Top 10 Worst Music Genres

Bad music is personal. Very personal. One person's perfect road-trip soundtrack is another person's reason to leap across the room and unplug the speaker before the chorus commits a felony.

This list is for the sounds that make you question your friend's playlist privileges. Maybe it's the same tired formula recycled until even the drum machine sounds bored. Maybe it's lyrics so lazy they feel assembled from refrigerator magnets. Maybe it's vocals, bass drops, growls, glossy production, or theatrical angst pushed so far past your limit that your ears start drafting a formal complaint.

Vote for the genres you think deserve the most side-eye, defend the ones everyone else is roasting, and try not to take it too personally. Around here, musical taste is a battlefield, and apparently the aux cord has no Geneva Convention.

1. Country

   

   At least with pop and other unpopular genres, there is variety and songs that stand out for being good.

   With country, however, you are essentially listening to the same song over and over. Beer, girls, tractors, rivers, jeans. The majority of country is now just some guy with a fake-sounding accent, singing about how he wants to get with a girl or how he loves the countryside. That's it. There is very rarely any meaning to the songs, just singing about drinking and getting with girls.

   There are good country artists and songs (Johnny Cash, Zac Brown, Toby Keith), but the genre has gotten to the point where there is essentially no substance to many of the songs, in music or lyrics.

   Party, feel-good songs are fine, but they can't be the entire genre.

2. Rap

   

   Congratulations, you can speak lyrics to a beat. Try picking up an instrument, or even editing your own rhymes. Maybe join a group, spend months practicing a new album, timing all your sets, and actually perform your songs and all their parts live. Alternatively, you could try to perform a duet where you take turns talking to a beat.

   I'm sorry if you like rap, but honestly, aside from lyrical talent, it takes little to no musical talent to perform or create. Just compare some modern frontrunners like Lil Wayne and Drake to metal bands such as Trivium and Five Finger Death Punch. All of them are great artists in their own right, but they are on entirely different levels when it comes to performances and tracks.

   I mean no disrespect to anyone who enjoys rap, nor to any of the early rappers who talked about real problems in their lives. I'm merely voicing my opinions and would like to thank you for your time. Rap is music, but it is hardly on par with many other genres when it comes to talent and performance.

3. Pop

   

   I'm sick of people with almost no talent going onto shows like the X-Factor, saying that they "just want to make music." I'm sorry, but that is bull. They just want to make money. If they really wanted to make music, they would be writing it instead of going on all these shows and auto-tuning everything.

   Kids can easily play this music on the keyboard, drum kit, or guitar after minimal lessons. In metal, it takes years to learn a basic song. In pop, the music just repeats itself. You need to have more than just one tune! And the lyrics are all about fame, being rich, and sex. But the pop "musicians" aren't famous for their music most of the time.

   If the boy band One Direction was comprised of ugly hobos but still produced the same music, they wouldn't be famous. One time, when I was walking through the markets of Malaysia, I saw an old man with his legs backward, playing a violin in rags with extreme skill, with a few measly coins in front of him. People like these deserve all the money and fame, not some posers! It's amazing how many people like this genre.

4. Emo

   

   Emo is a style of rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It began in the mid-1980s as part of the hardcore punk movement in Washington, D.C., where it was initially called "emotional hardcore" or "emocore." Bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace... read more

   First off, modern emo is all whiny and stuff, but the real emo was a lot different. Original emo was a music genre and was mostly not sad. In fact, it was quite a happy type of music. It was called emo because of the emotion the musicians put into their music, unlike pop singers who just sing what they are told to.

   Sunny Day Real Estate is a good example. They were original emo. Listen to their music and look at the actual band members. None of them have dyed their hair, worn eyeliner, or anything like that. Modern emo can be annoying, but if you're going to discuss a music genre, make sure you're clear about it.

   No one wants to hear your crappy three-chord songs while your singer, with his girl haircut, whines emotional lyrics that he wrote in an hour. This is the absolute worst: Paramore, 30 Seconds to Mars, Fall Out Boy. These bands are absolutely awful and deserve to be forced to fly over the Bermuda Triangle.

5. Dubstep

   

   It is pretty easy to make a bad Dubstep song, but some are pretty great. I don't think I would pay to listen, but there are quite a few songs that I have enjoyed. The only problem is that people who like the genre have an issue with admitting that there is very little variety. If it is original, it is probably because it isn't like the songs that anybody likes. Therefore, most people dislike it.

