by Doug Smith
http://web.archive.org/web/19980215204900/wwwiz.com/issue08/wiz_f08.html
Copyright © 1996 Doug Smith. All rights reserved.
All music falls more or less into one genre or another. Some categories are general, such as rock and roll or classical, and some are more specific, such as punk rock and industrial music. Part of the music scene on the World Wide Web now includes pages devoted to specific types of music, as well as other music sources related to the specific musical type dealt with. Many of these genre pages are valuable resources if you are interested in specific bands, information, or whatever else falls under the umbrella of your musical tastes.
Most of these pages are maintained by knowledgeable and dedicated fans. These guys put a lot of work into their pages and a lot of time into researching, writing and cataloging the music and bands. You'll quickly find that those who create and maintain these pages are mini-experts of a specific music type who are happy to share their knowledge, opinions or even arguments about the music they listen to.Let's start with a little-known but super-cool musical genre: psychobilly music. Psychobilly is basically a mixture of fast rockabilly and punk rock. It also takes a lot from rock and roll-type icons of the 50s and 60s like Elvis and so on. Throw in some speed, race cars and horror movie schlock and you've got some idea of the wildness and weirdness of psychobilly.
Still don't have a clue? Check out The Psychobilly Homepage. This page is, without a doubt, one of the best resources out there on psychobilly. It's not only a resource in itself but a good jumping-off point, as well. The page is produced by Roy and maintained by Santo, who are both way too cool to have last names. They apparently created this site to "inform people about psychobilly and to provide concert information for other psychos on the WWW."
The page takes a while to come up and some of the internal links are a little slow, perhaps due to a slow server. The main page is very cool, colorful and Tales-From-the-Crypt-lookin' with monsters, zombies and scary-looking fonts with dripping letters and such.
The links are pretty standard but very comprehensive and informational. There are News and Band lists, Topics and Rumors. You can find out what's going on with The Meteors, Demented Are Go!, or The Reverend Horton Heat.
This is a groovy page for hepcats into psychobilly or those who want to learn about the music. There are plenty of sound files and images here as well. This page is out of Europe, so some of the grammar and English are a little strained sometimes, but this takes little from the overall effect. The official psychobilly smiley is introduced here as well: >: ) (It's a pompadour, kids).
Punk rock is an "intentionally offensive fast type of rock music" or something like that. I saw that on a T- shirt recently and figured it's a pretty good summation of punk. The World Wide Punk Page is a decent punk summation as well. The main page logo is wacky, featuring the Earth enclosed in a leather studded collar. Cool.
The typical links are here: Bands, Labels, 'Zines and Reviews. The links are well researched and very extensive, especially the band links. Everybody from the Clash to the Dead Kennedys to Blink-182 and Rancid are represented here. The reviews are short but well written—this guy knows his stuff.
There's a multitude of links here, but the page is mostly text-based and a bit low on graphical content. More images would make this page a little more eye-catching. I had problems with some of the links. Once again, this could be a slow server, but that's punk rock for ya! Anarchy rules!
Well suited to the computer generation is industrial music. Sunril Mishra, who maintains The Industrial Page, has his own definition of industrial music. Sunril sees industrial as "conveying the chaos, lies and deception around us." Whoa...heavy, man. The Industrial Page is also being remodeled, and an "inherent part of reorganization is a period of chaos." Remember, kiddies, from chaos comes order!
Unfortunately, this page is mostly text. There are numerous links, though. These links include Bands, Labels, 'Zines, Stores, and so on. A good bunch of links; lots of info to be had.
The main page does have a very industrial-looking font, which is worth seeing. This is a good site, but could use more images and graphics. On the other hand, the lack of prettiness and frivolity do lend this site a stark industrial atmosphere. Whoa...heavy.
Now let's skank down to This is Ska!. The main page here sports a cool background with cartoon tiger Hobbes and cartoon hooligan Calvin skanking away at the top. (The skank is a type of dance associated with ska music). This page is a "humble attempt to make the most comprehensive ska page around." A pretty good job, too.
The band list here is extensive and covers nearly every ska band I know of, including some of my favorites like Buck O Nine and the English Beat. The whole site is pretty much link oriented, though. The links are good, but there is little internal information independent of the links themselves.
The best genre sites are not only filled with links, but have independent value as well. They should be a jumping-off point, as well as an information resource. The internal content should also include nifty, eye- catching graphics and pieces like reviews, interviews and other articles.
Overall, I prefer an online magazine type of format to Web pages. I think Web sites should be interactive magazines. Music sites have infinite possibilities in addition to articles—sound files, image files, interactive chats, and so on. There are also places for links-only pages, but it just doesn't make sense to send somebody somewhere else when you can keep them looking at your site, providing information so they won't have to go elsewhere.
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