I tried searching for this but most of the relevant hits were about music to lpay during a session to create a mood or atmosphere, which I personally tend not to do. I do realize, of course, that many of the music genres mentioned in those threads would probably serve as good examples for this thread but.........

Anyways: I was just wondering what you might think people would listen to in 2070? By then, you'd have people in the nursing homes listening to Rap (which kind of scares me) so what would the new and "hip" music sound like? Would it be kind of like techno? Or do you think one of the older genres like Classic Rock or Jazz might come back?

And I'm not talking about Dance Club music, the super fast ultra-techno they play at Raves....I'm assuming that probably won't change too much...but I would like to know about casual music listening. For example, I like to listen to AC/DC and Queen (not exaclty the most recent of music, I know) but what might I be listening to in the 6th World?

Personally, I think the music industry would probably evolve to involve more than just sound, but include some or all of the other 4 senses...Music you can taste? In fact, I think such a thing might have been mentioned in the SR4 core book (not as a game mechanic...just as fluff).

Return Ticket—Speed Coma (Classic Chrome Rock)
Queen of Freaks—Roxanne (OrxRock)
Gun in My Pocket and Happy to See Ya—Nago (Gob Rap)
The Sound—Silicon Duo (Fractal Phaze)
Together Again—Domino Haley (C-Pop)
Kinetique—Kinetique (E-Trance)
Ma’ Nbungo Do—Kaleope (Afroflash)
Victim of Causality—Ballistic Z (Nippon Glam)
Never Forgive, Never Forget:the Best of Shield Wall—Shield Wall (Classic Chrome Rock)
Decadance—Imaginaire (C-Pop)

From the "Top Music Downloads" tab thingy in the SR4A Life on the Edge chapter. Honestly I think its fairly hard for us to guess what music taste might be like 60 years in the future. Just look at how music has changed in the last 60. The invention of the synthlink will of probably made musical tastes something that changes every week as basically anyone can put together a hit without any musical training.

The inclusion of Simsense in music also probably helps. Think of what the Emo kiddies would be like these days if every time they listened to some depressing ass crap they got a massive hit of suicidal thoughts.

The music that plays in my head whenever I think about Shadowrun tends to be Jazz though, dont know why. I guess its because of Bladerunner

Oh yea...I realize we can't accurately predict...but...hey...its fun to try....

Shhhhh...I'm in my happy place with that image. But as far as it goes, I think the nomenclature of the genres can give us some pretty good ideas. Synthrash, for example, indicates a electronic blending with speed/thrash metal which brings to mind something like Powerman 5K amped up a few notches.
Gob Rap is probably(unfortunately) not very different from modern rap, with more goblinized overtones and a harder edge to it. There's Nippon Glam, which sounds like futuristic J-Pop to me and Classic Chrome Rock which I'd say fairly straightforward as old school metal. Given the advancement of hardware/software synthesizers most music has probably been "techno'd" to varying degrees. However, elevator music probably still sounds the same.

I doubt very much that the synth make every one a rock god because like it or not you got to know how to use it and makeing a song is more than just knowing how to play the tune. I know several people in rock<little local bands> bands the difference between playing a song and writing a song is pretty big.

That said the music I associate with SR is stuff like the last 1/2 of Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms CD, and oddly enough some Pat Bennatar and Meatloaf of course that could just be my age showing.

Although I can't quite place where I picked this up, and it might well have been a generic cyberpunk idea rather than a Shadowrun one, but I seem to recall that besides "regular" music, there was a new form of "noise" that was specifically tailored to appeal to particular parts of your brain and could very acutely effect one's mood and disposition.

clearly somebody here has never heard of an "arpeggiator preset," because if you did, you would know that anybody with the ability to depress one key on a synthesizer = hours of exciting techno (and, being in the nature of synthesizers, any other sounds you would like to make as per your genre of choice, but the electronica kids get the most use out of arps)
and jacques derrida would tell us, of course, that PLAYING a song and WRITING a song are the same thing. as an avant-garde experimentalist, i would have to agree with him there. software like ableton live allows people to do live looping, sampling, beat matching, and mixing on a computer using samples that are recorded during the actual performance process. composition is dead, long live the organic sound artist!

for me the music of the sixth world is usually heavily electronica-influenced, industrial and EBM stuff, with a healthy mix of digital hardcore/noise/thrash, and maybe a good bit of conscientious hip hop. simsense in music would be the realm of the purveyors of popular trash - a real musician doesn't NEED to tweak your brain's emotion centers to evoke feelings with their music. likewise, wiz-rock is snooty bullshit, like world music or something. total crap for stuck-up mages. never touch the stuff

That's where I lost ya, omae. Ever heard Alkahest Injekt in concert? They run jammers around the stage to kill any synth-talent. It's all hardcore brain-thumpin' by way of Awakened musicians, and even the SFX are courtesy of bound spirits.

I wouldn't expect you to know that, though, 'cause ya can't find their stuff on pirate networks. Doesn't show up too well on trideo, see?

• Meatbag

When I think of music in SR I tend to focus on the various metaraces and so:

For elves: Some sorta Worldy based crunchy-granola techno-Enya
Orcs: Definately some Drum-n-Base styled music with crappy gansta type lyric overlays
Trolls: Some sorta really hard-core metal in which the lyrics are more like growls anfd grunts
Dwarves: Industrial music overlayed with pub sing-a-long stylings... think Rob Zombie singing When Irish Eyes are Smiling.

That said I had a moment in my game last week when the players were in an elevator playing a Musak version of Smells Like Teen Spirit that made all the gamers cringe.

Cheers
Lass

Anything and everything. Clothing and, to some extent, music genres come and go in popularity roughly every 20 years. I wouldn't be surprised to see this cycle shrink to the point where its barely noticeable - people wear and listen to what they want to.

Fusions of every imaginable musical style. See Codebreaker's post, above. What the heck does Fractal Phaze style music sound like? No idea.

At one point, there were services that would generate songs from extensive libraries of sounds samples, tailored to your preferences, that sound like whatever artist you want it to. Example: Ever wondered what it would sound like if Busta Rhymes covered a Concrete Dreams song? (See Shadowbeat for more info.)

-paws