ArsMoriendi
Cyan isn\'t a shade of blue.
User

Reviews 40
Approval 91%

Soundoffs 108
News Articles 25
Band Edits + Tags 4,189
Album Edits 220

Album Ratings 1171
Objectivity 74%

Last Active 12-09-22 12:08 am
Joined 08-22-13

Review Comments 40,949

 Lists
04.01.24 šŸŒ§ļøAprilā€™s Casual ConversationšŸ’ ♦03.22.24 Sputnikā€™s Sacred Clowns
03.21.24 Pram02.19.24 ###NeoFoLK TaG FeST
02.15.24 idiotican can't take criticism01.08.24 Inverted Umbrella 2023-24 Results: ♦
01.01.24 25 most listened to songs in 202312.31.23 Round 11: Inverted Umbrella Competition
12.25.23 Round 10: Inverted Umbrella Competition12.17.23 Round 9: Inverted Umbrella Competition
12.10.23 Round 8: Inverted Umbrella Competition12.03.23 Round 7: Inverted Umbrella Competition
11.30.23 NEW TAGS ARRIVED! K-Pop and J-Pop (help ♦11.27.23 Round 6: Inverted Umbrella Competition
11.24.23 Who Has a "New" Genre Tag on Their Pie 11.20.23 Round 5: Inverted Umbrella Competition
11.13.23 Round 4: Inverted Umbrella Competition11.06.23 Round 3: Inverted Umbrella Competition
More »

Sputnik Genres Tier List

Not definitive, not good, here to piss you all off. RULES: Sputnik genre tags ONLY, personal feelings ONLY, subjectivism ONLY. Got it? Good. Albums are the highest rated album with said genre on Sput.
75Converge
Jane Doe

Metalcore

Whenever I see this genre tag on Sputnik, I run. Serious fuck this shit.

*Shit tier*
74Dissection
Storm of the Light's Bane

Black Metal

If Song of the Day has taught me anything it's that black metal songs are too long and disgusting sounding to be enjoyed by my ears.

*Shit tier*
73Megadeth
Rust in Peace

Thrash Metal

Why does every thrash metal vocalist sound like the aural equivalent of french fry grease?

*Shit tier*
72Death
Symbolic

Death Metal

For some reason, I can tolerate anything from this genre more than black metal. Can't explain why. Better production?

*Shit tier*
71Dissection
Storm of the Light's Bane

Melodic Death Metal

What even is this genre? Death metal, but melodic? Melody is something death metal probably needs, so 1 place higher I say!

*Shit tier*
70NOFX
The Decline

Pop Punk

I know a lot of you guys loved this genre when you were 13, but you're 29 now. Time to give it up. Also, weird top album pick...where's like Dookie?

*Bad tier*
69Queensryche
Operation: Mindcrime

Power Metal

I guess mixing violins with your french fry grease is better than without.

*Bad tier*
68Cryptopsy
None So Vile

Grind

This should be lower, but Melt-Banana is tagged this and "You Suffer" is hilarious, so uh thank them for keeping this from shit tier.

*Bad tier*
67Neurosis
Through Silver in Blood

Sludge Metal

I'm sorry. I just really don't like metal.

*Bad tier*
66Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Drone

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ddddddddddoooooooooonnnnnnnnn''''''''ttttttttttt hhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaavvvvvvvvvveeeeee tttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeee paaaaaaaatttttttiiiiiiiiiieeeeeenccccce oooooooooorrrrrrrrrrr dddddddddiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssscccccccciiiiiiiiiiippppppppppllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeee fffffffffooooooooorrrrrrrr ttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiissssssss

*Bad tier*
65Brand New
The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me

Emo

How mad at the emo users on here that this is the highest-rated album-tagged emo? I admit emo is better than pop-punk even though it's whinier I think.

*Bad tier*
64The Last Things
Circles and Butterflies

Progressive Metal

When people say prog sucks, I hope they mainly mean prog metal. Would be lower, but sometimes it can be jazzy? That's enough for meh tier, but no death metal being jazzy sometimes couldn't save it so don't find me jazz death, please.

*Bad tier*
63Lynyrd Skynyrd
Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd

Jam Rock

It's funny that bands like Lynyrd and Allman Bros save this mostly aimless soloing blandness for being any lower since a little southern rock never hurt anyone. Some people will say jam takes a similar approach to music as freeform jazz. I don't like those people. Spare me from the Grateful Dead and Phish.

