[gitrog]

If there is anything like the Metal Archives for electronic music or rock music (actually any genre) out there, I'd like to know about it. It's simply the greatest music encyclopedia I've come across, albeit entirely focused on metal.

As much as I appreciate Discogs and RateYourMusic, they tackle different things and don't really function as encyclopedias, the former functioning more as a catalogue and the latter as a way to track and list your favourite albums.

Edit: Looks like this post resulted in a hug of death over on metal-archives.com!

[RajT88]

There may not be. There seems to be something obsessive about metal fans to catalog and classify and document.

I mean, look at the wiki page on subgenres:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_genres

It fills me with awe and giggles.

[darrenf]

I haven't counted them, but the corresponding electronic music page has a lot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electronic_music_genre...

[gitrog]

I wouldn't take that list too seriously. Metal-archives genres tend to not delve into "styles" as much. But there are certainly many distinct sub-genres and one can't exactly argue that Black Sabbath, Dimmu Borgir and Cannibal Corpse sound similar.

I agree that the community itself takes the genre thing way too far and it often ends up being pretty funny.

Then again, electronic music probably gives metal a run for its money: https://music.ishkur.com/

[dfxm12]

I agree that the community itself takes the genre thing way too far and it often ends up being pretty funny.

Some people are in on the joke and some are serious. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference, but that's OK, because I like talking with both types of people. It's usually informative and/or entertaining. :)

[Tsiklon]

Ishkur's guide, in both it's modern implementation and earlier java implementation are works of electronic art in and of themselves - An opinionated guide to the infinitely deep and broad world of electronic music.

[int_19h]

FWIW the community doesn't take itself particularly seriously, at least not the "metal" part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkdkZN1rduo

[hondo77]

Lemme give it a shot:

Cookie Monster (includes Black Metal)

Hardcore (see Pantera)

Metal (see Metallica)

Crap (see Poison)

[dinglejungle]

> Cookie Monster (includes Black Metal)

But what about Pterodactyl-fronted Black Metal: https://youtu.be/UZlZuYp1fZc?t=164

[cholantesh]

Crap is obviously too broad since Metallica and Pantera would also fit under it.

[jgrahamc]

I’m not sure what you’re talking about but excuse me while I turn on some female-fronted symphonic power metal.

[stew-j]

I prefer my female-fronted metal to be "glam", not the inferior "symphonic power". I actually owned a couple of her LPs in the '80s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lita_Ford

Since our tastes are so far apart, I guess we have nothing else to talk about.

[jgrahamc]

Kiss Me Deadly is probably the origin of my love of all things metal.

[stew-j]

My gateway metal idols were Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads and Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, all of whom I got to see in concert. And I'm going to just going to say it, "1984" was one of my favorite albums (although not really metal, the cover reminded me of the one on Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell"). Paul Graham's description of high school in one essay was right on the mark for me, I sat at the heavy metal table at lunch when I wasn't truant.

A friend of mine at work mentioned around 1988 that I should listen to 10,000 Maniacs--the name sounded interesting, and (I'll probably get beat up here for saying this) Natalie Merchant's Greek Siren-like voice led me down a more, er "primrose path" musically. Peter Tosh, too.

[On a personal note, I might have been able to get the courage to ask Natalie out back then even though she was totally out of my league--like my wife, and I dated a few women like Lita over the years, but asking Lita out? That's a whole other level of courage. Iommi was engaged to her, by the way, for reference.]

I'm 55 and I still listen to metal especially while working, but I stopped trying new stuff in the early 2000's. So the newest I listen to would be Slipknot or Soulfly. My brother tried getting me to listen to modern "Norse Core" or something, but I didn't get it.

I suspect my wife got into metal through the albums of Bon Jovi, but she denies it.

[stew-j]

> Since our tastes are so far apart, I guess we have nothing else to talk about.

QED

[RajT88]

Ancient Bards, right?

[twic]

Surely Nightwish are the paradigmatic example?

[RajT88]

And here we are arguing about subgenres and band classifications. I knew we'd get here!

Nightwish is a good fit except the "power" part.

[int_19h]

Early Nightwish releases were consistently classified as sympho power metal, so I'd say there's a consensus there. Sometimes people threw around more complicated labels like sympho-speed/power.

[pessimizer]

Musical genre multiplication and creation is just an internet disease where a bunch of would-be critics put original research on wikipedia and retroactively justify it by referencing one sentence in a 10 year old Slate article by some actual critic of no particular note.

Most of the people included in these genres had no idea they were in them when they created the music (because they didn't exist.) Plenty of them still have no idea, and may not have ever heard of the genre that they "typified."

edit: and since most people who are "experts" on popular music create that identity by just vacuuming up what they can find on the internet, creating a genre in Wikipedia becomes equivalent to creating a genre.

[mistrial9]

as a sound tech at a nightclub, I cornered one of the musicians on break and started listing lists of bands in grouping somehow.. unimpressed, he looked askance and replied "musicians don't talk that way"

[int_19h]

Genre multiplication, in metal at least, predates the Internet and Wikipedia.

[brolumir]

There’s https://www.progarchives.com for progressive rock and related genres.

[CWuestefeld]

Indeed, this has become pretty much the authoritative source for prog rock information. It seems to be what everyone refers to from all the online communities like reddit.

[HeckFeck]

As far as specific bands go, you can't beat http://www.gbvdb.com - yes, Guided By Voices has recorded and performed enough to fill their own devoted database.

But I second your request, I'd welcome links to any electronic and alternative websites that also detail the lore and bios of the band.

[thatsamonad]

It’s not totally an archive per se but I discovered this site for electronic music when it was originally a Flash application: https://music.ishkur.com/

[samatman]

Strong second for Ishkur's guide. It isn't encyclopedic, it's taxonomic, not to mention opinionated, funny, well-curated, and canonical.