• Top 10 Worst Types of Music

  

  Written by Zeromage 80 Comments
  Last Updated:: June 11, 2009

  With the broaching of pop music into art in the 20th century, it unfortunately burdened itself with it’s spatial nature.  While this space would allow for some of the most classic genres of music (e.g. Motown, Britpop, Rock), it’s flexibility allowed it’s opposite and sometimes unequal reaction in genres of music that found it’s success within Pop’s flexibility, and not the core of artistic quality.  In this list, we will highlight these music genres that have stained the great name of Pop music in the name of it’s own individuality, it’s own difference, without remembering the soul of Pop music.  There will be an underlying hope throughout the list of a the recognition of the forgotten soul of Pop music.

  10. Krautrock

  Krautrock is a peculiar genre in the fact that it spawned great music that was not ashamed to admit that it was influenced by the Krautrock genre.  The difference was, the modern musician sped up the trance that was supposed to happen in Krautrock, and created forms of trance, whether in the genre of house or rock in general.  Going back to the “oldies but goodies” though, one has to endure a session of a Neu album, unless of course one wants to put on inconspicuous background music.  If that’s the case, there’s much better played elevator music  for this like Johnny Mandel  and any lounge music in general.  Just as long as it’s not Nickelback, it will serve as much better background music.  But something about sounded interesting, so of course it had to be good.  Interesting is relative, and so then Krautrock can be recognized as good while being the last thing anyone would listen to.

  9. Modern R and B

  Modern R and B has been the butt of many a comedian’s joke.  The pseudo-suave beginning with the protagonist speaking in a soft urban voice either expressing his “infinite” love of the other, or repenting from his sin of cheating on her.  It’s  from here that cheese blasts into pure comedy with strings swirling up to ostensibly capture the moment of the lovers highest affection for the other…or his phallic-mania masquerading as “love”, a term as ungrounded and relatively used as “God” and “Presence”, even more so than the later because of the cultural acceptance of the idea as a grund (primoris res).  Grounding of ungrounded ideas aside, the cheesiness of modern R and B is all pervading.  It’s  not just in the music, it’s in the videos too.  Hulking men professing love.  The dichotomy between physical strength and spiritual Eros?  In the West?  No, this isn’t Greek antiquity.  One is a mask for the other.  Which one you ask?  Last I heard the world population is growing exponentially.

  8. Modern Blues

  Traditional blues, the blues of Robert Johnson and Chuck Berry are undoubtedly the precursor to any form of pop music in general and should be privileged for because of it.  That musicians can continue playing what was played 70 years ago however is not strange to a culture whose fever for archiving anything that at one point was considered “good” is obsessive.  The absolute bore of listening to blues now after this many years is overbearing.  That musicians who play the style are not bored by it must find their motivations for playing the style in other grounds other than enjoying what they’re playing.  Pleasing an elderly audience?  Pleasing a younger crowd who parasitically followed an elderly audience?  Pleasing a dingy bar with people who like this style?  Something is going on with “Pleasing”, but it doesn’t have anything to do with music.

  7. Punk

  Punk music was always on it’s way with the flexibility of pop music starting from the 50’s.  It was only a matter of time that a group wouldn’t like it’s surrounding context because it appeared to a majority as “successful”.  Instead of personally doing away with the concept of success, and more importantly with what was considered as success, punk music found it’s grounding in not expressing it’s own psychological neuroses, much for the sake of finding it’s own success, because it couldn’t find it in it’s own context.  Now, this attitude is understandable at it’s inception.  For the reason of novelty  alone qualifies the act of punk, but that the genre so parasitically attached itself to anyone picking up an instrument is the problem of the style.  For anyone, any child, looking for an identity now, they can find it in a context they don’t currently occupy and chances are, never will.  Much like emo, without an appropriate subject for the musician, there’s an imaginary subject made up to exert one’s energy towards.  This making up of a subject to “rise against”, to always oppose itself too, sounds as flat as the notes being played in the genre.

