Widespread Panic 1981-1995: Early years and rise to national attention What year did the panic end? I don't know. What is subject of this article? John Bell and Michael Houser met in 1981 in their dorm at the University of Georgia.
What is the genre of music?
What is Widespread Panic genre of music?
John Bell and Michael Houser met in 1981 in their dorm at the University of Georgia. Bell had been playing guitar as a solo act, and invited his new friend Houser, also a guitarist, to join him. They began living together and collaborating on music in that year, writing still-popular songs such as "Driving Song" and "Chilly Water" together. Bassist Dave Schools met Bell and Houser in 1984 and first played with them on February 24, 1985, at the A-Frame house on Weymanda Court in Athens. On February 6, 1986, Houser called childhood friend and drummer Todd Nance to sit in with Houser, Bell, and Schools for a charity event in Athens; it was their first show as "Widespread Panic." The band was named for Houser's once-frequent panic attacks. Texan percussionist Domingo S. Ortiz ("Sunny") began sitting in with the band regularly later that year.  The band played in fraternities and bars regularly before Panic signed a contract with Landslide Records in 1987. In February 1987 the band played the now-legendary series of one dollar Monday night shows at the Uptown Lounge in Athens and the crucial local press began to take notice--FLAGPOLE & Athens Observer art columnist Shan Clark emphasized Widespread Panic's musical virtuosity, songwriting and professionalism. In September of the same year, they recorded their first album, Space Wrangler, at John Keane's studio in Athens. Col. Bruce Hampton is rumored to have delivered the first pressing to the band. Songs on the album included "Chilly Water," "Travelin' Light," "Space Wrangler," "Coconut," "The Take Out," "Porch Song," "Stop-Go" and "Driving Song." After Space Wrangler, touring expanded to include additional northeastern dates, along with Texas, Colorado, the west coast, and internationally to Vancouver, Canada. It was also around this time (late 1988 or early 1989) that Domingo Ortiz joined the band full-time. They played their first show in Colorado in March 1990, opening for Jerry Joseph's band Little Women.  Widespread Panic signed with Capricorn Records in January 1991. Later that year, they released their major label debut, Widespread Panic (a.k.a. Mom's Kitchen). That same year Billy Bob Thornton directed the movie Widespread Panic: Live from the Georgia Theatre which was recorded over two nights in Athens, Georgia.  As the band began to tour more, John Hermann ("JoJo") joined the band as a keyboardist in March 1992 replacing Dixie Dregs keyboardist T. Lavitz who joined the band a year earlier. The band continued to tour throughout the entire US in 1992 joining the famous HORDE tour with Blues Traveler, Phish, and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, among others. They released "Everyday" in March 1993 and "Ain't Life Grand" in September 1994. Panic marked their rise by playing on network television for the first time in November 1994. CANNOTANSWER
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Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring. The band's original guitarist and sometime songwriter, Michael Houser, died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, and the original drummer, Todd Nance, left in 2016 and died in 2020.

The band was formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1986, and is influenced by the Southern rock, blues-rock, progressive rock, funk and hard rock genres. They have been compared to other jam bands such as the Grateful Dead and Phish. Widely renowned for their live performances, as of 2018, they hold the record for number of sold-out performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Morrison, Colorado) at 60 and State Farm Arena (Atlanta) at 20.

Band history

1981–1995: Early years and rise to national attention
John Bell and Michael Houser met in 1981 in their dorm at the University of Georgia. Bell had been playing guitar as a solo act, and invited his new friend Houser, also a guitarist, to join him. They began living together and collaborating on music in that year, writing still-popular songs such as "Driving Song" and "Chilly Water" together. Bassist Dave Schools met Bell and Houser in 1984 and first played with them on February 24, 1985, at the A-Frame house on Weymanda Court in Athens. On February 6, 1986, Houser called childhood friend and drummer Todd Nance to sit in with Houser, Bell, and Schools for a charity event in Athens; it was their first show as "Widespread Panic." The band was named for Houser's once-frequent panic attacks. Texan percussionist Domingo S. Ortiz ("Sunny") began sitting in with the band regularly later that year.

