Race/gender/sex. orientation and musical stereotyping
 

Prompted by proggyman's comment in the member's picture gallery, I thought it would be interesting to talk about how someone's race, gender or sexual orientation influences your perception of their musical tastes. I think in general, this is a pretty white hetero male dominated music forum so it's not unexpected that any deviation from the norm would be at least a little surprising. Now, I'm obviously from deep in the backwater so I haven't had much chance to mingle with people of different races but for some reason, be it through TV or internet or whatever, I've constructed a stereotype in which black people don't really listen to rock and roll, and especially not indie music. This is why I'm always a little pleasantly surprised when I see people who deviate from those expectations (like when Jay-Z was seen at a Grizzly bear gig).

As for my personal experiences with gay people (in Croatia mind you), I think there's a definitely higher percentage of people into mainstream pop music, a much smaller group of people into indie music, and and even smaller one into hard types of music (mostly industrial, which I suppose is the queerest of the hard rock genres). As far as my own tastes and stereotypes, I'd say that unlike the majority of musicbanter, I tend to be much more accepting of good mainstream pop and dance music.

Now, are my prejudice just that, baseless preconceptions or is there some truth to musical stereotyping? Is there a relation between your race/gender/orientation and the music you listen to? Are you the victim of any such stereotypes? Is this thread a little stupid/offensive? Thoughts?

I don't think it should be offensive to point out trends that are plain to see exist. As an example, since we have a "history of metal" thread - how many black musicians are mentioned in this thread? Very few - possibly only two I would think, which is Jimi Hendrix and Phil Lynott. Metal as a genre of music today is largely defined by white people like the members of Metallica and Black Sabbath. I'm not saying metal excludes black people, but it's not as much part of their cultural heritage. Look at the blues and it's a different story.

Observing a difference isn't the same as saying that difference is right or wrong, so I think you're in the moral clear :p:

I think there are some things you forgot when it comes to stereotypes, though - what about nationality and age? Those are things I might draw conclusions from before actually knowing. There are some kinds of music that I think of as distinctly american, for example the commercial punk sounds of NOFX, Blink 182 and Good Charlotte and the emo power rock from bands like Nickelback, Creed and perhaps related, Evanescense.


By nationality, I stereotype finnish people as well. The stereotypical fin of about my age (late 20s) listens to metal, often cheesy, and their favourite bands lists is going to include a lot of bands from his or her home country. I've met quite a few fins who more or less fit this stereotype as well so in my experience it's been reasonably accurate :D It's not a bad stereotype, though, I'm fairly compatible.

well i'm spanish, and looking from my last fm charts

kweejibo’s Music Profile – Users at Last.fm

i guess it wouldn't fit a stereotype like that, considering how some people think spanish people only like spanish music.

i'm Slovak and i have no idea what you're trying to say.

my roommate is *** and he listens to metal, nothing else.

I thought you were an American...

im a girl, and scottish. and 18. i have no idea what my stereotype is on here, but a local stereotype would be that i am a Ned, cause the music i listen to. which is not true of me at all.

I Listen to a lot of Soul and world (even different languages) music, so not race.
I Listen to plenty of guys and girls, in fact i like it when the voices are sang together, so not gender.
I've listened to plenty of *** and lesbian musicians/bands, on of my friends who's a violinist is lesbian, so not orientation.
But, i admit i have commited stereotypes against different genres, like "rap is all crap", when only a large portion is (i've actually listened to it). and "country music is generic" when that's mostly just a large portion of mainstream country.

A lot of people think since i'm a teenager that i play punk music, and that I'm terrible (i'm currently fourth place on three different songs on a Marcy playground remix contest, i'm a DJ for a nonprofit organization. someone [on this site] messaged me asking me to be his music mentor.)
Also people hate the genres i play in (Alt-Folk, Indie-Electronica)

i'm an asexual hominid and have encountered no prejudice. I have unreasonably high/wide standards so am used to disappointment when talking to anyone in Real Life about music; but still people will often surprise you by not conforming to the pointless stereotypes you secretly judge people by