   Most of the very popular songs (I said MOST) are very, very similar, to a point where I am satisfied by one song because there isn't much else to hear other than breathtaking drops and bass. But they all have the same drops and bass, making it less qualified as a good music genre.

6. K-pop

   

   I have a whole bunch of Korean friends who are obsessed with it. They refuse to accept the fact that the music is often meaningless and written by hired writers. It's all about money.

   The singers are heavily auto-tuned, and all you have to do is meet Korean beauty standards to make it big. The industry can be discriminatory. Unless you're extremely pale, you're considered to have little worth. It's all about image, which isn't a good message for boys and girls to internalize. They may start to think they have to be extremely thin and pale to be considered beautiful.

   I used to be obsessed with this genre. Now, the only K-pop artist I like nowadays is BoA Kwon because she has a unique voice, can dance, and has good songs. However, I find the rest of K-pop to be really overrated, especially the boy groups. Most of the boys in these groups look like girls. The music is extremely catchy, but most songs lack meaningful content, though there are exceptions like Bulletproof by BTS. To be honest, the genre feels overproduced, and some artists only get famous for their looks. I now prefer rock music. Sorry.

7. Pornogrind

   

   I agree that this is terrible, but I have to say the following: 1) This isn't really a music genre. It's grindcore with explicit lyrics, and it's incorrect to create music genres based solely on lyrical themes. 2) We are talking about only a few bands here, and they're getting too much attention. 3) Many people think Pornogrind/Grindcore are metal genres, but they're not.

   Grindcore has little-to-no metal in it. It's mostly punk - hardcore punk and crust punk - mixed with industrial and noise rock. There may be some slight traces of thrash metal, but thrash metal itself is a fusion of speed metal and hardcore punk, so part of thrash is punk again.

   This genre shouldn't even exist. I love extreme metal and even listen to goregrind. However, this awful genre is nothing but garbage.

   The album covers are all senseless, featuring gruesome and inappropriate imagery. As for the lyrics? Who needs them? Just make very deep growls for two minutes. This genre should be abolished from the music industry.

8. Bro Country

   

   I disagree with the majority of this list. I think that almost every genre has some good songs and some bad songs. If you don't enjoy them, then maybe it's simply not for you, but it's still wrong to denounce an entire genre as terrible.

   However, I agree that one of the few exceptions to this is Bro-Country. From what I've seen, the only appeal of these songs comes from them being catchy (most of the time) or from interesting elements in the production (which is pretty rare). But honestly, that's it.

   The rest of the elements in this genre are pretty terrible, especially the horribly clichéd and garbage lyrical content. Not to mention that, at times, there are even elements stolen from other genres, typically Hip-Hop. So yeah, like another comment here said, this subgenre of country is what gave the genre a bad reputation. It's very likely that when most people vote for country as the worst genre on this list, they're mainly mad at Bro-Country instead.

9. Screamo

   

   I do not enjoy songs that are all screaming, but if a song has a few lines of screaming, then it is very possible that it could be a good song. Bring Me the Horizon, Get Scared, Black Veil Brides, and Sleeping with Sirens all have very talented singers in their bands.

   When I think of screamo, I think of angst, madness, and anxiety, which is exactly what these artists are trying to express. The people who do this for a living have figured out how to make money by screaming, so they aren't total idiots. Moreover, it is incredibly difficult to execute good screaming for a song.

   I admit there are terrible songs that consist solely of growling, screaming, and shrieking, but there are also really good songs. Originally, punk artists were trying to be unpopular and to sound really bad, and yet they receive less hate than screamo does. A really good example of high-quality music with screaming are True Friends by Bring Me the Horizon and Until the Day I Die by Story of the Year. These songs aren't exactly screamo, but they are exactly what you should listen to when starting out and getting used to screaming in music.

10. Hip-Hop

    

    Every rap song seems to have the same theme. It's either a diss track or an artist bragging about their money, sex, drugs, and crime. Critics argue there's nothing original about rap music, and most "talented rappers" are accused of paying others to do all the work for them, including writing lyrics and composing, while they auto-tune all of their work. To some, it just sounds like someone screaming into their microphone.

