The Name Origins?

[anonymousnick2001]

Ever wonder EXACTLY where the names of well-known genres came from? Or how and why they came about?

Take 'heavy metal' for example. We had a thread about the origin of that title. But how did someone come up with that to describe the music? Opinions?

The same goes for subgenres. 'Death metal'? Not just a Posessed song, is it? How about 'black metal'? Not just a Venom song, right? How about power metal, jazz, disco, techno, gabber, doom metal, Oi! punk, hardcore, grindcore, avant-garde, blues, rock, etc?

Why is classical music called classical? Why not Romantic or Baroque? Why not orchestral? What we call film score music?

Ever wonder where these names came from? Why we still use them?

Discuss.

 

[Jean-Pierre]

'Death metal'? Not just a Posessed song, is it? How about 'black metal'? Not just a Venom song, right?

Naw, I think that's pretty much it, actually. :-|

 

[Jaar-Gilon]

Death metal, coz it sounds cool and alot of the bands that closely followed possesed's main lyrical themes were death, or something close to it. but mainly coz it sounds cool i think. black metal coz its dark, chaotic and mysterious and fits with the image. and just out of interest what does Avant-Garde mean when translated

 

[Cythraul]

and just out of interest what does Avant-Garde mean when translated

n.- A group active in the invention and application of new techniques in a given field, especially in the arts.

adj.- Of, relating to, or being part of an innovative group, especially one in the arts: avant-garde painters; an avant-garde theater piece.

avant-garde is derived from the Old French word vanguard. That's all I found.

 

[Mormagil]

Fr., lit. "advance guard." Used in Eng. 15c.-18c. in a literal, military sense; borrowed again 1910 as an artistic term for "pioneers or innovators of a particular period."

That ought to help

 

[MasterOLightning]

Death metal is simply from the lyrical content of the early bands of that genre. I think doom metal is pretty self explanatory. I believe rock 'n roll used to be slang that black people used for having sex. It became associated with music with a strong backbeat that you could dance to. White people had no idea that rock 'n roll had that other connotation. If they did, it would not have caught on as the name. That's a pretty rough definition there, but I think it's close to explaining the origin.

 

[Erik]

'Death metal'? Not just a Posessed [sic] song, is it?

Nope, it's also an Onslaught song from the same year.

Why is classical music called classical? Why not Romantic or Baroque? Why not orchestral? What we call film score music?

What in the fuck? The romantic and baroque periods are still classical music as you're aware, but they're very distinctive in sounds, so obviously it wouldn't make any fucking sense to call all classical music either, if that's what you're suggesting. Also, if you're just asking why people don't drop the "classical" label altogether and just refer to the music by the time period it came from, that's also a bit stupid because classical music conforms to a well-established form for how music "should" be made, a form that has been deviated from only recently. Rather simply, music prior to that is "classical" music: "Of or relating to European music during the latter half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries." There is a need to refer to this entire body of music with one term.

Re: your "orchestral" thing, people don't equate "classical" and "orchestral" because classical music is not orchestral per definition -- as classical music only exists in its original form as notes i.e. instructions on how to play it, you might as well play it with a fucking synthesizer, even if the work was written for a symphony orchestra or whatever. Also, although I can't come up with any off my head, I'm sure there are classical pieces written for one instrument. There are also pieces written for a duet of only two instruments, which can hardly be called an "orchestra", can it? Furthermore, because I can write fucking pop music and play it with an orchestra, equating "orchestral" and "classical" is severely retarded.

Hope this helps

 

[lord667]

I believe rock 'n roll used to be slang that black people used for having sex. It became associated with music with a strong backbeat that you could dance to. White people had no idea that rock 'n roll had that other connotation. If they did, it would not have caught on as the name. That's a pretty rough definition there, but I think it's close to explaining the origin.

Yeah, I read that the first time the words are known to have occurred together was in a black R&B song called "My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)".

 

[Alex78]

I've read in a review at www.allmusic.com that Meshuggah can be called "Einstein metal"...

 

[no country for old wainds]

awesome.

 

[Kenneth R.]

i'd imagine the origins to be something like:

blues: because a lot of it has to do with feelin' sad or getting over feelin' down.

country: because it's usually about wide open countries (and ugly women)

rock: from rock'n'roll, which i imagine came from the way people danced to it.

pop: from 'popular' of course.

now here's a challenging one... "Jazz". i have no clue

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

and just out of interest what does Avant-Garde mean when translated

"Before seeing"

 

[MasterOLightning]

Jazz originated as the term jass. I think this just makes things more confusing.

 

[HardSide]

actually i read about jazz...its derived from the blues category and it was named after a tone made from an instrument...cant remember what...read it like 3 years ago.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

I believe rock 'n roll used to be slang that black people used for having sex.

That's awesome! I've never heard that before!

*connives sinister plot of play-on words and evil puns*

What in the fuck? The romantic and baroque periods are still classical music as you're aware, but they're very distinctive in sounds, so obviously it wouldn't make any fucking sense to call all classical music either, if that's what you're suggesting. Also, if you're just asking why people don't drop the "classical" label altogether and just refer to the music by the time period it came from, that's also a bit stupid because classical music conforms to a well-established form for how music "should" be made, a form that has been deviated from only recently. Rather simply, music prior to that is "classical" music: "Of or relating to European music during the latter half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries." There is a need to refer to this entire body of music with one term.

Re: your "orchestral" thing, people don't equate "classical" and "orchestral" because classical music is not orchestral per definition -- as classical music only exists in its original form as notes i.e. instructions on how to play it, you might as well play it with a fucking synthesizer, even if the work was written for a symphony orchestra or whatever. Also, although I can't come up with any off my head, I'm sure there are classical pieces written for one instrument. There are also pieces written for a duet of only two instruments, which can hardly be called an "orchestra", can it? Furthermore, because I can write fucking pop music and play it with an orchestra, equating "orchestral" and "classical" is severely retarded.

Hope this helps

Yeah, thanks mate. A few less "fucks" would have helped a bit, too.

 

[Erik]

Fuck.

 

[Alex78]

funny nonetheless