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Jimbo

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There's been alot of discussion in other threads about certain types of hard rock/heavy metal, and out of curiousity I wondered how different or similar everyone's definitions of the genres on HH really are? If you're up for it, let me know how you would define:

 

AOR-

 

Sleaze-

 

Glam-

 

Prog-

 

Hard Rock-

 

Add any others you think don't fit into these catagories. As always, this is just for fun and no one will be graded. :D

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Ok.......I'll give it a go...... I'm REALLY bad at the 'official' definition of each genre.....but these are my thoughts.

 

AOR- Horns, keys, strings. Gang vocals.... "mature" music.

 

Sleaze- The beat....'bump n' grind'....

 

Glam- Hmmmm......this one kinda stumps me. Maybe more screetching vox?? Like Faster Pussycat......Pretty Boy Floyd??? Not really sure.

 

Prog- Ack. I think of this more like speed metal? Not really sure....

 

Hard Rock- Bang your head stuff. Thumping drums......screaming guitars.

 

I'm probably wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy off on all of these.......but that's my take on it.

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Ok.......I'll give it a go......  I'm REALLY bad at the 'official' definition of each genre.....but these are my thoughts.

 

AOR-  Horns, keys, strings.  Gang vocals.... "mature" music.

 

Sleaze- The beat....'bump n' grind'....

 

Glam-  Hmmmm......this one kinda stumps me.  Maybe more screetching vox??  Like Faster Pussycat......Pretty Boy Floyd???  Not really sure.

 

Prog-  Ack.  I think of this more like speed metal?  Not really sure....

 

Hard Rock-  Bang your head stuff.  Thumping drums......screaming guitars.

 

I'm probably wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy off on all of these.......but that's my take on it.

 

 

You are!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha... :band:

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AOR- lotsa keys combined with big choruses, and layers of backing vocals

 

Sleaze- "dirty" rock.... just an overall "feel" and attitude put forth by bands like LA Guns, Alleycat scratch, etc....

 

Glam- IMO, more about the look (blonde hair with tons of aquanet, boots, sequined jackets, the works) than sleaze, although the two genres do bleed across each other alot of the time...

 

Prog- songs that deviate from the normal verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, solo, verse, chorus, chorus pattern...they don't follow the beaten path. Lotsa time changes, varied tunings, you name it...

 

Hard Rock - In your face ....makes you wanna pump your fists (or your lover if you're listening to a good power ballad). Killer lead guitar, intense vocals, sometimes with the gang backing vocals...

 

Melodic Metal - Hard rock taken up a notch or two. Faster paced songs, sometimes bordering on speed metal. Screaming guitars, and screaming singers...

 

Just the way I think of things.....there are also alot of sub-genres that could be commented on....

 

:drink:

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Whiplash is pretty dead on. I'll just add a few other random thoughts...

 

AOR - Mellower...either feel-good or heartache, not deep. Often over-produced by big names to get as many tunes as much airplay as possible, "studio/FM-oriented" bands. Best example: Journey, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner.

 

Sleaze - Basically Hard Rock that doesn't care about image, lots of sexual innuendos, live performances often degenerate before your eyes, "club-oriented" bands. Best example: Guns N Roses, L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat.

 

Glam - Also Hard Rock but all about appearance, while combining the sexual innuendos of sleaze with the love and heartbreak of AOR, front man preferrably pretty to help sell albums to teenage girls, men often dressing like women, "video-oriented" bands. Best example: Poison, Cinderella, Britny Fox.

 

Prog - Trying to combine unorthadox sounds with deeper lyrics, an attempt to move mainstream music in a different direction, "artistic-oriented" bands. Best example: Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Marillion.

 

Hard Rock - Like Whiplash states, emphasis on lead guitar, with rhythym guitar or keys helping. Elements of teen rebellion, fantasy, and love (in the form of power ballads). Powerful singers to avoid being drowned out by the guitars, breakups usually involve power struggle between singer and lead guitarist, sound made to be transferable from studio to big concert productions, "stadium-oriented" bands. Best example: Van Halen, Judas Priest, Dokken.

 

Obviously some bands have multiple traits, and some have multiple incarnations. Just my take... :)

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This was posted in another thread Here

 

Here was my opinion:

 

You can usually tell by how prominant the keyboards are. AOR has ALOT of keyboard usage and very well thought out harmonies as where Hard Rock concentrates more on guitars. It can still have somewhat an AOR sound to it, but the guitar work is more prominant than the keys. Metal sounds more aggressive and has faster guitars and very little if any keyboard usage.

 

Many bands will cross over into other styles once in a while, but by the majority of their music is what they're catagorized by.

 

Judas Priest and Accept would be considered Metal, sometimes even Melodic Metal by the way the vocalist sings, but on some of the later 80's albums such as Judas Priest's Turbo, they had a few keyboards and somewhat crossed into the hard rock catagory.

