# How varied is your music collection? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462 "2003-03-01T22:26:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Toffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@Toffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toffe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/1 "2003-03-01T22:26:38Z")
A search didn’t pull out any earlier threads, but apologies if this has been done before. I just bought a whole bunch of CDs, ranging from 70s German punk rock to Manu Chao. This got me wondering - do most people have very varied music collections, or do most only like a few types of music and then stay within those genres? I have CDs of pretty near every type of music apart from rap, hiphop, and modern pop and dance music (none of which I like). Baroque, classical, opera, swing, jazz, rock, hard rock, punk rock, funk, reggae, ska, world music, folk/traditional music from some different countries, blues, and so on and so forth. I love all of it, and mix freely (sometimes I switch straight from opera by Verdi to the Red Hot Chili Peppers). What about the rest of you? ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/2 "2003-03-01T22:36:51Z")
I’ll admit that my music collection isn’t remarkably varied. About 90% of it is primarily electronic, mostly ranging in the synthpop realm. The other 10% does have a bit of rock, classical, new age, etc, But that’s only 10%. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/3 "2003-03-01T22:38:56Z")
I like \*\* Dave Matthews Band Sublime Eminem Duran Duran The Beatles Sublime Goo Goo Dolls Radiohead System of a Down Counting Crows Nine Inch Nails Sum 41 Bob Marley Pearl Jam NOFX Ramones Foo Figthers Talking Heads Jimmy eat World Chevelle Elvis Santana \*\* It seems pretty varied to me. I don’t really like Jazz, classical, or traditionial music at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/4 "2003-03-01T22:40:49Z")
Most of my stuff is 60s-early 80’s pop & rock. I will get a wild hair now again and pick up on a sample of other genres: Alison Krauss + Union Station - bluegrass Dead Kennedys - San Francisco punk Time-Life Country Classics series - 50s-70s country Kraftwerk - German synth-pop ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/5 "2003-03-01T22:52:46Z")
Well, in the last few days I’ve listened to CDs I own by the Stereophonics and Bjork, plus Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and a recording of Pirates of Penzance in German. There’s also jazz, punk and hardcore, folk… it’s probably easier to say what I don’t have – no rap, no country. ---
**Author:** ![plastic\_conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@plastic\_conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plastic_conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/6 "2003-03-01T23:08:24Z")
I have a diverse collection, too. I’m attracted to some particular styles, but I’m open to any genre. Country, however, is probably the least represented style in my collection. To give a suggestion of my range, here are some of my favorites: Sun Ra Fugazi Beastie Boys John Coltrane Miles Davis Art Tatum Chick Corea Charles Mingus Poster Children Bauhaus Sonic Youth Beck The Breeders Frank Zappa The Pixies The Beatles Aphex Twin Blackalicious I also have about 200 CDs of classical music, mostly for piano (or piano with orchestra). I’m particularly fond of Prokofiev J. S. Bach (as long as Glenn Gould is playing) Rachmaninoff Ravel Mozart ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/7 "2003-03-01T23:46:30Z")
I tend to get into one genre, and listen mainly to that, then get bored and switch to something else. Right now I’m listening to a lot of indie pop and some alt country. Before that was lots of heavy, depressing music like Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Johnny Cash. Before that I spent about a year listening to blues, after an angry streak of listening to alternative/hard rock. I also infuse a little folk music here and there, as well as the standard classic rock. So in my collection you’ll find: Aerosmith Fiona Apple Apples in Stereo Spoon Sparklehorse Bob Dylan The Beatles AC/DC Beulah O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack Sixteen Horsepower Southern Culture on the Skids Dwight Yoakum Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Toad the Wet Sprocket Willy Porter Tom Waits Talking Heads Jimmy Buffett Belle and Sebastian Keb’ Mo’ Robert Johnson R.L. Burnside Elvis Costello Tragically Hip TMBG Korn Three Doors Down Incubus Random classical CDs ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/8 "2003-03-01T23:59:45Z")