  6. Pop Metal

  When you look on you tube under the term “Speed Metal” and “Grindcore” you find clips of adroit fans incessantly attacking what is perceived as fake Speed Metal and Grindcore.  Not coming from a Metal background, I can’t tell the difference but one thing came over my mind when listening to the music being compared, but what I do know is that these people have probably have so much disdain for pop metal that they don’t even consider it music.  While I would probably have different reasons for disliking Pop metal than a Grindcore purist, the singular complaint would probably be analogous.  It’s soft shit that tries to sound hard.  It doesn’t matter how big a bassist’s biceps are, if he’s still playing soft music, he’s soft.  The feigning for grittiness in bands like “Dead by April” and “A Day To Remember” is obvious.  No amount of tattoos can save either band from sounding like Ben Stiller in Dodgeball.

  5. Mainstream Country

  Modern Country is at least noticeable when it comes on the radio.  It only take less than a half a second to switch the channel because the sound of this emetic genre is so unpleasant.  It’s ultra polished, if not the most polished sound on modern radio, even more so than modern Hip Hop and R and B.  The goofy southern accent singer talks about what he usually talks about.  The ideas are too obvious to point out without feeling guilty of stating something so obvious.  Mainstream Country is the money train, where people go to relax and gain a sense of “home-goingness”, whatever that means…being at home, not moving, doing what your neighbor does, getting in a fight with your neighbor for a slight oscillation in personality that is perceived.  This music doesn’t move and doesn’t want to move.  It sits as comfortably as a patient with dementia in a retirement home.

  4. Hip Hop

  While Hip Hop’s roots were the grounds for some hypnotic grooves unheard of until its point, it was it’s aging form that became grossly overused.  No longer were good beats a matter for the modern Hip Hop musician, but was simply the objectification of sexual intercourse in every possible way; as if sex had not already lost it’s ostensible taboo in the 80’s with Madonna and other “express yourself” artists.  Of course maybe this was the “true” lifestyle of the hip hop musician.  Coming from the context of the Ghetto gives one the authority to do whatever they want, because after all they come from shit, so we must sympathize with this shittyness by simply being empathetic, meaning not having the right to see modern Hip Hop as absolutely unsubstantial and lacking in an power subtle enough to win for itself a legacy of class.  Bring on the leveling of culture through political correctness.  Hip Hop must deserve its privileged place as the thin line between money and caveman.

  3. The Nickelback Genre or Mainstream FM “rock”

  The Nickelback genre of music is so obviously a bad genre that even those who say they like it know it’s really bad.  If it’s randomly playing on FM radio in the backyard of raised ranch  backyard BBQ, people will hear it in the background and not say anything about it.  Only some will ever say they like the song, and will be convinced otherwise in a matter of seconds if they so easily can be grabbed by something so vacuous.  No one could even admit to liking the song on the grounds of a guilty pleasure.  It’s neither a pleasure nor a guilty pleasure to listen to, but a guiltless bad pleasure.  You’re just listening to a very definite idea of “bad” when listening to Nickelback and every band that sounds like them.  Unfortunately for a linguistics that would like to transcend the binary opposition of bad/good, it has to face the patent obviousness of bad in the Nickelback genre.  It’s powerfully bad.

  2. Emo

  When the luxury of a culture reaches it’s apex, the energy not being used by those who are unconsciously enjoying the luxury is often displaced into disingenuous forms.  In the case of Emo, this inappropriateness comes from an effusive (more accurately termed ‘mawkish’) reaction to one’s opulent surroundings.  This space for effusion is without an object.  The searching for an energetic object in this empty space creates a form of music that is strictly maudlin in character.  It’s maudlin for the sake of being maudlin.  Within an empty space, the effusion for any object in general to ruminate over creates unsubstantial objects for the sake of subjective yearning.  Romeo and Juliet, by prose and by time, lived within a context; this context was appropriate for their excessive yearning, the context of the late 20th century however was never appropriate for the type of yearning known in Emo.  No one seemed to  tell the self-identifying “Emo fan” that “it’s called life”.

  1. Indie

  The worst thing to happen to the elegance and taste of Pop music was Indie music.  The nauseating compulsion for every band to label themselves as “Indie” now is not difficult to understand.  The underlying premise of Indie music was unchecked creativity for the sake of itself.  The interest that one could muster into these bands would have to take thousands upon thousands of listens to “understand”; another premise of the style (that it was always and already in need of having to be understood).  Unchecked creativity is not guilty for some anachronistic, obscurely Christian idea of emptiness, but guilty of never having to think that creativity is in need of being checked.  The amount of bands that stemmed from the idea of “Indie” music was enormous just for this reason; because anyone could pick up any instrument, make any noise they wanted and it would be deemed as “good”, because anything that’s expressed is automatically “good”.  You no longer had to be a musician, no longer had to write good songs, no longer had to do anything other than to strike a note on any instrument to be privileged as  “innovative”; that bastardized term that has undermined the soul of inherent quality.