The band played in fraternities and bars regularly before Panic signed a contract with Landslide Records in 1987. In February 1987 the band played the now-legendary series of one dollar Monday night shows at the Uptown Lounge in Athens and the crucial local press began to take notice—FLAGPOLE & Athens Observer art columnist Shan Clark emphasized Widespread Panic's musical virtuosity, songwriting and professionalism. In September of the same year, they recorded their first album, Space Wrangler, at John Keane's studio in Athens. Col. Bruce Hampton is rumored to have delivered the first pressing to the band. Songs on the album included "Chilly Water", "Travelin' Light", "Space Wrangler", "Coconut", "The Take Out", "Porch Song", "Stop-Go" and "Driving Song." After Space Wrangler, touring expanded to include additional northeastern dates, along with Texas, Colorado, the west coast, and internationally to Vancouver, Canada. It was also around this time (late 1988 or early 1989) that Domingo Ortiz joined the band full-time. They played their first show in Colorado in March 1990, opening for Jerry Joseph's band Little Women.

Widespread Panic signed with Capricorn Records in January 1991. Later that year, they released their major label debut, Widespread Panic (a.k.a. Mom's Kitchen). That same year Billy Bob Thornton directed the movie Widespread Panic: Live from the Georgia Theatre which was recorded over two nights in Athens, Georgia.

As the band began to tour more, John Hermann ("JoJo") joined the band as a keyboardist in March 1992 replacing Dixie Dregs keyboardist T. Lavitz who joined the band a year earlier. The band continued to tour throughout the entire US in 1992 joining the famous H.O.R.D.E. tour with Blues Traveler, Phish, and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, among others. They released "Everyday" in March 1993 and "Ain't Life Grand" in September 1994. Panic marked their rise by playing on network television for the first time in November 1994.

1996–2002: Peak touring years and Houser's death

On April 18, 1998, to celebrate the release of their first live album, Light Fuse, Get Away, Widespread Panic offered a free "CD release party" concert in Athens Georgia. An estimated 80,000–100,000 fans descended on the town, transforming it into one of the largest CD release parties in history.

In 2002, the band received gold certification for their concert DVD Live at Oak Mountain. They also headlined two nights of the first annual Bonnaroo Music Festival which drew a crowd upwards of 70,000 people.

In early 2002, guitarist Michael Houser was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Houser continued to perform with the band into the middle of that year, but following a performance on July 2, 2002 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa he left the tour because of his declining health. Guitarist George McConnell, a former bandmate of JoJo Hermann's in Beanland, took over as lead guitarist for the remainder of the band's scheduled dates. Michael Houser died on August 10, 2002.

2003–2006: George McConnell joins
In 2003, the band released Ball, the first studio album with McConnell as the guitarist. The album was unique among the band's offerings in that none of the songs included had been performed live by the band prior to the recording. All of the material included was written specifically for the album with the exception of "Time Waits", a song which John Bell had performed in solo appearances, and "Don't Wanna Lose You", a song John Hermann had performed with his side-project Smiling Assassins. Late in 2003, the band announced that they would be taking a hiatus from both recording and performing in 2004. However, 2004 did see the release of three live albums, engineered by Billy Field: Night of Joy and Über Cobra—both of which were recorded during a November 2003 three-night run of shows at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina—as well as Jackassolantern, a compilation of cover songs performed during the band's Halloween shows over the years.  A third release from the Myrtle Beach shows, Live at Myrtle Beach was released in early 2005.

In January 2006, the band recorded their 9th studio album, Earth to America, in Nassau, Bahamas at Compass Point Studios, with Terry Manning producing. It was released June 13, 2006. Their May 9 show at Atlanta's Fox Theatre was simulcast in LIVE HD, via satellite, in select movie theatres nationwide. Over 60,000 fans across the country watched it live in the theatres. This show was also released in DVD format on November 14, 2006, entitled Earth to Atlanta.