**fizgig** , Sparklehorse and R.L. Burnside make you pretty damn cool. My own taste seems pretty varied to me. I listen to all sorts of stuff, including alt-rock, classical, ambient, trance, and european gypsy brass bands. Hardcore country as well. Anything sincere and honest sounding is probably going to catch my ear. ---
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/9 "2003-03-02T00:32:25Z")
On the one end, **Purcell**. On the other, **Suicidal Tendencies**. Everything in between too, and some outside even those bounds. Varied. Very varied! I cannot be pigeonholed. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/10 "2003-03-02T00:39:31Z")
The two single groups/artists/composers that I have the most CDs of would be The Grateful Dead and Beethoven, followed closely by U2, Pink Floyd, Bill Evans, Jimmy Buffett, and Oscar Peterson. I have ~ 800 CDs so there is quite a bit of variety there. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/11 "2003-03-02T01:12:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Forbin \* > \*\*On the one end, **Purcell**. > On the other, **Suicidal Tendencies**. \*\* Yeah, I’ve got those too. I always thought **Suicidal Tendencies** was underrated. ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/12 "2003-03-02T01:33:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Purd Werfect \* > \*\ ***fizgig** , Sparklehorse and R.L. Burnside make you pretty damn cool. > \*\* Thanks, **Purd** , but of course it’s the artists who are cool, not me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/13 "2003-03-02T02:02:30Z")
OK, now that I have a computer at home, I can actually look across the room at my record collection (yes, I said “records”), and see: **Classical** (Strauss, J.P. Sousa, Bach, Handl, Offenbach) **Show Tunes** (Florodora, Bells Are Ringing, Evita, Chess, Cabaret) **Early Pop Music** (1900s ragtime, 1910s jazz, 1940s swing, pop singers from Helen Kane to Bing Crosby to Ruth Etting to Sophie Tucker to Billy Murray) **Rock** (Beatles, Eddie Cochran, Talking Heads, Les Sans Culottes, They Might Be Giants) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/14 "2003-03-02T03:00:10Z")
Music is my mainstay, and incorporates vinyl, CD, cassette and reel to reel tape. Mosst 8 track stuff has been replaced or duplicated. Classical-faves being Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Offenbach Jazz-Brubeck, Mancini, Miles and Monk, and Swingle Singers (at a yard sale I found a RtR tape of Dave Brubeck Quartet with the NY Philharmonic entitled Bernstein plays Brubeck plays Bernstein-a great recording) Big Band/swing-Goodman, Dorsey, James Country/bluegrass-Flatt & Scruggs, Hank, Sr., Statler Brothers, Willie, Waylon, Dixie Chicks Rock/folk/techno-Abba, Creed, Collective Soul, Erasure, John Prine, Elton John, Squeeze, Kraftwerk, Marcy Playground, Blink 182, Dan Fogelberg, Renaissance, Aria, Delerium, Adiemus, Twisted Sister, Metallica, ZZ Top. That is fairly representative ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/15 "2003-03-02T03:15:30Z")
I’d say I have the most diverse musical interests than anyone I know. I listen to (and possess) many types of Jazz, tons of Rock, Bluegrass, Classical. And within that I could probably name hundereds of subgroups- Prog Rock, Fusion, Punk, Garage, Southern Rock, Electronic, etc. A few bands I’ve been listening to in the past week or two include Frank Zappa, Yes, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Allman Brothers, Beck, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Phish, and Galactic. I always try to find types of music I’ve never listened before. Keeps things interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Grelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grelby)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/16 "2003-03-02T03:52:33Z")
My collection is fairly small, so I’m mostly building the rock and folk end of it for the moment. I like classical and jazz, but don’t have the same level of interest in them, so I subsist on what my parents have (which is a goodly amount). My collection includes The Counting Crows, Dire Straits, U2, REM, Led Zeppelin, Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar, Nick Drake, Josh Joplin, Pete Yorn, Blind Melon, Neil Young, heck, I’ve even got a Duran Duran CD (my secret shame, really). There are others but I don’t want to list my whole collection, it’s extensive enough to be tedious (~30 or so albums). Anyway, I’d say my tastes are pretty varied. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/17 "2003-03-02T04:01:18Z")
