So after reading last week's thread about the current Romantics album, what do I find used in an FYE store's used racks this weekend?

Several dozen Smash Mouth CDs. But that's not important right now, because I also found a $7 copy of that Romantics album.

So I'm blasting it in the car tonight and thinking about garage rock, and it occurs to me that there are some genres where the music is basically all the same, and sometimes it doesn't matter who you buy, you just need your genre fix.

You know? As long as it's good--it doesn't have to be great--buying 8 or 10 garage rock CDs a year feeds my need for that particular type of loud, crunchy, fuzzy sloppiness. You've get yer fuzz bass song, yer psychedelic song, yer distorted blues--it really doesn't matter who the band is, there's a million of 'em out there. I just need a certain amount of this sound every year.

So then I was trying to think of other genres like that:
Blues
Reggae
Bubblegum
Gregorian Chant
Doo Wop
Surf

Or Pop Punk. Gimme ten halfway good ones a year and I'm sated. Who could need any more?

[Bort prepares to object.]

But that's one of the interesting things about these soundalike genres--some people can't get enough. They might even admit it's all basically the same, but that sound just slays them, and they're off collecting hundreds of records that most people couldn't tell apart.

I've mentioned my thing for '60s Girl Group music (some 300 albums)--boy howdy, do a lot of these records sound alike, I'll absolutely cop to it. (After all, a large percentage of the genre was producers trying to duplicate whatever was already a hit that week.) I can listen to the stuff for hours, but after about 30 cuts, most people would be screaming for relief.

Interesting how that works.

Thus ends the rambling observation.

I completely disagree. It's like a low-salt diet. If you're coming from a(n inadvertant) high-salt diet, everything tastes the same, yes, but once you get used to it, you can start to differentiate.

Ditto garage rock.

To most popsters/rockers, all classical music sounds the same, but I assure you -- Bach's Concerti were much different than, for example, Stravinsky's.

Doesn't all music in any given genre sound alike - and isn't that what makes it a genre in the first place?

Exactly.

buttfuck

gamelan

I don't see how Blues and Reggae all sound the same. In fact, that's freaking ridiculous. Go listen to Skip James, then BB King, and then say they sound the same.

I can think of adults in the 50's and 60's...talking about rock and roll in general... "all it all sounds the same."

Anything to the untrained ear sounds the same. Brazilian music. African music. Middle eastern muisic. Et.al.

But to someone who listens in and to a genre a lot... there is great variety. Look up "garage rock" and you'll get the db's and the Feelies... to an "outside ear" sounding very similar, to an "inside ear" very different.

It's all about critical exposure. Selah.

Is this the name of your elven warlock rogue?

Somewhat related. I like the new BRMC single. Hopefully the new album is in that vein.