History GenreMashup / Music

This happens a lot in music, because combining genres is less likely to [[GoneHorriblyWrong go horribly wrong]] there. See AvantGardeMusic, SongStyleSwitch.

This happens a lot in music, because combining genres is less likely to [[GoneHorriblyWrong go horribly wrong]] there. See AvantGardeMusic.

* Music/TheBeachBoys/ Brian Wilson's legendary unfinished Music/{{SMiLE}} album can be described as a Psychedelic Doo-Wop/ Rock Barbershop Quartet recorded in distinct modules. But you should also add Americana to the mix. And several classical influences, from Bach to Stravinsky and Schoenberg. And some Varèse thrown in at good measure as pertaining to tape experiments. And Phil Spector's production methods (although more nuanced than his Wall of Sound) , folk, classical choir arrangements , circus music, impressionist music, jazz, musique concréte (and in the case of Vega-Tables, this is taken literally), the american-centered compositions of Gershwin, baroque pop, Yodelling and ragtime (along many more), all meant to achieve a "Teenage Symphony to God" that sounds like an ever-flowing painting by a Disney cartoon. One should also mention Smiley Smile, the substitute to the aforementioned album, after its infamous cancelation. Attempting to describe its minimalistic miasma of weirdness and near cynical self-deprecation is almost a disservice to it. Songs like Wind Chimes must be heard to be believed (in stereo is the recomended option).

* IndiePop separates itself from vanilla, label-controlled {{Pop}} music by letting the artist have full creative control over their material. As such, it often sees pop-style music mixed with a wide variety of genres such as {{synthpop}}, RAndB (often called PBR&B), trip-hop, punk, folk, {{dream pop}}, {{baroque pop}}, [[ElectronicMusic electronica]]... and whatever else the artist can think of.
* PBRAndB is ContemporaryRAndB plus HipHop, [[ElectronicMusic EDM]], UK garage, DreamPop, {{Rock}}... whatever the artist wants.

* Music/ThePixies are what would happen if you put Music/TalkingHeads and the Music/VelvetUnderground into the [[Film/TheFly Brundlefly]] machine.
** Or, to borrow from the newspaper ad that led to their formation: a band whose members really dig Peter, Paul & Mary and Hüsker Dü.

** Music/{{Sandinista}}! in particular. Highly underated. Lots of fun dub experiments. Perhaps copying Music/PublicImageLtd's ''Music/MetalBox''?

** Dread Zeppelin is a reggae Led Zeppelin cover band with an Elvis impersonator on lead vocals.

*** Other bands have independently achieved the same level of weirdness (such as Music/{{Sigh}}, see below), but very few have achieved considerable success (they are often labeled as one of the most successful cult bands in the modern metal scene). This is ''the '''band''''' that took NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly way too far and eventually set standards for CrazyAwesome music in the Japanese rock/metal scene.

* The Mavericks, a Cuban-American band from Florida, are what you'd get if you took mariachi, polka, zydeco, and early rock-and-roll, and processed it through Phil Spector's Wall of Sound.
* Alter Bridge Myles Kennedy's voice is essentially hard rock wailing a la Robert Plant, grunge breathiness with a hint of soul. Mark Tremonti's playing is basically proggy Alternative Speed Metal with just a bit of blues, Spanish guitar and southern twang making surprise appearances. The rhythm section can have some progressive tendencies as well. All while being considered a swan song to 70's classic rock and a spiritual successor to Led Zeppelin.

* Music/{{Area 11}} are band formed into 2010 that is establishing a new genre called "Gaijin-Rock", which blends [[JPop J-Pop]] and [[HardRock Western "guitar worship" shred rock]]. Their lyrics reference Japanese culture, specifically {{anime}}, and sometimes video games. They're from Bristol, in the UK. [[PunnyName Hence "gaijin", which means "foreigner" in Japanese]]. By their own admission, their music is made of elements of PopPunk, {{metal}}, ProgressiveRock, and [[GlamMetal glam]].

* The [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic brony]] band Evening Star is a mix of Neoclassical, New Age, EDM, and drum & bass.

** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint So Thoughts Of Ionesco are better than Bootsy Collins?]] '' HERESY!!!''

* [[Music/DrCarmillaAndTheMechanisms Dr. Carmilla & The Mechanisms]] Are self described as "[[DieselPunk Dieselpunk]] Cabaret", with the former also Identifying as [[VisualKei Visual Kei]] and the Latter as [[RecycledInSpace Space Folk]]. Influences from Cabaret, Psychedelia, Classical, Jazz & Rock music can also be identified.

* The Mavericks, a Cuban-American band from Florida, are a unique blend of mariachi, jazz, zydeco, early rock-and-roll, and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound.

** ''Living Things'' could be described as "ElectronicMusic meets RapRock", being a combination of the previous four albums made to create something completely new.
** ''The Hunting Party'' brings back NuMetal elements, but it gets buried underneath the HardRock, HardcorePunk, and HeavyMetal influences that it isn't as noticeable. Easily the heaviest and least commercial friendly of the lot.

