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Geek rock
Geek rock
Geek rock Stylistic origins Cultural origins Typical instruments Mainstream popularity Indie rock, punk rock, alternative rock, power pop, twee pop Mid-90’s North America Guitar - bass - drums keyboards/synthesizer Handful of bands have found mainstream success, though even they are rarely labeled "geek rock".
Other topics Nerdcore - Grunge music - Independent music Lollapalooza - Progressive music
and humor can be found in many geek rock lyrics. Bands that are considered in the geek rock genre have been almost exclusively American or Canadian, but there have been a few bands from other countries as well. One noteworthy band is Wir sind Helden (We are heroes) from Germany. Wir Sind Helden earned their title as "German Geek Rock" with their music videos for "Guten Tag" and "Nur ein Wort", both of which deal with geek pop culture, dictionaries, and comic books. The song "The Geek (shall inherit)" from their third album makes this inclination explicit.
Trivia
Author Garrison Keillor describes a derivative of punk rock called "Geek Rock" in a fictional music review about a fictional band called "Trash" in the short story "Don, The True Story of a Young Person", first published in the New Yorker Magazine and collected in Keillor’s 1983 book, Happy To Be Here.
Geek rock (also known as nerd rock, but distinguishable from the hip hop genre nerdcore) is a musical subgenre of alternative rock, although unlike many genres, the term is somewhat loosely applied as far as the style of music performed is concerned. Rather, the phrase is more often used to describe the artists and performers, whose personalities and/or appearance are considered "geeky" or "nerdy". However, there are certain common musical traits that many geek rock artists share, although a good number of the bands described as such may display a sound far removed from the considered standard. Such elements include heavy use of synthesisers and electronic keyboards, vocoders, harmonic vocals (and, sometimes, extensive use of female-led backing vocals) and idiosyncratic use of instruments not usually associated with alt-rock, such as accordions. Some mainstream bands that exemplify the geek rock "sound" include They Might Be Giants,[1] Jonathan Coulton,[2] Weezer,[3] Guster,[4], Ben Folds[4], Fountains of Wayne, and Barenaked Ladies.[5] In addition, a number of lyrical themes are quite common to the genre, including themes of isolation, loneliness and failing love lives, and a fascination with "geek" pop culture such as comic books, science fiction and fantasy. In addition, significant doses of irony
References
[1] "The AV Club Interviews They Might Be Giants". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/ 23081. Retrieved on 2008-02-18. [2] "How To Become a Rock Star". Yahoo news. http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/ potw/61785/how-to-become-a-rock-star. Retrieved on 2008-02-18. [3] ""Weezer Brings Geek Rock to London". http://media.www.bcheights.com/media/ storage/paper144/news/2002/04/09/ ArtsReview/ Weezer.Brings.Geek.Rock.To.London-230449.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-02-18. [4] ^ "Rufus Wainwright, Guster and Ben Folds 6/13/2004". http://www.glidemagazine.com/Articles/ 46581/Rufus-Wainwright,-Guster-andBen-Folds-6_13_2004.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-18. [5] "Geek rock that grew in the midst of grunge".
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://media.www.tuftsdaily.com/media/ storage/paper856/news/2001/04/01/ UndefinedSection/GeekRock.That.Grew.In.The.Midst.Of.Grunge-1485257.shtml. Geek Chic (style) Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
Geek rock
See also
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek_rock" Categories: Alternative rock This page was last modified on 5 May 2009, at 12:14 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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