Most people's taste in music...

[Guest NoCalMike]

Why is it, do you suppose, that most people's taste in music is so shallow these days?? I mean most people are dead set, whether it is rock/metal/rap/r&b/country etc..........is it just the fact that they need something to be "their" music? I consider myself pretty open and interested in a LOT of music, whether it is Death Metal by Cannibal Corpse, Dog-kickin', beer drinkin' wife beatin' country by Johnny Cash, Gangsta rap by death row records past, punk rock by The Dickies, etc.......To me if I like it, I like it, and am not bothered what genre it belongs to. What sets people so apart in their musical taste? Is it something taught, instilled in them from a young age? I guess that plays a part, but why aren't more people able to break away from such a one-dimensional taste in music?

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Because more and more people are looking for a musical identity. They're looking for that one style of music that makes them smile as they blast it over their speakers, whispering to themselves "now THIS is what I want to be about."

 

That's how it is with me and metal. I look around the world and see the hatred and the angst and the anger. I only need to go to school or walk down the street to be looked at and treated as a piece of shit. Fuck, when I had long hair (down to the middle of my chest, mind you), you know how many people called me a "faggot"? And it's in that anger, that pointless rage, that I identified with the Slayer's, the Megadeth's, the Metallica's, the Shadows Falls', and the Pantera's. I feel that, most of the time, I have no power in my life. And what is metal besides, as Phil Anselmo so greatly put it, "a vulgar display of power"?

 

Basically, people tend to be "narrow-minded" towards one specific type of music over others because they simply identify with it. I could actually go into an entire rant about how the class system works into musical taste, but nah. Too fucking tired and too fucking pissed off right now at certain people I once considered best friends.

 

Oh, and for the record, I don't think anybody is really as closed-minded as they might seem to be. Fuck, I have everything from Everclear, Michael Jackson, and Scatman John in my CD collection to Black Label Society, Eminem, The Misfits, and Six Feet Under.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

...why aren't more people able to break away from such a one-dimensional taste in music?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

People find something they like and stick with it till they get bored. I'm all for trying out new genres, but it's easy and not entirely unsatisfying to find something you like and focus strongly on that.

 

Some people do define themselves very largely by the kind of music they listen to and the sort of generic image that conveys, but I try to pretend that's a minority.

[Guest godthedog]

i freely admit to staying in my little musical cave of old rock and early 90s alternative music. i've tried dabbling in other stuff (jazz, classical, rap), but very little really speaks to me. most of it just isn't my bag. music is a very subjective thing, and in most other styles the music just goes right through me, i can't really register it like i can register rock music. there's some exceptions (miles davis, dr dre, beethoven), but by and large i just can't relate to it. i wish i could though, cause i'm running out of great rock music to discover.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Some people do define themselves very largely by the kind of music they listen to and the sort of generic image that conveys, but I try to pretend that's a minority.

That, in itself, is sad but true.

 

There's such a ridiculous air of superficiality permeating all of music - the performers, the marketers, the consumers - that it doesn't even seem like an art on the mainstream level anymore.

 

And, at least in my case, it's additionally frustrating that this attitude in mainstream music seems to have taken the magic out of contemporary music.

 

There's such a large variety of genres and tastes now, and, to some extent, almost ALL of them are suffering from hangovers from their previous ground-breaking days of glory. Rock, Jazz, Bubble Gum, Gangsta Rap, Metal, Punk - everything seems to be so homogenized, so intentionally sterile to increase record sales, that there doesn't even seem to be a sense of adventure sometimes.

 

It's a deadly cycle. The consumers don't want anything else, so why should the record companies and performers want to try something new? You used to be able to do it for the love of music, but I'm not really sure that's an honest answer for anyone anymore. For every kid that remembers the first time he heard John Lennon sing "we all want to change the world", there's at least a hundred kids who see their artist's fat crib on MTV, with dollar signs bling-blingin' in their eyes.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

If I had to pigeonhole myself into one genre, it'd be the obvious techno genre. It's the one that I can "feel" the most of the many genres I listen to, with what I like to call "cerebral rock" coming a close second. The latter genre includes Radiohead, Clinic, etc.

 

I just can't get the same feeling from other music (sans you-know-who) that I get from techno. Still, I have very wide musical horizons as far as genre diversity goes, but the only one I actually possess something resembling deep knowledge with would be techno and MAYBE pop.

 

EDIT: I should also note that liking techno actually frees you from the record label dictatorships we rail against so much, as almost all of it is released on independent labels, with only a couple of exceptions (Oakenfold, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk).

