Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with genre

When all the guys join in singing...only they're yelling it from the back of the band

rileyray3000 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:34:18 -0800

Okay what is the name of the kind of swing music where the band does call and response with the singer? Not the backup singers. The horn section. So I was listening the other day to a favorite jazz song, Blue Skies

It occurred to me that what I like about it is the call and response with the regular guys in the band, the horn section, the rhythm guys. It's also what I like about a couple of Cab Calloway songs. Unfortunately, trying to find MORE songs like this based on "it's where the guys with the guitars yell back at Frank" isn't the walk in the park I thought it'd be

So my question is: is this a subgenre of Swing? If so, can you recommend some other examples I might like?

Suggest books that push the envelope of "self-help"?

tomboko — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:23:40 -0800

Can you suggest books that push the envelope of "self-help"? I record books for a library-owned radio station for the blind and visually impaired. One of our genres is Self-Help. We have no shortage of the usual sort of self-help book - I've been asked to come up with something a little wider-ranging or quirky. It must be non-fiction, and it can't be religious. Other than this, the genre can be interpreted pretty liberally.

For example, three "quirky self-help" books I have already recorded for the station -

Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior by Judith Martin
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

These are self-help books we* have already done in the past year:

Apples are Square (Thinking Differently about Leadership) by Susan and Thomas Kuczmarski
Musicophilia (Tales of Music and the Brain) by Oliver Sacks
Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? by Peter Walsh
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Human, The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique by Michael S. Gazzaniga
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
The Canon by Natalie Angier
Happy Without Being Perfect by Alice D. Domar and Alice Lesch Kelly
A Promise to Ourselves by Alec Baldwin
60 Seconds & You're Hired! by Robin Ryan
How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
Man vs. Weather by Dennis DiClaudio
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
How Successful People Think by John Maxwell
The Power of Four by Joseph M. Marshall III
What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis
Be The Hero by Noah Blumenthal
A Long Bright Future by Laura L. Carstensen

*I didn't record any of these. Our station has many volunteer readers. I sort of specialize in 'quirky.'

I imagine it's the music that all the people from "Are You Being Served" got down to in their off hours

rileyray3000 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:14:48 -0800

When I was in England I was in a bar where I heard a whole night's worth of music that sounded like "Atomic" by Blondie. Is this a genre of some kind? If so, what's it called and where do I get more? When I was in England I was in this bar in Soho where basically every song sounded like Atomic by Blondie. Basically like disco meets cruise ship music with some edge of euro/anglophile vibe throughout.

Maybe this was just one talented DJ but everyone seemed to act like this was a kind of music that's played in bad English clubs. Especially the ones by the seashore in Blackpool and such. But no one elaborated.

Frankly I probably didn't do the best questioning because I was really pretty hammered. I only remembered Atomic this week. And the night in question was three years ago now.

IS this a genre or subgenre? What's it called? Who are the major artists?

Are there other songs that feel/sound like Bolero and Andalucia?

silusGROK — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:54:44 -0800

Do "Andalucia" and "Bolero" fit within a specific genre of music? Their lumbering gait and cyclical motif give me the sense of slow travel over great distances … and I wonder if these two pieces are part of a larger musical genre. In my head, I've always thought of them as "caravanserai" music. And if they're not of specific genre … do any of you have any suggestions for other pieces that would feel of-a-kind with them?

Help me avoid literature in Spanish.

itsjustanalias — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:06:36 -0800

No quiero literatura: I'm looking for recommendations for genre fiction in Spanish. Help me avoid being overfaced when I arrive in the library. I live in Spain and use the local library, but aside from the 'greats' I'm pretty stumped about what to take out. This thread and this one both have fine lists of novels in Spanish, but I'm not after literature, or magic realism or high art... in fact I want low art, I want SF, thrillers, detective novels, chick lit, bloke lit, historical fiction and the like, preferably not translated from any other language.

what genre is the ending credit song in the generals daughter?

kgreerRN — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:49:35 -0800

what genre of music is the song from the generals daughter during the credits at the end? at the end of the generals daughter with john travolta, there is a song during the credits, i cant find it on any soundtrack or google. what is the song and what is the genre? it almost sounds like tribal or folk... i just picture people/creatures doing a ceremonious dance around their captives...i dont know but it gives me the creeps, im just curious

Narrative schizophrenia

minkll — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:42:29 -0800

Trying to find stories that begin and end in totally different genres/styles. Shakespeare's Winter's Tale is the example I keep coming back to (begins as heavy drama, ends as comedy). Other movies or books that make this sort of narrative leap (the genres/styles themselves don't matter)? Even better would be examples where formal elements reflect the shift in narrative approach.