80 Comments

1. #1 Leroi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 6:32 pm

   Krautrock is hellishly good, though it is a quite farty term. Others suck toilet.
2. #2 Osama says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 4:23 am

   Although I love Hip Hop, I have to agree with your assessment of the genre. Modern Hip-Hop is all but dead to me. I miss you Fugees. I miss you Tribe Called Quest …
3. #3 Simon says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 12:04 am

   @DM: Oasis crappy FM rock? I think not. FM, maybe sometimes. But crappy? Actually, most of their best songs are not their multitude of FM hits (something which separates them from lesser, 1 hit wonder bands, like Nickelback, for instance) but their b-sides.
4. #4 Alicia says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 11:14 pm

   you are a fagtard! Did you know that nickelback has sold over 33 billion records all over the world! How many have you sold? -zip-nada-nothing-rien- they are the best type of music because its all different categories of music fused together. Therefore cannot be categorised into a genre that doesn’t make sense created by an idiot who has no clue what he is talking about. The last guy is retarded just in their last album 3 of their song are major hits and top of the charts and same thing for their older albums too! Also, they are canadian and actual genuine artists who dont use machines to alter their voices and sound. Its REAL music but I guess people like you who have been brainwashed by computer generatorated crap wouldn’t understand anything like that would you?
5. #5 Simon says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 12:17 am

   Haha…Alicia, you are the brainwashed one. Try listening to music that’s not on mainstream FM radio for a change, and you might hear some actual good music by real musicians. Not bland, derivative crap. And your math is a little wrong, I think (as if I needed any more evidence that you’re from America). There are only 6 billion people on the planet, so I doubt Nickelback has sold 33 BILLION records. LOL. They have actually sold 31 MILLION albums, you want be technical about it. Oh, and Oasis have sold over 80 million albums.
6. #6 Simon says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 12:18 am

   And how the FUCK is Nickelback “all different categories of music fused together.”? Exactly what types of music did they fuse?
7. #7 Arthur says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 6:21 am

   Though I do mostly agree with the list presented, the thing that mainly troubles me is the placement of Indie Rock at #1 on the list. Even though most Indie Rock is terrible, some of my favorite bands are Indie Rockers who do actually contribute to the musical community.

   On a whole, though, the list is pretty accurate, though I would swap the “Nickelback” rock with Emo and put modern hip hop in the #1 spot (let’s face it: the only truly impressive hip hop group in existence is Public Enemy).
8. #8 Logan says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 9:37 am

   Your decomposition of punk shows is incredibly well-thought out and well-said. Your expose’ reveals an incredible grasp of the English language and displays impressive cognitive ability. I praise you for actually giving an intelligent deconstruction of the genre as opposed to the more common “They can’t play their fucking instruments and they all wear stupid clothes!” defamation most have come to expect.

   However your reasoning behind your disdain for the genre unfortunately builds its foundation on a sweeping generalization which betrays, amongst other things, the fact that you apparently lack empathy. That’s the core foundation of the emotion exerted in punk and hardcore that you seemingly do not understand. The notion that punk is inert because it rebels against “imaginary concepts” is, when examining the motives of the greater punk acts, painfully ignorant to the aspect of human emotion which good punks (and I) commonly experience and subconsciously utilize: empathy.

   Many punks were, in fact, suburbanite kids with as much to lose as they had to gain. To say that their interest in subjects such as social oppression (My Rules by Void, Things We Say by Gorilla Biscuits, Selfish Shit by MDC), governmental oppression (Red Tape by Circle Jerks, Government by Koro, It’s an Action by Poison Idea), greedy corporations (Fearless Vampire Killers by Bad Brains, Five Corporations by Fugazi, Corporate Deathburger by MDC), et cetera are void because they do not directly experience the crippling effects of them first-hand is a falacy simply because these artists are perfectly capable of feeling for others, as opposed to merely themselves. For them, the fact that another person was suffering anywhere was reason enough to feel that they too were suffering.

