Now you can explain to your kids what type of music you enjoy.
Adult AlternativeAdult Alternative was born in the mid-1990s, when the Alternative Rock and Grunge styles were the most popular rock styles. New artists appears, influenced by alternative bands, that were targeting the adult audiences with a music that was not too loud, nor threatening.
(Counting crows, Cake, Tori amos, Alanis morisette, Matchbox twenty, Aimee mann).
Alternative CountryMusic inspired by traditional Country but with a rock vision and sometimes louder guitars.
(Cowboy junkies, Giant sound, Uncle tupelo).
Alternative MetalUses the same conventions that Heavy Metal always has - loud guitars and bludgeoning riffs - but with some post-punk concepts and without the endless guitar solos and hoarse vocals.
(Soundgarden, Marylin manson, Henry rollins, Korn).
Ambient PopCombines conventional pop with electronic textures and atmospheres. An extension of Dream Pop that uses more electronic sound including sampling.
(Air, Violet indiana, Stereolab, Laika).
Brit PopEnglish pop bands with a "rock" star attitude and image, and most of the time with a Beatles like sound.
(Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Coldplay, Travis, The verve, Supergrass).
Chamber PopCarefully orchestrated music with instruments not commonly used in rock music.
(Nick cave, Tindersticks, Rufus wainwright, The divine comedy).
College RockAny Alternative bands that are played on the college radios.
Digital HardcoreAggressive Hardcore Punk music made digitally.
(Atari teenage riot, Prodigy)
Dream PopAtmospheric subgenre of alternative rock that relies on sonic textures as much as melody. It often features breathy vocals and processed, echo-laden guitars and synthesizers.
(Cocteau twins, The sundays, Luna, Echo & the bunnymen).
Electro IndustrialArtists that relies more on the experimental and electronic edge of industrial music than the guitar saturated and gothic image of industrial crossever bands.(Front line assembly, Front 242)
Electronic PunkBands that play fast-paced punk music with synthesizers and computers.
(Shampoo, Chicks on speed)
EmoExtension of Punk Hardcore, a brand of visceral yet complex guitar music driven by pendulum-esque dynamics and often deeply personal lyrics.
(Fugazi, Braid).
GothGoth Rock had grand, baroque arrangements performed with gloomy synthesizers and processed guitars. Lyrically, Goth was dark, featuring a lot of cryptic, morbid poetry. Almost as remarkable as its sound was Goth's image: the bands and the fans usually dressed in black
(Cure, Sisters of mercy, Christian death).
GrungeA hybrid of Heavy Metal (guitars sound) and Punk (lyrics, attitude) made popular by Nirvana.
(Nirvana, Pearl jam, L7, Hole, Stone temple pilots).
Indie FolkFolk music associated with a more experimental songwriting than the average Folk artist and a more crude sound.
(Cat power, Elliot smith, Beth orton, Ida, Indigo girls).
Indie GarageGarage Rock (raw form of rock & roll) revival.
(Boss hog, The donnas).
Indie PopGeneral term that refers to alternative pop bands that embraces the basic tenets of Pop songwriting but filters them through the warped sensibilities of Indie Rock.
(The high llamas, Ben folds five, Drugstore)
Indie RockGeneral term that refers to alternative rock bands that refuses to become mainstream after Nirvana's success, they chose to stay in independent labels. Not all of the music sounds the same, but nearly every indie rock band is based in post-punk guitar rock.
(Pavement, Jesus lizard, Throwing muses).
Industrial MetalWhile pure industrial takes its primary cues from experimental music and electronic dance, Industrial Metal makes the distorted noise of electric guitars a crucial part of the music. It's a crossover genre between Heavy Metal and Industrial dance music.
(Ministry, White zombie, Nine inch nails, Marylin manson)
Lo FiLo Fi is recorded on a cheap equipment. The goal is to maintain a rough, immediate sound at the opposite of over-produced recordings.
(Ben lee, Sebadoh, Guided by voices, The folk implosion).