*Meh tier*
62Kayo Dot
Choirs of the Eye

Post Metal

Boring nerdy metal. Wait, that's a lot of metal... oh well this one is extra boring.

*Meh tier*
61the GazettE
DISTRESS AND COMA -Auditory Impression-

Nu-Metal

At least I can see this genre as a guilty pleasure. Huge bonus points for often not taking itself seriously, although when it does it's just ugh.

*Meh tier*
60Megadeth
Rust in Peace

Metal

This is like an averaging out of all of the metal genres I guess.

*Meh tier*
59Black Sabbath
Paranoid

Doom Metal

Black Sabbath isn't doom metal, it just inspired it. Stop retconing. Actual doom metal is often tolerable though.

*Meh tier*
58Burial
Untrue

Dubstep

Is this just robots fucking, or a secretly awesome genre only Deviant and a handful of others understand? I don't have the patience, but the less brosteppy stuff seems FINE. Submotion Orchestra apparently counts so maybe this should be higher, but nah.

*Meh tier*
57Christopher Larkin
Hollow Knight

Soundtrack

This isn't even a genre, it's a format. What's next, an EP genre tag? This could be anything!

*Decent tier*
56Little Simz
Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

Grime

No hate, but I don't think this is a real genre. A microgenre maybe. English rappers just wanted to feel special and we all took it a little too far. If you think this is ranked too low, then make an expansive "top 20 UK grime artists I love very much" I absolutely bet you can't without lying. From what I've heard this genre is fine.

*Decent tier*
55Against Me!
Against Me!

Folk Punk

All the worst aspects of punk with all the worst aspects of contemporary folk. "Kiss Off" by Violent Femmes is still neat though. It averages out to good I guess.

*Decent tier*
54LTJ Bukem
Logical Progression

Drum and Bass

Gregory Coleman died homeless when he should've been rich as fuck. But wow, multiple subgenres of electronic music are based around sampling that solo he did one time. And you expect me to care about all of them? Maybe in a club.

*Decent tier*
53Philip Glass
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (soundtrack)

Minimal

I've actually heard all of Glassworks once. Minimalism is an interesting concept, but I'd be lying if I said my ears craved more. This genre tag is also one of the most misused though since it's often tacked onto extra sparse ambient artists.

*Decent tier*
52Keiichi Okabe
Nier Automata OST

New Age

Enya and Popol Vuh. Does your mom meditate with this music? It IS relaxing, but it's difficult to feel strongly about this one.

*Decent tier*
51The Clash
London Calling

Ska

First wave: pretty good, but kind of samey Jamaican music. Second wave: Inferior to most other new wave music. Third-wave: annoying punk with trombones.

*Decent tier*
50Akira Yamaoka
Silent Hill 2

Ambient

Ambient can be awesome in small doses mixed between of non-ambient songs, but wow a lot of it is just not for me. Unless I'm really trying to focus. It can also be quite pretty. Then again, so can new age.

*Decent tier*
49BT
This Binary Universe

Trance

Wikipedia said that trance came from new age music. WHAT? So you're telling me this is technically new-age music you can get down to? That makes so much sense now. On a more serious note, trance music is probably the best genre of the "decent" group since I feel like it has a big personality and is optimized for fun. Even if listening to it in my room feels silly.

*Decent tier*
48The Verve
Verve

Britpop

Was the Blur vs Oasis rivalry ever really a battle? Blur's obviously better. I feel like this genre is so passable, that I can't rate it any lower. It's just alternative rock made by Brits who liked The Beatles too much. What's to hate? But also what's to love?

*Good tier*
47The Prodigy
The Fat of the Land

Breaks

Gregory Coleman-core, but a wider net than Drum and Bass. It includes Big Beat, which is probably more approachable than a lot of other stuff for me. That sample's gonna sound good somewhere right? Okay I know not every break is the Amen break, but yeah.

*Good tier*
46Sweet Trip
Velocity : Design : Comfort

IDM

Sometimes IDM is awful (like Autechre,) but I mean the stuff I've heard from Amon Tobin or Boards of Canada is cool. Isn't Flying Lotus part of this too? IDM is like electronic music gone math rock. Sometimes it's one of the most masturbatory genres ever, but it's well thought out enough for me not to hate seeing the tag.

