Electronic Music Genres: A Guide to the Most Influential Styles

Electronic Music Genres: A Guide to the Most Influential Styles Discover some of the many types of electronic music and how they've shaped contemporary music.

By

Bryan Parys and Aaron Trumm

April 11, 2025

Image by Kelly Davidson

With few exceptions, nearly all the acts topping the charts today are electronic in some way. The reasons are multifaceted-technical, cultural, financial, and logistical-but one thing is clear: understanding modern music means understanding electronic music.

In this guide, we explore the seemingly endless world of electronic music genres, tracing their evolution from the late 1960s to the present.

What Is Electronic Music?Although most music today incorporates some electronic elements, here we'll define electronic music as any music primarily created, modified, or performed using electronic instruments and technology-such as synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, and computers-rather than traditional instruments like guitar, drums, and bass.

There are many reasons electronic music has become so important, but two stand out above others: its accessibility to almost anyone and the use of nontraditional tools that enable the creation of sounds previously unimaginable.

Its important to note that by these definitions, hip-hop is a form of electronic music, given the innovative ways that Black communities across the country combined new technology with rap. Even so, hip-hops rich cultural history and continued popularity deserve its own guide, and thus outside the scope of this article.

The Technology that Made Hip-Hop

Read a short history of hip-hop via the gear thats defined its 50+ years of innovation. First, let's look at a brief history, which will help put the long list of genres in context.

A Brief History of Electronic MusicServing as a cultural bridge, Wendy Carlos's 1968 debut album Switched-On Bach-a series of works by Bach played on a Moog synthesizer-ranked high on both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Classical Albums charts, which played a prominent role in bringing the synthesizer into the popular consciousness.

Listen to a Moog synth trio pay homage to the trailblazing trans composer Wendy Carlos:

By the 1970s, synthesizers and consumer audio equipment such as turntables and cassette recorders allowed both mainstream and grassroots music innovators to explore new sounds. This DIY ethos gave rise to both hip-hop and what we now recognize as electronic music, as artists from diverse scenes built upon their influences, blending different cultures to invent new genres.

Pioneers such as Kraftwerk and Brian Eno continued to shape the genre. When the disco boom hit, it brought together these earlier more experimental influences with dance music. In 1977, Donna Summer released the disco smash hit I Feel Love, which featured the novel combination of a four-on-the-floor beat with all electronic instrumentation (in this case a Moog analog synth arranged by composer and synth apologist Giorgio Moroder), ultimately setting the stage for the creation of house and techno styles.

Meanwhile, club scenes-often within queer circles-in cities such as New York, Detroit, Chicago, and Berlin evolved alongside music festivals and rave culture, fostering music with near-infinite nuance.

Driven by deep regional pride and endlessly inventive producers trying to stand out, electronic music has grown to be as wide and deep as jazz and as revolutionary as rock.

14 of the Most Influential Types of Electronic MusicStudy Music Production at Berklee

Develop skills in hybrid recording, sound design, electronic production, live performance, and more. Electronic music is really an umbrella term-it encompasses a technological craft, a cultural movement, and an ever-evolving art form. In our globally connected world, the lines between genres and traditions are often blurry, leaving plenty of room for overlap. Lets explore 14 different types of electronic music you should know, arranged in more or less chronological order:

AmbientAmbient emerged in the '70s, driven by advances in synthesizer tech and the pioneering work of artists like Brian Eno. Inspired by experimentalism, minimalism, and natural soundscapes, ambient music rejects conventional rhythm and melody in favor of creating sonic atmospheres. Think sustained tones and reverb-laden immersive soundscapes.

Underscore [traditional background music that supports primary elements] has a rich tradition, but what about foregrounding the sound of not-quite music? says Daedelus, an assistant professor in Berklees Electronic Production and Design Department (EPD). Ambient often lacks tempo, key, or even beginnings and endings, challenging our traditional ideas of listening.

Listen to 1/1 (1978) from Brian Enos formative album Ambient 1: Music for Airports:

House120-150 BPM | 4/4 time

Musics Queer Roots

Read about how queer artists like Frankie Knuckles have shaped music history for centuries.

House music blends soulful vocals with drum-machine rhythms-a sound that emerged primarily within an underground and often queer culture. Emerging in Chicago during the 1980s, house became the soundtrack of underground dance culture, emphasizing freedom and inclusivity on the dancefloor. Pioneers like Chicagos Frankie Knuckles DJed at the Warehouse, an iconic venue and hub for queer Black men. Daedelus notes, Legend holds that Frankie Knuckles night at the Warehouse was so iconic that fans would flock to record stores asking for house music.'

Subgenres

Deep House: Smooth, jazzy chords with an emphasis on soulful melodies

Tech House: A fusion of house and techno with mechanical beats

Acid House: Characterized by squelchy bass lines created by the Roland TB-303

Listen to Baby Wants to Ride (1987), which features one of Frankie Knuckless signature grooves:

Techno120-150 BPM | 4/4 time

LINK:	https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/electronic-music-genres-a-gui...
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