* Music/CharliXCX already fits this being a mixture of dark wave, witch house, synthpop, electronica, and pop punk, but it's taken to extremes with 2016's ''Vroom Vroom'' EP. It can best be described as "experimental pop". Despite only being four songs long, it manages to cover bubblegum pop, grime, trap, EDM, future pop, and even industrial hip-hop.
* SOPHIE, the man who produced the EP, also fits. His style has also been referred to as "experimental pop", featuring elements taken from j-pop, k-pop, eurodance, and even boy band pop music -- all taken to an "extreme" form, not mention the various noises he integrates into his music. It's almost impossible to tell what genre he's playing, because of how weird it all sounds.

* Your average Bela Fleck and the Flecktones ''song'' will combine at the very least Jazz, Funk, and Bluegrass. Some go much farther than this-- on varying albums, they've added everything from Indian traditional music (on ''Shanti'') to Classical (''Fugue from Prelude'', their heavily latin-inflected take on a Bach piece) into the mix. The apex of this is their take on "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," which featured both hip-hop vocals and scat singing over a funk/bluegrass beat with elements of jazz dissonance. While this all might seem a little odd, it usually works beautifully.

* Music/JohnZorn, the producer of Music/MrBungle's first album, known for blowing the minds of music nerds with his free jazz / metal / surf / western nonsense albums like: "''Music/{{Radio}},'' ''Torture Garden,'' and ''Leng T'che,'' featuring ''Boredoms'' vocalist Yamatsuka Eye. But the rest of his catalogue is eclectic too. Name '''any''' musical genre and he has played it, even switching back and forth in one and the same track.
** Mr. Bungle themselves too, most apparent in their song "None of Them Knew They Were Robots," on their album "California."
* Music/DwightYoakam is highly eclectic himself. His style is reminiscent of Buck Owens' "Bakersfield sound", but with several rock influences ranging from Elvis to Queen to Cheap Trick. Yes, he actually did a ''country'' cover of a Queen song.

* Add to all this the possibility of being in the Contemporary ''A Cappella'' genre -- that is, being a jazz musician (or rocker) (or folk musician) (or whatever) but being too cheap to buy instruments and having to sing all those parts instead. (The theme from ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdzyuJJZMCI Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego]]'' is probably the instance you personally are most familar with.) With a little creativity, you can do just about any genre you want in ''a cappella'': witness, for instance, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FguonHRD5IQ death-metal barbershop quartet.]]

** Actually it's a Folk Metal/Heavy Metal with Classic, Celtic, Symphonic Metal and Hard Rock influences, open to new styles

** Although the band perfers to just be called a "metal" band. They, like a few other bands these days, can't understand the bizzare genres like "New-Wave of American Psychedelic Rap Metal".

** Not to menton throwing in some jazz, tango and big band.

* [[HouseMusic House]] duo Duck Sauce's album ''Quack'' features an interlude where a series of characters try to define what Duck Sauce's music reminds them of:

** There were a shit-ton of Christian nu-metal/rapcore bands before them. P.O.D, Pillar, Project 86, [=PAX217=]... the list goes on. The only thing that made 38th Parallel original was that their name didn't begin with a "P" and they barely squeezed by on that.
* The three members of Italian instrumental experimentalists Zu play bass guitar, drums and a (highly distorted) baritone saxophone. They frequently feature guest musicians, including The Melvins' guitarist King Buzzo, Mike Patton of Music/FaithNoMore and Japanese electronic musician Nobokazu Takemura. The result is a groaning, squealing and cataclysmic semi-improvised fusion of Metal, Noise-Rock, Free-Jazz, Mathcore, and No-Wave Punk. Compared by one struggling and confused music reviewer to 'Lightning Bolt covering Music/TroutMaskReplica in the middle of a knife fight'.

* The Suicidal Rap Orgy, a group of Australian noise artists who inexplicably decided to make a, uh, rap collective. Basically, imagine guttural 'or' shrieking male vocals, absurd shrieking female vocals, and lyrics based entirely around various creative combinations of human waste, sex, and violence. "The band are often known for their disgusting liveshows in which they wind up naked and horribly grotesque lyrics that are in a similar vein to GWAR and GG Allin."

* Meet [[http://www.sotb.se/ Slaughter of the Bluegrass,]] a band which makes death metal song covers... in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin bluegrass]] style. It's pretty awesome.
** In a similar vein, say hello to ''HayseedDixie''. They do bluegrass covers of Music/{{ACDC}}, Music/{{Queen}}, Music/LedZeppelin, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/{{KISS}} and a metric buttload of others, as well as their own original rock/bluegrass tunes, including [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StFsCyBsHrI the worlds most epic break-up song]].

* Music/KlausNomi: A mix between opera and electronica, as exemplified by his singing on the albums ''[[Music/KlausNomiAlbum Klaus Nomi]]'' and ''Music/SimpleMan''. Think Music/LucianoPavarotti meets Music/DepecheMode.