[Guest IDrinkRatsMilk]

I've gotta say it's about what you can relate to (and to some extent, the image). That's why a lot of white people didn't use to like rap, it was talking about a culture they'd never experienced. That's broadened now, but I think the point stands.

Personally, I listen to every style of music there is. I like to mix and DJ and do that sort of thing, which made me start to appreciate music on a cultural level as well as an aestetic one. That was what initially opened the floodgates as far as what music I listen to.

[Guest El Satanico]

The only thing i truly can't stand is Country.

 

Now i like some of the old country that had songs about drinking, fighting, gambling and serving time. But all of this new pop country stuff is trash.

 

I can't stand mainstream rap either. I'm not much of a rap fan, but "underground" type stuff can be good.

 

I'm not much for Jazz either. I love the blues, but just can't get into jazz. However i wouldn't tell someone to turn it off if they wanted to listen to it.

 

I can listen to nearly anything else without caring.

 

Well I can't comment on obscure genres, but i reckon that i would give anything a try.

[Guest Mr. Slim Citrus]

I sort of "nibble" at the other genres. I suppose I probably listen to slightly more R&B than anything else, but I listen to a little of everything except for country.

 

Slim - if'n I didn't post in teal, I wouldn't have an identity...

[Guest spiny norman]

I really am into 80s pop/dance. Like a complete retro head. But I do dabble with other genres, such as classic rock being extremely high up there.

 

But I really can't get into almost anything that comes out recently, because I am too into Madonna, Michael Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Prince and The Beatles to really get into much outside of their respective music.

 

Because pop, for the most part, concentrates on the better humane parts of life, and it gives me a positive outlook. Metal and rap etc. are too pessimistic and stupid, the world is not all bad, there is good, and with pop you get a balance, whereas the heavier metal it's all "This is crap, let's all go hang ourselves".

 

And I just prefer "Let's tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree" as a message to give to the world.

[Guest KingOfOldSchool]

I don't like to place myself into one genre or style of music, as evidenced by my recent attempts to discover new things.

 

And spiny, that's silly...and ignorant. Metal would tell you to take the anger inside and disembowel someone, afterward pissing on their corpse.

 

"This is crap, let's all go hang ourselves" is strictly reserved for emo and Korn.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Oh, and for the record, I don't think anybody is really as closed-minded as they might seem to be.

Hey, speak for yourself.

 

I'm picky as hell. I listen to metal and some classic rock bands, with a few other bands here and there thrown in. I don't even think I like a whole genre of anything for the most part. With metal, I automatically exclude all power and nu metal, as well as pretty much anything based on Tolkein.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

With metal, I automatically exclude all power and nu metal, as well as pretty much anything based on Tolkein.

What in the hell lead to metal bands of all people starting to write about elves and magic and such crap? Was it one D&D kid who had a detuned guitar on the other side of the garage, or was there an actual noticeable movement?

 

I can understand death and Satan and all, because that goes with the chug-chug I'mma-kill-you sound, but elves? They don't make me want to disembowel anything at all.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

I think the fantasy elements came from Dio and his old band Rainbow. Every metal band has dabbled into some sort of literature for song influences (mostly Lovecraft, Poe, or other horror/weird fiction writers, mind you), so I can easily see where they started writing about Tolkien.

 

And yes, norman, your comment was really ignorant. Metal doesn't say the entire world is bad. It just tends to focus on the bad things.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Well, it's not always the subject being about fantasy literature that bothers me. More often than not, the singer sounds like a complete fairy in those bands, and the guitar just goes into full-bore cheesy epic solos that are completely devoid of any agression, unless it's emphasizing the pitched battle between the arcane archers and the orcs. The embodiment of this is Blind Guardian.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Any metal bands take up Vonnegut as an inspiration? The only song I know of that Kurt Vonnegut has influenced was "Nice Nice Very Nice," by Ambrosia.

 

He actually had a whole album called Ice-Nine Ballads, with just his material on it.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I know Acid Bath was influenced by a lot of Clive Barker stuff. Not too sure about Vonnegut.

[Guest red_file]

Not too sure about Vonnegut.

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but The Kurt Vonnegut Band Page might be a good place to start, if interested.

[Guest Dace59]

Personally, I think width is useless, you need DEPTH in your taste.

You need to like a lot of stuff in whatever genre(s) you like, understand their styles, motives, history etc.

 

And I personally love full on chessy Power Metal.

