Feelings about Genres

Jim Garten wrote: (a small section of Progressive Metal's current division structure)

Sure you can see it that way, but in that picture each division holds two items at most. Currently there are three prog metal categories, each of which holds around 100 bands (give or take). Also, with the new search facility provided by M@x, people can browse a combined list.

I'm not really overly concerned about genres and categorisation. I think the current genres are generally good, but the space/psych merge annoys me, because it seems like it's just really catering to Floyd. I really don't mind about Eclectic prog (which is really just a genre that isn't any other genre) or the metal subcategories that I can't really understand particularly well because they allow me to quickly discover excellent music by their own top fifties or individual samples.

Vote for keep it as it is, though I'd like to see psych and space rock diverge.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: ^ no serious debate about the metal genre division ... apart from the 100+ pages of discussion that is.

And a debate that was more constructive, and civil, than just about any concerning a PR addition.

Please keep it as it is
To my mind the present number of various genres/sub-genres is enough.
When I found PA and began learning something new about all the prog genres/sub-genres that were oppointed, I never thought today we would have twice as many genres we had formerly. I wonder if any newbie doesn't confuse one genre with another.


Edited by Paper Champion - April 03 2008 at 12:27

A rather different option for me too.  I could see some more master categoriee, but I'd also like to see certain master categories consolidated with sub-categories, and sub-sub categories.  I'd also like to see multi-tagging.   Really, I'd like it set up more in a Prog tree or cluster fashion, but this is not easy to do. 

As an example of consolidation for master categories while having sub-categories, we could have metal (and this has been discussed but it wasn't possible with the software or something I believe) together under one master heading, and the types of metal as sub-categories.  Folk Prog could have Raga Rock as a sub-category as well as various others including Acid Folk etc.  The avant category could be re-organised.  There would be an overlap of categories...  Another, though it would be a huge amount of work, is to see Prog-Related as a specific category gone (though I'd keep if for a master list/ category) and have other categories have Related as sub-categories (e.g. Folk Prog Related, Symph Prog Related etc.).  One would need dynamic charts for this to work well (I could see it done using Flash) and show better relations between bands and styles.

No more "Adopt a genre" and more actual "Progressive Rock".

Keep it as it is... Genres are very useful... You just can't put Genesis and Opeth in the same basket...

For me, it doesn't matter how you slice and dice it if the discussion is you want to find other bands in the same genre as your favorites.  There are so many bands in each genre and the music can be very different within each genre that there is no way I am going to gravitate towards any band just because it is one bucket over another.  The current system is fine.  If I read a great review for a band and they are in a genre that I generally like, I may do more research, but that is the extent to how important the classifications are.

In some way Keep At it Is...

Although Reduce Genres is quite good too in some other ways.

I really couldn't live with more genres! Entering PA made all my prog vocablary change into "tons" of sub genres that when I speech with my bro or father of this he doesn't really understand they just prefer to call it prog, metal, rock and pop, well of course jazz and blues too..others

I think the genres are perfect the way they are now.