Although i think in the UK, sadly, there are obvious class/geographical boundaries that all too often narrow what people are exposed to and the tastes they form; in the environment I inhabit of predominantly middle-class white youth (all of whom I would consider to be another generation to me 'culturally') there is a tendency toward popular chart 'indie' and this is reflected in the bands that perform at the union - there's very little variation.
I really delighted in the aggravation caused by Tinchy Stryder (sub-par urban pop/former grime MC) playing the other week, it brought an influx of chavs from the Norwich 'burbs and was the most fun i had for a while

All of this musical stereotyping is being affected by the free flow of all music on the internet you would hope, but most casual listeners don't have the time or inclination to explore and just stick to their own depressing spoonfed soundtrack until they drop. As far as i can see

i'd say geography plays a huge part in the validity of sterotypes, especially the population density. where you live in the city will usually give me a good idea of the type of music you're into, but in cities there exists a greater probablity that racially associated music will be embraced by many different people. i know tons of blacks who listen to metal or indie, despite the predominant rap stereotype. what i like is that shows are almost multicultural affairs, i don't see too many all white or all black events taking place.

Eh, some of the more influential underground metal bands have black members. Suffocation and Blasphemy come to mind rather readily. Further, numerous 3rd world bands have had quite the impact (Sarco***o, Pentagram (Chile), etc..)....

The third world element is what really blows my mind. It's a bit amazing that some Brazilians, in the 1980s, were developing (and playing!) a rather innovative style of metal, together with some Americans, Norwegians, and Australians :p

I'm not saying there are no black musicians who influenced metal. Phrases like "largely defined by" is not the same as "exclusively defined by". The phrase "not as much part of their musical heritage" is not the same as "not part of their musical heritage".

I'm talking about a very general trend and I know it's there and I think you know as well. ;)

The musical stereotypes I have are these:
--"Rap music fans are more likely to be African American rather than another ethnicity."
--"Young Caucasian males in the Midwest listen to country and metal."
--"People who live in the country and on farms like country music."
--"16-year-old girls like pop and dance music."
--"Middle-aged Caucasian men like jazz."
--"Older people in their 60s and beyond listen to mostly classical."
I did have one male gay friend in Germany who loved musicals, which is the common stereotype.

As for myself, I am not sure if I fit musical stereotypes, if there are any, about female bisexual people. In general I don't like genres and classifications and instead enjoy music that seems unusual or quirky in some way, but emotionally compelling. Perhaps my musical tastes do relate to being bisexual: a person's category doesn't determine whether I feel drawn to that person; rather, the person's singular characteristics are especially important. Similarly, a particular song's characteristics may make me like it, regardless what genre it is.

I feel my age and particular upbringing had the most impact on my musical tastes. I rarely listen to music as a leisure activity, probably because I am very goal oriented and not good at relaxing (although MusicBanter is relaxing for me!). I grew up in a "classical" household and often felt bored by much of the classical music, especially long symphonies. As a young-un I felt pop and rock music music were usually "beneath" me because they seemed too vapid and focused only on sex and love. A genre I have always disliked (following my dad's affinities) is jazz. I find rap music tedious because it often seems very antagonistic and self-preening. I generally despise trance and dance music. Country music seems too saturated with gender stereotypes and trite topics. Metal is too harsh and gives me a headache. I don't care for musicals much, either, because the themes/tunes seem so simplistic. Oh...and I don't like opera, having sat through more Wagner operas than I care to remember. However, I probably like at least one song in every genre...and I will listen to a song so I can learn what makes someone else appreciate it, even if the song isn't one that appeals to me.

I think a lot of what music you listen to has to do with geography as well as race. I grew up mostly in New Mexico and California so I've always had a more open mind when it comes to music than a lot of the black people I know.

Surprisingly though from what I've seen at shows and hanging out with my friends (I hang out with about an equal mixture of black and white people) is that alot more white people are into rap than black people. While black people do listen to and like rap the majority of the ones I know at least prefer R&B or soul music. On that same note most black people I know aren't really into any type of rock music but for a great deal of them I think it's just the lack of exposure to that genre. I've played music for people who told me they hated rock and would never listen to it and they've actually ended up liking it.

I know a couple of *** people but I've honestly never paid attention to what they listened to so I really don't have a opinion on that.

There are very few people I know that I actually talk to about music, because most of the stuff I listen to they haven't heard of:p:

I also stereotype people with pretty common generalizations (black people listen to rap, white teenage girls listen to pop, etc)

But my stereotypes are almost always correct:(

I meant to comment on that too. Maybe it's just in the city but most young white males I know listen to almost exclusively hip hop and rock.

