Taste in Music

[Chaser001]

From time to time, you meet people who actually think their taste in music is superior to that of others.  This is really invalid most of the time.  Taste in music tends to be subjective.  There are some people who only focus on certain music, then label their taste as eclectic as if that's something good.  I suppose it could be good in certain instances.  In my case, for instance, I feel that it would be better if I liked more genres and more artists.  When I see someone who likes and knows a lot about many genres and different artists, I look at that as something commendable and something positive.  In my case, I feel being too particular is a liability more than an asset.  This doesn't just apply to music.  It can pay off at times, of course.  But in the case of music, I honestly wish I were not that way.  It makes me feel there is music I'm probably missing out on.  There are, of course, times when I'm pretty sure that I'm not missing out on anything but that what is going on is mass delusion.  I could name several bands and fans of those bands which might fit that category, but I'll pass on that.  In general, though, I'd prefer not to criticize any artist or fans of that artist very much, even if I'm pretty sure the music doesn't have merit.  I think what gets me the most is how serious so many people seem to take their taste in music.  Yesterday, some guy came up with a plan to raise a million dollars to get Weezer to break up.  He actually received some death threats from some fans.  

Edit:

Correction to the Weezer comment.  The amount was ten million. 

[Pilgrim]

People get 'way hung up on this.  As far as I'm concerned you can listen to polkas, Gregorian chants, reggae, Bach or skiffle music if that's what floats yer boat.

Me, I suck at keeping up with contemporary music.  I listen almost exclusively to rock recorded before 1985, and most of what I listen to is earlier than that.  I don't know who most of the artists are that are mentioned on this forum - but I know who Dick Dale is and I enjoy oldies.  

I'm just a happy old fart.  

[uwe]

I listen to anything at least once, twice if I don't understand it at first, a couple of times if I feel it deserves to be liked and endlessly often once I like it. I can honestly say that any music I liked as a 14 year old I still like today (that includes Blue Suede and the Bay City Rollers, but also Barry Manilow), but that today I like other music IN ADDITION.

The CDs currently in my car are new Iron Maiden, Uriah Heep, new Graham Parker, new Tom Jones, Kiss Alive II, Marco Mendoza (former WS-Bassist), the two chick sisters from the Dixie Chicks, Jacob Dylan, Roxy Music, Accept, Steve Morse solo, Blackmore's Night, new Robert Plant, UK (the proggies), Miles Davis, new Stanley Clarke, Phil Collins (the new Motown tribute), Neil Diamond, Snow Patrol,  Santana, John Lennon, Black Country Communion, new Timothy B. Schmidt, Badlands, Bachman Turner, Corinne Rae Bailey, a Curved Air anthology ..., I'm sure I forgot a few ...


Steve Morse once said when accused of being too varied: "It's ok to be good at more than just one thing, you know ...". I'd vary that to "It's ok to like more than just one thing ...".

[Highlander]

One iPod full of all sorts of stuff - far more convenient - I had a day of mostly driving today going up to Norfolk (not in Virginia) so listened to most of my Midnight Oil collection (in order of release)... don't know what I'll listen to tomorrow - driving to Wales and back...

Cold day in a hot place before I'll ever have BCR or Mary Banilow on the 'pod...

[Pilgrim]

I'm as likely to be listing to 1940's radio thrillers as I am to music...but a lot of what I listen to is Santana, George Thorogood, ZZ Top, Dick Dale, SRV, Moody Blues, Danny Gatton, the Blues Brothers CDs, and Alligator Records anniversary blues collections - they're fantastic!

[Dave W]

I suppose my tastes could be called eclectic, but being eclectic for its own sake would be a drag. I like what I like. I'm happy listening to older music I like and I will at least give a listen to something new if it's a type of music I generally like. OTOH I've never even heard many of the bands discussed here.

There are many current popular artists I know little or nothing about and don't care to. Doesn't bother me at all that people like them, I just don't feel like trying to broaden my horizons when I know there's almost no chance I'll be able to listen to more than a few bars without clicking the off button.

[Basvarken]

I understand what you're saying Chaser001. Sometimes I can really look up to people who seem have a wider musical horizon than I have.
On the other hand I feel pretty comfortable with the direction my musical taste seems to have taken over the years.
Unlike Uwe I don't like much of the stuff I used to love when I was 14 anymore. I was really into Heavy Metal at that age. Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Blind Fury, Dio, etc. (Sometimes I listen to it for sentimental reasons)
At a certain point I just got fed up with it. I remember vividly when that certain point was. It was at the Monsters Of Rock festival in Tilburg. I saw Iron Maiden. I had just bought their album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, just because I always bought anything Iron Maiden released. In hindsight hanging on to the idea that I was still a fan. But deep in my heart  I was heavily dissapointed by the album (and the one before that). And I stood there in the audience and saw Bruce Dickinson with a green spandex standing on a piece of polystyren that was supposed look like a floe, singing an encyclopedic lyric about Alexander the Great. And I stood there thinking: "this is very infantile"... If it wouldn't have been a loud rockfestival you could've heard the bubble burst.
I got into music that I used to look down on when I was 14. AC/DC and ZZ Top for instance where bands that I had dismissed as too simplistic. But now I started to like their stuff way better than the Heavy Metal bands. Through those bands I discovered Blues. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Healey. Through those guys I rediscovered Hendrix. etc etc.