Early BG, with the thrash influences was great.

 

I know what I like, and I wear headphones.

[Guest red_file]

Personally, I think width is useless, you need DEPTH in your taste.

You need to like a lot of stuff in whatever genre(s) you like, understand their styles, motives, history etc.

Wouldn't depth naturally lead to width? If I explore the history of any genre of music I'm eventually going to be lead to many different genres from which said genre originated.

[Guest Dace59]

Not everytime. If you know of the history of the stlyes that formed a genre, it doesn't mean that you like or even listen to them, just know of them.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Dace speaks the truth. I know that blues lead to metal, but am I a fan of blues? Not really.

[Guest IDrinkRatsMilk]

Blues lead to almost everything... in one way or another. But I like blues anyway...

[Guest Anorak]

The only thing i truly can't stand is Country.

 

Now i like some of the old country that had songs about drinking, fighting, gambling and serving time. But all of this new pop country stuff is trash.

Do you mean stuff like The Dixie Chicks by the term 'pop country'? I definately feel that 'Alt. Country' or whatever its called this week has been a breath of fresh air for music in general in recent years. Listening to bands like Uncle Tupelo, Wilco and Whiskeytown opened me up to almost an entire new genre of music itself. While at one time I would have associated Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton with the genre I now think more of Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and a whole bunch of others who I've discovered since then. Bands like Noah John and Wilco have mixed both modern and traditional influences into their sound to become two of the best bands in the world.

 

It is a good idea to try and expand your musical horizons a bit because despite what some might say there's an absolute ton of great music out there of many different styles that you just might fall in love with given half a chance. A lot of this lies outside what you will see on your tv or even in 90% of magazines but some of it also lies right under your nose in a genre of you might have not sat down and listened to for any length of time. At the end of the day everybody listens (or should) to what they like themselves rather than what's percieved to be 'cool' by either MTV or indie rock snobs (I'd rather listen to Screeching Weasal than the Smiths myself so count me out) because either one is a stupid trap to fall down.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

yeah, I don't feel obliged to listen to stuff just because it 'led to' whatever I listen to now either. No fucker is shoving nirvana down my throat, I'll tell you that. Just a band.

[Guest El Satanico]

The only thing i truly can't stand is Country.

 

Now i like some of the old country that had songs about drinking, fighting, gambling and serving time. But all of this new pop country stuff is trash.

Do you mean stuff like The Dixie Chicks by the term 'pop country'?

Yeah by "pop country" I meant stuff like Dixie Chicks.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

I have no idea, but I agree with what's been said earlier that sticking to one or two main genres gives people a sense of identity and belonging (which might explain why pop music is so, well, popular; people would be willing to sacrifice too deep of an identity for that sense of belonging, of course this argument assumes that all pop music is totally devoid of any identity itself, which isn't entirely true).

 

I can't really say, but I can say that I used to be really hard-set in alternative rock from around '96 (when I got into music again) until around '98-'99, when alternative rock started getting sucky and I simultaneously noticed that there was good music in other genres. Now, if I feel it, I feel it; I'm not limited by any genre or band.

 

However, in regards to width vs. depth, that's something I have a real problem with. I have incredible width, but almost no depth. Depth is a LOT harder to accomplish, as it requires not only knowing every obscure root and its direct influence, but purchasing and listening to them all. I believe it's some people's obsession with depth that ultimately limits them to a certain genre (i.e. they can't be a "true" trance head without picking up all the old Chicago and New York club singles that influenced the movement, and then the pioneering "Acid" artists that were off-shoots of those, and then on top of that they have to keep up with Ibiza and "Trance Essentials", the newer stuff). There is no possible way anyone could ever keep up with all the "great ones" in any genre, yet it's this obsession with depth that would cause some to call someone "less" a fan of a genre, which is essentially attacking their musical identity. I have never heard Blond on Blond. I have never owned a Beatles album. Does this somehow make me less of a rock fan? No, and it also doesn't take away from the music on those albums, which I'm sure I'd enjoy, it's just that I'm not concerned with depth. I'll get around to it when I get around to it. If I don't, whatever. The hell with depth... after all, if you go too deep all you can do is drown.

 

Besides, it doesn't really bother me whether my sister listens to a certain group of popular bands that suck, as long as she doesn't force me to listen to them. Good music will come through, and find it's audience. So will bad music, so in the end, does it really matter? As long as I have access to good music of any genre, it doesn't to me.

 

I think I missed the point and just ranted.