*Good tier*
45Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek

Bluegrass

The banjo is an underrated instrument and half of the artists in this genre are insanely talented. I don't listen to this often, but if you hate bluegrass you're probably kinda uncool believe it or not. Unless we're talking lame indie-folk masquerading as bluegrass. Even then... I've heard worse.

*Good tier*
44Kyuss
Welcome to Sky Valley

Stoner Rock

More of a limited genre than its fans will admit, but I swear this genre does "modernizing 70s heavy metal" way better than anything actually labeled metal from the 90s-today. Riffs and stuff I guess.

*Good tier*
43Bob Marley and The Wailers
Exodus

Reggae

Pleasant stuff, especially if we're talking about 70s reggae. It may have lost its way with shit like 311, but nobody listens to them anymore, so it's okay. It's still all about Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff and those 3 notes.

*Good tier*
42Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Post Rock

For the life of me, I have no idea where to put this one. Slint's cool, Talk Talk's cool, but a large portion of this is slow space wank. I don't truly mind any of it and when it's good it's quite enjoyable. Maybe. I don't know. You haven't escaped rock, you've just changed it! Potentially pretentious name though.

*Good tier*
41Johann Sebastian Bach
MatthƤus-Passion, BWV 244

Classical

500+ years' worth of music in one tag. But yes, melodic death metal and death metal deserve separate tags more. The Romantic Period has all of my favorite pieces like Hungarian Dance No 5. or that one Chopin piece I 5'd, or that one Paganini violin solo I forgot the name of. They're all Symphony 4 this and Etude #5 that. I respect the amount of groundwork this set forth, but I'm a simple boy and prefer catchy shit with fun names. This genre's obviously good though. Also yes, Indian classical exists too and other classical, it's not all European farts. Shhhh!

*Good tier*
40Slint
Spiderland

Math Rock

For when you've exhausted all good punk and noise rock. And want someone to riff in 11/14 time. Too bad this shit is often paired with emo, and why is so much of it instrumental? Fuck, do I hate this genre? Nah, I just need to finally get into Polvo. Cross it with indie or noise-rock instead of emo and it's prob golden.

*Good tier*
39Underworld
dubnobasswithmyheadman

Techno

This is a broad as hell subgenre. Like are we talking ambient techno or dancy techno? Some of it is nerd in his bedroom music, some of gay sex club in Berlin music. I respect that kind of diversity even if it's easy to make an umst umst umst jokes about it. Take me to the club not the bedroom, right?

*Good tier*
38BT
This Binary Universe

House

I like how this one is very chorus-focused compared to other club-centric genres. I guess the strong disco and r&b influence helped that. By the way, why isn't disco a tag on Sputnik? How weird is that?

*Good tier*
37Burial
Untrue

Garage

UK Garage, garage house, just garage, whatever you wanna call it! Similar to house, but more soul or something. Everything I've heard from this genre (IDK Disclosure, Jamie XX, Burial...songs) has been consistently enjoyable so I guess it's a step above house even though house is broader.

*Very good tier*
36Neil Young
After the Gold Rush

Country

If your first thought when someone says country is modern bro-country, you're part of the problem. Outlaw stuff, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, and modern folky country all exist and the few country enthusiasts on here will tell you all about it.

*Very good tier*
35Bruce Springsteen
Born to Run

Americana

Isn't Americana just like American folk music mixed with anything? Like southern rock or heartland rock, or alt-country or that incredibly boring The National band, you all seem to glorify. In a way, it's just a more palatable, modernized country and I'm happy with that in smaller doses.

*Very good tier*
34Megadeth
Rust in Peace

Heavy Metal

Fuck Megadeth. This is this high because Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and all of the others retconned "not actually metal now" artists are better than the modern definition. I mean why is Led Zeppelin not tagged this, but Thin Lizzy is? EXPLAIN! Whatever Black Sabbath rules, that's why this is high.

*Very good tier*
33Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin IV

Hard Rock

If Zeppelin isn't heavy metal, then hard rock is definitely better than heavy metal. A lot of grunge's appeal is hard rock gone angst and y'know what? Some modern hard rock schlock sucking doesn't tarnish how solid this stuff was in its prime.

*Very good tier*
32Elliott Smith
Either/Or

Indie Folk

Some of this is lame vanilla shit, and others are weird and fun. Belle and Sebastian and Joanna Newsom make up for brand Mumford & Sons snoozefest stuff. Me? I quite like Nina Nastasia with her moody dark indie-folk stylings.

