Genre Is Dead – Why Genre Boundaries Hurt The Art Of Music

22. April 201726. June 2017 Melissa Wilke

When Linkin Park released their new single “Heavy” featuring pop singer Kiiara, their fanbase immediately started complaining: Where are the guitars? Why isn’t this Rock music? What happened to the “old Linkin Park”? Reading the comments below the band’s social media posts was quite depressing. Apparently everyone hated their new directions and didn’t even want to give the upcoming album “One More Light” a chance.

This week, Paramore released their brand new single “Hard Times” after a 4-years hiatus so the fans’ expectations were massive. Sadly, they got a similar reaction to the funky pop tune: it’s not emo enough, you can’t head bang to it and overall it’s just soulless mainstream shit.

What happened to rock music that made it so limited? Why can’t we just let musicians do the kind of music they feel like doing? Why is any move into the direction of Pop music such an evil thing?

There are tons of bands/artists who can’t be put into a category. Take Enter Shikari for example. Those guys have broken genre boundaries since 1999 with their crazy mix of hardcore, electronics and the occasional dive into folk and indie music. Or the amazing Lana Del Rey. She has taken the world by storm with her “Sad Core” songs. That’s what makes these artists so recognizable: they have created their own sound which can’t be copied by any other band or musician.

Music is a form of art and art must come from the artist’s heart and soul, don’t you think? Isn’t it quite presumptuous to put a label on them and keep them there?
At a time where all types of music are available with a click on Spotify, there shouldn’t be any limits. Good artists soak up all kinds of music and let themselves be influenced by what touches their inner creativity. So let’s all relax and let music reach another level.