The Evolution Of Genre

Like most of our industrial achievements, the last hundred years have been the bed for almost every major development in pop music. Think about it. In 1911, there was no jazz, no rock, no hip hop, no New Wave, no punk rock, no baroque pop, no noise rock, no country, no R&B! Blues did appear at the end of 1800s as a fusion of negro spirituals and work songs and other shouts and chants. Indeed, slavery was an abomination, but if there was one huge bright side to the experience, it was the birth of the blues.

A lot of early blues was similar in structure and pattern. If one were to try and compare the house music of MSTRKRFT to Delta blues, one would find very little in common. Nevertheless, like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, non-classical music can always be traced back to the simplicity and soul of the blues.

Okay, pick a genre. Let's start off with something relatively simple. In the 1970s, the black populace gave rise to another huge music movement spurred by a larger social movement. Hip hop was born. Hip hop began with spoken word poets verbalizing in rhythm over vinyl samples of funk, disco, R&B, reggae, and soul music. Next, focus in on disco, which was influenced by funk, swing, soul, and psychedelic rock. Soul music was derived from R&B and jazz, which are both direct descendants of - you guessed it - the blues.

That's an easy one. Let's try something more abstract, such as the recent chillwave trend. Chillwave is a synthesizer-based fusion of New Wave and shoegaze. Both New Wave and shoegaze were post-punk genres, the former being more upbeat and melodic and latter being downtempo and ambient. Post-punk music was derived from punk as a more experimental version of the original movement, mixing in progressive rock and baroque pop influences. Punk rock was in essence a heavier version of rock 'n' roll, with glam, garage, and surf influences - all of which were regional variations of the original rock 'n' roll of Elvis who, as we all know, began in the blues.

Whew! That wasn't so bad. But really, why does everything stem from the blues anyway? Well, likewise nowadays everything popular is some sort of derivative of punk, whether that be indie rock or grunge or New Wave or rapcore. And the core mentality of punk rock can be carried back to the original blues movement, which was simply a means of expression for its participants. Blues is the foundation for pop music because it embodies what art is all about - expression! And like fashion, technology, or language, niches pop up in different places in different times, and every little microevolution of genre cumulates to create monumental change over time. So, nowadays, there's something for everyone. Thank god for the blues!