# Several Questions About Your Musical Preferences **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197 "2020-09-22T02:31:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/1 "2020-09-22T02:31:04Z")
So, this evening, while making a very simple dinner for Vaderling and myself, I found myself in the mood for instrumental jazz. So, that’s what I put on spotify, just some playlist that came up first on search. Now, I find that I have different musical preferences depending on what I’m doing. Working, I like a blend of different styles of rock, metal, disco and funk. Driving, a little bit of swing mixed with metal. Sometimes jazz mixed with disco and funk, depends on who or if I have others with me. Cooking, reading, anything creative or more mentally focused than physical I like instrumental jazz. I got to thinking about it while cooking and decided I like jazz because I watched Mr. Rogers as a kid. Lots of jazz or jazz like music in that show, and of course as a kid I loved that show. (I’ll still pause to watch Mr. Rogers today in fact) What are some of your musical preferences and can you pinpoint why? Do you have different preferences for different activities? Are they wildly different as some of mine seem to be? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/2 "2020-09-22T04:23:17Z")
Very loud good old Rock n’ Roll, Crunk or Alt while out in the desert, to help ward off the Coyotes when off-roading. Boston’s first album, Rush, Yes or Thin Lizzy when drinking. So, always. Dish Net channel 957 or 960 most other times. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/3 "2020-09-22T06:42:11Z")
Blues ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/4 "2020-09-22T07:18:16Z")
Pretty much anything, and I mean anything, Rock, blues, soul, electronica, country, folk, prog, grunge, punk, indie, new wave, classical, opera, ambient, glam, german industrial, french, 60’s through to present day. Whatever’s good, I’ll listen to and no real preference for a given situation. Apart from jazz, I physically can’t bear it, I don’t use the word lightly but I truly _hate_ it. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/5 "2020-09-22T07:21:53Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > What are some of your musical preferences and can you pinpoint why? I listen to various types of music, but if you enjoy instrumental jazz I can recommend that you should listen to “Rainy Day Jazz” (or something like that) when you need to focus on your work and you don’t want music to be a distraction. It is soothing, good quality music. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/6 "2020-09-22T07:39:45Z")
I’m not much on music-- I listen to news in the car (audiobooks on long trips); I’d rather have the TV on in the background when I do chores, and an audiobook when I walk the dog. I also can’t stand jazz. I mean, being forced to listen to it makes me angry. I do have some weird music things, though: when I’m in a bad mood and want to stay in it, I listen to certain music I used to like when I was in high school. By that, I mean, Pink Floyd, The Ramones, Culture Club, and oddly, Simon and Garfunkel (I used to think they were deep when I was a teenager-- now I think they’re pretentious), and also Nirvana. I like Nirvana, but since Kurt Cobain committed suicide, they depress me. When I’m in a bad mood and I want to get out of it, I play Jewish music-- folk music, mostly, but some klezmer, and some Debbie Friedman. Sometimes I play service music. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/7 "2020-09-22T07:59:06Z")
I’m pretty good with just about anything. When driving long distances, I like upbeat stuff, since that keeps me awake. But other times, I’m fine with anything except rap/hip-hop. I think I’m too old for that stuff. Interesting story: for a while in the early 1990s, I drove an 18-wheeler. You’d think that country music would be demanded in a truck, and that’s not far off the mark. But an early-morning departure (like 0500), demanded something stronger than coffee and “hurtin’ and cheatin’” music. It was a very early morning, after all, and I had a 12-hour day ahead of me. So, when I hit the freeway about a mile away, at 0505, I’d slide a cassette (remember those?) into the player. The cassette? “Greatest Disco Hits of the 1970s.” And I’d crank the volume. The first song up on this cassette was “Disco Inferno,” by the Trammps, followed by many other disco songs. The tape would end about 90 minutes later, by which time, I’d had plenty of coffee, and was ready to rock my day. I could turn down the volume, and put in a country (or jazz or pop or rock or whatever) tape. I left trucking years ago. But to this day, when I leave in my car for a long road trip, “Disco Inferno” is the first song I’ll play when I hit the freeway. Digitally, of course. Cassettes died long ago, but the music is still around, and to me, it’s not a road trip unless it starts with “Disco Inferno.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/8 "2020-09-22T08:47:10Z")
Classical (esp 19c), opera, operetta, Broadway, standards (“Great American Songbook”), '60s rock, classic jazz, big band, TTBB choral. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/9 "2020-09-22T12:45:05Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > “Disco Inferno” is the first song I’ll play when I hit the freeway Lol, that’s one of my preferred driving songs when going somewhere with my GF. Car Dancing, yeah baby ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/10 "2020-09-22T13:09:42Z")
