Predator

So what are the rules? I just found out that I have been doing it all wrong for close to 20 years now. Its always been my understanding that you share what you like. Now I'm learning that you have to pussyfoot around it and and slowly work your way up. I say make a recommendation and work off of their reaction.

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ProggyMan

There are no rules. You can say whatever you want. No one will stop you. It's just a bad idea to reccomend Death Metal to a Rihanna fan.

Flip McLovin

I think you have to know the person that you're recommending to and what they like or may like. I have some people that I won't recommend to period because I just don't think it's worth the fallout.

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Predator

Why is it a bad idea?
My daughter listens to mostly pop. She has cd's by all these disney channel "artists". She goes to all these school dances and wants me to play that soulja boy junk along the way. But I still find my metal cd's in her room. Why is that? Following your logic, there is no chance of someone liking more than one extreme. Its one side or the other with you.

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ProggyMan

Uh, no it's not. I just find it extremely unlikely that someone will like Death Metal if they also like Rihanna etc. Not to say that someone can't, but it's probably not a good idea. If someone walks up to me, says they like Rihanna, and asks about someone else they might like, I won't say Amon Amarth.

Predator

I recommend where my tastes are. I am not going to recommend something I don't like or have never heard. Where the method explained in the last thread seemed like a way to teach somebody how to like something, I prefer to be straight forward about it. I'll recommend what I like. Based on their reaction, I'll adjust.

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ProggyMan

So our methods are the same, just in a different order.

sleepy jack

It's pretty idiotic to go "Here Avril Lavigne fan listen to some Cannibal Corpse because I like it." I mean you can keep deluding yourself into thinking it will work because of the occasional odd case but over all it won't. Baby steps tend to work better than giant leaps.

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Rainard Jalen

Yeah, exactly. Important thing really is to know who it is that you're talking to. Often what you find is that people's tastes aren't all that diverse. You usually will struggle to get anyone to really give a fair go to anything outside of their comfort zone.

The only times I've been successful in getting somebody to pretty much totally change their tastes, was a long while back in my metal days. I knew this dude who virtually only listened to Radiohead, Coldplay, Muse and the Red Hot Chili Peppers - that is, they were pretty much the only bands he had anything good to say about at the time; on top of that he kept recommending that I listen to Muse, who I thought sucked more with each listen. Anyway, somehow I managed to turn him into a complete metalhead lunatic. It was virtually a fortnight-long transformation. By the end, he would listen to nothing except Tool, Opeth, Agalloch and anything that sounded remotely similar. So deeply entrenched in it all did he become, that he wouldn't give anything I now listen to even a go, over his dead body. With all that said though, I guess he must have been predisposed to the change he underwent. Something in the gloom and sullen darkness of metal took hold inside of him.



I actually think it's difficult to talk to your average person about music at all these days. Most people have no serious interest in music to the point of exploring anything beyond the very immediate mainstream, and as for those who are interested, they often have very fixed ideas and opinions. So yeah: hard to take anybody beyond their comfort zone. Which is a real pity, because they miss out on so much as a result.

Comus

When I'm trying to mold a good listener I usually work out from their original tastes and build bridges and introduce them to bands that incorporate what they like and something that I want them to like. While it might take several bridges and countless bands it usually works out eventually.

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