Friday, November 6, 2009

Entry: List of Music Genome Project attributes

Prepared to lose an entire afternoon to this one, space cadets.

Like all cool kids, I utilize Pandora now and then to expand my musical horizons. Oftentimes, however, I go to look up the attributes of my stations and have no idea what the hell any of them mean. For instance, I'm apparently really super into "extensive vamping." And, until I turned to the Wik', I had no idea what that was. Basically, it means I'm a simpleminded twit who likes to hear the same thing repeated many, many times in the span of four minutes or so. Also recurring: "major key tonality" AND "minor key tonality." I'm such a fencesitter.

But perhaps your taste in music is overly specific, and you've wondered to yourself: what other musical attributes that I don't care for are floating around in the aether? Thanks Wiki. You've really outdone yourself this time.

Here are some highlights:

"Backbeat Hand Claps." Specifically hand claps. No drums, no footstomping.
"Blazin' Rappin'"/"Tight Lyrics". Perhaps my dorkiness is preventing me from understanding exactly what this term means, but doesn't that seem a little subjective for something calling itself a "Genome Project"?
"Lyrics with Heavy Erotic Content". Is there a subgenre of this that I don't know about? Don't get me wrong, I'm hip, I listen to Serge Gainsbourg... but I can't imagine not wanting to laugh my ass off at lyrics with heavy erotic content.
"Mystical Qualities". One of the backup singers is a unicorn, say.
"Sexist Lyrics". Okay, as a member of the group that usually gets the short end of the stick when it comes to sexism, I'm biased. But why the hell would someone actively seek this out as a quality of music?
"Use of Dirty-Sounding Organs". What, like a rectum?
"Vinyl Ambience". Just throwing it out there as a name for a drag queen act. Think about it, girls.


If anyone has any information as to which bands or songs embody the aforementioned, please let us know.

8 comments:

Dossy Shiobara said...

Since when was the rectum an organ? I think that ought to be your next entry's subject.

Ren Zenderton said...

So... essentially, you leave Prince's Superfunkicalifragisexi on repeat?

LKBM said...

'But why the hell would someone actively seek this out as a quality of music?'

Attributes work both ways. You can't avoid sexist lyrics if you don't have data on which songs have them.

Scott said...

This page was deleted from Wikipedia! I am so bummed out! So much excellent and useful work by so many people erased without recourse. The discussion about the deletion talked about a lack of secondary sources. Can anyone find a thorough list of Music Genome attributes anywhere else on the web?

Tim said...

Use this link:
http://web.archive.org/web/20111105201836/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Music_Genome_Project_attributes

It will take you back in time!

Safety Last! said...

Hello... I don't know if anyone will be able to respond to this, but I am desperately searching for the full list of Pandora's Music Genome Project attributes. A few years ago, I had printed is up from the Wikipedia page, but it has since been removed and I cannot find my print out. I am looking for it for academic purposes - I'm finishing up a dissertation in music theory and wish to talk about Pandora in my conclusion. Can anyone help me get the list that was once on Wikipedia? If so, please email me: gbroesche@gmail.com

Safety Last! said...

A-Ha! Never mind, I'm an idiot. I just used the URL supplied a while back by Timothy. Thank you!!!

Ujan sharma said...

I want to say thanks to you. I have bookmark your site for future updates.


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