* Music/GentleGiant: What happens when you get together three brothers out of a soul group, a classically trained keyboardist, a blues guitarist, and a volatile series of drummer, and they all start playing recorders? You end up with Gentle Giant, whose songs ranged from quasi-medieval violin-powered tunes, to entirely percussive pieces, to a capella ballads.

* Alabama 3(you'd know them for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvq_jY-G2f4 the Sopranos theme]]) was formed in an attempt to prove that it was possible to combine country with acid house.
* Music/{{Blondie}} started out a Reggae-influenced Punk band, added synthesizers and Pop hooks and moved into New Wave, and in the process incorporated elements of Funk and Rap.

* One of the reasons we still keep Music/KanyeWest around is because his music quite awesomely mixes different genres he likes, not to mention his "baroque pop" excursion ''808s & Heartbreak''. To date, he sampled King Crimson, Michael Bolton, Bette Midler, The Doors, Shirley Bassey, Elton John, Daft Punk, Labi Sifre, Can, Nina Simone, Tears For Fears, Music/TheAlanParsonsProject and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West_production_discography the list goes on...]]
* Music/GunsNRoses. The bands classic lineup were all into rock music but the band members each had their own style influenced by a different genre. Axl was included by more melodic and heavily arranged music like Music/{{Queen}}, Slash was based in blues and ratty hard rock like Music/{{Aerosmith}}, Izzy edged more towards simple acoustic song writing like Music/BobDylan, Duff was punk and Steven was the hair metal scene. Together these influences came together and made ''Appetite For Destruction'' what it was. They replaced Steven with Matt Sorum, which swapped the hair metal vibe for a big epic arena sound which added a little flair to ''Use Your Illusion''.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangue_Bit Mangue Bit]] is a musical movement from the Brazilian state of Pernambuco which mixed traditional music styles, mostly maracatu, with hip hop, punk rock and trash metal. It's awesome!

** There are now two bagrock groups: former Chillis guitarist Gregor [=McPhie=] recently formed Bags Of Rock.

* [[Music/ThreeEleven 311]] is well-known for their blend of rock, reggae, rap, and funk.

* Music/TheProdigy became one of the greatest electronic acts of the 90s by [[TropeCodifier Codifying]] the genre of music called "Big Beat" out of Acid House, Drum'n'Bass, Jungle, and Breakbeat on the electronic side, and Punk, Metal, Progressive, and Psychedelic, on the rock side, along side the heavy use of sampling from such diverse genres as Funk, Jazz, and Reggae.
* Sting & Music/ThePolice threw jazz, reggae and punk into a blender, adding {{New Wave|Music}} into the mix later on. And that's not counting the other styles that Sting has explored in his solo career.

* Music/KylieMinogue's 1994 single "Confide In Me" is a mix of trip-hop, baroque pop, dance pop, RnB, and new jack swing.

* Streetlight Manifesto mix ska, punk, acoustic, big band, funk and hardcore. Fans of Streetlight Manifesto, and frontman Tomas Kalnoky's side project Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution (another genre-splicer, fusing acoustic, ska and Middle-Eastern influences), sometimes refer to this as "the fourth wave of ska".

* Music/{{Toto}}'s original drummer Jeff Porcaro described the band's debut single, ''Hold The Line'', as: "a perfect example of what people will describe as your HeavyMetal chord guitar licks, your great triplet A-notes on the piano, your '[[Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone Sly]]'-hot-fun-in-the-summertime groove, all mishmashed together with a boy from [[TheBigEasy New Orleans]] singing... and it really crossed over a lot of lines."

* Music/PublicImageLtd -- so much, in fact that alot of their songs were aimed at weeding out the punks who complained about [[Music/SexPistols Johnny Rotten]]'s new sound. See Albatross, Foderstompf, This is what you want, this is what you get.

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* Put Music/FelaKuti-style {{Afrobeat}}, Music/BrianEno's electronic treatments, Americana, and the energy of Music/TheClash into a blender, and you get the Music/TalkingHeads.

* Ghoul combines elements of thrash metal, death metal, goregrind, punk rock, surf rock, and hard rock to create a unique, fun, and [[EarWorm immensely catchy]] style that ties in with their mythos very well.

*** The Zydepunks as well, although vocally they're closing to bands like Flogging Molly.

*** Formerly known as '''''Un''black''' metal, a term now used mostly perjoratively by trve black metal fans and artists. Just to drive home how out of place it really is: In the early 90's, ''church burnings'' were considered an acceptable way to earn respect in the Norwegian black metal scene. Murder, suicide, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking spikey shin guards and absurd facepaint]] all happened as well. To go along with that, the lyrics are frequently generally anti-religious and misanthropic, specifically anti-Christian, Satanic, nihilistic, atheistic, and pro-neopaganist. For most of this and more distilled into one band, read up on Music/{{Mayhem}}.