Curated playlist
20th-century music genres
- House musicFrankie Knuckles began splicing records because the music ran out before dancers wanted to stop.
- Nu metalThree nu metal albums came out on August 18, 1998. Billboard later called it the "Biggest Day in Nu-Metal History".
- Punk rockDetroit band Death couldn't get a record deal because of its name. They issued one single in 1976, then disbanded.
- Hip houseThe Beatmasters answered a rival's hip house claim with a song. Tyree Cooper had called his 1988 record the first.
- Miami bassMiami bass, the hip hop style, was known on the streets as booty music.
- Rap metalIn 1987, Anthrax became one of the earliest bands to deliberately mix hip hop and heavy metal.
- Rock musicThe Beatles' first Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964 drew an estimated 73 million viewers.
- EmoAt Rites of Spring shows in the mid-1980s, audience members sometimes wept.
- New wave musicMTV filled its early hours with British new wave because most American hits had no videos.
- DancehallDancehall music could be felt in the chest before it reached the ears. It began in Kingston's open air.
- FunkJames Brown told his band to hit the first beat hardest. Funk began in African-American communities in the mid-1960s.
- Trap musicTrap music is named after a building where drug deals happen. The Atlanta sound later reached pop charts worldwide.
- French houseThe name "French touch" caught on after a 1996 Melody Maker review.
- Electronic musicThe earliest known tape music was made in Cairo in 1944. Student Halim El-Dabh reworked a zaar ceremony recording.
- A cappellaA 1943 musicians' strike helped a cappella singers land a best-seller.
- Beat musicBeat music has nothing to do with the Beat Generation writers. It means driving rock and roll rhythms.
- City popJapan once dismissed city pop as "shitty pop". Now the 1980s music has fans around the world.