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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Life isn't divided into genres. It's a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky."''
|'''[[Alan Moore]]'''}}
As it's hard enough to write well in ''one'' genre,
Musical
When applied to
{{examples
* The ''[[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel Saga]]'' anime played this with pretty much every episode being a parody of a certain genre. Everything from War Movies, to Dating Sims, to Sports, to Variety Shows to Post-Apocalyptic is given a once over.
▲== Anime & Manga ==
*
* ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. As a whole though, you can probably put it into [[Magical Realism]], though every piece has its own defined genre.
* ''[[
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* ''[[Brigadoon Marin and Melan]]'' is a sci-fi adventure drama, but it's also a middle-school [[Slice of Life]] show, a comedy with occasional parodic elements, and a teen romance. One minute you're in the middle of a serious political discussion at an alien council, and the next minute, the aliens are trying to settle their dispute with a pie fight. Serious [[Mood Whiplash]] may result.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' switches between distinct styles from episode to episode. One episode may focus on character drama, whereas the next may be written as a harem comedy, and then episodes that focus almost solely on giant mecha combat.
* ''[[
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' seamlessly combines the [[Space Western]], [[Film Noir]] and [[Yakuza]] genres, among others.
==
* [[Grant Morrison]]'s ''[[Seven Soldiers]]'' does this deliberately with each of the miniseries exhibiting the traits of a particular style of comic genre.
** ''The Return of Bruce Wayne'' and ''Multiversity'' are also set up the same way with each issue being a different genre based on the setting (time in RoBW and the worlds in Multiversity).
* Played with a bit in [[Ronin (
* ''[[Frank and Ernest]]'' lands in a lot of different situations.▼
* [[Aquaman]] can be this at times, while most of the iconic DC heroes have their own niche, Aquaman is constantly reinvented. At one point he went from warrior king, to exiled [[Barbarian Hero]], to [[Messianic Archetype]], to Street Level Crimefighter, to {{spoiler|mentor to}} a [[Heroic Fantasy]]-inspired [[Legacy Character]] in the span of ''30 issues''.
== [[Film]] ==
* ''God Told Me To''. What genre it thinks it is depends on what scene it happens to be.
* ''[[Man of the Year]]'' does this, shifting between comedy, thriller, drama, and mystery all the time.
* ''[[Xtro]]'', which constantly jumps all over the place.
* ''[[Brotherhood of the Wolf]]'' is a mystery, martial arts film, monster horror film, drawing room drama, spy film and historical epic depending on the scene.
* ''[[Save The Green Planet]]'' has some regular [[Mood Whiplash]], from slapstick comedy to creepy psychological horror, with the odd martial arts scene thrown in.
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[
** Pynchon does this a lot. It's even more blatant in ''Against the Day''.
* ''[[Naked Lunch]]'': [[Science Fiction]], an undercover look at drug culture, raunchy porn, biting social satire, and some hard boiled noir thrown in for good measure.
* ''[[House of Leaves]]'' is horror. No, wait, it's a satire on literary criticism. No, wait, it's incomprehensible [[True Art]]. No, wait, it's a love story...
* ''[[Cloud Atlas]]'', which skips between genres with merry abandon.
== [[Live
* One episode of ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' keeps flipping between genres, as [[Lampshaded]] by the captions:
{{quote|
THE CLASSIC SERIAL HAS NOW BECOME THE TUESDAY DOCUMENTARY
THE TUESDAY DOCUMENTARY HAS BECOME "CHILDREN'S STORY"
THE CHILDREN'S STORY HAS GONE BACK INTO THE TUESDAY DOCUMENTARY
NO IT HASN'T
NOW IT'S BECOME A PARTY POLITICAL BROADCAST
NO, SORRY, "RELIGION TODAY" }}
* ''[[
** As showrunner [[Fan Nickname|The Grand]] [[Steven Moffat|Moff]] put it: "Sometimes it's comedy, sometimes thriller, sometimes horror, sometimes children's stories, the silliest stories you've ever seen. Sometimes it's all that in the same episode". In Series Five alone we had a thriller, a dystopian rebellion, historical sci-fi with Churchill, a horror-adventure, a comedy romp with vampires, a [[Dream Within a Dream]] mystery, a political intrigue with reptile people, [[A Very Special Episode]] about Vincent Van Gogh and depression, a comedy, and a [[Wham! Episode|finale]].
** Season 6 had a conspiracy thriller, madcap pirate romp, a fantasy laden with horrors, a sinister clone saga, a [[Deconstruction]], an assassination plot, a horrifying episode about dolls, a romantic drama, a [["What Do They Fear?" Episode]], a buddy comedy and a ''wedding''!
