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Home About Band Submissions Music Links Geek Rock Geek rock is a music genre that emerged from the alternative rock scene. And though the genre has been around for a while in its own right, the term “geek rock” is actually a fairly new label. Unlike most other music genres, the actual title ‘geek rock’ is used lightly in terms of the style of the actual music itself, and is more heavily used to label the performers and the artists of the genre, due to their style of clothing and personalities that would merit the description of being a “geek”. Although, this fact aside, there are in fact quite a few different musical characteristics that many of the artists in the geek rock scene share, even though there are quite a few different artists that are not apart of the recognised standard of the geek rock sound. Many geek rock bands will use such elements as harmonic vocals, sometimes accompanied with the heavy use of a female backing the lead vocalists, the extensive use of electric keyboards and synthesizers, and even some other peculiar instrumentation like the accordion or other pieces not usually found in the alternative rock scene. A few artists that can be found in the mainstream music scene that are great examples of the genres accepted musical traits include bands like Weezer, The Aquabats!, Barenaked Ladies, They Might Be Giants, and DEVO. Lyrical content in the genre is something else that a lot of bands in the geek rock scene have in common as well. Lyrical themes include subject like isolation, falling in love with another, and being lonely, as well as an appeal to certain “geek” culture like video games, fantasy, comics, and science fiction. Most music of the geek rock scene even has a healthy dose of humour and irony to be found in most song lyrics. While the geek rock scene has produced close to nothing but American and Canadian bands, there are bands to be found in the scene from other countries. The German band Wir sind Helden, their name translating into “We are heroes”, is a prime example. With songs like “Nur ein Wort” and “Guten Tag” that deal with comics, dictionaries, and other “geek” pop culture, the music videos for such songs gave them a label from many as being a “German Geek Rock” band. Influences on the current genres trends can include artists for the 70s and 80s, such as Talking Heads, Oingo Boingo, and XTC. Other bands whom have been labeled as apart of the geek rock genre include Ween, The Cartoon All-Stars, Heavy Vegetable, Beck, OK Go, Pixies, Grandaddy, Clyde, The Decemberists, Nada Surf, Eels, and The Young Knives, to name only a few on the list. Alternative Rock Alternative rock music emerged as a new genre in the 1980’s, and by the 90’s it was a hugely popular form of music. The actual term alternative came about in the 80’s, and it was used to try and categorise those bands who were inspired by punk rock but did not fit into the main […] Garage Rock Garage rock is a genre of music known for its more raw form of the rock music scene. It emerged into widespread popularity in America and Canada in 63, and stayed highly popular until about 67. In its beginning garage rock was not actually seen as a separate genre of music, and it was in […] Death Metal Contrary to popular belief, Death Metal is not just a bunch of smashing, growling, and banging on things like Paleolithic attempts at music. Sometimes Death Metal is even said to use ‘Cookie Monster’ vocals, for obvious reasons. The growling, “death grunts” are one of the key elements of Death Metal, however, vocals are not limited […] Emo Emotional rock, and the wide distribution of followers, are not gothic or even a closely related subculture of the general goth trend. Despite what the media may want you to think! The emo scene has had three waves of its trend and is in the height of its third now. In the mid 1980’s the […] Electronica Electronica is a term that refers to a large range of different electronic music that has been made for different uses, like dance, background or foreground music, and other such activities. But it is not made for dancing specifically, like electronic dance music. Electronica is an umbrella term that emerged in the early years of […] Black Metal The Black Metal sound and style was influenced mainly by its “First Wave” as it’s called, although this actually refers to when the first hints of Black Metal were introduced on the music scene in the 1980’s, by mainly Thrash Metal bands, like Venom and Bathory. Other influential, late 80’s bands were Hellhammer, Bulldozer, Celtic […] Industrial Rock Industrial rock is a genre of music that emerged by blending industrial music and subgenres of the rock scene like Hardcore, Punk, Oi, and Hard Rock. Industrial rock bands will mostly utilize instrumentation found in almost all other forms of rock, including drums, bass guitar, and electric guitar, along with other electronic equipment such as […] Foxcore Foxcore is a genre of music that emerged from the alternative rock scene. Foxcore got its name from Thurston Moore, the singer and lead guitarist of Sonic Youth, when he was trying to describe bands that were associated with the Riot Grrrl genre, but did not quite fit in to that particular scene. Foxcore is […] Psychobilly Psychobilly is a form of music that has been widely described as a blend of punk rock from the end of the 70’s and also rockabilly music from the American 1950’s scene. More often than not the lyrics in Psychobilly music are a comedic take on topics that are usually disapproved by general commercial music, […] Avant-Garde Avant-Garde music is commonly referred too as experimental music, and the terms were actually coined by a composer named John Cage in the year 1955. It was created as a term to describe any and all music that challenged the accepted status or standing of what music was supposed to be. The term experimental has […] Cold Wave Cold Wave was originally a French genre of music, referring to a fusion of both Dark Wave and Post Punk. Dark Wave, discussed in an early article can be defined as the early goth scene; originating from darker New Wave. A gloomier New Wave, with lyrics oriented on more morose subject matter, sometimes philosophical, or […] Glam Rock Glam Rock is also known as Glitter Rock, but by whom, I’ve no idea, and must herewith assume that this is in the UK, being as that most claim that Glam Rock is a mainly European musical movement. Glam Rock came in, as the hippies moved out, in the early ’70’s. Glam Rock was essentially […] New Wave New Wave was a music genre that was a form of rock music during the later years of the 70s up until the middle of the 80’s. Branching off of the punk rock scene as a hit towards the more popular music of the 70s, the new wave genre blended influences from multiple other genres […] Indie Rock Indie rock music is a genre that split off of the alternative rock scene and is found mostly within the independent underground scene of the music industry. Indie rock, which is actually a shortened term meaning “independent rock”, was originally coined for the use of categorising rock bands who signed with independent labels, or whom […] Gothic Doom Once the gothic metal scene was up off the ground and really rolling, bands started to get more popular inside the genre. Some bands went the way of symphonic metal, while others moved in the opposite direction instead and slowed downed, adding much more gloom into their style. This also meant that the typical “beauty […] Camp (Style) Music Camp music is a genre that is quite popular that sprung up before the 60s. Its lyrical content is mostly directed at the ridiculousness and triviality of common suburban life. The band called The Tubes, a theatre rock band who were based in San Francisco California, for example, were highly popular in the late 70s […] Grindcore The first styles of Grindcore emerged as the stylic continuance of Crus...