Does "Lost" = SF?

zardoz — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:30:45 -0800

Is the tv show "Lost" science fiction? I was describing "Lost" to a friend who's never seen it, and I kept finding myself saying that the show was "sci-fi", but...it's not, not really. There are elements of SF, and there are fantastical elements to it as well, but it's not really fantasy, either. What genre would it fit in, or is it safe to say that something like "Lost" doesn't fit traditional genre categories? Or, that it's simply a hybrid of many genres. How would you describe the show to someone who's never seen it?

Are there successful multi-genre authors?

wackybrit — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:31:28 -0800

Are there any reasonably well-known (or even famous) writers who are truly multi-genre? It's very easy to find authors whose writing is predominantly in a single genre - horror (King, Koontz), fantasy (Tolkien, Rowling), crime (Crumley, Christie), romance, and the like. But are there any famous (or at least semi-known) authors who jump between genres regularly?

Variety doesn't seem to be a remarkable attribute in musicians (Sting, for example), but while I can think of writers who straddle or work with two distinct genres (Ballard, Dahl), I cannot think of any who have produced significant works in, say, all of horror, crime, romance, and sci-fi - and I would like to look into the works of any who have.

How can I browse iPod playlists by ALBUM instead of artist or song?

stst399 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:36:04 -0800

How can I browse and listen to iPod playlists or genres by ALBUM instead of by artist or song title? One of the annoying things about the iPod interface is that the only way to play by ALBUM is to go into the ALBUM section. If one gets to the music by GENRE, then the music is listed by ARTIST. And if one goes in though the PLAYLISTS, then the music is listed by SONG.

But, for example, I would like to scroll to GENRE and then SOUNDTRACK: SCORE to see my movie music and then select, say, "Battlestar Galactica" or "Harry Potter". I want to browse by the ALBUMS and select one to be played.

Is there a way that this can be done? Is there a Smart Playlist that can offer the music up this way?
Why wouldn't Apple have such basic functionality? Am I missing something?

I have Windows Vista, iTunes 8.0.0.35, and an iPod Classic (5th Generation). Thank you!

What are the classics of genre fiction?

TheophileEscargot — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:42:15 -0800

What are the classics of genre fiction? What are the best thrillers, mysteries, westerns, horror, romances, etc? I just finished "True Grit" by Charles Portis and loved it, looking for more good books outside the mainstream. I've read a lot of SF and Fantasy already, so don't really need suggestions for those.

Genre flick factory!

mwhybark — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:43:16 -0800

Has anyone ever attempted to estimate the total number of films made in Hollywood that we today consider film noir? What about other long-lived genres of the high era of the silver screen? In particular, I am curious about the output within genres over the period beginning with sound and ending with the transition to color around 1955 to 1960. I have been on a film noir kick and the perfection of the genre look and plot is simply fascinating to me. The films I'm really interested in are mid-budget studio-system films that were probably shot within a 30-day or less timeframe.

In a past life I was a sylph.

dorothy humbird — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:09:29 -0800

How common a trope is reincarnation within the fantasy genre? [spoilers inside] For reference, the only book series I've seen this used in is Katherine Kerr's Deverry Cycle. I'm looking for answers particularly regarding mass market type paperback fantasy series (Sword of Truth, Game of Thrones, Mercedes Lackey etc.) and interesting oddities like Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

If there are works more along the lines of speculative fiction/magical realism and what have you, I'd like to hear about those too.

Oh, would you look at the time? It's almost NaNoWriMo'clock.

Anal mp3 tagging question

nyu2 — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 23:22:56 -0800

Anal mp3 tagging question: I'm organizing my mp3 collection and frustrated with how inaccurate the genre tags are. Does anyone know of any good programs that can automatically scan mp3 and update accurate and more specific mp3 genres? (iam currently using fixtunes which uses the amazon database, which is quite awful.)

Half-remembered art theory

dydecker — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:53:22 -0800

I'm trying to remember a theory about the arts in which the progression of a genre moves through various well-defined stages... I half-remember a theory about the arts in which the progression of a genre moves through various well-defined stages from experimental to popular and finally overblown baroque before descending into kitsch or self-parody, and how this applied to all arts. I think there are seven stages, if I remember rightly. Does this ring a bell with anyone? I maybe read a page on the Internet or studied it in University. I really would like to track it down and read it again. Much appreciated.