* ''[[
* ''[[Super Sentai]]'', and by association ''[[Power Rangers]]'' in its yearly theming, in addition to its [[Toku]] base genre. This also applies with the ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' series as well. Episodes can run this line in all these series.
== [[Music]] ==
* In [[Bjork|Björk]]'s 1995 album, ''Post'', she switches from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KxtgS2lU94 Industrial Rock], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGpLMNnhLFo Dance], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htobTBlCvUU Jazz], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP5OA0SCMZA Trip Hop], [[Chamber Pop]], [[Ambient]], and [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly|other]] [[Genre Busting|genres]].
* Canadian indie band Islands' debut album ''Return to the Sea'' featured a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq3-98XJCfw ten minute epic], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoRmTMjksfM synthpop], [http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=mqIHptgTam0 catchy indie-pop] and a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCxadMtJcIA rap interlude].
* [[Five Iron Frenzy]]'s album ''All the Hype that Money Can Buy'' switches between ska-punk, ska-salsa, ska-hip-hop, ska-synth-rock, and ska-[[Hair Metal]].
** And they do an even better (albeit bizzare) example at the end of the ''Quantity is Job One'' EP, with These Are Not My Pants: The Rock Opera, where every one of 8 band members sings a part, each in a different musical style. Latin, Piano ballad, Country, Rock, Jazz, Reggae, Rap, and something only described as "Weird" are all covered.
* [[The Dingees]] play [[The Clash|Clash]]-inspired punk, roots reggae, and first-wave ska songs on their first three albums.
* The band WHY? switch between alternative hip-hop, indie rock, folk, R.E.M.-inspired jangle pop and bizarre combinations of these genres. Their 2008 album ''Alopecia'' for instance, wobbled in between the band's various genres. Compare the first single, alternative rap song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ikWDmCatKA A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under]" to the third single, indie rock song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BQfC78Q4g Fatalist Palmistry]". The second single from the album, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqcckeKtSU4 The Hollows]", is somewhat of a meeting point between the band's two main genres.
* ''Peergynt Lobogris'' switches between ambient rock, new age and jazz music.
* [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles' White Album]] switches from Surf Rock, to Acoustic, to Ska, to random banging on a piano, to [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly|Bluesy Doo-Wop Hard Rock]] to Pop to Folk to Country to Hard Rock to Proto-Metal to Blues to Avant-Garde to ballad.
** The Beatles in general did this a lot over the course of their career.
* Played with by [[Reel Big Fish]] on ''Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album'' with [[Exactly What It Says
** Also their song "Party Down" contains ska, disco, death metal, dance, reggae, and country breakdowns, all over a basic garage rock and horns structure.
* [[X Japan]]. Heavy metal and hard rock with more than a pinch of punk sensibility becomes symphonic metal becomes beautiful rock ballads AND progressive rock with a metal sound. They're all over the map and bring the same level of skill to all of it.
* [[Ween]].
* [[Beck (
* [[Frank Zappa]] played numerous genres throughout his career: rock, progressive rock, jazz, fusion, classical, experimental... the list goes on and on.
* [[Amanda Palmer]] made a career out of this. Compare her songs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWZu6NWJkHw Guitar Hero], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWSLJszH70o A Campaign Of Shock And Awe], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvSuLUd0vS0 Mandy Goes To Med School], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKwLtzAvYSg Slide], and her cover of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek5ZNgw8Vdk Creep]. She's also covered songs by/from Black Sabbath, Kurt Weill (in German), Britney Spears, Sonny & Cher, ''The Sound Of Music'', ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'', Tchaikovsky and Rihanna.
* [[Linkin Park|Linkin Park's]] ''[[New Sound Album|Minutes to Midnight]]'' switches from [[Alternative Metal|cathartic alt-metal]] to synth-tinged adult contemporary ballads with a [[Political Rap
* Scissor Shock. What makes this even more awesome is that all of those genres are [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly]].
* S.C.I.E.N.C.E. album era [[Incubus (
* [[David Bowie]] is made of this trope.
* As is [[Bob Dylan]].
* This could be said of many of [[Radiohead]]'s albums, but ''Amnesiac'' fits this trope particularly well. Its tracks include the gloomy jazz of "Life in a Glasshouse," the twitchy electronic "Like Spinning Plates," the relatively straightforward rock of "Knives Out," and the indescribable "Pyramid Song."
