Your way in
Folk rock 1964
Folk lyrics played on a twelve-string electric guitar. It taught rock that the words can matter as much as the riff.
- Heaviness
- 2
- Speed
- 4
- Melody
- 10
- Where from
- USA / United Kingdom
- Tempo
- 80-120 bpm
- Song length
- 2.5-5 min
- Written about
- Politics, Land and place, Traditional narrative, borrowed whole, Disillusion
- Vocals
- Sung
Why this one
| You said | Folk rock | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singing When someone is singing, what should come out? | clean | 100% | ×3 |
| Light How much weight do you want behind it? | 2 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| The seventies and eighties Does it matter when it was made? | 1964 | 76% | ×1 |
| Anger at something real What should the words be about? | Politics, Land and place, Traditional narrative, borrowed whole, Disillusion | 50% | ×1 |
| Normal How long should a song be? | up to 5 min | 96% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 90% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 5 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, era 1, about 1, length 1 out of 8. Folk rock ties with the next, and won on being the broader of the two. 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
- 1The one to put on first
Fairport Convention, Fairport Convention 1968
Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief. The birth certificate of British folk rock.
- 2Then
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is Folk rock's own entry point. After it come Folk 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
-
Arena rock / AOR 88%
Hard rock polished for stadiums and FM radio: huge choruses, keyboards and glossy production.
4 steps from Folk rock, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Arena rock / AOR -
Coldwave / minimal wave 87%
European post-punk on cheap drum machines: cold synths, distant vocals, the atmosphere of a grey housing block in winter.
4 steps from Folk rock, meeting it only at Rock.
The way into Coldwave / minimal wave
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
- Singing put 54 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Black metal, Death metal, Post-hardcore. Worth 3 of 8.
- Light put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Death metal, Brutal death metal, Sludge metal. Worth 2 of 8.
- The seventies and eighties put 4 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Kawaii metal, New nu metal, Progressive metalcore. Worth 1 of 8.
- Anger at something real put 108 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Black metal, Blues rock. Worth 1 of 8.
- Normal put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Progressive rock, Krautrock, Acid rock. Worth 1 of 8.
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.