Over the decades, artists have come and gone, creating new genres of music along the way. A genre is a way to categorize musicians that share with similar sounds or origins. Through the development of new genres, stereotypes have arisen for each category. Pop fans are stereotyped as being shallow and unsophisticated, country music fans are called hillbillies and hicks, and heavy metal fans are called headbanging Satanists and cannibals.

To me, it personally doesn’t matter what type of genre; it takes a lot for me to negatively judge music. I like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, and all the top 40 artists, but I’m also a huge fan of alternative rock and post-hardcore. Hearing people insult your favorite type of music isn’t fun, especially in this day and age, when the media is more judgemental than ever. Even worse than having your musical choices questioned as a listener is being a musician stereotyped by your music. Imagine how the artists must feel when they get discouraged for making music. Lead guitarist of Horizon Honors This is a Castle, Josh Taylor, deals with stereotypes for the type of music he plays. When asked how he handles the stereotypes, he commented, “It’s pretty funny actually, yet at the same time sad. I’m usually not the one to be labeled.” His music is sometimes identified as, “Just noise, occasionally called Satanist, emo, or epithets.” His fans and friends support him greatly, but only his mom and sister of his family approve of this life choice as a musician.

Music genre stereotypes shouldn’t even be allowed, but sadly, as new music is created, more stereotypes will continue to surface. It’s up to us if we continue to judge or just accept music for what it is.