*Very good tier*
31My Bloody Valentine
Loveless

Shoegaze

I'm so mixed about shoegaze. I swear dream pop is like all of the good parts of shoegaze without the bad. The best stuff in this genre is only kind of shoegaze like Yo La Tengo, Deerhunter, or early Smashing Pumpkins. But when the guitar just buries all the other instruments and vocals like with MBV or Candy Claws I just find it irritating and bad and that's the "true shoegaze" so uh this can't be higher sadly. False shoegaze forever! HAH!

*Very good tier*
30Refused
The Shape of Punk to Come

Post-Hardcore

Post-Hardcore really depends on what it's paired with. Mixed with noise rock? Probably great. Mixed with emo? Destroy all of the records, burn them with fire. It takes hardcore it really gets creative with it. At least ideally. Keep the whining and breakdowns out of it and maybe it'll be golden.

*Great tier*
29The Beatles
Abbey Road

Pop

What is there even to say about pop? The Top 40 keeps getting worse and worse as the public is able to compartmentalize their taste with ease, but as a genre in general? Pop has a long, wonderful history. A lot of new good pop is underground and most genres ending in pop (dream pop, indie pop, art pop...) are classic. Account for all of it, here it lands.

*Great tier*
28Nas
Illmatic

Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop is very much in the same boat as pop where the mainstream trap shit is intolerable, but it has a long history of classics, with new underground stuff keeping its name good. I always felt kinda weird about rapping, but in small doses its cool, but in large ones I don't know... I strongly prefer singing. Sue me? Sampling and turntablism etc really opened the doors for creativity in music. Hell even beatboxing is cool, although I don't hear it much anymore. I can't deny this genre's importance and in the right places, it's awesome.

*Great tier*
27Refused
The Shape of Punk to Come

Hardcore

A better heavy genre than metal. You know as long as metalcore stays away from it. Simple, angry, direct. Usually at its best as an assist genre tag though since it's not like Minor Threat needs 100 copycats. Or maybe it does?

*Great tier*
26Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here

Rock

Don't even pretend this is too high. It's not. It's half of your taste probably. Even in the remnants of indie-pop is rock. Though when I see this one, I usually think 50s-70s since modern bands are hardly ever just called rock. Loud Reed in that one song said rock & roll saved his life, what has it done for you?

*Great tier*
25Yes
Close to the Edge

Pop Rock

Pop's cool, rock's cool, but what about both at the same time? It's not all annoying Teen Disney Stars and pop-punk wannabes. I mean power pop's a thing, and let's be real The Beatles were often more pop rock than regular rock, especially their 65-67 albums. We don't even have glam rock tag or a new wave one. All of that's pop and rock (except for the synthpop new wave, but shhh.) And yes I know Yes isn't labeled pop rock because of Close to the Edge. Now I'm rambling, oops.

*Great tier*
24The Cure
Disintegration

Gothic

Gothic metal's kinda dumb, but actual goth music is neat. Darkwave, gothic rock... hell ethereal wave. So goth is kind of responsible for dream pop? Broody, space, atmospheric. Combine it with post-punk or industrial and you got yourself a classic. It's oddly corny in how obsessed with the macabre it is, but good corny?

*Great tier*
23Alice in Chains
Dirt

Grunge

Grunge might not actually be a real genre, but I'll try. Gritty vocals, punk or heavy metal influenced alternative rock with an emphasis on angst... no that's not right. Whatever... Pearl Jam sucks, but Soundgarden Alice in Chains, Nirvana, L7, and Mudhoney are all good music. Post-grunge? What's that? It's not real. Bush and Foo Fighters aren't even real. What are you talking about Nickelback isn't real shhh.

*Bronze tier*
22Massive Attack
Mezzanine

Downtempo

Chill out to relaxing electronic jams. Why dance when you can just talk, right? Often crossing over with trip-hop though maybe a bit less vocal-driven, though it can be. When done right, it oozes cool. Bonobo.

*Bronze tier*
21Miles Davis
Kind of Blue

Jazz Fusion

Okay, Kind of Blue isn't fusion...Sput's tagging system really should be for albums my god. Regardless Davis did make fusion in hte 70s, and so did Stanley Clarke, and Frank Zappa, and a bunch of the cooler prog acts. A little rock, a little funk, a lot of jazz. Hell, I guess nu-jazz shit is probably grouped here. Sometimes it can be flaccid or over-sophisticated, but all you really need is a virtuoso at the helm and it's a good time.

