One of my female friends has, in my opinion, bad taste in music. I won’t name any music she listens to, but I feel a responsibility to mock any music she listens to (only by coincidence, though; not because she listens to it). Whenever she tells me that I “have no taste in music”, I agree with her. I point out that I do not have a favorite performer or style of music, and have never bought a music CD nor downloaded mp3 files. I then point out that it’s better to have no taste in music than incredibly bad taste in music like her – at least I don’t waste money. Ah, it’s all in good fun; even her husband (who pays for her music) backs me up.
(I’m a big music geek/recordstore loiterer/napster searcher/dump-a-girl-for-listening-to-Sting sorta guy. When I meet people one of the first conversational topics i generally try to engage is music taste.
Over the years, I’ve met a lot of women who when prodded about thier music tastes will admit that most of thier collections have been inspired by former BFs. In other words, they listen to whatever the guy in thier life listens to. These girls rarely seek out music based on reading about it, or from snotty indie record store employees.
I’ve found this a lot more common among girls than among guys, though I have been turned on to bands buy a few girls now and then. I think the afforementioned tendancy towards arcana and trivia probably has something to do with this. Collecting obscure music and being a completist “collector” is an excercise in trivia.
That said, girls who know more about music that I do, or who can at least hold thier own as we go from coltrane to Wu-Tang to Gorecki and back, are one of the ultimate turn-ons.
CJ
TURPINTINE,
Why would you wanna be with anybody that didn’t like the MUSIC from WEST SIDE STORY?
When I was 20 yrs. old a guy that I had just started dating mentioned that he liked SLAUGHTER ON 10TH AVE.; something that I would never have thought he even KNEW about.
I consider having the same musical tastes as pretty damn important.
LUNASEA—I fully expected THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS to become this generation’s WIZARD OF OZ. Dynamite music!
No, girls don’t have poorer taste in music than guys. But it’s more socially acceptable to make fun of certain kinds of music than others, and there happens to be a significant overlap between music that appeals primarily to girls (particularly very young girls) and music that it is socially acceptable to make fun of.
Some particularly insecure males seem to believe that if they admit liking, say, musicals or pop music better than heavy metal, their weenies might fall off. These males often write for the music press.
Do I sound cynical? Sorry. It’s because I went to a concert this weekend and saw reviews for it in the papers that read like this: “Hey, wow, they were good. In fact, they were AMAZING. Strange to think that teenaged girls used to listen to them, isn’t it? 'Cause, wow, they really have talent.” :rolleyes:
None, really. I was just trying to soften the blow.
Flod,
Nothin’ wrong with musicals, but gimme Sondheim or a good Opera or something with some musical richness and texture over the bland pap thet most of the B-way composers have been churnin’ out this century.
Pop? You want pop? I love pop, just not the packaged impersonal stuff marketed directly at short attention spanned 14 year olds.
I don’t think its got anything to do with weenie shrinking, at least not in most of the cases I’m talking about. I just think girls tend to be less obsessive about thier music and are therefore more likely to be satiated by stuff designed as the aural equivalent of wallpaper.
these are of course generalizations. But ones that i’ve observed distinctly over time.
CJ
Now, would I get any serious objection if I said that Limp Bizcut is the musical equivalent of black socks and tennis shoes?
Or in a broader sense, if we can admit that if we find black socks and tennis shoes to be in bad taste fashionwise, surely we have to also admit that there is such thing as bad taste in music. They’re both aesthetics and sure if we went all GD on this, it is ALL subjective (if i say black socks and tennis shoes is art, then its art, goddamnit!!!). but seriously folks… I know some people with BAAAAAD taste in music.
CJ
My male friends had better taste in music than my female friends.
My female friends loved Celine Dion, Shania Twain, etc., which made me want to vomit.
My male friends loved Metallica, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, etc., which was the same sort of thing I listened to at home.
I am female, for the record.
Why does being fanatical about your music collection mean you’ve got good taste. I could sit at home and alphabetize, dust and play the BeeGees on a $100,000 stereo system and it still wouldn’t mean I have good taste.
Come on over to my house elmwood, my husband doesn’t even know how to RUN our stereo. It’s MY baby.