    One might argue that there have been good rap songs in previous years, but the current popular rap songs seem inferior compared to previous generations of the genre. Some music enthusiasts lament what they see as a downfall in music from the times of rock, which they consider the superior genre.

The Newcomers
11. ?

    Slam Metal

    

    How is this #48, how is country, post-grunge, metal, reggaeton, nu metal, r&b, death metal, hip-hop, emo, pop, and rap above this crap. At least I can name some good songs and artists from every genre I listed, but with this genre I can't even think of any! Their lyrics are inaudible every time, every band logo is the same, there is nothing creative about this genre at all whatsoever!

12. ?

    Children’s Music

    

    I never liked children's music. It was so forgettable. I am 18 now, and I decided to listen to pop, rap, rock, and folk music at a very young age.

    This is my only problem with children.

    I grew up and I'm not it's target audience,clearly. Some kids song are just a hard listen.

The Contenders

13. Nightcore

    

    A nightcore edit (also known as a sped-up song, sped-up version, sped-up remix, or simply sped-up) is a version of a music track that increases the pitch and speeds up its source material by approximately 35%. This effect is almost identical to playing a 33⅓ RPM vinyl record at 45 RPM.... read more

    This should not be considered a music genre in the slightest. It merely involves speeding up or pitching up someone else's work. At least with other genres, like Dubstep, for example, there is effort put in to create a final product that resonates with the listener, whether they like it or not. This genre seems like a lazy way of appealing to an audience, involving little to no real work or innovation.

    Certainly, not a lot has to be done to make a good track or song all the time - sometimes simplicity is a great thing. However, in the case of Nightcore, since no actual work is done, this is the exception. This is just my opinion, though.

14. Teen Pop

    

    Oh my God. Nothing could be worse. The only reason these guys have any fame is because teen girls, as the name suggests, think the lead singer is hot. Listen to some of Ross Lynch's music and tell me those songs would be considered even remotely likable if he were average-looking. And the worst thing is, he isn't even attractive, so he is officially the worst musician ever.

    People who tell me that their songs are meaningful and cool are also the people who claim that Ross Lynch is a better singer than Freddie Mercury and a better guitarist than Jimi Hendrix. It also disgusts me that people call R5 rock but refuse to say they are pop. Teen pop is not music. R5 is not a band. Ross Lynch is not a musician. Led Zeppelin is music, Pink Floyd is music, The Rolling Stones are music, and Jimi Hendrix is music.

15. Mumble Rap

    

    I originally posted this comment on a remix, but the listing got deleted.

    Mumble Rap? More like Double Crap! It's unbelievable how mainstream modern "rappers" can become so wealthy when they seemingly have no skill! My parents are fortunate to have grown up listening to what I consider real music, while I'm stuck with Mumble Rap.

    The entirety of my school seems not to understand that true music is supposed to be art. The music they listen to lacks art or passion, and yet they still call themselves fans of music. I can't stand this sub-genre, nor can I stand most other modern mainstream rap "music"!

    I always thought rap music was supposed to be fast, energetic, and rhythmic. There's a reason why that particular genre is memorable and widely recognized, even if it isn't exactly for everybody.

    With mumble rap, it's kind of the opposite. There's not much energy to go with, resulting in boring, monotonous stuff blaring out that's more likely to turn me off rather than make me jam out.

16. Deathcore

    

    I'm really surprised that this hasn't made it past the top 20 yet. It's way, way worse than death metal, at least that requires some talent!

    In a deathcore song, there are about 20 breakdowns in each song while the singer screams and pig squeals about how he wants to confront the school bully. Notable bands are Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, and Carnifex.

    Made by people who misunderstood death metal. The lyrics aren't as powerful, and quite often, you will find bands with clean vocals and emo-like lyrics along with breakdowns.

    Not to say there aren't good artists, but they are few in number. It's basically metalcore's big brother.

17. Crunkcore

    

    Crunkcore, also referred to as crunk punk or scrunk, is a fusion genre that mixes elements from crunk, post-hardcore, heavy metal, pop, electronic, and dance music. The style is known for its use of screamed vocals, hip hop-inspired beats, and often sexually provocative lyrics. It developed during the... read more

    I had a phase where I listened to BrokeNcyde and the like, and it's the only phase of my music listening journey that I am a bit ashamed of.