 

Journey has always had alot of keyboard usage and they are the classic AOR band. They could also be put into Hard Rock by a few of their tunes because the keys get buried in the guitar mix.

 

Bon Jovi is a classic example of an AOR/Hard Rock band that started going more mainstream Hard rock by the end of the 80's. They keys were big on the early tunes, but then faded and the guitar was more emphasized.

 

Bands like Poison, Pretty Boy Floyd, Hanoi Rocks and Warrant were typical Glam or "Hair Band" because of the pretty boy "image" and the fact that they had more make up on than most of the women at their shows. Image was more important than the way they played music and itcan sound a little sloppy at times, but at least they looked good. Warrant and Poison later went into more of the Hard Rock catagory where as Hanoi Rocks and Pretty Boy Floyd still stayed in the Glam or Sleaze Glam area. Guns N Roses may also be in the Sleaze Galm catagory as well as the Hard Rock catagory.

 

Bands such as Ratt, Motley Crue, Dokken, Ozzy Osbourne, and Keel were straight forward Hard Rock because even though Image was a big part, they also made sure the music sounded good.

 

Bands like Queensryche would be considered Melodic rock or Melodic Metal because of their more complex approach to the hard rock style of music.

 

Bands such as Dream Theater, Symphony X and Rush are pure Progressive because of the intricate guitar work and bass lines. Most progressive artists concentrate on their technique and perfection of the instrument as well as the vocalist.

 

One band that I find it hard to catagorize is Wasp. They are Shock Rock by their stage show, and somewhere between Melodic Metal, Heavy Metal and Hard Rock by music style.

 

Lite AOR is basically regular AOR minus the guitar work. It's more keyboard driven music and are smoother sounding songs. I'd put bands such as Air Supply, Steve Perry's solo material, Michael Bolton and 10CC into this catagory.

 

Then there's your basic Hard Rock/Rock N Rollers that pull out the bullshit and just play. Bands such as AC/DC, Jackyl and London Quiorboys fit here well.

 

Take it as you will. Hope this helps

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Whiplash is pretty dead on. I'll just add a few other random thoughts...

 

AOR - Mellower...either feel-good or heartache, not deep. Often over-produced by big names to get as many tunes as much airplay as possible, "studio/FM-oriented" bands. Best example: Journey, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner.

 

Sleaze - Basically Hard Rock that doesn't care about image, lots of sexual innuendos, live performances often degenerate before your eyes, "club-oriented" bands. Best example: Guns N Roses, L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat.

 

Glam - Also Hard Rock but all about appearance, while combining the sexual innuendos of sleaze with the love and heartbreak of AOR, front man preferrably pretty to help sell albums to teenage girls, men often dressing like women, "video-oriented" bands. Best example: Poison, Cinderella, Britny Fox.

 

Prog - Trying to combine unorthadox sounds with deeper lyrics, an attempt to move mainstream music in a different direction, "artistic-oriented" bands. Best example: Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Marillion.

 

Hard Rock - Like Whiplash states, emphasis on lead guitar, with rhythym guitar or keys helping. Elements of teen rebellion, fantasy, and love (in the form of power ballads). Powerful singers to avoid being drowned out by the guitars, breakups usually involve power struggle between singer and lead guitarist, sound made to be transferable from studio to big concert productions, "stadium-oriented" bands. Best example: Van Halen, Judas Priest, Dokken.

 

Obviously some bands have multiple traits, and some have multiple incarnations. Just my take... :)

Hi Dreamholic. Great definitions,With AOR,YOU SAY LUURRVE AND BABY a lot...

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I commented on this in another thread. But it is soooo true that I have to move it here... :lol::P

 

Shoot, it's very simple to determine sleaze vs glam. If their were no members in the band with blond hair and everyones hair was black then they were sleaze. If there were 2 or more members with blond hair they were glam. If only one member of the band had blond hair they were a sleaze/glam band. If any of the members had a hair color other than black or blond then they had some AOR influences. If more than one guy in the band had curly hair then they were pure AOR. The question of hair color vs color of their roots was brought up and that does indeed take you into the sub genres which I will not get into today.

 

In addition, you'll know it's prog if the guy sings like a eunuch at an opera. But occasionally that might not be the case. And hard rock makes up whatever is left, unless it doesn't. Also, if the guys are wearing cowboy hats then it's country. But (and this is important) if only one guy is wearing a cowboy hat it's either Mandy Lion or the Village People depending on if the other band members have on hats (but not cowboy hats) or not.

