Your way in
Noise rock 1983
Alternate tunings, feedback as an instrument and rhythm sections that hit like machinery. The grandfather of sludge.
- Heaviness
- 7
- Speed
- 6
- Melody
- 3
- Where from
- USA
- Tempo
- 90-150 bpm
- Song length
- 3-7 min
- Written about
- Violence, American ugliness, Sex without romance, Deliberate discomfort
- Vocals
- Shouted
Why this one
| You said | Noise rock | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| As heavy as it gets How much weight do you want behind it? | 7 out of 10 | 70% | ×2 |
| Quick and driving What pace? | 6 out of 10 | 90% | ×2 |
| The beginnings Does it matter when it was made? | 1983 | 44% | ×1 |
| Being young and out late What should the words be about? | Violence, American ugliness, Sex without romance, Deliberate discomfort | 100% | ×1 |
| Something to hold on to Do you want a tune you could hum afterwards? | 3 out of 10 | 70% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 76% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 5 answers you gave, weighted heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, melody 1 out of 7. Noise rock leads the next by 1 point. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Pixies, Doolittle 1989
Pixies - Doolittle. Cobain admitted he was simply trying to write a Pixies song.
- 2The one to put on first
The Jesus Lizard, Goat 1991
The Jesus Lizard - Goat. The rhythm section sounds like heavy plant in operation.
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is the entry point for Alternative rock, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come Noise rock's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Hard rock 76%
Louder volume, thicker riffs, vocals pushed to the edge. Heavy metal splits off from it, but hard rock stays closer to the blues and to the chorus.
4 steps from Noise rock, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Hard rock -
Garage rock 71%
High-school bands, a Farfisa organ and one good idea recorded badly. Attitude beats technique here, and punk descends from it directly.
4 steps from Noise rock, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Garage rock
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- As heavy as it gets put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Rock and roll, Folk rock, Country rock. Worth 2 of 7.
- The beginnings put 67 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Folk metal, Metalcore, Nu metal. Worth 1 of 7.
- Being young and out late put 115 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Alternative rock. Worth 1 of 7.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.