One specific music situation is, when we drive to the alps in the summer or winter I like to slap on a bit of “Mogwai” when coming into Austria and starting to climb the mountain roads and speed through the valleys. The anthemic nature of such as [“Death Rays”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=typIFjuE7r4) or [“How to be a werewolf”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKZX7CZwgeM) seem to fit perfectly and it always lifts my spirits after a long drive. On several lucky occasions the peak of the latter (from 3:06 onwards) has coincided with the cresting of a ridge and the appearance of a green, sunlit valley and a winding, empty valley road ahead, bliss. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/11 "2020-09-22T13:21:20Z")
I listen to whatever Spotify tells me to listen to. They have algorithms so they would know. More seriously, the only stuff I can pinpoint a specific reason for a number of 70s soft rock style songs: James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg, that sort of thing. As a kid my mom listened to that stuff and those were the albums we owned so I suppose they serve as a sort of musical comfort food, taking me back to a simpler and safer time. My musical tastes span from 50-60s oldies, 70’s classics, 80’s retro, 90’s alternative and a fair amount of recent stuff tending more into dance than I’d have expected. I’d like to pretend that I have some wildly eclectic range of tastes but, going back to Spotify, I’m sure they have me down in the computer as yet another Type D12-ARO70 ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/12 "2020-09-22T15:48:54Z")
For me spotify’s algorithm is shite. Every time I listen to their suggestions it’s absolute crap. Sometimes I think they just have a pigeon somewhere in a cage pecking buttons for food as their algorithm. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/13 "2020-09-22T15:58:51Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > For me spotify’s algorithm is shite. Every time I listen to their suggestions it’s absolute crap. It’s hit or miss. Some weeks I listen to the week’s reccommendations and get four or five new likes which seems like a pretty good ratio out of thirty suggested tunes. Especially since I’m sort of stingy with my Likes. Other weeks (like this week), not a single one. I suspect that it would be better if I was more aggressive with the Dislike button instead of just forwarding to the next song. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/14 "2020-09-22T17:47:23Z")
Classical, Baroque, Renaissance. REAL oldies! Also, for no obvious reason, Prokofiev. Adore that guy! ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/15 "2020-09-22T17:54:58Z")
The OP mentioned Spotify. I want to point out that Spotify is not the best place to listen to your favorite classical music. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/16 "2020-09-22T18:03:48Z")
I had a record, back when there were records, called “Dance Hits of the 1500s.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/17 "2020-09-22T18:53:34Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > Spotify is not the best place to listen to your favorite classical music. Don’t keep an idiot in suspense… What is? ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/18 "2020-09-22T19:16:27Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Don’t keep an idiot in suspense No, no. What I meant is that if we talk about listening to music from the perspective of a Spotify listener, emphasizing our classical music preferences is rather futile, in my opinion. I for one use other streaming services to listen to classical music, such as Youtube and mainly online radio stations. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/19 "2020-09-22T19:25:27Z")
Working - Steely Dan. I know all their music inside out and can Sing along while concentrating elsewhere. Driving - songs I’m learning for the band I’m in - no gigs since Feb however so lately - podcasts and audiobooks. Cooking - stuff my ife likes that I wouldn’t otherwise be listening to, such as Del Amitri, Police, Nick Lowe - but if I’m alone - usually Prince, XTC or early Genesis - which leads me to Spotify; - their algorithm is as was said above - shite. I love Genesis up until some of Abacab. After that - no sir. I have never chosen to listen to Invisible Touch, Jesus He Knows Me or Land of Confusion, but spotify will always suggest them. I love early Roxy Music when they were (trying to be) avant-garde - but the later yacht rock stuff? Ych a fi! It shouldn’t be that difficult to see I’ve never once played Slave to Love but have listened to Editions Of You hundreds of times, should it? Also playing a song or an artist is not evidence of love for them. I was f-forwarding through Ed Sheeran songs this week in an effort to find the title of the ubiquitous festival fave that goes ‘Ooooh ooooh oooh oooohh ooh oooh!’ After about 15 songs I couldn’t stand any more so stopped. Next day it suggests I’d like to listen to old Ed in my daily playlists. No thanks. Entirely my own fault I guess. MiM ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197/20 "2020-09-23T10:51:12Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > The OP mentioned Spotify. I want to point out that Spotify is not the best place to listen to your favorite classical music. I agree. I tried Spotify for Classical, but had to cancel. They kept suggesting things I already had. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/several-questions-about-your-musical-preferences/921197.md?page=2)