21 Dec
Musical Taste
I have always prided myself on finding something enjoyable about all forms of music. When I say I listen to all types of music I try to do exactly that.
What I have found while doing this is any form of music can be enjoyable. Music grows on you; you can learn to enjoy anything.
So when other people say “goddamn I hate rap” they just have not been exposed to it. People’s music tastes are set when they are developing, I would say around the teens. Then it starts to solidify. Once you hit the late teens/early twenties your music tastes are pretty much set. Whatever music you were enjoying then you will continue to enjoy for the rest of your life.
This can be changed but change is scary. Also to what end? To quote Ghost in the Shell “Over-specialise and you breed in weakness”. Following the one genre or a narrow field will lead to dismissing all other forms of music. Learning to expand your field of interest is not only a great boon as you can converse and connect to anyone about music but it also puts you into a different head space.
Music has such a profound effect on your emotions, a snatched piece of a song can instantly transport you 10 years and halfway across the world. So what happens if your only enjoyable music is death metal? If that is all you listen to then it is going to influence you towards an angrier, despondent disposition. Psy-Trance? You start to lose the ability to follow and appreciate lyrics and well sung harmonies. These are broad stroke generalizations but they have the ring of truth. Learning to enjoy more genres’ means you can cater your music to your mood, not the other way around.
The longer you leave it the harder it gets and, just as frustrating, it is something you constantly have to work at. The moment you stop exploring different forms of music you start to lose the ability to enjoy new music.
Well, I will leave it there, below are links to some of the best examples of each genre. There are too many genre’s for me to list but here is a start, feel free to add something I am missing.
Rock – The Offspring – Gone Away
Opera – Pirates of Penzance – With Cat Like Tread
Punk – The Vibrators – Baby Baby
Death Metal – In Flames – Crawl Though Knives
Indie Rock – Okkervil River – Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
Folk Rock – Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man
Folk – Redgum – I Was Only Nineteen
HipHop – Hilltop Hoods – The Nosebleed Section
PsyTrance – Infected Mushroom – Deeply Distrubed
Posted by Evan on 21.12.09 at 12:39 pm
I’m raising my glass to your sentiments and the inclusion of Okkervil River, if not Lady Gaga.
Posted by JOE on 21.12.09 at 12:39 pm
Hah!
I like how you espouse on the benefits of having an open mind for all kinds of music, then go and prove the old point that, regardless of how open minded you are, “good” is still well and truly in the eyes of the beholder…
It’s unfortunate that genre is still the main/optimal classifier of music, though. I think I would disagree with some of your classifications above, but then I would get annoyed that we were discussing it and go back to wishing I could remove the entirely “genre” category from itunes so that I didn’t have to keep deleting it from my mp3s.
You don’t have anything vaguely noise (merzbow), minimalist (steve reich), or onkyo (sachiko m) up there, though, I note (to put what were once the biggest names in those fields in the brackets, that is).
Oh yes. I do quite agree with your main point, though. However, I have many times hit the dilemma of “Is it really worth sitting through this sound of a neverending car crash when I would much rather be listening to a Cafe Del Mar compilation? What am I trying to prove?”
Still, their is a certain pleasure in the destruction of mental barriers such activity causes.
Posted by David on 21.12.09 at 12:39 pm
@Joe I would argue that my main point is not about “good” being judged by the person, it is about people dismissing music because it does not fit their usual genre tastes.
Also you need the identifier of genre to even really talk about music. It is such an easy shorthand for comparing something that it is necessary, I don’t see it as a bad thing.
I didnt put those Genre’s up there because, I have not encountered Noise or Onkyo, although Steve Reich can go fuck himself ;D
Hmm I don’t think that is a dilemma at all, that is no longer music you are listening to, purely sound. It is the same argument I have with most (if not all) Avant Garde forms of art. I feel that too often the art form is pushed to the point of no longer being art at all. That however is a much longer and mostly fruitless argument ;D
Posted by Amy on 21.12.09 at 12:39 pm
I would beg to differ about Pirates being in the opera section – it’s not exactly the first thing I think of when I think of opera.
(Although I have an especially soft, squishy spot for GIlbert and Sullivan).
Posted by David on 21.12.09 at 12:39 pm
@Amy I know G&S are more comedic than opera… but you cant complain when they bust out stuff like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=let3J9KGu8U sure not traditional opera but opera none the less… and yes Joe must be hating this ;D