    This is by far the worst genre of music that I have ever heard in my life, and it's due to the bands that use it! BOTDF is, by far, the worst band of all time, due to their behavior and style of music, which is this genre I'm talking about here! These people don't deserve to be signed to a record label.

    Also, one of my old friends listens to this horrible band for no reason whatsoever. It's just terrible! If you want to listen to a better band with a better song, such as Green Day's Bang Bang, Evermore's Hey Boys and Girls, or Paramore's Pressure, for example, go do that rather than wasting your time listening to a band that has no talent. You will know what I mean by that!

18. Death Metal

    

    Death metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that emerged in the mid- to late-1980s. It is known for its aggressive drumming, distorted guitars, and growling vocals. The genre often explores dark and macabre themes in its lyrics.

    The only reason why meatheads love this genre is that they always want something "heavy," and heavy always means "more awesome!" But that's not the case. Metal was already close to being unbearable to listen to because the lyrics are nothing but killing and dying.

    With Death Metal, I can't even hear the lyrics for crying out loud. They're wailing on guitars and drums, and screaming so much that it goes up and down like a child trying to bang on the drums. The end result is nothing but noise. There's a big difference between music and noise, and this genre and all of its bands are the most unintelligible. Keep banging your heads and hope that you won't lose your heads.

19. Country Rap

    

    Who thought mixing country and rap was a good idea? Well, it is an atrociously terrible idea. It is just a bunch of country people, rapping with awful southern accents, rapping about how rednecks are the best and farms, with a beat mixing banjos and the electronic rap beat.

    I listened to country rap before, and it is a disgrace to all country, so much so, that I will never listen to it again. This music makes me cringe so much.

    When people thought this was going to be the next big genre, I genuinely feared for the future of the music industry. This is the most annoying genre, and I never want to hear it being blasted from another pontoon boat again!

20. Dance

    

    Good dance music (EDM) is actually just as challenging, if not harder, to make than rock music. Yes, I like my rock and have an extremely wide knowledge of its history and culture, especially psychedelic rock. EDM is looked down upon by the older generation or by teenagers who think they were born in the wrong generation.

    For those of you who think EDM is a brand-new genre of music, you are wrong. A group called Kraftwerk produced one of the first electronic albums and were a huge success. Do you know why? Because the genre can produce limitless sub-genres due to the way it is made. Dance is one of the best genres of music, and for those of you who don't like it, give a listen to 808 State Pacific 202 and then come back.

21. Gangsta Rap

    

    Absolutely the worst type of noise that can come out of a speaker or someone's mouth. It seems like everyone who listens to it thinks they are some cool gangster who can harm families and disrespect everyone they don't like, and they are better than everyone else because they can spew out offensive words at everybody. How about they rank this pile of music in place number 2, right next to its brother. Bunch of irresponsible people grabbing their crotch because apparently that's the only way they can make a song.

    I don't think anyone actually likes rap or hip-hop so much that they get goosebumps listening to it. Rap and hip-hop are just disguises for one's personality to fit into their group.

22. Bollywood

    

    I don't understand how people in India have the courage to even call Bollywood a music industry. Seriously? It seems like a talent-less bunch saying "Your eyes, your face, our love, our marriage" over and over again in every song. Plus, there's no production quality at all. Everything is borrowed from other international music. Bollywood is just commercial marketing noise which is sold off as music to a billion people with no taste and no clue as to what real music is.

    And then there's some random so-called "rapper" who occasionally chips in to "rap," which always consists of "Get on the floor, yeah, groove it, yeah, yo, yo, move it." Ninety-nine point nine percent of the songs are like that.

    Damn, how can this be at number 3? Vote this up, people!

23. Black Metal

    

    Black metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1980s. It is characterized by fast tempos, shrieking vocals, and raw recording quality. The second wave of black metal, which originated in Norway, gained international attention for both its music and controversies.

    I do like plenty of metal genres, but I can't get into BM. It's constant blast beats and unintelligible screams. I like deathcore, metalcore, funk metal, alt metal, heavy metal, hardcore punk, nu metal, hair metal, groove metal, etc. I can't do black metal.

    Plus, the whole look and church burning thing seems to be leaning so hard into the we're so tough and evil aesthetic that it comes off as super cringe.

    The Reasons Why I Hate Black Metal (2nd Movement)

    1. It's repetitive. The guitar riff in one song sounds exactly the same as the riff in another song. The same goes for the drums.

