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Initial Genre Research

By Bob Mackenzie

Genre 1: Punk

Forms and conventionsThe most stereotypical feature of a ‘Punk’ is the hair. Punks often have standing, funky hair – often coloured and often a mohawk.

Punks often have small bands – usually a 3 piece consisting of drums, bass and guitar.

Punks often have lots of tattoos. These are usually dark coloured and associated with skulls, flowers and mohawks. Punks also tend to have piercings – particularly on their faces.

Punk artistsThe most well known punk band is probably the Sex Pistols. Their music is often political and shows aggression.

Another well known punk band are The Clash. The Clash were very famous in the 70’s.

More Punk artists include…

Green day

Blink 182

Punk artist websitesHere is the official website for the Sex Pistols. The on going theme throughout the site is very British – I suppose this is because their music was all about British culture. Therefore the site has a connection with their music. On the site you can read their news, bio, look at info, or listen to their records, photos, videos and store.

Here is the website for Punk bas The Clash. This website is a bit more cluttered, with more going on. The menu bar is a clever animated tape. Some of The Clash’s songs were on tape, so again this is something relating to the band. They also have news, gig info and a store.

Genre 2: CountryCountry is one of the oldest genres in all of music to date. It began in the Southern parts of US, and it has slowly spread all over the world. Over the years Country has changed, adopting a more modern style in order to attract a larger, more diverse audience.

Forms and conventionsThe forms and conventions of Country are very apparent in all of it’s music and artist characteristics. The most obvious thing related to Country is the acoustic guitar. Artists often show their acoustic guitar when having photo shoots, this is because the acoustic guitar makes the connection between the artist and country music.The American styled cowboy hat is something that is also often related to country music. This is because artists who started to play Country often wore cowboy hats, meaning they are now a common prop used by country artists.

Another form and convention is high cowboy boots. Again, this is because of the history of the music. Artists wore these boots and because of this it is now a feature that is related with the music.

Country artists The first country artist is Carrie Underwood. She became famous after she won the fourth season of American Idol. Carrie Underwood performs with a band whilst she sings and plays guitar.

Lady Antebellum are an American Country band from Nashville – the home of Country music!

Another Country artist is Taylor Swift. She began writing and releasing American country songs, however of recent years she has become more ‘Pop’ like (or mainstream).

Country artist websites

This is Carrie Underwood’s website. The colour scheme used is very natural, with browns/wooden colours. The layout is very simple and there is little text used. On the website you can see her news, tour, music, videos, photos, bio, chairty work, fan club and stores.

Lady Antebellum have their tour as the main feature of the website, with the poster as the entire home page. Both of these website have large rotating images on the home page. On this website you can look at their news, about, tour, music, media and store. There is also links to all social media platforms.

Genre 3: Rock Rock music first became popular in the industry in the 60’s. Electric guitar is arguably the most important feature of rock music. It is usually the most dominant sound in a rock mix and often has solo moments.

Forms and conventionsThe mise en scene used in rock is almost the same in ever single song. Rock artists tend to wear dark, (usually black) very understated clothing. The darkness in the clothes goes with the atmosphere they’re creating with the music. New modern rock bands (for example Royal Blood) will of course follow this pattern of wearing black their they’re easily identifiable as a rock band to the audience. The electric guitar is the most essential instrument in rock music, therefore artists often pose with their guitars in photo shoots. Again, this is so that they can be identified as rock musicians. A fantastic example of this is Slash, the guitarist from Guns n Roses.

Rock artistsACDC are probably the most famous rock group of all time. They have 3 different singers over the years and still playing regularly today. Their music is very guitar driven and uses heavy drumming. Their logos and band images are always very dark/black coloured. Another classic rock are Led

Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin are still very popular today. Although the band are no longer together, the lead singer Robert Plant still performs on his own. The band images are also dark/black, similar to ACDC’s.Royal Blood are an example of a modern

day rock band. They have a very similar image to these two bands, the only difference is there is only two of them! This is something that is rare in rock music.

Rock artists websitesLed Zeppelin have a slightly larger sight than the other musicians I have been looking at. Their site has a lot more options – this is probably because they were a band for such a long time. All of their music is for sale on the site, they also have biography sections and photos/media. The colours are again very dark – this fits nicely with their genre.

Royal Blood have kept the dark theme on their site. On there you can find their tours dates, store and bio/news. They also have links to all of their social medias and a large image of the band logo at the top. The font on the site is the same as the band logo – it all matches.