*Bronze tier*
20Radiohead
OK Computer

Alternative Rock

Alternative and Indie are -often- interchangeable, but Sputnik culture dictates that the cool stuff gets to be indie and the lame stuff gets to be alternative, but you know what? Fuck that. You all love alternative rock, you liars. RateYourMusic knows Daydream Nation is alt, OK Computer is alt, Siamese Dream? ALT! Pixies, R.E.M., PJ Harvey and my beloved Ween. Alt alt alt. Grunge, alternative metal, fucking shoegaze? ALT ALT ALT. You love it. It was the rebellious reaction to "classic radio rock's" format, and sure it's the new classic rock now, but goddamn I just named a long list of great alt artists, albums, and subgenres. I shouldn't even have to defend this genre. It's obvious. It's the 90s and your retconning and fancy terms don't change that you have 20 favorite alt-rock bands. But I guess Sput's definition knocks it only down to 20.

*Bronze tier*
19Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin IV

Blues

It's ironic my Led Zeppelin is who is repping blues when they stole... oh forget it. Robert Johnson and his contemporaries is why half of American music even exists, Tom Waits is a genius singer-songwriter, and like R&B is half-named for it. What genres on here are in some way blues? Electronic? Folk? Classical? What else? Seriously I think that might be it. Hyperboles aside, this shit's just enjoyable, okay?

*Bronze tier*
18Stevie Wonder
Songs in the Key of Life

R&B

The problem with R&B is that all of the best R&B artists delve into soul music or are even primarily soul artists, so R&B isn't allowed to be the best. It's probably one of the most agreeable genres ever, like who actually hates all of R&B or even claims to? It's had a consistent presence in mainstream music since its genesis. Back when people used to call it "Race Music." Jesus America's history is so gross, it used to be called that.

*Bronze tier*
17David Bowie
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

Post-Punk

As much as I want to rate this higher, the current state of Post-Punk's classification is awful. Garbage like Black Midi and every alt-rock band from the "post-punk revival" and almost any other halfway decent band that's modern rock gets called this. Even though it used to mean "weird rock inspired by the punk scene" now it's just everything being hyped that has a guitar. It's hard to escape, but I'm a fan of some of it, so I can't complain. I'm glad this shapeless genre is off my pie chart. Someone retcon 70s/80s post-punk with a new name; it's time. (Blah blah blah Ziggy isn't post-punk, read the list description.)

*Bronze tier*
16Miles Davis
Kind of Blue

Jazz

This probably should be higher, but only my absolute favorites get to be in the silver and gold tiers. This gets the top spot in the bronze tier for being pretty genius though. Saxophones are good, virtuosity is good, treating bass like it's more important than guitar is good. And it mixes amazingly with other genres like progressive rock, hip hop, punk, funk, and electronic. I just wish so much of it wasn't 20 minutes of improv haha.

*Bronze tier*
15Neutral Milk Hotel
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Lo-fi

It's weird how good lo-fi production sounds most of the time. Popular production seems so jet puffed with air as if it's trying to expand space to fit more things, but lo-fi is happy to cram a ton of sound into a small space. It's tiny sounding, but when done right not amateur sounding at all. Bedroom pop's been getting a name for itself lately and that's awesome, a lot of heart in that. My favorite Beach Boys album (Smiley Smile) benefits from this kind of warm intimate production. Olivia Tremor Control, the first 3 Ween albums, a lot of the indie that isn't alternative rock. I could go on. Okay, I will! The Unicorns, Thinking Fellers, Dino Jr, I should get into The Microphones...they seem cool. The Daniel Johnston guy's a unique one. Uh yeah, good production style. Is it a genre? Maybe not.

*Silver tier*
14Nine Inch Nails
The Downward Spiral

Industrial

Industrial is most known for its fusion with metal which is acceptable. Honestly industrial metal is easily one of the best types of metal, but where industrial really shines is in its ability to be poppy or experimental. Coil and Foetus are two personal favorites, I have a lot of respect for EBM. EBM might honestly be one of the coolest dance genres and obviously, I like Nine Inch Nails, but I weirdly prefer Year Zero to their heavier sutff (though I like that too.) Dancy machine sounds, raw sexual energy, and a lot of LGBT themes make industrial mad good. Might be the scariest genre when it wants to, like have you heard Slug Bait by throbbing gristle? My god.

