One huge difference between Mexican and American music is the cultural ramification. American music is an aggregate of many diverse cultures because America is a hodgepodge of different ethnic cultures. Mexican music is more homogenous in its cultural makeup because the majority of Mexican population extends from the same cultural roots.
The most noticeable difference between Mexican and American music is the instrumentation. The accordion is a prominent instrument in Mexican music, but the most significant instrument in American music is the guitar.
The first genre of American popular music was minstrelsy, the mutation of slave songs into formal entertainment for the stage. The first genre of Mexican popular music is the son. A son is a ballad that emerged in 17th century Mexico. Its origins are Spanish, and its lyrics convey sentiments of love and rural life.
In Mexico, banda is brass, instrument-based music that emerged in the mid-1800s. Since then, it has developed into a genre of contemporary popular music. Unlike Mexican music, the electric band sound is the basis of contemporary American popular music.
The cannon of American folk music includes many songs from the Appalachia Mountains. These songs are very reminiscent of Irish and Scottish folk melodies because Appalachia was heavily populated with Irish and Scottish settlers. Mexican folk music is reminiscent of German folk music because German settlers introduced the accordion and the polka to Northern Mexico in the 1800s.
Rap music dominates contemporary American popular music. The topics of rap songs include love, struggle and violence. Narcocorridos is a genre of Mexican popular songs which also examines love, struggle and violence. Unlike rap songs, narcocorridos are ballads that are sung.