On August 2, 2006, nearing the end of the summer tour, the band announced that George McConnell had left the band, making July 30, 2006 at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, his last show. Producer John Keane and former guitar technician Sam Holt filled in on guitar for the remaining two weeks of the tour.

2006–2014: Jimmy Herring joins

In late 2006, Fayetteville, North Carolina native Jimmy Herring took over the reins of the lead guitarist in the band, kicking off their fall tour with three nights at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Panic's 7th annual New Year's shows on December 30 and 31, 2007, marked their 15th and 16th sellout performance at Philips Arena.

The band released their 10th album, Free Somehow, on February 12, 2008. It, too, was recorded with producer Terry Manning at Compass Point Studios.

Following the release of the new studio album, Widespread Panic began to release vintage concert performances from the Widespread Panic Archives. Carbondale 2000 was released on June 10, 2008, followed by Valdosta 1989 released on February 24, 2009, and Huntsville 1996 released on June 23, 2009. The band will continue to dig into their show archives, which encompasses the past 25 years, and release these shows as multi-track recordings.

June 27, 2008, marked the band's 32nd sold-out show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. This was more than any other band in the venue's history. Mayor John Hickenlooper proclaimed Friday, June 27 "Widespread Panic Day" in the City and County of Denver.
The same year, Widespread Panic was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame on September 20.

The band continued to tour throughout the rest of 2008 and the spring of 2009.  In the summer of 2009, Widespread Panic teamed up with fellow southern rockers, The Allman Brothers to do a summer and fall co-headlining tour.

In March 2010, it was announced that Widespread Panic would be releasing a new album entitled Dirty Side Down on May 25, 2010. 2010 would also see the release of Live in the Classic City II, containing music from its 2000 shows.

On September 29, 2010, Widespread keyboardist Jojo Herman announced that the band would be going on hiatus in 2012. In an interview with The Vanderbilt Hustler, Herman explained, "Next year will be our 25th anniversary. After that, we're probably going to call it (quits) for awhile. So we're looking forward to next year and going out on a high note."

The band went on to tour steadily throughout 2011, ending the year with their first show at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina.  In early 2012, the band played a limited number of shows.  From January to February the band embarked on their first ever tour billed as completely acoustic.  Dubbed the Wood Tour, it started in January at the Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland and ended at The Belly Up in Aspen, Colorado.  Two recordings from the Wood Tour were released in 2012, a special Record Store Day-only vinyl record entitled Live Wood in April and later Wood, on October 16.

The rest of 2012 saw the band on hiatus but band members were active with other projects.  Dave Schools toured with the Mickey Hart Band, Jimmy Herring recorded a new album and toured with his own band, and Jojo Hermann played shows with the Missing Cats, occasionally opening and sitting in with the North Mississippi Allstars.  On August 17, the band announced their first scheduled shows after hiatus, including two nights in Charlotte, North Carolina and a 4-night run in the Dominican Republic.

Between the two short legs that made up the 2012 Wood Tour, the band played a four night run in Mexico, marking their first shows in the country, and beginning what would become an annual tradition called Panic en la Playa. The first Panic En La Playa was held on the beach at the Now Sapphire Resort in Puerto Morelos, Mexico in 2012. For 2013 and 2014, The concert was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with the 2014 shows pushed back until March 17–20.

The band returned to regular touring in the spring of 2013 with a run of Mid-West and Southern shows beginning in April. During these shows, the band introduced new innovations in the audio broadcast of their live performance. Previously, Panic had allowed tapers to use audience recording devices to simulcast live shows to fans via the internet. The first live taper stream was at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona on 11/04/2009 by Coloartist and was continued by all the WP tapers through the Spring 2013 tour when the band took over streaming duties and started broadcasting live soundboard recordings of the show via Mixlr.com and the Mixlr smartphone app. On December 31, 2013 the band returned to Philips Arena in Atlanta.