I Live in a small town, the country thing is true (on a whole), but i don't listen to it, my favorite genres: Folk, Electronica, Soul, Blues, and Indie

also to Vegangelica: you live in Iowa which is technically part of the mid-west

Oh yes, definitely Iowa is in the Midwest, which is why I formed my (incorrect) stereotype that young men in the Midwest listen to mostly country and metal! Maybe when I walk down the street I'll start asking random young men what they are listening to. We Iowans are friendly (true stereotype?), so this is something I'd probably do. Then I can report back here on my findings.

I'm glad to hear my "country music in the country" stereotype maybe has some validity!

I'd hardly say a large portion of rap is crap.

But yeah anyway... I'm not really affected too much by this stuff. Of course if there is a female vocalist involved it hits me in a different way than a male would, but that usually wears off after a while and it seems pretty much the same.

This isn't really relevant to anything, but industrial as a whole is not a sub-genre of rock. 'Industrial rock' is a sub-genre of Industrial.

On the subject, I think stereotyping is just that...it's mostly accurate but there are always exceptions, and it greatly depends on geographic location.

I'm from Belgium and I don't listen to eurotrash techno. :laughing: Of course it might be a different story if I actually lived there at the moment.

I tried to get as far as possible from the mainstream tastes in here, just cause they seemed a bit absurd. Ans still 99% of the population still haven't noticed, that they do act as a stereotype.

So the Lebanese teenager Stereotype (for those that don't know):
-When you're a teenager and you turn out to be an exception that doesn't listen to hip hop, R&B ,rap or electronica you directly become part of the other stereotype, the Rock lover.
-What's weird is, that all Rock lovers love those same bands: Metallica, Nirvana and Iron Maiden. And I don't know how they talk about these three bands as if they're from the same genre.
-And when these Rock Lovers grow up to become 15+ they just start loving Dream Theater.

-And then at 18+ you just don't care what's on the radio, just that it is on and on a very non-annoying volume.

I don't know about other countries' stereotypes just what I see in the movies (which is usually based only on unaccurate stereotypes). But not that I have these prejudices in real life or on music forums. Maybe cause I never get to imagine how the user looks like (I'm very bad at these things).

I think it'd be more appropriate to say, --"Young Caucasian males in the Midwest listen to country OR metal."

Wow... sad to say that that is pretty much exactly how my friend from Lebanon (who has moved away now) was like

He loved electronica, some rap/hip hip, and was in love with Dream Theater and Nightwish. His only redeeming features were The Sex Pistols and one or two other songs by other artists. Oh, and he hated R.E.M

Oh yes, hip hop, you are quite right. I should have said country or metal. But now I wonder, is my stereotype true? Or, is Abdullah closer to reality when Abdullah says most young white males (in the city) listen to hip hop and rock?

I hope you don't think this is one of Maze's redeeming features.

No I meant to continue his list of faults

I personally stereotype at least 90 percent of all races, genders, and sexual orientations, and even style of clothing worn, as liking music I hate.

It has been a very accurate standard that hasn't let me down so far, sans the delightful moments in which you meet one of the 10 percent.

Yea, it's lonely... but at least I don't give a fuck.

I'm black, but growing up everybody black, chinese, arab, white, etc etc etc was in to hip-hop.

In canada there isnt this african american experience which goes alongside hip-hop, so I often laugh when cats throw on a crazy NYC accent or what have you.



but I think gender is an interesting one. I havent read the entire thread so maybe somebody said this. but overtime I've realized that women are generally expected to have a ****tier taste in music.

do I believe this? it's a stupid generalization. however, at a time, there were a small handful of women I knew who could list of Wu tang members names, or albumns...or who could tell you what the 8th song on Enta Da Stage is. Or could recite every word to Quiet Storm when it was THE tune. Many of them could tell you when Nelly was going shopping or what colour hat Diddy wore to the MMVAs.

It's similar to when BET allegedly came up with a list of artists they would no longer play on their station. The reason being that many of them weren't marketable to their target group of whatever age teenage girls (you'd assume boys as well).


as far as Im concerned NOW, women, men, sheep, goats, cows, ants, vultures, and everything else under the sun as a whole have let their ****ty taste in music take over the mainstream. thats another story though

I do expect a girl to have a bad taste, tho I'm a girl myself. It's just that in my country girls tend to respect their stereotypes. You just have to drive on the freeway for less than 5 minutes to notice how women are shitty drivers.

I still have this prejudice against girls but in a weird way I have the same against males (maybe with a slight change, but still bad taste for both). And I usually am right, and still not talking about forums.

from seeing the music that girls at my school listen to, i have to agree.

I don't know about that one. I've met some girls who have great taste in music.

I think it was a girl that played Radiohead for me the first time actually when they hit the scene.

Aside from my girlfriend who has adapted, I've never met a girl who had really compatible tastes to my own. I'm not sure I should say that means they have worse taste, but I think that for the most part, I've met fewer girls with a genuine interest and explorative approach in music. Most of the music I listen to while not necessarily obscure are from previous decades, so some golddigging is required to discover it. I know one who's genuinely interested, but her tastes are more up to date than mine.

In my experience, guys tend to be more interested in music than girls.

I have to agree with you. I ask my friends this all the time. Needless to say, I'm 1 of 4 girls these guys hang out with. I only go to shows with guys, and it's not like I wouldn't go with a female. I simply don't know any girls around here who genuinely like the same music I do. I, too, love searching for good albums whether it be in stores or on the internet. I love talking about music and finding new music. Evidently, this is why I enjoy MB so much AND I enjoy the women who post on here. Well, most of 'em.

In the environment I'm in lately (College mostly), I have to say it's a bit the opposite. Maybe because all males are pushed to become doctors or lawyers, the majority of the students in the film-making college are girls (90% of the filmmakers here are females).
So I've been surprised to see a lot of them caring for their music, getting to some experimental gigs and all kind of concerts, tho never pushing it in searching for their music. Mainly the eclectic tastes are in the few males.

Where I stay (if your interested in music) its either Rock, like real Rock, or Electronica you get into.
Most of the girls I went to school with would just listen to stuff from the charts.
Which was all **** in my opinion.
most of the boys with no real interest in music would listen to generic "Dance" which was pretty common.
There was a huge patch where the people with no interest in music would listen to PCDJ, with acapella mix's. It was fucking awful.
In my experience, I haven't been around much ethnic minority, ever since I went to China, I've stereotyped Chinese people to only liking Classical (they loved Susan Boyle from BGT) Americans in general to Rap/Hip-hop and I don't know about the rest.
I've never really stereotyped by gender, but the more I think about it.. I don't imagine american females to listen to rap at all, probably more (I hate to say it) Pop.

Theres always gonna be exceptions to any stereotype but i think i would agree that stereotypes are there for a reason, at least to an extent.

Im white and British. Apart from a really terrible mainstream hip hop phase when i was a teenager (which only amounted to about 3 or 4 artists by the way) i've always struggled to get into the majority of hip hop that i have listened to but recently my horizons have started to expand. I would say the same is true for a lot of people like myself, you are more than likely gonna find a liking for British mainstream guitar bands or mainstream dance/trance than you are for hip hop.

I would say that most of the males my age who i grew up with were and are predominantly into fairly generic, commercial, accessible British indie bands. Girls my age were preominantly into generic, commercial, accessible pop music and boy bands. Now that we've all grown up the boy band lovin' has certainly reduced but i would say is still a big part of their music tastes, whether it be for nostalgic reasons or what. These girls are the kind of girls that spam the hell out of Facebook every Sunday night with The X Factor related chatter and the same goes for any show like that, like Pop Idol, Britans Got Talent etc.

the gender thing switches a bit when you're looking at an arts, indie sort of crowd....usually they all like the same thing and they all know whats good or bad in THAT scene.

the urban hip-hop crowd and EDM...that goes out the window

One day I will meet a girl who likes Nirvana, rap and South African folk. She will be my wife.

Dude just combine BTown, Bulldog (think he likes African music) and dreadnaught. Perfect music taste, and at least it will be part girl:p:

Dreadnaught likes rap? And she's white? I think I'm in love.

Her profile says her favorite genre is hiphop

And uh.....I just happened to notice that one day... not weird at all, right?