Charlie does surf, but does he do anything else?

Is there any other non-musical* activity besides surfing that's spawned its own distinct musical genre? I'm having trouble thinking of any. The Baseball Project doesn't play "baseball music," for instance. And while there's a pretty extensive connection between rodeos and country music, I don't believe there's a distinct subgenre of country that's instantly identifiable as "rodeo music."

I thought about skate-punk, but I don't know if there's anything that sets that apart from plain old punk punk musically. Or lyrically, as far as that goes.

Trucker songs are (or were - don't know that too many of those get recorded anymore) a reasonably well-defined subgenre of country, but again, if you remove the lyrics, would trucker songs still be distinct enough to be recognizable as trucker songs? Nah, they're just country songs with lyrics about drivin' a big rig over them ol' concrete ribbons. Musically, they could just as easily be about Madge down at the diner or ropin' a lively steer. Not a distinct standalone style.

Math rock? That one's actually pretty tricky. While I don't think anyone is soundtracking algebra exams to it, it does involve monkeying with time signatures, which is close enough to ciphering out equations that it might fit the bill of actually being a style of music spawned by a non-musical activity. (Not exactly non-musical, I guess, given that the time signatures & measures & other stuff build mathematics into the basic DNA of music.) But is math rock really inspired by a desire to celebrate math the same way surf music does surfing? I dunno. Fripp is the patron saint of the stuff and yeah, I could easily buy him saying his music is inspired by his devotion to Pythagoras. So maybe.

Antmusic has very little to do with living underground while being fiercely devoted to one's queen and carrying multiple times one's own body weight.

Meditation music works, I guess.

Oh! And marches!

Anything else?

*Dancing is an inherently musical activity (well, except when I do it), so all the musical styles tied to specific dances of course don't count.

Steampunk has inspired it's own genre, although it's rather gimmicky, some of it is derived from Irish ditties and instrumental music that sounds like it came off a cosplay soundtrack. Of course, an artificial construct (think yacht rock, chill music, etc.) has been built around the fantasy movement, for example, 80's songs by Thomas Dolby, Vangelis, post-2000 Gary Numan (it's really sad to see his music become so derivative) and even a little of Loreena McKennitt.

Breno this is the kind of topic I love. Your examples are good ones.

My gut answer is ‘stoner rock’. While ANY music could be stoner rock I suppose, there’s definitely a group of artists (like kyuss) whose music is touted as being specific to that activity.

I’m being a little tongue in cheek but ‘Shoe gaze’ is a music associated with folks whose confidence is so low and shyness so high that they look at their feet…and I don’t think this is all guitar-pedal related.
(Although this is only for the performer, not the audience I imagine. Or is the crowd at a MBV show all intentionally looking down rather than at the stage?) Looking downward is a non musical activity.

Really stretching…. There’s a whole ‘fornication soul’ genre, no?
Think Venus flytrap on WKRP.

Bump n grind = burlesque! (Unless that falls into the 'dance' category?)

I think of exotica as the adult analogue to the kid's surf scene. Perhaps not related to a physical activity as such, unless hoisting cocktails is considered a sport (in which case, Olympics here I come!), but inspired by non-musical elements. Unlike the "artificial construct" of steampunk or yacht-rock, exotica was specifically conceived to be as much a musical incarnation of the tiki world as surf was to the beach party scene.

there was also hot-rod rock (and even a brief attempt at ski-rock!) but except for some vroom-vroom car sounds, hot-rod rock was, like trucker is to country and skate is to punk, still just basically surf.

'60s biker movie soundtracks introduced 'biker-rock' favoring heavy guitar fuzz over the clean, reverbed surf sound, a genre that apparently both began and ended with Davie Allan and the Arrows.

was "Space-Age" an actual genre"? or, like steam-punk, et al, it retroactively became one? In any case, more non-musical inspiration.

Skate punk was definitely its own thing. The pop-punk boom of the 90s fazed it out.

Computer music is totally a thing. James Ferraro's Far Side Virtual sort of kicked it off but you could go back to Jan Hammer's Beyond The Mind's Eye. Obviously Eno gets a huge credit.

Videogame music especially Chiptune or 8 bit. That genre is enormous.

Mallsoft is an ambient subgenre based on being in malls. Sort of an update to Eno's Airport music.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2023 08:58PM by Nightdrive.

“Videogame music especially Chiptune or 8 bit.”
Yes! Fun stuff. I recall a group called something like the Gameboyz Orchestra that used no other instruments other than hand-held video games.