2014 saw a return of Wood Tour, with the band playing six all acoustic theater shows, as well as a special Wood performance held 333 feet underground in the Volcano Room at Cumberland Caverns  in McMinnville, Tennessee for a taping of an episode of PBS' Bluegrass Underground. The band played an extensive 2014 tour, with three-night stands at Red Rocks, The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, The Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, and 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado, where they played their well-known Halloween shows.

The band closed out 2014 with two shows in Charlotte, North Carolina: the annual Tunes for Tots benefit performance at The Fillmore in Charlotte, North Carolina on 12/30, followed by their annual New Year's Eve show, held this particular year at the TWC Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina.

2014–present:  Todd Nance departure, reduced touring and Nance's death
On October 2, 2014, the band announced that Duane Trucks would join the band for 2014 fall tour. Trucks temporarily filled in for Todd Nance, who was taking time to attend to personal matters. Nance reunited with the band for four shows in Mexico in early February 2016. However, on February 9, 2016, the band announced that Todd Nance was leaving the band and that, "Duane [Trucks] will be the drummer for Widespread Panic moving forward." Trucks is the current drummer for Hard Working Americans.

On September 25, 2015, Street Dogs, their 13th studio album, was released through Vanguard Records. Street Dogs was recorded by John Keane at Echo Mountain Recording Studio in Asheville, North Carolina. The album is composed of seven originals and three covers: Alan Price's "Sell Sell", Murray McLauchlan's "Honky Red" and "Tail Dragger", a Willie Dixon tune popularized by Howlin' Wolf.

In April 2016, keyboardist John Hermann announced that the band will stop touring extensively at the end of the year. However, he said that the band is not breaking up and will continue to make festival appearances and perform shows at select venues such as Red Rocks.

Nance died on August 19, 2020, in Athens, Georgia. He was 57; his death was first announced on Facebook by collaborator Cody Dickinson and was later confirmed by Relix. Details on the chronic illness that led to his death have not been disclosed.

Live shows

Setlists
Known for never playing the same show twice, the band has a show-to-show ritual of choosing the night's setlist. At the beginning of each tour, a member of the band's road crew makes a master list of all the songs the band performs and laminates it. Each night before the show he marks the last three nights' set lists in different colors. The band can see what has been played recently and then decide what songs to play during the first set. They return to the list during setbreak to pick songs for the second set, and likewise, return after the second set for any additional sets if playing more than two, or the encore. This process is explained by the late Garrie Vereen in the DVD The Earth Will Swallow You.

Tapers
Widespread Panic has the policy of allowing any of their fans to tape, trade, and to a limited extent freely distribute their shows. However, anonymous distribution such as P2P and commercial distribution is not permitted. Fans have been taping and trading shows since before they gained national prominence, allowing them to gain their strong national following.

Incidents
A fan was detained by police while experiencing the effects of LSD after leaving a concert in Southaven, Mississippi.  He was then restrained and taken to a local hospital emergency room where he later died.  He was still in police custody at the time. On November 18, 2015 autopsy findings stated that 'hogtying' contributed to the death of the fan.

Members

Current members
John Bell – lead vocals, guitar (1986–present)
Dave Schools – bass, vocals (1986–present)
Domingo S. Ortiz – percussion (1988–present, frequent live/studio guest 1986–1988)
John Hermann – keyboards, vocals (1992–present)
Jimmy Herring – guitar (2006–present)
Duane Trucks – drums (2016–present, touring 2014–2016)

Former members
Todd Nance – drums, vocals (1986–2016; died 2020)
Michael Houser – guitar, vocals (1986–2002; died 2002)
T Lavitz – keyboards (1991–1992; died 2010)
George McConnell – guitar, vocals (2002–2006)

