Noise is a genre of music that does away with conventional melody, rhythm, and song structure, replacing them with any other form of noise.

Noise music, despite its seemingly simple premise, can take on many forms. It can range from relaxing ambient audio (white noise) to noise that is so extreme it can be physically painful to listen to (harsh noise).

One well-known example is the composition “4'33"” by John Cage, in which the performers play nothing for (you guessed it) four minutes and 33 seconds, with the idea being that the sounds made by the audience during that time are the contents of the piece.

Noise music has also appeared in various forms of rock music. Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music consists of an hour of harsh guitar feedback, and is another infamous example of noise music. Industrial music in particular has made heavy use noise throughout its history, as has noise rock. The Japanese noise scene (sometimes known as “Japanoise”) is also worth mentioning, featuring noise artists like Merzbow, Hanatarash, and Keiji Haino.

Artists:

• John Cage
• Merzbow
• Lou Reed