I've noticed that I like to look who influenced artists I like. Doing this I tend to dig into the past rather than find new music.
Of course I have my ears open if a new band comes along that I like. But I don't really like much of the new stuff.
For instance: I've tried to see/hear the beauty of Timbaland, but I just have to admit it's not me. I gave up on trying to like new stuff that I doesn't speak to me.


You know what is worse than people trying to convince you their musical taste is superior?
People who have no musical taste!
Those people just have a few CDs in their CD rack because that's what people have in their livingroom.
They don't really know who the artist is. They just have it because they've heard it somewhere. They have the Very Best of The Dire Straits. And Now This Is Music volume 16. Rockballads volume 11 and the Barbra Streisand anthology. Oooops, you caught me, Rob!!!! I even have and like her new album in the Deluxe version too, with and without strings. Need I dispose of them? Uwe  At parties -when drunk- they do the whole "Paradise by the Dashboard light" routine whenever some stupid DJ spins that song.
When you ask them what music they like, they just shrug. Music doesn't play a role in their life.
But they maybe very fanatic about -let's say- sailing. Something I know very little about (and I don't really mind)



What is on my iPhone now?
Black Crowes, Doyle Bramhall II, Bill Withers, Philip Sayce, Staple Singers, Red Devils, Amos Lee, Jonny Lang, Beatles, Robert Palmer, Humble Pie, Black Country Communion, Thin Lizzy, Cry Of Love, Superfloor, Manic Eden, Amor, Bob Marley, Mother's Finest, John Mayer, Frankie Miller, Manic Eden, CCR, Rob Lamothe, Gov't Mule, Ann Peebles, Bettye Lavette, Mofro.

[eb2]

Anyone like Angel?

[uwe]

They are not the greatest US rock band on earth, but I have their Live CD and a Best of. Remind me of Styx before "Come Sail Away". I'd give them a B-.

[Muzikman7]

I try to stay current not all of its bad. I happen to think though your not going have the longevity of say The Beatles Hendrix Clapton etc. its too easy to be mediocre with current recording technology, the right look and your in. But I could come up with a fourty song set list of decent material.

[Aussie Mark]

I'm sure many of us have eclectic taste in music.  My CD collection runs the full gamut from the Supremes to Tom Waits, via The Cramps, Spandau Ballet, The Ramones, Georgie Fame and Joni Mitchell.

[Hornisse]

I've been listening to a lot of my LP's lately.  I have well over 2000 but stopped counting at 1k.  Listened to Physical Graffiti the other day because of the Zep discussion here at TLBO.  I had Brenda Lee's "Coming On Strong" yesterday. 

[Dave W]

You know what is worse than people trying to convince you their musical taste is superior?
People who have no musical taste!
Those people just have a few CDs in their CD rack because that's what people have in their livingroom.
They don't really know who the artist is. They just have it because they've heard it somewhere. They have the Very Best of The Dire Straits. And Now This Is Music volume 16. Rockballads volume 11 and the Barbra Streisand anthology. At parties -when drunk- they do the whole "Paradise by the Dashboard light" routine whenever some stupid DJ spins that song.
When you ask them what music they like, they just shrug. Music doesn't play a role in their life.
But they maybe very fanatic about -let's say- sailing. Something I know very little about (and I don't really mind)

That reminds me of this:

"We live in an age of music for people who don't like music. The record industry discovered some time ago that there aren't that many people who actually like music. For a lot of people, music's annoying, or at the very least they don't need it. They discovered if they could sell music to a lot of those people, they could sell a lot more records." -- T-Bone Burnett

What is on my iPhone now?
...  Frankie Miller, ...

Same here! But probably not the same Frankie Miller you're talking about. 

[OldManC]

Anyone like Angel?

I not only like them, I like the one album 'true' Angel fans aren't supposed to like (or so I've been told): Sinful. I love that it's unashamedly poppy, a little bit juvenile, and sentimental.

I started as a little kid listening to my sister's records. She worked at Capitol as a secretary in the late 60's and always came home with all sorts of albums and 45s (not just Capitol releases). Thing is, none of my older sisters were all that into music so I had my pick of those records even at four years old. The Beatles, Elvis, The Lettermen, Ray Conniff Singers, Peter and Gordon, Herman's Hermits, and other stuff I can't even remember now. Add in the soundtrack albums (Georgy Girl and Oklahoma are two I remember) and I wonder how I survived, musically speaking! I still remember years later when I found out I wasn't supposed to like KISS and Blondie (or whomever) at the same time. I never did pay that much attention to what I was 'supposed' to like...

I find people who actually believe their musical taste makes them superior to others to be lacking in the self worth department. Like what you like and haters be damned! 

[chromium]

I only listen to Weezer.

well ok, and this too-





I love hearing about what people listen to, and the net has exposed me to so much cool music that I otherwise never would have found or sought out.  Whether it be people talking about artists on forums, or me just digging around... its a great feeling getting turned onto something new.  Or something old.

If it gives you an adrenaline rush, makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, or causes you tear up (in the good way, not the Yoko way) - then its great music!