# Why don't women like Pink Floyd? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464 "2010-03-23T13:00:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/101 "2010-03-24T13:34:43Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Thank you! I’m reading a great book called _Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps_. It’s very informative as well as funny. I wish I’d read it a couple of years earlier. It would have saved me from a nasty argument with a girlfriend. > Yeah, I know. Hey, How did you know I can’t read maps…😉 The phone company used to do a map test that you had to pass to get a job and I failed it every single time! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/102 "2010-03-24T13:59:22Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > Hey, How did you know I can’t read maps…😉 The phone company used to do a map test that you had to pass to get a job and I failed it every single time! Because I read it in a book, that’s how. 🙂 A couple of years ago I was on vacation with my then-GF and her kids. The plan was for her to drop me off at another hotel so I could enjoy a few more days off while she headed back home. She was a little worried that she wouldn’t be able to find her way and asked me to help her. I showed her a map and said “We’re here, you want to go there, so take this road.” Simple. She got upset. There was no way she could follow it. She wasn’t secure until I wrote out the directions like “Turn left at next light. Take route 6 for 20 miles. Get on 28 north.” A few hours later she called me and read me the riot act. How could I be such a… such a… MAN?!? Why was I so insensitive to her needs? Had I known, I would have understood that she’s just wired to experience the world in a different way due to a lower level of testosterone poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/103 "2010-03-24T14:12:00Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Hey now! The _songs_ on that album are pretty darned good for a bunch of snot-nosed 16-year old public school boys. The _lyrics_ are, well, ok, pretty much what you’d expect from a bunch of snot-nosed 16-year old public school boys. They can be overlooked. It was hot shot producer Jonathan King, an adult, who absolutely ruined the songs by slapping a bunch of horrible, wildly out-of-place strings and horns over the music. The boys didn’t have the clout to tell him to go fuck himself. Which is probably a good thing. The album wouldn’t have been made if they’d told him to go fuck himself. It got them a bold resume mark and they were able to do their own thing by the next album. > > If you can overlook the terrible production and oh-my-god-are-you-KIDDING-ME?? horns, this is a [beautiful little song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2UtgPEGYNM), musically, vocally and, this one, lyrically. The strings aren’t too overpowering even though I still cringe a bit, but the guitar and the piano are lovely. I’ve never understood why this song isn’t covered by anybody. > > And anyway, who was listening to From Genesis To Revelation for fun because they liked the music? Every Genesis fan I’ve ever met discovered Genesis with a later album (Foxtrot for me), and bought the album retroactively to be completest, listened to it a few times to get a feel of it, then went back to listening to the REALLY good albums. And no Genesis fan worth their salt would ever deny the greatness of anything post-FGTR, even with a couple of dodgy songs here and there. I mean, I don’t even want to KNOW anyone who loved [songs like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD5engyVXe0), then, but now says :smack: “What was I smoking??” They’d have to have brain damage to not still think that’s STILL a fucking GREAT song. > > _a female who loved Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and especially, early Genesis, who, yes, owns an 8-track of From Genesis To Revelation_ Fair point on _ **From Genesis to Revelation** _. I’d just sort of boxed myself in by using 1972 as the cutoff year, and Genesis wasn’t very well established in the US by that point. But if I’d used 1975 as the year, and replaced David Cassidy with Donny Osmond or the Bay City Rollers, and cited _ **Selling England By the Pound** _, my point might still hold. I still love a few tracks from \*\*\*Selling England By the Pound \*\*\*(especially “Dancing With the Moonlit Knight”), but some tracks I liked a lot as a high schooler are a bit (no, make that a LOT) dated, to say the least. And whereas a bad Donny Osmond song is over in 3 minutes, a bad Seventies art-rock song goes on forever. Now, I was a precocious, intellectual, slightly alienated middle-class teenage white male myself once, so I feel free to tease such boys. But it’s not as if there weren’t plenty of precocious, intellectual, slightly alienated middle-class teenage girls in those days. It’s just that THOSE girls weren’t, generally, listening to King Crimson or Zappa or ELP. They were listening to female folk singers of the “Feel My Pain” school. While the male nerd was listening to _ **Larks Tongues in Aspic** _, his female counterpart was probably listening to Joni Mitchell’s _ **Blue.