Next, I wanted to know the most common genres associated with a band. For example, is Fall Out Boy mostly associated with emo or punk?

First, I scoured the Internet for genres, finding over 100 words with roots in punk such as "emo," "2 tone," and "new wave."

Many of these words are falling out of use. “Riot Grrrl” denotes an underground feminist movement in hardcore punk during the early 90s, but only 2 playlists exist for Riot Grrrl on Spotify. “Cowpunk” was coined to denote country + punk fusion. But it’s very difficult to find in modern usage.

I focused on punk-related genres with at least 500 playlists across Spotify and YouTube. This narrowed down the genre list to 22 words that are still used today and understood colloquially.

Etymology

Genres have varying definitions because they have evolved over decades.

“Emo” has changed from emotional-core to emocore to emo (and now other derivatives, such as screamo). That’s 25 years for the label to be rejected, embraced, and reshaped by both bands and fans.

In the US during the late 70s, the record industry insisted that the punk scene be rebranded as “new wave” – punk had negative connotations with drugs and violence, which potentially meant weaker sales. There’s nothing intrinsically “new wave” about The Cure (the most common band on “new wave” playlists), except a contrived marketing campaign.

This all makes a band’s “genre” classification liable to shift over time. Is the Talking Heads new wave or punk? Is Fall Out Boy pop-punk or emo? It depends on what era’s definition you’re using.

What is Punk?

Fall Out Boy In 2015, the data suggests that Fall Out Boy’s genre is a spectrum of emo, punk, and pop-punk. It also suggests that the lines among these genres are blurring. It’s evolution, and in 20 years we’ll likely look back at Fall Out Boy as a pillar of the genre, relative to whatever the kids are calling “punk music” in 2035.

Bring Me The Horizon There’s even more genre-blurring with Bring Me The Horizon. They appear more often on post-hardcore, metalcore, and screamo playlists than any other band. That’s three, seemingly distinct genres.

Fugazi Fugazi appears more often on “punk” and “hardcore” playlists than “post-hardcore,” the genre that they arguably defined. Unlike post-punk, post-hardcore’s identity has evolved to contemporary bands.

No Doubt No Doubt , once a breakthrough success for ska punk in the 90s, is barely referenced on punk playlists today.