Discography

Videography

Side projects
 In 1996 the band, under the name of brute., recorded Nine High a Pallet with guitarist Vic Chesnutt; in 2002, brute. released a second album, titled Co-Balt.
 Todd Nance has recorded and toured as part of the band Barbara Cue, releasing three albums.
 Dave Schools has recorded and toured as part of the band Stockholm Syndrome, as well as Mickey Hart Band in 2012. Schools and Layng Martine III have released two albums as Slang, The Bellwether Project in 2001 and More Talk About Tonight in 2004.  Schools was also a touring member of Gov't Mule following the death of Allen Woody.
 John Hermann has toured with JoJo's Mardi Gras Band when Widespread Panic took a year break. He has toured with The Smiling Assassins, and is currently playing in a duo called The Missing Cats.
 In 2013 Schools formed Hard Working Americans with Todd Snider, Neal Casal, Chad Staehly and Duane Trucks. The supergroup's self-titled debut album was recorded at Bob Weir's TRI Studios and mixed by John Keane. It was released on January 21, 2014.

Charity and benefit work

References

External links

 
 Everyday Companion Online
 Rocky Mountain News article
 Dave Schools sits down with Ira Haberman of The Sound Podcast for a feature interview

Rock music groups from Georgia (U.S. state)
Jam bands
American southern rock musical groups
Musical groups from Athens, Georgia
Musical groups established in 1986
1986 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Capricorn Records artists
ATO Records artists
Sanctuary Records artists
Future house is a house music genre that emerged in the 2010s in the United Kingdom, described as a fusion of deep house, UK garage and incorporating other elements and techniques of other EDM genres. It is high in energy, generally consisting of big drops, 4/4 beats and is sonically bass heavy.

Etymology
The term "future house" was coined by French DJ Tchami and was first used to categorise his 2013 remix of "Go Deep" on SoundCloud. Tchami used the term without considering it a genre saying in a 2015 interview "Future house was meant to be 'any kind of house music that hasn't been invented yet,' so I never considered it as a genre. I guess people made it what it is because my music was specific and leading to build a bridge between house and EDM, which isn't a bad thing". Later, in 2016, the popular online music store for DJs Beatport added Future house as one of three new genre tags. The genre has been credited as also being pioneered by Oliver Heldens and Don Diablo.

Characteristics
Future house is a subgenre of house music. Songs within the genre are normally characterized by a muted melody with a metallic, elastic-sounding drop and frequency-modulated basslines. The most common tempo is 126 and 128 BPM, but it can vary around the 120–130 mark.

Popularity
Oliver Heldens' international chart successes "Gecko (Overdrive)" and "Last All Night (Koala)" brought the genre to wider mainstream recognition in 2014, leading to minor feuds between him and Tchami on social media. Artists such as Martin Solveig, GTA and Liam Payne have since incorporated the sound into their work, leading some commentators to observe the commercialization of the style.

See also

 List of electronic music genres
 Styles of house music

References

House music genres
2010s in music
Electronic dance music genres
English styles of music
UK garage A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

Music can be divided into genres in varying ways, such as popular music and art music, or religious music and secular music. The artistic nature of music means that these classifications are often subjective and controversial, and some genres may overlap.

Definitions
In 1965, Douglass M. Green distinguishes between genre and form in his book Form in Tonal Music. He lists madrigal, motet, canzona, ricercar, and dance as examples of genres from the Renaissance period. To further clarify the meaning of genre, Green writes "Beethoven's Op. 61" and "Mendelssohn's Op. 64 ". He explains that both are identical in genre and are violin concertos that have different form. However, Mozart's Rondo for Piano, K. 511, and the Agnus Dei from his Mass, K. 317, are quite different in genre but happen to be similar in form." 

In 1982, Franco Fabbri proposed a definition of musical genre that is now considered to be normative: "musical genre is a set of musical events (real or possible) whose course is governed by a definite set of socially accepted rules", where a musical event be defined as "any type of activity performed around any type of event involving sound". 