* [[Elton John]] was known for this at the height of his popularity; ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' alone switches from melodic piano ballads (the title track) to minimalistic glam-rock ("Bennie And The Jets") to Stonesy rockers ("Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting") to [[The Beatles (band)|Beatle-esque]] numbers ("Harmony") to soft rock ("Candle In The Wind") to reggae ("Jamaica Jerk-Off") to boogie blues-rock ("Dirty Little Girl") to progressive rock ("Funeral For A Friend") to proto-disco-soul ("Grey Seal") to pseudo-doo-wop ("Your Sister Can't Twist [But She Can Rock 'N Roll]") to country ("Roy Rogers"; "Social Disease") to '20's jazz ("Sweet Painted Lady") to cinematic pieces like "The Ballad Of Danny Bailey" and the [[Exactly What It Says
* Suicide Machines go back and forth from ska punk and ska-core (Destruction by Definition, Battle Hymns) to pop punk (Suicide Machines, Steal This Record) and back to a mix of hardcore and ska punk for their last two albums (A Match and some Gasoline, War Profiteering is Killing Us All), sometimes switching back and forth from ska to hardcore every other song.
* ''[[
* [[Yoko Kanno]], <s>queen</s> goddess of anime soundtracks, can write ''anything''. Compare the classic orchestral soundtrack for ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' to the power-ballad-laden ''[[
* Iwrestledabearonce.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2zyeVRcbs Hey], [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=miley+cyrus+party+in+the+usa&aq=0 let's] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVbQxC2c3-8 fling] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JppKPPdlEy8&feature=fvst a little] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HoRTgkI3y4 Disney] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVKCOsCN60A&feature=fvst Channel] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr0Wv5DJhuk fuel] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJDC3Gg-F8w to] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RSlhNJFohI the fire], [[Miley Cyrus|shall we]]?!
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzE1mX4Px0I&ob=av2e Why] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dADaxOsjQQ&ob=av3n not] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgT_us6AsDg&ob=av3e add] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfcvO2t8Ntg just] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A6-etrlUQc a dash more] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_YR4dKArgo&ob=av2e Disney Channel] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c2ahBlTPz0&feature=fvsr fuel], [[Selena Gomez
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_8ydghbGSg&ob=av2e Sure], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjNWmIAnHBs why] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIDWjilzuSw not]? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eAMDZQSfo4 Adding] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n9vOV_PF_Y Disney] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZtUA9_ID0U Channel] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJXJ5rzcHVQ&ob=av2e fuel] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n9vOV_PF_Y is] [[Demi Lovato|fun]]!
* Dir en grey. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_llwjp60XE 'Nuff] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7IXmV6A6Bk said].
* In contrast with Mr. Bungle's straight out [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly]], [[Mike Patton]]'s other 90's band [[Faith No More]] were a bit more into genre roulette, especially starting with ''Angeldust''. For instance, ''King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime'' had a few of their heaviest songs, but also threw in country ("Take This Bottle"), seventies style funk/soul ("Evidence", "Star AD"), breezy Latin-flavored pop ("Caralho Voador"), and even a gospel ballad ("Just A Man").
* Cursor Miner's styles are all over the map, jumping between breakbeat, techno, electro, synthpop, IDM, trip-hop, and even industrial.
* The only genre that will definitely be on a [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] album is polka, and it'll probably be a medley; the others can be just about anything. Given that he's a prolific parody artist, this shouldn't be too surprising, but his band can play ''any'' genre well.
* [[The Clash]], especially the album ''Sandinista!'', tend to switch between genres all the time. ''Sandinista!'' contains the first ever rap song released by a rock band, as well as songs influenced by dub, reggae, and funk, a song with a children's choir, and a song with elements of twee pop. To consider them just a punk band is hardly fair.
* [[
** Also [[Ayreon]], in the same vein.
* [[Enter Shikari]] in general, but most notably on their second album ''Common Dreads''.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYa_Un5DrDg ''The Jester''] takes this [[Up to Eleven]] by switching between trumpet solos, the band's standard synthesizer-heavy post hardcore and a trance instrumental.
* Japanese [[Black Metal]] band [[Sigh]] does this a lot, frequently within the same song. It's particularly blatant on ''Imaginary Sonicscape'', where there are oddities like disco and dub reggae breaks thrown into the middle of almost every song. Not to mention the obligatory classical snippet overlaid with what appears to be several hundred samples of giggling babies that closes the album. Of course, Sigh frequently invoke [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly]] as well. It's difficult to define exactly where their use of one trope ends and the other begins.
* [[Queen]] went from hard glam rock to pop to funk to '30's swing to power ballads to skiffle-folk to [[Progressive Rock]] over the course of an album. Or over the course of one album side.
** Queen's first few albums were fairly straightforward, fusing elements of [[Progressive Rock]] and [[
** Queen's most famous hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a Genre Roulette all by itself. There are five very distinct portions, including at one point going from a slow ballad ("Mama...just killed a man") to an up-tempo ''operetta'' ("I see a little silhouetto of a man") to a powerful hard rock piece ("So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye!")
