The Curse of Categories

Like many bloggers here, I have disparate musical tastes.  What could be better than screaming down the highway to Led Zeppelin's 'Rock and Roll'  and then later that evening chilling out to the dulcet tones of Nina Simone?  What about getting ready for work in the morning listening to Kasabian,  and then singing away to the guilty pleasure (although one may not want to admit) of Ronan Keating's latest hit?  And of course, we must not forget the classical choices.  What about driving down the highway at top (legal) speed to Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries'? Or getting ready in the morning to Mozart's Piano Concerto  No. 23?  Or chill before bed to Rachmaninov's Vespers?  All the choices.  All of the categories into which our musical choices are divided.
 
Who decided it would assist our search if we divided music into categories anyway?  Does it help us find Rachmaninov or Razorlight any easier?  The bigger question is, who invents categories into which music is placed?  Is there any subjective tool is used to define the category?  Marketing research?  Charts and sales?  Public opinion?  The guy behind the desk?
 
If you're lucky enough to go into an actual physical independent record store (are there any out there??), you might just be equally fortunate to find an actual physical human being to ask the question, “Where can I find 50 Cent, or Bloc Party or Gladys Night & the Pips?”  Hopefully the shop attendant can guide you to where your musical choice is categorised within the store.
 
But, for those of us part of the digital revolution, we are without a physical body to guide us through the maze of categories.  That's why community spaces for chat about music on-line are great.  Otherwise, we are left to blindly surf our way through pre-existing categories or use the search bar over and over.
 
In a recent attempt to find out about Macy Gray's last release, I found myself searching on Amazon.  On this site, music is divided into a dizzying 21 categories including Pop, Rock, Soundtracks, Indie, Dance & Electronic, R & B and Soul, Hip-Hop & Rap, Hard Rock & Metal, Adult Contemporary, Country, Jazz, Easy Listening, World & Folk, Reggae, Blues, Classical, etc. etc. etc.  Bemused at so many choices, I started surfing through categories.
 
Returning to the idea of driving down the highway listening to Led Zeppelin, I used the search bar to find the band’s releases and, interestingly enough, found them listed under Classic R & B and Soul -- right next to Christina Arguilera and Justin Timberlake, not exactly what I was expecting .  My interest was peaked at the offer of further subcategories within R & B and Soul.  I choose ‘Christmas R & B and Soul’.  Of course I was expecting the obligatory nod to 'Motown's Holiday Parade'.  But what threw me was Mahalia Jackson singing ‘Silent Night’.  Surely she belongs in Gospel, no?.
 
And so the mad search began.  Red Hot Chili Peppers were in Funk, when I would have looked for them in pop.  Massive Attack could be found in the dreaded dead end bin of ‘Miscellaneous’.  
 
There's the whole country thing.  Already a longstanding point of contention within the country music scene, purists have always squabbled over Country vs. Bluegrass.  But to find it further divided into traditional county, country rock, contemporary country, alternative country and, of course, Christmas Country, can drive anyone insane.
 
And then there’s Latin.  Who would have ever in their wildest dreams have created so many ways to split a hair?
 
When searching for Brazilian songstress Mariza in World & Folk and I found Keane, that was just about enough.  The craziness of categories had gone too far.  Who has the right to put who into what??  And, is it transferable as we travel around the globe?  For example, if I travel to San Paolo and go into a record store, would all of the bins be full of Carlos Jobim and I would find Snow Patrol in the World section?
 
Adult Contemporary (guess who I found in there?  Keane!) is further subcategorised with Female Vocal, Male Vocal, Singer-Songwriters, Greatest Hits, Live Albums, Pop R & B, and so on and so on.  Presumably a singer songwriter is then, neither a male nor female?
 
Easy Listening.  I simply could look.  Miscellaneous was bad enough.
 
The whole thing is utter nonsense.  Over categorization debases music entirely.  It would be interesting to know if Frank Sinatra thought he should be listed under Jazz.  And, if so, was he confortable appearing right next to the original soundtrack recording of the broadway show Wicked?
 
The whole lot should be categorised alphabetically in one giant list, from the name of the band, making sure to remove definite articles like ‘The’.   The Beatles go under B and The The goes under T and Keane definitely goes under K.  And this should include classical music.  So, Tchaikovsky sits next to the Tom Tom Twins.  Why not?  At least we'd know where to look.

Posted at 10:17AM Feb 19, 2007 by Tristen Hennigs in Music  |  Comments[1]