What makes a music genre unique.

[FierceKitty]

Jazz is the touchstone, I think. When I hear the line "I love classical but can't stand jazz", I know there's a very high probability that the person in question understands Fanny Adams about classical too, but probably has a "best of Mozart" or "100 opera choruses to sing along to" playlist on his Youtube account, and would have walked out of a session of Bach improvising on the organ.

[DHautpol]

I think this nails it.


Critics will create a name (to save a hundred words) to reflect new trends in an established genre.


Fans of a particular genre will obsessively subdivide it.
In this they are ably assisted by critics, who welcome any help they can get.
(For example Metal): Thrash, doom, death, trad, prog...

I think that there's a lot of truth in this.  Critics and music journalists will put similar works into "bags" for convenience.  Before you know it, the soft walls of those "bags" have been turned into hard walls.

As to personal tastes, I have very broad tastes and my listening varies a lot, even in the same session. I'm into opera, Mozart, Beethoven, Bowie, Stones, U2 and jazz (prefer modern to trad), also a bit of sucker for a requiem mass (try Cherubini's for Louis XVI). I don't like folk or C&W. 

[Orcs]

Nothing wrong with a bit of rap, now and again.

Jazz on the other hand, not at all to my taste.

Yes, some Jazz I like , some I don't - it can be really weird , actually more weird than this forum and that saying something 

[Ithoriel]

Jazz is the touchstone, I think. When I hear the line "I love classical but can't stand jazz", I know there's a very high probability that the person in question understands Fanny Adams about classical too, but probably has a "best of Mozart" or "100 opera choruses to sing along to" playlist on his Youtube account, and would have walked out of a session of Bach improvising on the organ.

I don't really like either, though I would take classical over jazz any day and twice on Sunday.

Not through any lack of trying on the part of ex-girlfriends and various relatives.

I have fallen asleep during live concerts by Stephane Grapelli and also by the London Philharmonic. I am an equal opportunities philistine!

Somehow I never fell asleep to Hawkwind, Ian Dury, Blondie, 10cc, Fairport Convention, Leonard Cohen, Queen or even Good Charlotte. To name but a few.

To be fair I don't actively listen to music most of the time, it's just audio wallpaper mostly. "Listening to the soundtrack of my life" to quote Less Than Jake

It would be a dull old world if we all liked the same things.

[Last Hussar]

So how do you know it falls under Jazz?

[Orcs]

Somehow I never fell asleep to Hawkwind, Ian Dury, Blondie, 10cc, Fairport Convention, Leonard Cohen, Queen or even Good Charlotte. To name but a few.

It would be a dull old world if we all liked the same things.

I would take any of the above in preference to Jazz or Classical. Mrs Orcs loves Jazz so sometimes I have to go to balance the times she comes to my concerts