Tagging MP3s and the Rock genre

Witty — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 11:14:17 -0800

How much or how little and in what ways should one consider breaking up the "Rock" genre when tagging MP3s? Years ago, I thought I'd "keep it simple" by not getting too wild with a ton of sub-genres of "Rock". I basically started with "Classic Rock" (anything pre-1980, for the most part), "Metal" (which includes everything thing from Def Leppard and Ratt to Metallica, Vader and Entombed). Everything else rock gets dropped into "Rock". There are, of course, a handful of exceptions to these "rules".

I still would like to avoid getting too crazy with genres. But anynow, several years and a lot more music later, I'm finding "Rock" to be just too broad. So does anyone have any suggestions for how I can comfortably break this up a bit more?

Genre selection can be such a headache. I mean, where to put R.E.M., for instance? In my day, they were "Alternative" or was it "Progressive"? Now what are they... just R.E.M. right? And this whole "Indie" thing they got now... I just can't seem to peg it.

Anyway... I know I'm "allowed" to do whatever I want and tag them however. But I'd like for my catalogue to make sense and be as useful to more people (friends, family) than just myself.

What genre novels have women who have "too much power"?

Prospero — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 12:31:57 -0800

Is the Woman Who Has Too Much Power and Must Be Stopped a commonly recurring plotline in genre works? If so, what are some examples? Last night I was discussing science fiction novels with a few friends of mine, and posited that I feel that the following plotline, with some variations, recurs in one form or another in a good many genre works. I could only come up with a couple of specific examples offhand, and yet it seems quite familiar, as if I should be able to rattle off dozens (and my friends agreed). I won't yet list the examples we thought of in this thread, though if they're not here when I come back later, I will.

1. It begins with two characters, one male, one female--for some reason or other, the female is subordinate to the male.

2. For some reason, the female character (who is not necessarily a child) undergoes a change (either mystical, supernatural, or the result of science gome amok) that can be read as symbolic of puberty, and ends up with supernatural or superhuman powers as a result.

3. The male character decides that the female character has "too much power" and "must be stopped", though oftentimes she's not really doing any harm to anyone, and may even be helping people with her newly acquired power (she may have the power to heal by laying on hands, e.g.). He reasons that the two avenues available to him to "stop" her are violence and seduction. Violence is off the table because, after all, she has too much power; for some reason, likely related either to the male character's ineptitude in matters of the heart or his abusive or boorish nature, seduction fails.

4. The plotline ends with a fight, during which the female character's newly acquired powers are tested to their limits. As a result the male character is defeated and may be annihilated completely, absorbed into some larger, wiser consciousness, or something similar.

Of the four points mentioned above, (2) is absolutely necessary; however (1), (3), and (4) tend to accompany it in one form or another.

Does this plotline I've described above seem familiar to you? If so, what works (science fiction, fantasy, or horror; books, comics, or films) can you name in which it appears?

I love Post Apocalyptic Genre books and movies. Can you recommend some?

crewshell — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:56:58 -0800

I love Post Apocalyptic Genre books and movies. Can you recommend some? Alas Babylon is one of my favorites. I prefer the ones that are based in “reality” or shall I say somewhat believable terms, but I could get into any story were a group of people are struggling to survive after a major event has caused the elimination of a large portion of the population (I.E Nuclear war, Alien Attack, Plague, Etc etc) The movies that I have seen in the genre are The Post Man, Mad Max Series, Water World, 28 Days Later, an old movie I believe was called Omega Man, Can you suggest any other movies? And in terms of books I have read Alas Babylon, Plague and one other I can’t remember the name… I would love more recommendations on both sides, film and literature! I’ve try Amazon but they do not really get this specific with their book categories, nor does my public library.

Thanks guys!

French Ya Ya

protocool — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 20:07:58 -0800

Can anyone enlighten me on the genre of music called "French Ya Ya"?

How do I programtically access and modify music metadata entries through iTunes?

mr_silver — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 06:40:15 -0800

Has anyone ever managed to use iTunes and COM to access the iTunes database and modify MP3 meta-data tags? I need to change the genre for every track by a certain artist and since I have a list of over 800 artists, it is not something I can do by hand. Genres in my iTunes database (and MP3's) are a mess and so I've decided to try and fix it.

Following some simple coding, I've managed to work out what the most common genre entry in the FreeDB database is for many of the artists in my collection and I'm going to populate every song by that artist with this new genre. For example the most common entry in FreeDB for "Faithless" is "Dance" and for "Groove Armada" is "Lounge". I know this isn't a perfect solution, but it is better than the mess I currently have.

