2. What is a music genre?
‘Genre’ can almost be replaced by the word ‘category’. The Oxford Definition for it is ‘A
style or category of art, music, or literature: the spy thriller is a very masculine genre the
science fiction genre’
The origin of the word ‘genre’ comes from early 17th Century France, literally meaning ‘a
kind’.
There are many different genres in the music industry including main ones such as Rock,
Pop, Classical, Indie/Folk, House, Dance etc, but there are also sub genres, which are
typically songs that are a mixture of the main ones listed above, e.g. Indie Rock.
Genre is important for many reasons, including that whatever genre you decide you’re
going to base your media text on, in this case a music video, that genre is going to attract
a specific audience, and you will need to keep in with the conventions of that genre to
keep your audience interested. Conventions of a genre are also helpful because they set up
a template for other media makers. Lastly Genre is an important aspect because it helps
associate artists with a particular identity e.g. Avril Lavigne is a pop artist but with a
slightly dark, Gothic hint to her. This also applies to music video directors e.g. David
Fincher deals with ‘classic’ icons such as Michael Jackson and Madonna. This is an example
of Ryall’s Triangle of linking the audience, artist and music video director together.
3. My Genre
The genre of my music video is Indie – “The Power Of Love” though previous versions of the
song e.g. Frankie Goes to Hollywood would be classed as Indie Rock, due to the earthy,
masculine tones, and the use of drums and bass instruments.
Why does my song fit into this genre?
My song fits into this genre because it fits a majority of the conventions that Indie music
involves. “The Power of Love” is a mixture of Indie and Pop, but more primarily Indie. It fits
only into the Pop genre as she is wearing fashionable, of the moment clothing, which is
slightly hippie, which fits perfectly with the conventions of indie clothing, but borrowing
styles from other genres is a typical convention of Pop music. It fits into Pop as well because
the lyrics, as Pop usually does, consists of love, however it is not totally Pop because
whereas Pop portrays the lyrics and singer as happy or rebellious, Aplin’s version is quite sad,
with an almost mournful tone. On the next slide I will display the conventions of Indie Music
Conventions and put a tick next to the ones that apply to my video.
5. History of the Indie Music
1965 -The birth of Indie Music most likely began in 1965, when The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn and co created
‘Mr Tambourine Man’ inspired by the Beatles. Their distinctive jangle set off a trend for indie guitarists
everwhere.
1965, July - Later that year, the first Indie group (Velvet Underground) recorded their demos in a loft
apartment, which then saw them in the charts.
1968 - Three years later, the indie group ‘Psychedelic Stooges’ and parent group ‘MC5’ got signed by
Elektra Records after being scouted.
In 1973, indie group The Dolls played live on British TV, with one man mocking them and saying they’d
played ‘mock rock.’ Viewers were angry at this response, especially one man named Steven Morrissey.
In 1976, many things changed for indie – ‘Stiff’ released their first indie single, fans started making Indie
based magazines, and many indie bands, including the Ramones, began playing as support bands.
In 1989, a huge change occurred in indie history – for the first time, an indie group played live at the
iconic Reading Festival. Since then, the dominating genre, rock, has never had the same hold over the
stage.
In 1999, the first indie group were nominated for the Brits Award (Belle and Sebastian)
Indie music continued to make the charts, and throughout the 2000’s continued to receive music award
nominations, and eventually winning Brits too, and in 2006, Arctic Monkeys made the fastest-selling debut
ever.
2006+ - Indie music continues to grow and grow, and has now become one of the main music
categories/genres.