*Silver tier*
13Elliott Smith
Either/Or

Folk

What the hell even is folk? It's not just contemporary folk, it's that and then all traditional cultural genres ever. This is why regional genres should be here. It feels like erasure when all samba is called folk, like what the hell? Regardless, as I grow older I like contemporary folk more and more, especially if it's more interesting than a heartfelt man with just an acoustic guitar. Linda Perhacs, Love, Donovan, Jenny Hval, Nina Nastasia...maybe I'll finally get into Joni Mitchell. So much is so simple, but simple doesn't mean bad, and if you want complex progressive folk always exists. Or if you're a metalhead, I guess there's folk metal.

"Silver tier*
12DJ Shadow
Endtroducing.....

Trip Hop

Massive Attack, Portishead, some Goldfrapp, some Bjork, that first Avalanches album. I mean this shit's good. Oddly shapeless at times because it doesn't always need samples or a sultry singer, or even bleep bloop beats, but other times it does? I don't know ask Nellie Hooper. Some jazz here, some turntables there, little to no rapping (not none,) but most of the other hallmarks of hip-hop are often present. Maybe responsible for a lot of my electronic pie slice. It's my 3rd biggest slice y'know.

"Silver tier*
11David Bowie
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

Punk

Holy shit, someone untag Bowie's post-punk tag wtf, or don't count post-punk as punk in the coding. Pretend the Shape of Punk to Come is here. Punk is great. I mean Crass is one of the best bands of all time. And what about Flipper. Or Minuntemen? Or X-Ray Spex? Now that is some aggression I can get behind! Modern art-punk like Godcaster is still impressing me. I should explore more art-punk... it's fun, it's aggressive, it good. Better than post-punk, there I said it. Even the stuff that's mostly just classic rock like Patti Smith is beloved my yours truly and of course, a lot of noise rock is punky. The 70s, 80s, 90s, modern... punk died, but it's corpse is still walking I guess. Someone tell The Misfits -they like dead things.

"Silver tier*
10Roy Ayers
Everybody Loves the Sunshine

Soul

Man soul is so good though. Neo-soul like Erykah Badu and D'Angelo, Janelle Monae... old school soul like Stevie Wonder or hell Otis Redding or Marvin Gaye. It's also a great companion piece to funk. Slow soul, dancy funk. Honest and gritty sad music. It sure kicks the ass of R&B that isn't soul. And don't even me started on how good psychedelic soul is. But hey Motown stuff or southern soul is fantastic too. In fact is there even a bad type of soul? I guess some blander pop-soul exists, like Adele, but hey even she's better than a lot of pop right? If you don't think this is one of the best genres ever then I don't know what to tell you.

"Silver tier*
9Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here

Progressive Rock

Prog metal might suck, but progressive rock is fantastic. Especially the 60s/70s stuff. Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Yes, Robert Wyatt... progressive pop like Kate Bush and ELO. It's show-offy, but always changing. Yeah, the songs are long, but they change often enough where it's a non-issue. Echoes by Pink Floyd flies right by like it's nothing. Those Steve Wilson projects are pretty lame and some modern prog rock's not really for me, and in a way I want it off my pie chart because my taste has evolved a bit from it, but there's too much good to care about the bad y'know?

"Silver tier*
8Thomas Dybdahl
...That Great October Sound

Indie Pop

Indie pop started off as a more catchy indie rock. Twee pop if you will. But now it's like a catch-all for creative arty pop. You don't even need guitars in it anymore. Indietronica kinda gets lumped in. Maybe an often overused genre tag on here because we're missing so many pop tags, but hey I'm okay with that. I'm a huge sucker for of Montreal.

*Gold tier*
7Radiohead
OK Computer

Electronic

Oops, should be Kid A, right? Blame our tagging system, not me (though it's my arbitrary decision.) Electronic as a whole is great, but you'll notice that only trip-hop, industrial, and downtempo really made it all that high. I guess that's because my other favorite styles of electronic as synthpop and psych electronic. Psych stuff like Silver Apples, Jerry Paper or Black Moth Super Rainbow. I don't know what you'd even call The Knife, but I love them. Baths, Laurie Anderson, Holly Herndon, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, all of those trip-hop acts I named earlier, and more. I mean it's the widest umbrella genre outside of maybe folk, so even if I don't go for the club genres as uch, there's plenty of other electronic to go around. That's what makes it great, there's something for everyone.