A music genre or subgenre may be defined by the musical techniques, the cultural context, and the content and spirit of the themes. Geographical origin is sometimes used to identify a music genre, though a single geographical category will often include a wide variety of subgenres. Timothy Laurie argues that, since the early 1980s, "genre has graduated from being a subset of popular music studies to being an almost ubiquitous framework for constituting and evaluating musical research objects". 

The term genre is generally defined similarly by many authors and musicologists, while the related term style has different interpretations and definitions. Some, like Peter van der Merwe, treat the terms genre and style as the same, saying that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language". Others, such as Allan F. Moore, state that genre and style are two separate terms, and that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can also differentiate between genres.

Subtypes 
A subgenre is a subordinate within a genre. In music terms, it is a subcategory of a musical genre that adopts its basic characteristics, but also has its own set of characteristics that clearly distinguish and set it apart within the genre. A subgenre is also often being referred to as a style of the genre. The proliferation of popular music in the 20th century has led to over 1,200 definable subgenres of music.

A musical composition may be situated in the intersection of two or more genres, sharing characteristics of every parent genre and therefore belong to each genre of these at the same time, such subgenres are known as fusion genres. Examples of fusion genres include jazz fusion, which is a fusion of jazz and rock music, and country rock which is a fusion of country music and rock music.

A microgenre is a niche genre, as well as a subcategory within major genres or their subgenres.

Categorization and emergence of new genres 
The genealogy of musical genres expresses, often in the form of a written chart, how new genres have developed under the influence of older ones. New genres of music can arise through the development of new styles of music; in addition to simply creating a new categorization. Although it is conceivable to create a musical style with no relation to existing genres, new styles usually appear under the influence of pre-existing genres.

Musicologists have sometimes classified music according to a trichotomous distinction such as Philip Tagg's "axiomatic triangle consisting of 'folk', 'art' and 'popular' musics". He explains that each of these three is distinguishable from the others according to certain criteria.

Automatic recognition of genres 

Automatic methods of musical similarity detection, based on data mining and co-occurrence analysis, have been developed to classify music titles for electronic music distribution.

Glenn McDonald, the employee of The Echo Nest, music intelligence and data platform, owned by Spotify, has created a categorical perception spectrum of genres and subgenres based on "an algorithmically-generated, readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space, based on data tracked and analyzed for 5,315 genre-shaped distinctions by Spotify" called Every Noise at Once.

Alternative approaches 
Alternatively, music can be assessed on the three dimensions of "arousal", "valence", and "depth". Arousal reflects physiological processes such as stimulation and relaxation (intense, forceful, abrasive, thrilling vs. gentle, calming, mellow), valence reflects emotion and mood processes (fun, happy, lively, enthusiastic, joyful vs. depressing, sad), and depth reflects cognitive processes (intelligent, sophisticated, inspiring, complex, poetic, deep, emotional, thoughtful vs. party music, danceable). These help explain why many people like similar songs from different traditionally segregated genres.

Starting from the end of 1970s, Vincenzo Caporaletti has proposed a more comprehensive distinction of music genres based on the "formative medium" with which a music is created, that is the creative interface (cognitive milieu) employed by the artist. Following this framework, formative media may belong to two different matrixes: visual or audiotactile with regards to the role played in the creative process by the visual rationality or the bodily sensitivity and embodied cognition. The theory developed by Caporaletti, named Audiotactile Music Theory, categorises music in three different branches: 1) written music, like the so-called classical music, that is created using the visual matrix; 2) oral music (like folk music or ethnic music before the advent of sound recoring technologies); 3) Audiotactile music, which are process of production and trasmission is pivoted around sound recording technologies (for example jazz, pop, rock, rap and so on). These last two branches are created by means of the above-mentioned audiotactile matrix in which the formative medium is the Audiotactile Principle.