Most of my stuff is on wax, vinyl and cassette. I love '78’s. Currently, the oldest records are two from 1919, Dardenella/Cairo and Rose Room/Patches. Both were inheireted from my grandmother who bought them new. I also have several records from the Twenties, but most of them are big band stuff from the Thirties and Forties. I probably have about eighty in all, most researched and dated. I also have, on vinyl and cassette, Country, Metal and Fifties/Sixties. There’s everything in there from Johnny Horten to Black Sabbeth. At one point my two favorites were Alice Cooper and Gordon Lightfoot, and yes, I have seen both in concert. I have albums of truck drivin’ music, movie soundtracks, classical, hard rock and really sappy pop. It just depends on my mood. Sometimes I’ll haul out a stack of records, start with Glen Miller and end with Queen. I don’t even totally hate some of Kid, the Elder’s rap. (But don’t tell him, 'kay?!) ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/18 "2003-03-02T04:05:23Z")
The substantial majority of CDs I own are either punk (in its broadest sense, from the sloppy punk of Sex Pistols to the rockabilly/punk/country/grunge of Social Distortion to the hardcore/punk Sick of It All to the emo-ish Jawbox), ska (from 60s Jamaican to current US bands), and reggae (mostly Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru and Peter Tosh). I have a few other types of music in my catalog, such as soul from Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield, James Brown stuff (soul/funk?), prog-rock (e.g., Rush), country (mostly from punk sources, like some of Social D’s Mike Ness’s stuff and the Filthy Thieving Bastards, which is a Swingin’ Utters side project), Irish folk/rock (e.g., the Pogues and my buddies’ band the Ruffians, both bands with punk influences), various alternative/new wave artists from the 80s (e.g., the Pixies, the Smiths/Morrissey, and New Order/Joy Division), and other random stuff, from Miles Davis to Billy Bragg to Cat Stevens to the Beach Boys. While my overall collection covers many genres, it’s primarily a punk/ska/reggae collection. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/19 "2003-03-02T04:53:24Z")
Lordie, I have everything. Swing, jazz, rock, punk, rap (albeit VERY little rap), gospel, folk, showtunes, country, soul, reggae, classical, new wave, new age, dance, disco, opera, hard rock, heavy metal … everything from the early 1920s (a recording of my great grandfather playing cornet with the Isham Jones orchestra - Wabash Blues) to pretty recent. About the only genre that is _not_ represented in my collection is hip-hop. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462/20 "2003-03-02T06:02:40Z")
I’m another one with at least a taste of most genres (names are just examples): Classical: Beethoven, Bach, Dvorak Soundtracks: Spaghetti Westerns, horror themes Folk: Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen Rock: Cold Chisel, Triffids, Blackeyed Susans Country: Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon, Dolly Hard Rock: Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath Punk: Dead Kennedys, Angry Samoans, lots of comps of vintage punk Heavy Metal: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Savatage Thrash Metal: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer Death/Black Metal: Abruptum, Mayhem, Burzum, Napalm Death Electronic: Chemical Brothers, several compilations Funk: Funkadelic, Parliament, Isaac Hayes Jazz: Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Coltrane Avant Garde: Blue Humans, Blixa Bargeld, John Zorn Blues: Robert Johnson, etc Soul: Stevie Wonder, Motown compilations Hip Hop: Speech, Disposable Heroes Pop: Hanson, Dominoo (OK, they each cost me $0.50 😉 ) Comedy: Marx Brothers, Tom Lehrer, WC Fields Spoken Word: Rollins, Burroughs, Kerouac Garage Rock: Comps (Nuggets, Back From The Grave), Dead Moon Classic Rock: Queen, Pink Floyd Can’t be catagorized: Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Mr Bungle [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-varied-is-your-music-collection/158462.md?page=2)