   To bolster this argument, look to bands such as Minor Threat and Gorilla Biscuits, whose main drives to create music within the genre of punk were to be positive influences on their peers as progenitors of the Straight-Edge movement; this movement not only had the “rise against” sentiment, it had an actual positive physical effect on their peers.

   I just figured that you should understand that the motives of punk aren’t mute, but that you simply don’t understand them because you are less empathetic than those involved in the movement.
9. #9 else3573 says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 5:56 pm

   lol @ 33 BILLION albums…hahahaha!!!! (seriously, I strongly dislike Nickelback as well). I cannot stand all this hipster/emo/ironic nonsense that proliferates the radio nowadays, and I hate the fans even more. If you never listened to Iron Maiden, don’t go spend $200 on a concert T because you think it’s such cool irony. Just go the fuck away..

   Also, I’m a HUGE hip hop fan that grew up in the 80’s and 90’s (the golden age), and I hate to see what our music has become. That being said, there IS still good stuff out there, from vets like Redman, Pharoahe Monch, The Roots, Sean Price, Masta Ace, etc., as well as newer acts like Slaughterhouse, Cool Kids, Black Milk, Elzhi, etc.
10. #10 else3573 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    By the way, I wasn’t saying Nickleback was emo hipster garbage (they’re just garbage), I was mearly listing another strong dislike.
11. #11 else3573 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    Arthur said “..let’s face it: the only truly impressive hip hop group in existence is Public Enemy”

    Wow, apparently you never listened to much hip hop. If you’re just talking groups, how could you say the following weren’t or aren’t “impressive”?:

    A Tribe Called Quest
    Run DMC
    The Roots
    De La Soul
    Gangstarr
    Pharcyde
    EPMD
    BDP
    Alkaholiks
    Beatnuts
    Showbiz and Ag
    Kool G Rap and DJ Polo
    Eric B and Rakim
    Jungle Brothers
    Naughty By Nature
    Das Efx
    Onyx
    Fushnickens
    NWA
    Outkast
    Cypress Hill
    Wutang Clan
    Children Of The Corn
    Black Moon
    Brand Nubian
    Smif and Wessun
    Heltah Skeltah
    Artifacts
    Jugganots
    Arsonists
    Beastie Boys
    Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
    KMD
    UMC’s
    UTFO
    Ultramagnetic MC’s
    Company Flow
    Cannibal Ox
    Non Phixion
    The Fugees
    M.O.P
    Mobb Deep
    Zhigge
    Oringal Flavor
    Boogiemonsters
    Da Bush Babies
    Organized Konfusion
    Digital Undergound
    Arrested Development
    Digable Planets
    Lost Boyz
    Camp Lo
    Beastie Boys
    3rd Bass
    Funkdoobiest
    Edo G and Da Bulldogs
    CNN
    Gravediggaz
    Black Star
    Group Home
    Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rudd
    Hard 2 Obtain
    The Legion
    DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince
    Freestyle Fellowship
    The Cool Kids
    Slaughterhouse
    etc.

    as well as solo (or sometimes solo) MC’s like:
    Biggie
    Big Pun
    Nas
    Big L
    Redman
    Meth
    GZA
    Ghostface
    Kool Keith
    Pharoahe Monch
    Akinyele
    Slick Rick
    Ice Cube
    Bahamadia
    Lauryn Hill
    MC Lyte
    MC Shan
    Roxanne Shante
    Masta Ace
    Special Ed
    Del the Funky Homosapien
    Raekwon
    AZ
    Mic Geronimo
    Jay Z (at least til he started phoning it in)
    Jeru
    K-Solo
    Grand Puba
    Positive K
    DMX
    Nine
    Chubb Rock
    Keith Murray
    Canibus
    Chino XL
    Aceyalone
    Royce Da 5′9″
    Elzhi
    Black Milk
    Lupe Fiasco
    Tone Deff
    Joell Ortiz
    Joe Budden
    Supernatural
    Sean Price
    MF Doom
    the list goes on….
12. #12 brad says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    you guys are really fucking idiots.
13. #13 ed says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:12 am