Major music genres

Art music

Art music primarily includes classical traditions, including both contemporary and historical classical music forms. Art music exists in many parts of the world. It emphasizes formal styles that invite technical and detailed deconstruction and criticism, and demand focused attention from the listener. In Western practice, art music is considered primarily a written musical tradition, preserved in some form of music notation rather than being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings, as popular and traditional music usually are. Historically, most western art music has been written down using the standard forms of music notation that evolved in Europe, beginning well before the Renaissance and reaching its maturity in the Romantic period.

The identity of a "work" or "piece" of art music is usually defined by the notated version rather than by a particular performance and is primarily associated with the composer rather than the performer (though composers may leave performers with some opportunity for interpretation or improvisation). This is so particularly in the case of western classical music. Art music may include certain forms of jazz, though some feel that jazz is primarily a form of popular music. The 1960s saw a wave of avant-garde experimentation in free jazz, represented by artists such as Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp and Don Cherry. Additionally, avant-garde rock artists such as Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and The Residents released art music albums.

Popular music

Popular music is any musical style accessible to the general public and disseminated by the mass media. Musicologist and popular music specialist Philip Tagg defined the notion in the light of sociocultural and economical aspects:

Popular music, unlike art music, is (1) conceived for mass distribution to large and often socioculturally heterogeneous groups of listeners, (2) stored and distributed in non-written form, (3) only possible in an industrial monetary economy where it becomes a commodity and (4) in capitalist societies, subject to the laws of 'free' enterprise ... it should ideally sell as much as possible.

Popular music is found on most commercial and public service radio stations, in most commercial music retailers and department stores, and movie and television soundtracks. It is noted on the  Billboard charts and, in addition to singer-songwriters and composers, it involves music producers more than other genres do.

The distinction between classical and popular music has sometimes been blurred in marginal areas such as minimalist music and light classics. Background music for films/movies often draws on both traditions. In this respect, music is like fiction, which likewise draws a distinction between literary fiction and popular fiction that is not always precise.

Country music

Country music, also known as country and western (or simply country) and hillbilly music, is a genre of popular music that originated in the southern United States in the early 1920s.

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. Contemporary electronic music includes many varieties and ranges from experimental art music to popular forms such as electronic dance music (EDM).

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B).

Hip hop music 

Hip Hop music, also referred to as hip hop or rap music, is a genre of music that was started in the United States, specifically the South Bronx in the New York City by African-American youth from the inner cities during the 1970s. It can be broadly defined as a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. Hip hop music derives from the hip hop culture itself, including four key elements: emceeing (MCing)/rapping, Disc jockeying (DJing) with turntablism, breakdancing and graffiti art.

Jazz 

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime.

Latin music

Pop music

Pop is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many disparate styles.

Punk

The aggressiveness of the musical and performative style, based on structural simplicity and the vigorous rhythms of rock'n'roll style, reinforced the challenging and provocative character, within the universe of modern music.

Reggae 

Reggae music, originating from the late 1960s Jamaica, is a genre of music that was originally used by Jamaicans to define themselves with their lifestyle and social aspects. The meaning behind reggae songs tend to be about love, faith or a higher power, and freedom. Reggae music is important to Jamaican culture as it has been used as inspiration for many third world liberation movements. Bob Marley, an artist primarily known for reggae music, was honored by Zimbabwe's 1980 Independence celebration due to his music giving inspirations to freedom fighters. The music genre of reggae is known to incorporate stylistic techniques from rhythm and blues, jazz, African, Caribbean, and other genres as well but what makes reggae unique are the vocals and lyrics. The vocals tend to be sung in Jamaican Patois, Jamaican English, and Iyaric dialects. The lyrics of reggae music usually tend to raise political awareness and on cultural perspectives.

Rock music

Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Metal music 

Heavy metal evolved from hard rock, psychedelic rock, and blues rock in 1980s, and became a rougher style than the rock music. Notable subgenres include thrash metal, death metal, power metal, and black metal.