Math RockMath Rock is a relation to Post-Rock, a better known indie-rock style that shares similar aesthetics. Where Post-Rock has distinct jazz influences, Math Rock is the opposite side of the same coin: it's dense and complex, filled with difficult time signatures and intertwining phrases.
(Chavez, Polvo)
Neo GlamA revival of the 70's Glam Rock, it combines 70's Heavy Metal sound with melodic pop music with attitude.
(Placebo, Suede)
New PsychedeliaInspired by the 60s bands, with the joyful approach to making music, an eschewal of cynicism and irony, and a love for bizarre instruments as common denominator.
(The apples in stereo, Beulah, Dressy bessy, Elf power, Of montreal).
Noise PopPop music wrapped in noisy and distordant guitar, a mix of melodic pop songs and out of control guitars.
(Lush, Jesus & mary chain, Ride)
Noise RockChaotic sounds orchestrated into discordant anti-songs.
(Sonic youth, Yo la tengo, Dinosaur jr).
Post PunkEarly 80's music that have roots in the independent and counterculture spirit of punk but that was interested in exploring new territories. It's the father of 90's Alternative Pop/Rock. This includes different style of music, from New Wave (Cure, Joy Division, U2) to Punk Hardcore.
Post RockExperimental form of Rock mixing Noise, Free Jazz and Electronica.
(Tortoise, Mogwai, Aphex twin).
Punk FolkSee Urban Folk.
Punk HardcoreThe most rigid and extreme variation of punk rock. Emerging in the early '80s, it was fast paced with shouted vocals and a crude sound. Most of the bands with time, left the sound of hardcore behind, but not its ideals.
(Beastie boys, Bad religion, Bad brains, Husker Dü, Dead kennedys).
Punk PopA post-grunge strand of alternative rock that combines power-pop melodies and chord changes with speedy punk tempos and loud guitars.
( Weezer, Ash, Lemonheads, Pixies).
Punk RevivalEmerging in the 90's Punk Revival bands were all traditionalists, keeping alive the sounds and styles of 77's Punk groups but with a heavier sound (signs of the time).
(Offspring, Green Day, Blink 182).
QueercorePunk subgenre that differs by its lyrics, which explore openly themes of prejudice, oppression, and same-sex attraction.
(Team dresch, Butchies).
Rap MetalFusion of the most aggressive elements of Hip-Hop and Heavy Metal.
(Rage against the machine, Limb bizkit, Kid Rock )
Riot GrrrlSubgenre of Indie Rock and Punk Rock that is distinguished by its radical feminist lyrics and its raw, willfully amateurish musical attack.
(Bratmobile, Sleater-kinney, Le tigre, Bikini kill).
SadcorePrimarily an extension of Independent Rock, Sadcore is slow, fragile and gut-wrenching music made by and for the depressed. Themes of heartbreak, loss, and misery dominate the lyrics, and the music itself is resolutely downbeat.
(American music club, Red house painters).
SkatePunkNot so different musically from Punk Revival, it's difference lies in the cultural background, it's the rock music of skateboarders.
(NoFX, Milencolin, Labwagon).
SlowcoreSoft melodies shrouded in thick, dark atmospheres. Similar to Sadcore, Slowcore's concerns are far more musical than lyrical.
(Low, Galaxie 500)
Space RockHypnotic music defined by washes of heavily reverbed guitar, minimalist drumming, and gentle, languid vocals.
(Spaceman 3, Mogwai, Spiritualized, My bloody valentine, Radiohead).
Trip HopHybrid of Dance-based listening music, Jazz, Funk, and Soul.
(Bjork, Portishead, Massive attack, Tricky, Moby, Fatboy slim, Propellerheads, Cibo matto).
Twee PopA Bubblegum Indie Rock: spirit of Punk with a simplicity and innocence not seen since the earliest days of Rock & Roll.
(Belle & sebastian, Shonen knife, The cardigans, The softies).
Urban FolkA movement of singer/songwriters that grew out of punk rock.They performed solos with an acoustic or electric guitar singing often angry lyrics.
(Ani di franco, Michelle shocked, Vic chesnutt, Billy bragg).