“How do you determine what Steampunk music is?”
What is Steampunk music? Obviously it’s a genre, some consider it to be a fine and intricate art. Like any culture, Steampunk has it’s own unique sound… But what is it really?
The music that represents steampunk is very different, it isn’t your typical dance tune that comes on the radio these days. In fact, if you hear steampunk on the radio, I’m going to be kind of shocked. Steampunk music is like a machine. There are so many gears and patterns to it… but unlike other sounds and genres, it really doesn’t follow any rules.
Rules in music? Am I crazy? Well, what I mean is different types of music kind of have a reputation to them, if that makes sense. You’re just not going to hear Drake start singing in a classical music piece, and I’m certain that you aren’t going to hear a piano ballad labelled under “Hip Hop”. How does this apply to steampunk music? The thing about this genre is because it’s quite new and not very large, (it started rising in the music world in 2003) it hasn’t really found its place in the musical world yet. It’s all over the place, some songs considered steampunk are soft and have digital elements on their own, others have pieces of piano and loud clunky segments. Some contain lyrics, some do not. Overall, not one piece I found was alike to another at all. This made it hard to justify the steampunk music’s reputation, but then I researched more about different steampunk bands, and oh, are there a lot, and I’ll definitely fill you in on a few of my favourites.
The first song I found didn’t really stick out sounding wise, but if you watch the BEAUTIFUL music video, you’ll understand why it’s considered steampunk. In all honesty, it just sounded like rock to me, but watch it anyways!
The next example is all around steampunk. From the instruments to the costumes on stage, this band is the definition of steampunk music. It also gives off an Indian vibe, which makes me curious to find out if steampunk has any source of Indian history attached to it, or if it’s just the music itself. Click here to watch!
My last example of steampunk music is something that’s a little more punk. This song is more intense, loud and I thought because steampunk has the word punk itself in it, that this would be an interesting thing to add in as well. Listen here.
My creative representative was originally supposed to be my own steampunk song, unfortunately the materials needed to create this had some technical difficulties so I had to switch up last minute! I ended up designing and painting my own album cover, I named the pretend band “GEARS” because obviously it fit the whole machine and gears aspect of steampunk. You can see that the guitar was attempted to be “steampunked”, I painted gears on it and made them gold. You can also see the two little steam spouts on top of the piano, I added that in for the steam aspect.
I hope you enjoyed learning about steampunk music! I myself love music and all its origins, so this was a fun mini project.
Until next time!
xoxo, my pretty blog 🙂