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Music Genre List: Music Popularity by Genre
4. Mainstream Genre
- Instead, with few exceptions, it remains a permanent mainstream genre, co-existing, influencing, and being influenced by, many others. For example, when bluegrass was “invented” in the 1930s and 40s, it did not replace traditional country music. Neither did “new country,” a couple of generations later. When hip-hop and electronic dance music came along, they did not replace mainstream pop or rock.
- So many people accept and adopt the elements of the genre that it becomes a cultural infrastructure (more on this a bit later). It settles into the mainstream of popular culture—not as popular as it once was, but permanently accepted and established.
- Every so often a long-established mainstream genre experiences a period of renewed popularity ("revival") that may extend for some years.
The Gold Standard Song List (GSSL) a sample of 5,000 songs over 100 years, provides a visual representation of genre popularity profiles over time (Figure 3):
FIGURE 3: Gold Standard Songs by Genre and Decade
Today, many young people, while identifying mainly with their music (the music of their youth), like to sample music across genres and eras. On a single iPod you might find the Clash, Beethoven, Aretha Franklin, Eminem, Iggy Pop, Bjork, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash ....