My fellow music nerds–how do you respond to this question, when asked by a non-music nerd?
I have a hard time, because there isn’t one genre of music I listen to; my favorite albums this year included rock at all levels of intensity, hip-hop, bluegrass, country, and plenty that I wouldn’t even try to categorize.
If I name a genre, the discussion is going to lead into the popular variety of that genre, which I almost always know (or care) nothing about. A more accurate and general answer, like “a little of everything”, is like saying nothing at all.
Do other music nerd-types find this question as uncomfortable as I do?
I can for sure say what genre of music I listen to, but I can describe the type. I love (no, make that adore) music which are moody and sad in temperament. I don’t care whether it is classical, rock, new age – as long as it can be used for a dramatic, tearful moment in a movie, I’m hooked.
I was once on a business trip with an Army officer I worked for.
She was driving the rental car, but graciously offered to let me choose the radio station, asking, “What kind of music do you like?”
I demurred, explaining, “You don’t hear it on the radio”.
She seemed puzzled.
I explained that I like old music.
She thought this meant ‘oldies’: classic rock, R&B, etc.
I clarified: Pre-electricity string music. Scratchy old records. Black people playing blues, mountain people playing country, Hawaiians playing Hawaiian. If you didn’t die a long time ago, I probably don’t like your music.
My answer to the OP’s question is fucking yes. I am a bit of a music nerd and dread this question. In my experience, its almost invariably asked by somebody you don’t know well who is not going to have heard of the things you’re listening to - not to sound snobby or anything but its just how it is. I had this exact exchange a couple of nights ago with a girl who was most offended when I said that the stuff that me and the guys in my band were/are into would be things she hadn’t heard of. Imagine my incredulity when her offence continued even after I named the relevant bands to reveal that, indeed, she had not heard of them.
Well, you have to admit it comes across as a bit presumptuous to say off the bat that she wouldn’t have heard of the stuff. I’d be annoyed too. Why not just name the bands and let her shrug and say she’s never heard of them?
I remember noticing as a kid that everyone’s stock answer to this question seemed to be “pretty much everything but country.” The ultimate noncommital answer – keep all your options open till you find out what the other guy likes, and what kind of stuff he’ll make fun of you for when he finds out that you like it. But maybe that was just my interpretation.
I listen to lots of kinds of music, from 1880s cylinders up through the late 1980s, and have the record collection to show it. I’m still discovering music from that period that I didn’t hear while I was getting into other music. I don’t get asked that question anymore, but even though there are also lots of kinds of music I don’t listen to, there is such a wide selection of things I like that it’d be pretty much impossible to categorize it.
Forgot to answer this part. I do find it kind of uncomfortable because I’m giving a vague answer and not necessarily mentioning anything that’s popular - so the conversation may get killed.
Anything, as long as it’s good (and ‘good’ is obviously a highly subjective term).
In my car, right now, the range of music includes:
Dvorak’s New World Symphony
Striding Edge (a Cumbrian folk band)
The best of Bobby Darin
Prodigy - Breathe
Chemical Brothers
“What kind of music do you listen to?” is bad enough (maybe you can reply “Anything without dangling prepositions”)
I play in a band and write all of our songs; my pet peeve is getting asked “What kind of music do you play?” I usually just say “Rock” and try to leave it at that. But for me, it’s a terribly difficult question to answer. What songwriter wants to say “we sound like [insert band name]”?
I get asked this pretty regularly and I usually answer “I listen to what’s good in pretty much every category, but have a weakness for hard rock and power pop even if it is so-so.”
I vary the inflection of the word good so it is a simple, non-offensive statement of fact or a dismissive, music snob bit of condescension based on my mood, the person asking, etc.
My response usually leads to a nice conversation (depending on how snob/twit my response was) if the person is the least bit into music:
what is “good”
what is good in most categories - folks usually want to dis country or disco or opera or something and that’s fine, but I think there is wonderful music in every category if a person is open-minded and willing to learn
what is good hard rock and what is so-so and why do I have a weakness for it
Right on, WordMan. I like anything that’s real. When I want to hear blues, it’s much better if it’s some old black guy from Mississippi than some suburban white boy. When I want to hear country, I want someone that is country, not some yankee with a hick fetish. Of course, there are definitely exceptions. There are certainly some suburban white boys out there that can peel the paint off the walls.
And power pop is what I usually say when someone asks me what kind of music I play. That way, people who know what power pop is can delve a little deeper and we can make a conversation of it. If not, then I just rattle off some generality like “we sound like really pissed off Beatles” or something.
I say “mostly world music and jazz,” and if the person asking knows anything about either genre, we can discuss further. If I want to be an asshole, I go into my full-tilt “I loathe oldies” rant.
I dread this question for the opposite reason than you guys. I like pop music. Old, new rock, hip hop, metal, bubble gum, reggea, punk, 40’s, 50’s . . . all the way on up.
Most people turn their nose waaaay up in the air when I say I listen to Top 40. You know, noses usually flip way up in the air when any two people talk about music, seeing as how so many people think that their taste is the only “good” taste.
My father goes as far as to say certain genres aren’t even MUSIC! He’s normally not that pig-headed. They’re all music. They’re just not all good music.
Incidently…I cannot have a romantic relationship with someone whose music tastes are too far removed from my own. It was in the top two or three reasons I’ve broken up with several guys throughout my life.