So I have a tab seperated file which contains artist name and genre and what I plan to do is walk through the entire iTunes database looking at the artist for each song. If I find an artist that matches one in my tab seperated file then I'll "correct" the genre entry in iTunes to be the same as that in the text file.

Herein lies the problem. Having looked at the iTunes documentation I haven't a clue how to:

1. Walk through every single song from within iTunes
2. Extract the artist value from that song
3. Write the genre value to that entry (which I assume will also update the ID3 v1 and v2 tag on the actual file, right?)
4. Exit modifications and the database without corrupting anything.

I'm using Visual Basic to perform this. Searching on the web has found me very little so I'm looking to see if anyone on AskMefi has any ideas.

Is this all Robert Altman's fault?

logovisual — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 08:56:57 -0800

Film buffs: I just watched Crash last night (I've now seen all the Best Picture nominees and feel soooo enriched). It reminded me of how very, very tired I am of the whole Random People's Lives Intersect Meaningfully genre, and it made me wonder how it got started. I know that the large-cast-intersecting gimmick is an Altman staple, but are there any precursors to his using it, or is it more or less his invention? Was Nashville where this whole thing began, or are there commonly-known, generally-acknowledged precedents for this genre? Also, to reward those who clicked onwards, here's a deeply entertaining, if unrelated, quote about Crash from yesterday's New York Times, courtesy of Manohla Dargis:

There are a few obvious reasons why “Crash” connected with the Academy. First, Los Angeles, where most of Academy members live, is a profoundly segregated city, so any movie that makes it seem like its white, black, Asian and Latino inhabitants are constantly tripping over one another has appeal. If nothing else it makes Los Angeles seem as cosmopolitan as, well, New York or at least the Upper West Side. Second, no matter how many times the camera picks out Oprah Winfrey on Oscar night, the Academy is super white. Third, the Academy is, at least in general terms, socially liberal. You see where I’m going, right? What could better soothe the troubled brow of the Academy’s collective white conscious than a movie that says sometimes black men really are muggers (so don’t worry if you engage in racial profiling); your Latina maid really, really loves you (so don’t worry about paying her less than minimum wage); even white racists (even white racist cops) can love their black brothers or at least their hot black sisters; and all answers are basically simple, so don’t even think about politics, policy, the lingering effects of Proposition 13 and Governor Arnold. This is a consummate Hollywood fantasy, no matter how nominally independent the financing and release.

(Obviously, I did not love Crash. You go, Manohla!)

"I'm sorry? We were talking about chocolate?"

Rothko — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:14:20 -0800

The delightful "Land of Chocolate" and similar pieces... Can someone point me to the musical style or genre presented in the piece above, as well as similar music? I get a very strong 50's vibe from it and need more of the same.

Good horror novels

jimmy — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 03:09:32 -0800

Good (perhaps even great) recent horror-related novels? It's Halloween; I need something to read tomorrow. It doesn't need to be fully entrenched in the genre; something generally atmospheric will do. I ask for recent releases because there's a better chance I'll have already heard of it if it's a well-known or older horror novel, but if you can think of a genuinely obscure, good title, then I'm all for it.

Mass Music Organization

whatitis — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 10:51:41 -0800

Ideas for additional organization of my music via 'Genre' tags in iTunes... [+] So, I have a diverse collection of music totaling approximately 1,300 full albums, all properly tagged with Artist and Album and want to facilitate browsing by 'genreizing' all of them. The ideal system would be something akin to Flickr where I could tag an album multiple times. ex: 'Om Lounge 3' would get 'Electronic' and 'Chillout'. What I'm struggling with is developing genres that find a sweetspot between not too general but still somewhat specific.
ex: hardcore / post-hardcore / world / trance / dance (house, prog. house, deep house) / electronic / emo / screamo (too specific?) / hip-hop / indie / industrial & goth
ex2: 'Earth Crisis' would not be 'Straight-Edge Hardcore' but just 'Hardcore'

What genre tags or system would you MeFi's suggest?

Also, where should I put bands that might fall into two genres?
ex: 'Mogwai', 'Red Sparrows', 'Explosions in the Sky', or 'Appleseed Cast' (indie / emo), 'Atreyu' (metalcore-ish), Her Space Holiday.

What are the best dance songs from the glam rock era?

stokast — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 15:14:42 -0800

What are the best dance songs from the glam rock era? I am putting together a DJ set for an upcoming glam night, but I don't really even have a good grasp on what the hell the genre is. I don't even own any tight silver pants!! Help me!!