Turp, if I sound a little bitter it’s because I am a girl who has (IN MY OPINION) good, broad taste in music. I can name bands in almost any genre that I like, I can discuss where they derived from, who they’re similar to, the origins of their themes whatever. I know a lot about classical music and musical theatre AS WELL as metal, rap and industrial.
I love music of all sorts, I wanted to be a dj in college, I worked in radio after college. I spend most of my money on music and a good part of my day is spent dreaming up mix tapes. My music choices are not influenced by my husband or past boyfriends…I am my own person, who has developed my own taste.
If your friends don’t like what you play in the car…F them. it’s your car. I make my friends and family suffer through NIGHTMARES of music. Does it make my taste bad…OR DIFFERENT?
Grouping all women together as having bad taste in music is…actually, in poor taste. And I’m surprised you found people to support you. But hey…maybe I’m missing the point.
jarbaby
Ok, I’m back.
I still think that men listen to better music because as was mentioned, many music I like was inspired or introduced to me by my male friends.
But for a few years, I have become close friends with some people who own a small record company, and now my music collection is obscure and rather interesting.
I have a new guy right now, he’s a DJ.
He has a West Side Story record that he samples from occasionally, isn’that funny?
Anyway, the difference between this guy and the other guys who used to make fun of my music is that this guy admires my collection-
mostly because he has never heard of most of it, not being familiar with Archenemy. They are a great label, and he was impressed. When we’re driving in my car, he often asks if I would put on some Magnetic Fields (ok, they’re not from Archenemy label, but some of the band members have somgs on the Archenemy compilation), or Freezepop or other confectionary delights.
The first guy who’s ever admired my taste in music.
I do believe I am quite in love.
And as we all know, obscure automatically equals “good” :rolleyes:
So Turp, I don’t want to go down a hijack road here, but it seems to me that a portion of your life revolves around what guys think about your taste in music. And if GUYS like it, it’s good, if GIRLS like it, it’s bad. Stop that right now, while you’re young and still have the chance 
My husband has what I like to call “wuss” taste in music. Our CD collections are like opposite ends of the spectrum…he hates everything I present to the stereo, I yawn with boredom when he pops in one of his. He still loves and respects me, and I him. We have different tastes in music, but it’s not because we’re woman and man…it’s because we’re Mr. and Mrs. Jarbaby…two different people.
don’t base your choices on what someone else tells you. That’s how I ended up owning three Bush CDs :rolleyes:
jarbaby
I never mant to imply that men have better taste in music than women. Men & women just listen to different kinds of crap. To me, Limp Bizkit is just as bad as the Backstreet Boys.
jarbabyj: “don’t base your choices on what someone else tells you. That’s how I ended up owning three Bush CDs”
madly cackling in the distance
I ended up going to a Bush CONCERT. Fortunately I didn’t ask for OR pay for the tickets…my favorite part (this was in early 1996) was my stepdaughter telling me, “I’d dress like this even if no one else in the world ever had!” and then seeing an entire stadium full of kids wearing her uniform: black t-shirt, flannel shirt unbuttoned over it, big baggy pants with boxers showing, huge chains leading from back to front pocket, Doc Martens. I laughed and laughed…and enjoyed the show put on by the chick on the floor in the glittering gold brassiere.
ANYHOW…
I’ve had guys (always guys…ALWAYS) stunned that I know who Captain Beefheart is, who Frank Zappa is, who Velvet Underground is, that I am an active They Might Be Giants fan, that I like Leonard Cohen’s version of “Everybody Knows” more than Concrete Blonde’s version…
Quite honestly, and I’m losing all of my feminist cred for this, I started actively seeking utterly non-mainstream bands because of a guy I knew. In 1985 when everyone else I knew was listening to Chicago and Journey and Whitney Houston and the like, this guy was playing The Smiths and The Cure and The Business. Other girls were falling over themselves worshipping Debbie Gibson; I was being fed liberal doses of Kate Bush.
I don’t know why men seem to find more obscure music more readily, but they do…I’m just glad I was able to open my ears and shut my mouth and LEARN a thing or two. I am also at the point where I can enjoy Britney Spears and Tracy Bonham equally, but for ENTIRELY different reasons…and for those reasons Tracy gets my money, but Britney doesn’t.