 

It's Friday! everyone have a GREAT weekend! :banana::band::multi:B)

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I commented on this in another thread.  But it is soooo true that I have to move it here... :lol:  :P

 

Shoot, it's very simple to determine sleaze vs glam. If their were no members in the band with blond hair and everyones hair was black then they were sleaze. If there were 2 or more members with blond hair they were glam. If only one member of the band had blond hair they were a sleaze/glam band. If any of the members had a hair color other than black or blond then they had some AOR influences.  If more than one guy in the band had curly hair then they were pure AOR.  The question of hair color vs color of their roots was brought up and that does indeed take you into the sub genres which I will not get into today.

 

In addition, you'll know it's prog if the guy sings like a eunuch at an opera.  But occasionally that might not be the case.  And hard rock makes up whatever is left, unless it doesn't.  Also, if the guys are wearing cowboy hats then it's country.  But (and this is important) if only one guy is wearing a cowboy hat it's either Mandy Lion or the Village People depending on if the other band members have on hats (but not cowboy hats) or not.

 

It's Friday!  everyone have a GREAT weekend! :banana:  :band:  :multi:  B)

 

LMAO!!!

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There is also the sub-genre of "Modern Rock", whereby some bands found it necessary to update their sound in an attempt to conform to what was "popular". This genre features guitars in minor chords, stripped down vocals with little or no harmonies, and an "angst" lyrical base as well as feel. Many of these albums have been not only commercial and critical failures, but also alienated the fan base, except for the most die-hard fans and lovers of the "modern" sound. Examples of this would be Def Leppard "slang", Dokken "Shadowlife", Queensryche "Hear in the Now Frontier", etc. etc.

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Most people don't mind a little change, as long as you stay rooted where you were you're supposed to be. When you totally abandon your fan base in an ettempt to gain new fans, it's not well accepted. Losing 10 fans to gain 3 isn't good business. <_<

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Most people don't mind a little change, as long as you stay rooted where you were you're supposed to be. When you totally abandon your fan base in an ettempt to gain new fans, it's not well accepted. Losing 10 fans to gain 3 isn't good business.  <_<

 

 

Oh yeah! Try telling that to "The Hottest Band In The Land.... METALLICA!!"........

 

........... :unsure: .......... Oh.... wait?........ I guess that would be KISS..............

 

....................................................... You know?.............................................

 

............. The Hottest Band In The Land thingy? ;) ................... nevermind.

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  • 5 years later...

Sorry... This is the thread I meant to bump for the newbies

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I got tired of the sub-divisions and the genre labels long ago. Nowadays I categorize music in general into two groups:

 

1.) Stuff that's good.

 

2.) Stuff that sucks.

 

It's simplified my life in so many ways. :lol:

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I got tired of the sub-divisions and the genre labels long ago. Nowadays I categorize music in general into two groups:

 

1.) Stuff that's good.

 

2.) Stuff that sucks.

 

It's simplified my life in so many ways. :lol:

 

 

I was gonna say that.. If it's good it's GOOD.. If it sucks, well it sucks.. Pretty simple to Me..... :tumbsup:

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My opinion only - not trying to pass this off as fact at all:

 

AOR- At it's purest, I always viewed AOR as that awful kind of music with lots of keys, choruses that do not flow and a lot of stop-start lack of rhythm throughout the song - imo just a really awkward style of song. The epitome of AOR, imo, is Toto. To me personally it is a style of music that pre-dates a lot of what was commonly called AOR in the 80's.

 

Melodic Rock- Honestly, I don't think bands like Treat, Europe and DaVinci (for example) have anything at all to do with stuff like Toto, and that's why I put my own little category of melodic rock here. To me, melodic rock has all the joys of hard rock - good riffs, big catchy choruses and killer solos, but it also has a strong keyboard presence. To me, a lot of European bands from the 80's as well as US bands like Alias and Signal fit into this category - NOT AOR. IMO. I'd even throw bands like FM and Outside Edge in this category. To me it's a style of song writing that separates it from "AOR". It just flows better.

 

Sleaze- LOVE Rick's version! :lol: And it's pretty spot on. To me, sleaze has a harder edge and "dirtier attitude. I think of Shotgun Messiah's 'Second coming', Nasty Idols and No Respect when I think of sleaze. But even they're a more melodic brand of sleaze because to be totally honest a lot of the sleaze stuff I think of - stuff like Bangkok Shock for example - is pretty awful.

 

Glam- If it has lipstick it's glam. Pretty Boy Floyd and Poison's debut pretty much personify what glam is to me. Simple, almost juvenile lyrics, simple musicianship, HUGE, catchy as hell choruses. Sticky sweet kind of music, but if done well it's a perfect break from a pretty serious musical world.

 

Prog- A mess. Pure and simple. Like my impression of AOR, there is little or no flow, a severe lack of direction and it's just totally unstructured, trying to be artistic. To me the lyrics are as simple as glam, but poorly disguised to actually be "meaningful" and they come off sounding even worse than a simple boy meets girl song. Pompous, and in my opinion prog is more for musicians who want to hear good musicians as opposed to someone just simply looking for a good, enjoyable song.

