Wizard rock is a type of novelty rock music themed around the Harry Potter franchise. The music was largely prevalent in the United States in the early 2000s. Wizard rock initially started in Massachusetts with Harry and the Potters, though it has grown internationally.
The Parselmouths, a wizard rock band consisting of Brittany Vahlberg and Kristina Horner, perform during Wrockstock in 2007, displaying the Harry Potter-themed costumes common within the genre.
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody, especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs.
A poster for "K-K-K-Katy," a popular novelty song released in 1918
Charlotte Greenwood, "Oh By Jingo!" (1919)
"The Sheik of Araby" (1921)