    2. Guitar. The musicians either tremolo-pick throughout the song or simply strum two power chords followed by three simple notes all the time. Solos are nonexistent in the genre.

    3. Bass. Do these bands even have bassists?

    4. Drums. Nothing special here, just blast beats (which do require some talent, but once you learn them, they're easy) and double bass drumming.

    5. Vocals. This is one area where Black Metal excels, but the vocals are often incomprehensible and sometimes even disgusting.

    6. Lyrics. This is another area where Black Metal shines. However, I personally don't care about the lyrics. What's the point if you can't even understand them?

    7. It's overrated as a metal sub-genre.

    8. Most of the fanbase for this genre consists of naive teenagers who think they're cool simply because they listen to Black Metal and worship Satan.

    9. Most of the musicians in this genre are poser Satanists. They wouldn't even harm an ant, although they write lyrics about Satan and goat sacrifices, among other things.

24. Trap Music

    

    I don't like to criticize music, as I'm a musician, and the music I listen to isn't mainstream. It's mainly underground. However, these are the reasons I dislike, nay, detest this genre. It's a lousy excuse for music. It's a genre full of beats that all sound the same, with lyrics glorifying sex and drugs and autotuned vocals. Ninety percent of the artists can't sing to save their lives.

    It takes little to absolutely no talent to produce this "music," and the lyrics are nonsensical jargon that revolve around money, fame, sex, and drugs. Artists such as Cardi B prove this. This genre needs to die, and it needs to die quickly.

    Trap is rap's horrible cousin. The lyrics for trap music are embarrassingly bad, and all I hear throughout the "song" is hi-hats that pierce your eardrums.

    Easily the worst genre I've ever listened to.

25. R&B

    

    There's no denying that this is the worst genre. Now, don't get me wrong. Some R&B musicians are very talented, but the music they write is just crap.

    Justin Bieber, anyone?

    I would rather listen to whiny emo music than to this corny, horny R&B piece.

    And who put metal at 13? What?

    If you ask me, it's R&B in first place, then pop. Both are complete disgraces to music. They are only liked by people with no musical sense because that's what mainstream media show, so they think it's good. It's just a pile of garbage. Just kill this genre already!

    Rihanna produces pop, and honestly decent pop, which is more than I can say about most pop artists these days. But yeah, the new Chris Brown song, and Don't Tell 'Em? That song is terrible. REAL R&B is TLC, Destiny's Child, older Beyoncé songs, and R. Kelly.

    So listen to that, and you will know what was good. Also, Alicia Keys. The '90s and the early 2000s (2000 to 2009) were the best times for R&B.

26. National Socialist Black Metal

    

    Some can be good, but the lyrical themes aren't good. If you're easily offended, avoid it. If you don't care, then rummage through Metal Archives for the few good ones.

    These people have absolutely no talent, so they make up for it by attracting neo-Nazis.

    I think this and Communist Black Metal are the reasons why BM gets a bad reputation.

27. Techno

    

    Techno is a soulless genre of electronic music. There's no emotion, creativity, or expression in the music. It's a monotonous, repetitive beat with no depth or substance. The lyrics, if there are any, are generic and meaningless.

    It's music for the sake of it, without any real passion or meaning. It's the equivalent of a computer algorithm pumping out generic, boring, formulaic crap. Techno is the musical equivalent of white bread.

    It is SO EASY to make crappy music on your computer. There are a few good songs, but not many. I haven't found many that I like, and my friend, who is obsessed with this genre, suggests songs all the time to get me interested in it. I've only liked around five out of maybe 200 songs because he started showing me songs two years ago. We agreed to trade each other one song every Friday, him trying to get me into Techno, and me trying to get him into punk. He likes punk now, more than I like Techno, but not by much.

    You should try this with your friends because it is really fun. The idea found its way to my principal, who started a club where you suggest a song by writing the name, artist, and genre on a paper (genre on the back), then folding it and putting it in a glass bowl (very Hunger Games-like except not as terrifying of an experience). The bowls are labeled by genre, and you pick a song from one of the bowls. You would have been required previously to include it in a list of music you want to understand more or don't like but are considering giving a chance.

    I used to generalize and hate electronic, techno, and dubstep, but now I have a few songs in those genres, so this truly helps, at least a little.