*Gold tier*
6My Bloody Valentine
Loveless

Dream Pop

Why are all my favorite dream pop acts hardly shoegaze or not shoegaze at all? Cocteau Twins, late Blonde Redhead, Mazzy Star, Mid-Air Thief. Julee Cruise, Melody's Echo Chamber, Broadcast, Yo La Tengo sometimes. Is Deerhunter more shoegaze or dream pop? I guess it depends on the album. That one Elysian Fields album is great too, or that one Fishmans album. Mercury Rev is kinda more noise pop, but I see it labeled dream pop sometimes? It's just spacey dreamy music. Sometimes it's very boring (Beach House.) I hate whoever decided Lana Del Rey counts. But the best of the best is so comforting and interesting.

*Gold tier*
5Elliott Smith
Either/Or

Indie Rock

I mean this IS cooler than alternative rock, but alternative rock is still cool. I don't even know what bands to list here anymore. I already listed a lot of this under shoegaze, lo-fii, alternative rock, and dream pop. I will just say that PJ Harvey is probably my favorite. Okay definitely. Pixies is close though. And Yo La Tengo so many times now is making its way up the ladder. See, it's all stuff I previously named! Go and find an independent label and lemme hear your rock. Or don't. Indie is a sound now, not just an ethos. Bad indie doesn't matter.

*Gold tier*
4Roy Ayers
Everybody Loves the Sunshine

Funk

Sadly underrated genre on Sputnik. Parliament/Funkadelic is better than your favorite band. Sly and the Family Stone, Betty Davis, Stevie Wonder, Fela Kuti, Thundercat, Wiliam Onyeabor, and Ohio Players probably are too. A lot of neo-soul delved into funk, and while post-punk and alt-metal do too, Talking Heads and Primus aren'r representative enough of the genre and you know it. Hip hop and disco fed off of this stuff initially, so if you like those then get into funk. It's dirty, catchy, fun, bassy, and often politically engaging.

*Gold tier*
3Miles Davis
Kind of Blue

Experimental

This isn't a genre, but based on how Sputnik music treats it, it just means "more interesting than your average artist." Frank Zappa and Holly Herndon both comfortably fit under this genre, what does that tell you? Can and Radiohead? Okay what's going on here. This tag might suck, but so many of my favorites are under this. Ween and Thinking Fellers, but also Kate Bush and Tom Waits? An experimental rock tag would take some of these out, but then there's Coil, Foetus, and The Knife and just... like half of my ratings okay? Do they all deserve this label? Hah probably not, but as long as they do this is my #3.

*Gold tier*
2Swans
Soundtracks for the Blind

Noise Rock

I don't care about Swans or Daughters and you can't make me BUT: Big Black, Flipper, Butthole Surfers, The Velvet Underground, Brainiac, Deerhoof, Dinosaur Jr., Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Sonic Youth, Boredoms, Glenn Branca, and Melt-Banana are all loves of mine. I mean Surfer Rosa is my favorite Pixies album and I'm a huge defend of Deerhunter's controversial debut. What more could I say other than turn the distortion up, get goofy and shout at me. But seriously please make Bonsai Superstar Sputcore.

*Gold tier*
1Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here

Psychedelic

If you didn't think this would be #1 then you don't know me. I'm starting to regret my method of choosing albums to represent the genre since WYWH isn't really a good fit at all. We're Only in It for the Money is my favorite album of all time, the 1960s is my favorite musical decade (though the 90s is a close 2nd.) Okay, ready for some band list word vomit? Best kind of pop? Psychedelic pop. Best kind of soul? Psychedelic soul. Best folk? Psychedelic folk. Best kind of indie? Neo-psychedelia. Best kind of electronic? You guessed it psychedelic electronic. Best kind of rock? Noise rock. Oops. Whatever. Ween and of Montreal are often on repeat. I couldn't fit all of my psych favorites. I guess look at all of my 5s and 4.5s. Tropicalia is amazing. Please add a samba tag though so tropicalia can be shown as psychedelic/samba/pop rock or something. Too many of them are tagged jazz when only some are. I'm running out of room, but I have more to say.

*Gold tier*
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