* [[Kyle Dennis]]: [[Harsh Noise]], industrial, rock, tape music, experimental, drone, even mixtapes.
* [[Gackt]] is a rock artist, but what genre of music is going to be on his albums and singles is random at best. Some songs such as Cube, Oasis, Uncertain Memory and Secret Garden don't even resemble any discernible genre. Songs like these are simply referred to by fans as "Gackt rock".
* [[Christian Rock]] performer Carman did this constantly during his career. Pop, rock, rap, something vaguely like folk, adult contemporary, a pastiche of '50s rock and roll, and his famous rhyming sermons put to music. He often recorded with guest performers, and even then he might defy the genre they are typically known for; for example, "Our Turn Now" features then-metal band [[Petra]] but is the kind of rap-rock that [[DC Talk]] would eventually be known for.
* [[Drake]] does a mild version of this in his albums. He usually has typical [[Boastful Rap]] songs, but occasionally does pop/R&B ballad-type songs, such as "I Get Lonely Too" and "Find Your Love". In fact, one of the things he is praised (or criticized) for is his ability to switch from boastful raps to self-examining ballads.
* Conor Oberst ([[The Face of the Band|face]] of [[Bright Eyes]]) exhibits this tendency with his [[Side Project
* Ulver IS this trope - They began as a mix of atmospheric black metal and folk metal and then went dark folk and then a harsher, more lo-fi black metal. On their 4th album they became practically industrial metal and on their 5th they became a mix of trip hop, ambient and breakcore. They now have gone towards a general experimental rock style.
* DJ Shadow's early works were heavily trip-hop influenced while his last album encompasses indie rock and 'hyphy' influences.
* [[Guniw Tools]] jump from jazz-rock to folk to punk to electronic music on several of their albums
* [[The Veronicas]] went from single acoustic rock pop (Heavily Broken) to RNB-Eletronic-Faux-Rap (Cold) in three albums.
** Two albums in and have done pop, pop-rock, pop eletronic, dance pop, classical pop, 80's inspired pop and RNB.
* [[Britney Spears]] and her album ''Circus'' is a mix tape as such and an example of this.
* Amorphis has run the gamut from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbUHOLnpFyU&feature=related straightforward Death Metal], to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNNQE1c9mxU a more melancholy Death/Doom style], to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=adfaixBsbZE Alternative Rock], to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qjiWb1O_L4&ob=av3e Gothic Metal], to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bbVelwUkDY vaguely Opeth-ish Progressive Death Metal], and even [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUbk1Kp8xGc&feature=relmfu acoustic ballads].
* [[Skinny Puppy]]'s ''hanDover'' runs the gamut from straight industrial(Vyrisus) to industrial metal(Village) to EBM(Icktums) to IDM(Ovirt) to ''breakcore''(NoiseX).
* Amy Grant has also had
* [[Sound Horizon]] is, in theory, a [[Symphonic Metal]] band. In ''theory''. The fact that [[The Other Wiki]] has them listed under nine genres should tell you something about how they work.
* [[Vanessa Amorosi]]: "Somewhere In The Real World" was a jazz (Something Emotional), rock (Kiss Your Mama!), pop (Perfect), swing (My House) and contemporary (Who Am I?) album...to say the least.
* The [[
{{quote|
* [[Vanilla Ice]]'s music has elements of [[Nu
* Crotchduster embodies this to the max. They switch between Power Metal, Death Metal, Grindcore, Synth-Pop, Comedy, Electronic, self made audio samples, Classic Rock, Blues, Jazz, A Cappella, etc. etc. You name it, they've used it at some point. And they only have ONE. FUCKING. ALBUM.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
▲* ''[[Frank and Ernest]]'' lands in a lot of different situations.
== [[Toys]] ==
* ''[[Bionicle]]'''s exact genre depends on which comic/book/on-line serial you read or which animation/movie you watch. Its tone also shifts from kid-friendly fables that teach [[An Aesop]] at the end to [[What Do You Mean
==
* ''[[
* ''[[The Dreamer]]'' jumps from historical fiction to YA lit in a matter of pages.
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' tends to change its genre with every [[Story Arc]]. Compare the fantasy epic shown in [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/weekly/041120 these] strips from 2004, to [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/weekly/050618 this] [[
* ''[[Rusty and Co
* ''[[Pibgorn]]'': [http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2011/04/27/ In Drusilla's dream sequences.]
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' switches between a samurai movie, a spaghetti western, then a buddy comedy, silent movie slapstick, horror, crime drama, ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Genres]]
[[Category:Genre Roulette]]
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