People won't say what music they like

Subject: People won't say what music they like
From: Marion
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 09:22 PM

Have you ever noticed that a lot of people are reluctant to say what music, or musicians, they like? (I mean people in the real world, not Mudcat). They might be willing to talk about other topics when getting to know somebody, but when asked what kinds of music they like, will just say "All kinds." Or if I ask who their favourite bands or singers are, they'll just say "I like a lot of people."

Has anyone else noticed this? Why do you think it is? Though many people will be attracted to a number of genres or performers, I doubt that many people really like them all equally.

Maybe people are embarrassed by their tastes - they think others will look down on them if they admit they like country or Michael Jackson. And I suppose that this is a real risk. Or they want to appear cosmopolitan by claiming to listen to everything.

Or maybe people who aren't as into music as you and me simply don't have strong feelings about their preferences - they don't care enough about any genre to single it out.

Marion

Me: "I like Bryan Adams, and I'm not ashamed."

My friend: "Well, I'm ashamed for you."

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: Metchosin
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 09:32 PM

I think that sometimes people's taste in music is on some level very personal and if someone doesn't share your tastes, it can at times feel like a personal rejection. Better to keep ones mouth shut than to face immediate rejection.

Then again, there are a lot of people, for whom, the only part that music plays in their life is as a form of muzac.

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: John Routledge
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 10:01 PM

Marion - your observation is also very true of the UK.

Even if music is not an important part of their lives people appear frightened to reveal too much of themselves in a couple of sentences talking about music. GB

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: InOBU
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 11:40 PM

I like Sorcha Dorcha... the hardest working Celtic band of this or any other century...
Larry Otway

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: Metchosin
Date: 09 Feb 01 - 11:46 PM

Larry I admire your persistance........ do you have a recording?

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: mkebenn
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 07:50 AM

Some, if not most people worry far too much about what other's preception of them is. Don't want to be the red cow in a brown herd, or something. I've always strived to be purple, and I love John Stewart, which usually is followed by "Who"..Mike

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: nutty
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 09:32 AM

I would be one of those people who would say "all kinds" and I would need more than a couple of sentences to explain. Towards the end of WW2 and for some time afterwards, my parents ran a concert party in the Yorkshire Dales, so I was raised on music-hall songs and those of George Formby, Vera Lynn etc.

My father was a brilliant pianist so the house always echoed to the Classics as well

At school we were taught folk songs - suitably censored by Sharp and Baring-Gould - but very enjoyable to sing ( The Keeper, Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron and many of that ilk)

Throughout my teenage years there were school and church choirs and a good selection of hymns and carols (and Handel's Messiah every Christmas)

I sang in a folk club for the first time in 1966 and rediscovered my love of folkmusic, which has stayed as my main musical interest since then - but if asked what kind of music I liked, my truthful answer would have to be -ALL KINDS

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: GUEST,bagpuss
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 09:47 AM

I think there is another possible reason of the "all kinds" answer. people don't like being pigeon-holed as the sort of person who likes a aprticular type of music. They don't feel their tastes can be encapsulated in a couple of sentences and a lot of the artists they like are fairlt unknown.

At least thats a reason why I have given that sort of answer in the past - especially where I have got the feeling that the other person is just making polite conversation, or seem to like completely different sorts of music to me.

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: death by whisky
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 10:10 AM

I m as likely to put on a Rush album ,followed by trad,no ballads,absolutely not,its enough having to perform them,then theres Madonna,its the guitar riff on that recent song that got me.Punk ,two-tone,ska,reggae,rock from those heady teenage days.Its all there. As for the general public,don't know.Sometimes when Bec and I go out,Im working out the tunes being played on the juke box or whatever.Does anyone else do that?

Subject: All kinds... nearly
From: Bernard
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 10:51 AM

That's me, too...

The only music I can honestly say I don't enjoy at any level is Jazz - or, at least, the music that is normally labelled 'Jazz'. I enjoy some blues, most pop and rock, most kinds of Folk, most classical music, and some forms of Country.

Driving in the car I'm likely to be playing Amy Grant, bluegrass banjo, fairground organs, Dire Straits, Beatles, Beach Boys, Stones, the list goes on...

At home I'm currently giving 'Morris On' and 'Son of Morris On' a bashing, or selections of 60's pop music. Then I'll put on Widor's 8th Organ Symphony (the house next door is empty at the moment!), turn up the volume and blow my cat's head off!

For a quiet(-ish) change it may be the 'Albinoni' Adagio in G Minor for organ and strings...

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: Homeless
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 12:26 PM

Marion - I think part of it might be that people's perceptions are limited by their exposure. When I once asked a coworker and received the "all kinds" reply I then asked her to be more specific. That was answered with "Pop, Retro 80s, Classic Rock, and a little Country. But I don't like Classical." But to her that was "all kinds" because that was everything she'd ever been exposed to - what was played on a couple different radio stations. If you're not a person who is musically driven you may not be exposed to much, or what you are exposed to may not be remembered.

Another problem with answering is how do you decide at what level to categorize music? If someone says they like blues, does that include both Robert Johnson and Robin Trower? Jazz can be just as varified. If you say you do (not) like jazz does that include all of Early Jazz, Big Band Jazz, Swing, Bebop, Cool Jazz, Hard Bop, Post Bop, Free Jazz, Avant Garde, Fusion, and Post Modern Jazz? Is Louis Jordan considered jazz or blues? How many laymen can differentiate between Bach and Beethoven? A person might like one but not the other, but unless (s)he had the drive to research them I would suppose that chances of knowing the difference are slim to none.

And some people are just lazy and saying "all kinds" is easier than thinking about it.

Subject: RE: People won't say what music they like
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Feb 01 - 12:43 PM

posted above my music center