What music do you have expert knowledge of?

[The Original An Gadaí]

We were discussing in chat the idea of doing short articles on various types of music and I was wondering if anyone here feels they have sufficient knowledge of a particular country's music/genre/era that they would be willing to write a short article about. I can definitely write about Irish music, and could probably write on a couple of genres at a stretch. It would be cool if say an Australian or other non-American poster wrote about their country's music or a genre popular in their part of the world. This isn't to exclude Americans though!

[Zuul]

I'm not an expert on any particular country's music or any one genre, I'm afraid. There are particular bands or artists I know a lot about (David Bowie comes to mind), but my interests have always been very ADD, so I don't touch on enough of any one genre to really absorb much beyond stuff on the artists I like.

[Cluricaun]

Heavy metal, especially the more extreme offshoots of black and death (and blackened death, ROAR!) which is pretty commonly found in lots of the western world. I also know a fair bit about hardcore punk, especially the early days of say 1979-1987.

[hatesfreedom]

your mom

[What Exit?]

Very specifically, I am not an expert but know a lot about Yes, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and CSN. I am pretty good on Pete Seeger too.

However, you should PM this to Wordman, what he knows about music is amazing.

[The Original An Gadaí]

Well we could even just do "A Mellophant's Guide to Led Zep" etc. depending on one's expertise. A primer on their best works and most notable things about them. I shall pm Wordman. Thanks.

[Hatshepsut]

I'm not a great player, but I know a whole lot about Javanese gamelan - much more than enough for a short introductory article. I'm not sure anyone would be interested, although I'd do my best to focus on what is intriguing about it from a Western musical perspective. So many of the basic assumptions about what music is are challenged by the way that gamelan works.

[5er]

I'm deeply embarrassed to admit that I know way too much about contemporary composers of symphonic wind ensemble pieces, such as Jerry Bilik, Francis MacBeth, John Barnes Chance, Claude T. Smith, and Mark Hindsley. God help me, I've even met three of them, and I know cursory biographies of all of them. Oh god, I'm such a band geek. I will now die of utter humiliation.

[Taumpy]

I wouldn't call myself an expert on anything, but I do have a lot of general popular music knowledge and like others have said a few bands that I know a lot about. (their music at least, I've never been all that interested in a band/artists' backstory or biographies.)

[tunaman]

I used to know a lot about classical music, because it was what I first listened to as a kid, and was what I listened to between "genre hopping" as a teen and young adult. I used to be able to recognize almost any piece of classical music with a ten second sound clip - I could even tell the Bachs apart - but I've forgotten it all.

I suppose I could write an article about New Wave, although it would be heavy on New Romantic and early post-punk UK bands.