    Nickelback sucks.
14. #14 atomsk says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    Well, for once I can actually kind of agree with Zeromage, which has caused my head to implode. The simple fact that he hates Nickelback (which I can appreciate) has redeemed him from the numerous attempts at bland humor, poor irony and outright ignorance I’m used to seeing. But I’m not worried; he opens his mouth enough to cure that appreciation. By the way, Noel Gallagher is overrated and Oasis is not really that great. Sorry, just had to jab at you.
15. #15 Violator says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    God dammint, your lists are insulting and stupid, written by a 5 year old! There is no bad music genre!!!
16. #16 Atom36 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:34 am

    If you’re going to talk hip hop at least pick a type of hip hop, I’m pretty sure you were talking about mainstream hip hop. You can hate on that hell you can hate on alot of underground shit to, but don’t hate on all of hip hop. Especially independent / alternative hip hop that’s where the true artist are in hip hop. So please stop hating on an entire genera without giving some of it a chance.
17. #17 Patrick M says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:59 am

    SO TRUE! ALL THOSE ARE HIDEOUS! More focus on cheesy radio pop stuff would have been better though. I’m glad you didn’t go the ignorant route and place the whole “metal genre” as bad, as it is one of my favorites.
18. #18 GeraldTheHerald says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    The problem with every single one of you people is that you are operating under the same stupid biases that the creator of this article is. You get defensive on the genre of music that you happen to like and then start brown nosing Zeromage when he bashes one that you dislike.

    Unless you can show quantitatively (a qualitative analysis is subjective and worthless) why your band/genre is better than another band/genre then you have absolutely no justification for your opinions.

    Oh, and all of your music sucks.
19. #19 Logan says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:32 am

    ^

    Mine included? I was actually very proud of my response to punk being included in the list, but it seems that it’s gotten no attention.
20. #20 Seldon says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    This list is right on.
21. #21 Kafkadeft says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:29 am

    This list is generally right on…..however, I think r and b should share the top two spots with hip hop. Fuck the radio.
22. #22 Phil says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 8:09 pm

    Should have put Death Metal on this list.
23. #23 Chase357 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:48 am

    Emo is #1.
    It’s the asshole of the metal genre.
    No real rocker likes Emo.
24. #24 cody floyd says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:56 am

    RAP sucks ass and i agree on country,that should have been number 1 on this list,but altogether a pretty good list.
25. #25 avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    Indie #1?
    every band ever started out indie!
26. #26 Alejandro says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:17 am

    If you didnt put reggaeton here, then your dont know jackshit about bad music. Hip Hop isnt bad, but reggaeton is just a fucking messing pile of shit. Is always (and when I say always I mean ALWAYS) the same fucking rythm in all the fucking songs, they only talk about sex and woman, and when theyre not talking about that they talk about unrequited romances because they dont know jackshit aobut how to threat a woman, the artists if we can call that way cant sing nor play instruments, even the computer, the discography does all the work for the ´´artists´´ AND make even stupider poses than that of mainstream rappers, the lyrics are the worst possible lyrics ever, all aritsts sound the fucking same and have super mega stupid names like Wisin y Yandel, Daddy Yankee, Luny Tunes (no fucking kidding), Nigga (again no kidding) and Rakim y Ken-Y, Seriously, how can you put punk, a very important part of rock music history here? and pop metal isnt that bad either. Country and hip hop are awesome too, and are God compared to reggaeton, I agree 100% with emo and the Nickelback thing, but come on hip hop and punk? Reggaeton shouldve benn No. 1 in this list.
27. #27 Luskar says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    You lost all credibility when stating that Chuck Berry is a traditionnal blues-man. WTF. He’s not even a blues-man, he one of the fist rockers…

    Should put Neo-Punk instead of just punk. All the crap like Simple Plan, NOFX and cie.

    With your other TOP 10, I was thinking that you’re a indie-rock fan. Wilco, Flaming Lips, Belle et Sebastian, quite indie-rock.
28. #28 witsison says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Really? How can you say that a whole genre like hip hop is one of the worst genres when all you’ve probably heard is whats popular. Thats like people saying rock sucks just because they hear bands of the “Nickelback genre” on the radio and nothing else. You should listen to cLOUDDEAD, 3 Feet High And Rising, Illmatic, It Takes A Nation Of Millions, or Endtroducing (well thats instrumental, but hip hop nonetheless!)