Oh, and I am aching for new speakers and a new stereo system in my car…and my little Labtec speakers are fine on the computer, but as soon as I get the sound card I have my eye on it’s going to be time to save up for a computer audio package that can do it justice.
It is a stereotype that men tend to know more relatively obscure music than women do…but not all stereotypes are without reason, y’dig?
If anyone got the slightest bit of meaning out of this other than “Hama is a poseur bitch,” you’re doing a hell of a lot better than I am…
Well, since I bring what I think is good stuff to the table (Cowboy Mouth, Mary Prankster, Jimmy’s Chicken Shack) and Mrs Chance is hyped on Anne Murray and John Denver, I think I’ve got a case for what’s what in my house.
Christ, and now she wants me to take her to a country music festival.
Anyone wanna shoot me?
Sometimes yes, I am prone to think that obscure equals interesting, because at the moment, most of mainstream stuff is unlistenable to me. It’s CRAP.
But since you hate generalizations so much, I have to add the obligatory note of there existing some exceptions.
You roll your eyes a lot.
A good portion of my life does not revolve around what my boyfriends think of my music.
I also like painting and taxidermy and eating clay. Oh yes, I like to make French toast as well.
What I said mostly means that since i don’t listen to the radio, my usual means of finding new music to enjoy comes from me having heard a cd at my friends house or going to a local show with friends. Sometimes these friends are male. Nine times out of ten if I hear something new I like, it’s because a male friend introduced me to it.
So I was wondering if woman have poorer taste in music IN GENERAL.
I think so.
My best friend is female and she introduced me to Suede, which i liked a lot. Then again, she was introduced by Suede (the London Suede) by her boyfriend.
She tells him that giving her Suede was the nicest present he’s ever given her.
I don’t think her life revolves around what her boyfriend likes in music either, I think she just appreciates that he found her something she would love.
It comes with turning 28. Fear it.
Great! I’m glad you like music. I’m glad you and your friends can discuss it and trade it and track it back to WHO exactly decided it was good first and told you to like it, because really, that’s the heart of the matter.
You’re right though, I don’t like generalizations. Just because you think all good music flows from the font of men who suggest it, doesn’t mean all women do. That’s all I’m saying. So IN GENERAL, my final answer is NO, women do not have poorer taste in music than men. Tastes are opinions, they don’t flow gender-wide. I think I said that right off the bat.
jarbaby
Wow, you’re really mad. What did I say? Really, what?
I mean, that part about “Gee, I’m glad you like music…” I was just trying to illustrate something. I don’t think woman should be docile creatures who like whatever music their boys “tell them to like”.
Jamison didn’t TELL my friend she should like Suede. He played it because he loved it so much and my friend loved it too and now they have something special they can share.
It’s rather nice.
Don’t you ever like a song because you heard a friend play it?
I like my new guy because he seems to like my music. He always asks “What’s this?” And it makes me feel special. It’s nice to be on the other side of thi experience, the whole sharing music thing.
I don’t think you need to get mad because I think most people would agree that since males are more anal about having a cd collection that people will admire, rather than what they actually like, it’s no wonder that any person will discover new things from them that they like.
Not mad at all. Just trying to get you to see my point. you’re still missing it, but that’s fine. Carry on.
Yep, but it never made me think that men have better taste in music than women.
not mad.
And how…does that…give them…better TASTE?
from http://www.m-w.com: where i looked up TASTE, definition number six reads:
Individual preference. Thank god for it. It can not be right or wrong.
Once again, I am a woman…I am anal about my music collection. I have good taste in music. So, In Response To Your OP, and not to anything else: NO. That’s all I’m trying to say.
No hard feelings.
yours in happiness,
jarbaby
Hey, jarbaby, you and Hamadryad can over for a CD party any time…or for that matter (dare I say it) vinyl. Yes, I have several hundred LPs and a turn table - damn are needles hard to find these days - that include tons of ska, swing, classic rock, new wave, and punk.
Since taste per se is entirely subjective and to even try to qualify one sex as having better ‘taste’ in anything is a waste of time, and since therefore there can be no definitive answer to the OP lets bag it and move on.
Hey jarbabyj, you sound pretty cool for a girl. I salute the guy who turned you on to hip music!
OW!..OW!..STOP HITTING ME!..OW!