You Are Reading the First 6 FREE Chapters (470 pages)
2.3.2 Genres of Music and Phases of Genre Popularity: Underground, Breakout, Crest, Mainstream
Emerging musical genres go through a characteristic series of phases. The Gold Standard Song List (www.GoldStandardSongList.com), if taken as a more or less representative data sample of genre popularity, reveals a genre popularity profile. This profile applies to most musical genres over time (Figure 2 below).
FIGURE 2: Genre Popularity Over Time
1. Origins, or “Underground” Phase
- Typically, a musical genre begins as an underground movement. This formative phase often lasts many years, even decades.
- New genres and sub-genres emerge in several ways. Among them:
- Musicians from outside a geographical region move in and bring new instruments and new styles of playing, singing, and songwriting to an established local musical tradition.
- A genius comes along and decides to shake things up (Charlie Parker, Bob Dylan).
- New technology makes it possible to create new sounds.