The Evolution of Music Genres: An Historical Guide (Series)
This article is part of my ongoing series, The Evolution of Music Genres, exploring how musical genres developed through history. This is Part 1. Here we will explore why humans create music genres in the first place and how early forms of musical categorization shaped modern listening. How did the concept of the musical genre first develop and why? The idea of pigeonholing music might rub against the most ardent music fan. However, for the rest of us, the idea of compartmentalization is comforting and almost required within our society. Humans need to sort ideas such as music into categories because there is so much of it. There are so many music genres today, it is almost impossible to keep up. There are genres that appear and then disappear so quickly that they hardly make any impact, if at all. Then there are genres that have substance. These are the genres that have stuck around and have made an impact. Why do certain music genres stay with us? Genres do not live in a vacuum...