Soul music and R&B 

Soul music became a musical genre that came to include a wide variety of R&B-based music styles from the pop R&B acts at Motown Records in Detroit, such as The Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Marvin Gaye and Four Tops, to "deep soul" singers such as Percy Sledge and James Carr.

Polka

The polka is originally a Czech dance and genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas.

Religious music

Religious music (also sacred music) is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. Gospel, spiritual, and Christian music are examples of religious music.

Traditional and folk music 

Traditional and folk music are very similar categories.  Although the traditional music is a very broad category and can include several genres, it is widely accepted that traditional music encompasses folk music. According to the ICTM (International Council for Traditional Music), traditional music are songs and tunes that have been performed over a long period of time (usually several generations). 

The folk music genre is classified as the music that is orally passed from one generation to another. Usually the artist is unknown, and there are several versions of the same song. The genre is transmitted by singing, listening and dancing to popular songs. This type of communication allows culture to transmit the styles (pitches and cadences) as well as the context it was developed.

Culturally transmitting folk songs maintain rich evidence about the period of history when they were created and the social class in which they developed. Some examples of the Folk Genre can be seen in the folk music of England and Turkish folk music.  English folk music has developed since the medieval period and has been transmitted from that time until today.  Similarly, Turkish folk music relates to all the civilizations that once passed thorough Turkey, thereby being a world reference since the east–west tensions during the Early Modern Period.

Traditional folk music usually refers to songs composed in the twentieth century, which tend to be written as universal truths and big issues of the time they were composed.  Artists including Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul and Mary; James Taylor; and Leonard Cohen transformed folk music to what it is known today.  Newer composers such as Ed Sheeran (pop folk) and The Lumineers (American folk) are examples of contemporary folk music, which has been recorded and adapted to the new way of listening to music (online)—unlike the traditional way of orally transmitting music.

Each country in the world, in some cases each region, district and community, has its own folk music style.  The sub-divisions of folk genre are developed by each place, cultural identity and history.  Because the music is developed in different places, many of the instruments are characteristic to location and population—but some are used everywhere: button or piano accordion, different types of flutes or trumpets, banjo, and ukulele.  Both French and Scottish folk music use related instruments such as the fiddle, the harp and variations of bagpipes.

Psychology of music preference

Social influences on music selection
Since music has become more easily accessible (Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, etc.), more people have begun listening to a broader and wider range of music styles. In addition, social identity also plays a large role in music preference. Personality is a key contributor for music selection. Those who consider themselves to be "rebels" will tend to choose heavier music styles like heavy metal or hard rock, while those who consider themselves to be more "relaxed" or "laid back" will tend to choose lighter music styles like jazz or classical music. According to one model, there are five main factors that exist that underlie music preferences that are genre-free, and reflect emotional/affective responses. These five factors are:

 A Mellow factor consisting of smooth and relaxing styles (jazz, classical, etc.).
 An Urban factor defined largely by rhythmic and percussive music (rap, hip-hop, funk, etc.).
 A Sophisticated factor (operatic, world, etc.)
 An Intensity factor that is defined by forceful, loud, and energetic music (rock, metal, etc.).
 A campestral factor, which refers to singer-songwriter genres and country.

Individual and situational influences
Studies have shown that while women prefer more treble oriented music, men prefer to listen to bass-heavy music. A preference for bass-heavy music is sometimes paired with borderline and antisocial personalities.

Age is another strong factor that contributes to musical preference. Evidence is available that shows that music preference can change as one gets older. A Canadian study showed that adolescents show greater interest in pop music artists while adults and the elderly population prefer classic genres such as rock, opera, and jazz.

See also
Composition school
Genealogy of musical genres
List of music styles
List of popular music genres
List of radio formats
Radio Data System, which enables the tagging of the genre of broadcasts within defined categories
List of Grammy Award categories, which defines a list of genres
List of ID3v1 Genres
Billboard charts, which defines a list of genres

References

Further reading