 

Hard Rock- Big riffs, big drums, big choruses, big vocals. Delicious in your face music that gets you excited and pumped up and nude. As I said above, similar to my impression of "normal" melodic rock, except without the keys... just guitars. Bands like Tesla or Warrant's 'Dog Eat Dog' or Winger's 'Pull' define hard rock for me.

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AOR- At it's purest, I always viewed AOR as that awful kind of music with lots of keys, choruses that do not flow and a lot of stop-start lack of rhythm throughout the song - imo just a really awkward style of song.

 

?? weirdo.

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Prog- A mess. Pure and simple. Like my impression of AOR, there is little or no flow, a severe lack of direction and it's just totally unstructured, trying to be artistic. To me the lyrics are as simple as glam, but poorly disguised to actually be "meaningful" and they come off sounding even worse than a simple boy meets girl song. Pompous, and in my opinion prog is more for musicians who want to hear good musicians as opposed to someone just simply looking for a good, enjoyable song.

 

I know it is a personal opinion, but you obviously don't know or haven't heard much Prog to make a sweeping statement like that. There are so many different styles in the Prog genre, some I admit are a little hard on the ears and go on and on, but there are some others with beautiful melodies, fantastic, emotional guitar solo's, great arrangements and very deep and meaningful lyrics aswell. Some songs maybe 10-15 minutes long, but most certainly have to have structure and direction for them to work properly. I don't know which bands you have heard, but I would be interested to know, and I don't just mean Prog metal bands like Dream Theater and Threshold.

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Prog- A mess. Pure and simple. Like my impression of AOR, there is little or no flow, a severe lack of direction and it's just totally unstructured, trying to be artistic. To me the lyrics are as simple as glam, but poorly disguised to actually be "meaningful" and they come off sounding even worse than a simple boy meets girl song. Pompous, and in my opinion prog is more for musicians who want to hear good musicians as opposed to someone just simply looking for a good, enjoyable song.

 

I know it is a personal opinion, but you obviously don't know or haven't heard much Prog to make a sweeping statement like that. There are so many different styles in the Prog genre, some I admit are a little hard on the ears and go on and on, but there are some others with beautiful melodies, fantastic, emotional guitar solo's, great arrangements and very deep and meaningful lyrics aswell. Some songs maybe 10-15 minutes long, but most certainly have to have structure and direction for them to work properly. I don't know which bands you have heard, but I would be interested to know, and I don't just mean Prog metal bands like Dream Theater and Threshold.

Yeah, the same thing could be said about most genres here. For example, there are a hell of a lot of different styles of sleaze and glam which we could have gone into. But the point of this thread, I thought, was just a general overview on each genre.

 

I admit I haven't heard a million prog bands because if I were raped by a horse once I'd keep away from the paddock, and if I were raped twice by a horse I'd stay away from the countryside all together (or would I invite him over for tea?).

 

Yeah, yeah, so I make no sense. Who cares? We're talking about prog so I don't need to. What I mean to say is that I've heard enough prog to know I don't like it and don't need to hear more of it to justify these thoughts. Which prog bands I've heard? Honestly, I'd consider Pink Floyd to be a progressive band, whether they are or not. Are Rush? And... shit, I don't even know. If you mention some prog bands I can say yes or no to whether I've heard them or not.

 

With regard to the specifics, I have NO doubt at all there are some beautiful melodies (I've heard that confirmed) and excellent guitar solos (Not an ounce of doubt in my mind - prog musicians are generally amazing). What I don't agree with is that the arrangements are great. My brother calls me one dimensional saying I only like the verse/chorus/verse/chorus/solo/chorus type of song and although that is in no way what I strictly look for, there is truth to it. The music I like does seem to follow that direction. But I sure as hell don't mind a bit of variance, as long as it adds to the worth of the song rather than takes away from it... which is honestly what I feel a lot of prog does. There are prog songs I have heard that'd be fantastic at 4mins without the nonsense in the middle / 3/4 of the way through.

 

It depends what you want from music. If you want a toss-fest, prog is great. If you're after catchy, enjoyable music with great hooks prog is not so good. And I am the latter. I listen to music for pleasure, nothing else.

 

But the thing I disagree with most in the lyrics. And I know it's impossible to make a statement that includes every single prog band there is because I know for a fact there would be several out there with good, sincere lyrics. BUT, I do think that the majority of it is absolute rubbish. People seem to get caught up in the big words and articulate nature of the lyrics and suddenly think 'Oh man, that's awesome.' when in truth it's just utter crap. Big words and serious subject matters do not equal quality lyrics. Well, not to me anyway.

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