** _ The female nerd would probably have scoffed at the pretensions of Crimso, while the male nerd would have laughed at Joni’s oh-so-earnest warblings. Well, decades later, the male nerd is now married to that female nerd. And as adults, BOTH nerds probably laugh just a bit at what they once loved (“Geez, Fripp, this guitar solo was getting boring 10 minutes ago, and you’re still just getting warmed up.” “Sigh… what’re you whining about NOW, Joni?”), even if they still retain some affection for the old stuff. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/104 "2010-03-24T14:14:40Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I know I’m generalizing, but it has seemed to me that women are NOT fans of the Floyd. I’ve met exactly one women in almost 40 years who really dug them, but other than that, no, never. The few times I saw them live in the 1970s, none of my friends could get a date for it. So, we went alone, a bunch of guys in a row, and it was fine anyway. 🆒 > > My wife cannot stand them, and she is a deep blues lover and hard rocker. I don’t get it. Maybe it’s not as simple as women don’t like Pink Floyd. Maybe the women who like Pink Floyd tend to be a little more introverted and are not the ones you and your friends asked for dates. I didn’t particularly notice gender imbalance in the audience the times I saw them in the 80s. Not like the time my boyfriend and I went to a Joan Armatrading concert. I love Pink Floyd (and King Crimson), but my taste in music is very, very guitarcentric. When I started paying attention to Pink Floyd in high school I’d listen with my friends from stage crew in the wood shop classroom. I’d have gone anywhere with any of them (except Jeff, sorry Jeff) but they saw me as “one of the guys.” In my own circle of friends I relate musically to more (not all, just more) of the men than the women. ---
**Author:** ![Revixit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Revixit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revixit)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/105 "2010-03-24T14:26:28Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It’s not so much that men feel more isolated, but more like we’re more comfortable with isolation. I’ve been reading a lot lately about gender differences, and it’s fascinating stuff. It explains so much. It explains why women can listen to music, carry on a heart-felt conversation, do a crossword puzzle, and read a recipe at the same time. When I’m reading a recipe, I take the attitude of “Get the hell out of my kitchen or someone’s losing a finger.” > > For me (and I suspect a lot of men) enjoyment of music is a solitary persuit. It’s not a social activity. Of course, I’m sure that there are a lot of women who feel the same way, but I suspect that as a general trend, women enjoy music more as a way of connecting to others emotionally while men enjoy it as a sort of adventure in turning inwards. > > Disclaimer: I’m not fascinated by gender differences because I want to “put women in their place” or shoehorn anyone or oppress. I’m interested in it because I want to open up channels of communication and understanding. Behavioral differences between the sexes are very interesting. Most of us women can multitask and most men need to focus on one thing at a time. One hypothesis I’ve read is that women evolved the ability to multitask because they had to watch children and hold babies while also working in the home while men were out focusing on hunting, later farming, then other trades as time went on. But I’m a woman who is very comfortable with isolation, in fact I require a certain amount of it. I like to listen to music alone, too. I disappear into music and into books. I don’t think of music as a way of connecting with others emotionally at all, except for listening to music with my husband. Of course if I’m with other women (or men), such as riding in a car or in a restaurant, and we hear music we like, we feel connected if one of us says “I like this song” and the other agrees. We might drum on the table or sing along in the car, depending on the music. But we don’t get in cars together in order to ride around and listen to music, we get in cars to go to a destination. I’m talking about as adults, of course, and not young adults. So I question whether many women view music as a way of connecting with others emotionally to any greater extent than men do. Men will play new records for male friends, which women don’t do much if at all after early adulthood. ---
**Author:** ![Revixit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Revixit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revixit)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/106 "2010-03-24T14:34:01Z")
I can also read maps, tdn! And I have a great sense of direction, as in knowing where I’ve been and being able to get back, knowing which way is North, etc. I think I may have magnetite in my brain! ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/107 "2010-03-24T14:36:57Z")
If you had just titled the thread, “Why don’t \*more \* women like Pink Floyd?” or “Do women like Pink Floyd?”, it wouldn’t have struck me as odd. But to say “Why \*don’t \*women like Pink Floyd” somehow insinuates that women that do like PF are freaks. “You don’t like _this_ because _that_ is between your legs” is what I get from the title. Doesn’t enrage me, no (I don’t need a pit thread about it), but it does slightly perturb. I’m not abnormal, and I do have good taste in music. OTOH, I have no sense of direction, and could literally get lost in my own neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/108 "2010-03-24T14:38:11Z")
> [@Revixit](#): > > So I question whether many women view music as a way of connecting with others emotionally to any greater extent than men do. Men will play new records for male friends, which women don’t do much if at all after early adulthood. Well, it’s a hypothesis. I’d be interested in hearing from others on their opinions. I have noticed that women will often carry on conversations while watching TV (and not miss a bit of the show), while men generally want to focus on the show. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/109 "2010-03-24T14:44:52Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > But to say “Why \*don’t \*women like Pink Floyd” somehow insinuates that women that do like PF are freaks. Instead of “freaks”, how about “rare and wonderful”? I’m thrilled that so many Doper chicks love The Floyd. ---
**Author:** ![heatmiserfl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df705f/32.png) [@heatmiserfl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heatmiserfl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/110 "2010-03-24T14:54:01Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I’m very much into prototypical guy stuff, so a look into my favorite bands as a teenager is probably going to be quite unappealing to girls: > > The Who > Frank Zappa > King Crimson > Grateful Dead > Pink Floyd > > Which of those is not like the other? I went to see all\* of them live with groups of friends. Those pilgrimages included women for exactly one of the groups. Can you guess which one? > > I’d add Led Zeppelin to the list of girl-averse music, though I’m not a fan of them. The fact that girls don’t like Led Zeppelin provided an excellent joke in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. > > I’ll also add that several of my groups of friends gravitated to Phish in the early 90s as the 'Dead waned, and they were every bit as girl-friendly as the 'Dead was. I was aghast when the natural progression after Phish was Dave Mathews, which offers nothing for guys. > > - I didn’t actually see Zappa because when a bunch of my friends offered me a ticket, I was two months away from being a fan. He went and got cancer after that tour, so I missed out by two months. Doh! Wow! You’re exactly like me. I’m definitely a Pink Floyd fan. In fact, when I first saw pictures/film? of young, hippy David Gilmore, I acquired a huge crush. I really love the sound of his solos. I’m surprised that people think women wouldn’t like them because his guitar solos are sort of melancholy (you know, stuff that girls like 😉 ). My 13 yr old daughter is also a fan. Also gotta agree about Led Zeppelin. I feel like I’m _supposed_ to like them. I just don’t and I’m not sure why. The music is good. Maybe it’s Robert Plant’s vocals. It’s like he’s trying too hard to be sexy. Oh, I don’t know. I consider bands like Bob Seeger and maybe even Lynyrd Skynyrd to be more “guy bands”. That’s probably not true either. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/111 "2010-03-24T15:05:29Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Instead of “freaks”, how about “rare and wonderful”? > > I’m thrilled that so many Doper chicks love The Floyd. Yeah, the “the OP implies that women who like PF are freaks” tone strikes me as typical female it’s-all-about-me grievance mongering. I certainly also read the OP as “why can’t more chicks share my geeky obsession?” Or to put it in official womyn’s studies jargon, if the OP were really intent on othering PF-loving women by establishing a heteronormative (heh heh) paradigm (good God, I really was exposed to this crap for too long), it would not be posted in the plaintive tone it was – it would have been “what’s up with these crazy unfeminine chicks who keep harshing my mellow by showing up at my Floyd shows???” Yeah, my white male privilege definitely couldn’t stand up to a Strong Womyn who adored football, AC/DC, Nintendo, handguns, and beernuts. Off my turf, girl! I mean . . . will you marry me? ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/112 "2010-03-24T15:06:34Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Yeah, the “the OP implies that women who like PF are freaks” tone strikes me as typical female it’s-all-about-me grievance mongering. I certainly also read the OP as “why can’t more chicks share my geeky obsession?” > > Or to put it in official womyn’s studies jargon, if the OP were really intent on othering PF-loving women by establishing a heteronormative (heh heh) paradigm (good God, I really was exposed to this crap for too long), it would not be posted in the plaintive tone it was – it would have been “what’s up with these crazy unfeminine chicks who keep harshing my mellow by showing up at my Floyd shows???” > > Yeah, my white male privilege definitely couldn’t stand up to a Strong Womyn who adored football, AC/DC, Nintendo, handguns, and beernuts. Off my turf, girl! I mean . . . will you marry me? Wow. Thanks for sharing that. :rolleyes: ---
**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:** [March 24, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/113 "2010-03-24T16:38:18Z")
I’m pretty certain that my wife’s dislike for Pink Floyd is pure social stigma. She was listening to a note-by-note cover of “Nobody Home” in which the singer didn’t even try to sound different and said she liked it. If I played the track off the Wall, she’d hate it. She even admits as much. A few weeks ago, we saw Mary Fahl (ex-lead from October Project) and she sang “Brain Damage/Eclipse” and my wife liked it. Again, if I played it off Dark Side of the Moon, she’d be rolling her eyes. She’s the same way with Leonard Cohen, by the way. There she claims she dislikes his voice but the “Nobody Home” cover sort of blows that theory for Pink Floyd. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/114 "2010-03-24T17:57:36Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > I love Pink Floyd, and I’m a card-carrying woman. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/115 "2010-03-24T18:38:34Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Well, it’s a hypothesis. I’d be interested in hearing from others on their opinions. > > I have noticed that women will often carry on conversations while watching TV (and not miss a bit of the show), while men generally want to focus on the show. And again: the women that you are around apparently like to talk through tv shows. for me, I don’t know what it is, but every time we are watching tv, right during some critical plot explanation point, the husband will start yapping. I try to be the caring wife and pay attention to him but inside all I am thinking is “shut the hell up - plot point - couldn’t you wait for the fucking commercial”. And of course, missed whatever was happening, rewind, and try again. But don’t talk during a timeout in a football game. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/116 "2010-03-24T18:45:52Z")
Female here, I love PF Dark Side of the Moon, it’s my favorite make-out music. I hate Rush. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/117 "2010-03-24T19:31:55Z")
> [@maladroit](#): > > Female here, I love PF Dark Side of the Moon, it’s my favorite make-out music. I hate Rush. I’m with you on Rush. My best friend played it all the time and it just sounded like a bunch of noise to me? They’re fairly skilled musicians, but they were like the Tool of their day. They were painfully pretentious, and people only really liked them because they enjoyed being able to look down on people who ‘didn’t get’ that Rush were like, amazing, man. Prog is the most horrible thing ever to happen to music, it was just an excuse to make really long, really monotonous songs with lame hooks recycled from Pink Floyd and Queen. The lead singers voice sounds like a muppet trying to be happy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/118 "2010-03-24T20:38:08Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > really long, really monotonous songs with lame hooks recycled from Pink Floyd and Queen. At least Queen and Floyd didn’t club you over the head with geeky fanboy sci-fi theme albums and Ayn Rand. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/119 "2010-03-24T20:42:51Z")
Queen is the umm… queen of sci-fi cheese. Check out the Flash Gordon soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464/120 "2010-03-25T05:39:54Z")
HAHAH Great thread… I too notice that when I saw the David Gilmour Pink Floyd in Chicago that wow… theirs nothing but dudes up in here… lol… And some women who were with guys… I was def not like Prince concert… no chance in any random hookin up… FUnny moment… When they re-united at the G8 show… I was listening on the radio all excited and my ex-wife then made the biting yet funny comment that I was such a white boy that we (our marriage) could almost be considered an interracial relationship… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-women-like-pink-floyd/533464.md?page=7)