techno:
  • Trance:
  • Other:

Pop-Rock

  • Contemporary:
  • Pop:
    • Example artists: Lady Gaga, Madonna
  • Soft Rock:
  • Teen Rock:
  • Other:

Prog

  • Prog Rock:

Punk

  • Alternative:
  • Classic:
  • Dance Punk:
  • Garage:
  • Hardcore:
  • Pop-Punk:
    • Typical elements: high energy, high tempo, instrumentally simple music. Differentiated from standard punk by high production values and palatable vocal harmonies
    • Example artists: Green Day, Blink 182, Simple Plan, Sum 41, Good Charlotte
  • Other:

R&B/Soul/Funk

  • Disco:
  • Funk:
  • Motown:
  • Rhythm and Blues:
  • Soul:
  • Other:

Reggae/Ska

  • Reggae:
  • Ska:
  • Other:

Rock

  • Arena:
  • Blues-Rock:
  • Folk:
  • Garage:
  • Hard Rock:
  • Psychedelic:
  • Rock:
  • Rockabilly:
    • Example artists: The Reverend Horton Heat, Stray Cats
  • Rock and Roll:
    • Example artists: Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker
  • Surf:
  • Other:

Southern Rock

  • Southern Rock:

World

  • World:

Other

  • A Capella:
    • Typical elements: Music created using only human vocalization, and occasionally percussion
    • Example artists: The Nylons, Van Canto
  • Acoustic:
  • Contemporary Folk:
  • Experimental:
  • Oldies:
  • Other:
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