What Is It About Music That You Like? (Read first post!)

djchameleon · 01-26-2011, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Why do that? I think for some people variety is one defining characteristics of their taste. Asking people who really don't have a favorite genre to pare it down to their favorites gives a false portrait of their relationship to music.

Imo , it makes sense for the purpose of this thread to have it only be 2 or 3. This thread isn't really asking about their taste but just a few favorite genres if they were forced to pick and to discuss those 2 or 3 genres intead of a super long winded post with all of the genres in their taste.

**Janszoon** · 01-26-2011, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

Imo , it makes sense for the purpose of this thread to have it only be 2 or 3. This thread isn't really asking about their taste but just a few favorite genres if they were forced to pick and to discuss those 2 or 3 genres intead of a super long winded post with all of the genres in their taste.

The thread is asking what you like about music. What if your answer is "variety"? That's hard to talk about if you have to choose only a couple genres.

djchameleon · 01-26-2011, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

The thread is asking what you like about music. What if your answer is "variety"? That's hard to talk about if you have to choose only a couple genres.

well if the person's answer if variety then they can state that in the second question....I don't see what's wrong with picking a couple of genres for the first one.

Zarko · 01-27-2011, 12:35 AM

Favourite 3 Genres
Using as broadly defined genres as possible, probably looking at experimental, jazz and electronic. Though experimental is probably a bit too over the place as a definition, so the third would probably be hip hop.

What attracts me to music
Can't really pin it down to anything. My emotions don't really decide what I feel like listening to or anything like that. I guess it's just something I find interesting and enjoy. Although I hardly listen to it exclusively, I am always fascinated in experimental music in general, and funnily enough listening to the experimental side of things have often gotten me more into genres than listening to the 'easy' stuff first. Best example would probably be hip hop, where I've started enjoying a lot more of the mainstream type stuff after having been initiated by the experimental side of things. Not to say I enjoy one more than the other. I'm very specific in my tastes though (I'll know whether I like something or not from only a few songs), so it is often difficult to get suggestions from other people unfortunately.

Classic - The Church is one band I just can't seem to 'get over' and I keep on coming back. I saw them last month which helps no doubt. Priest = was my favourite for a long time, though I have moved to listening to Untitled 23 now as well as Seance. 23 is probably my favourite album of theirs atm.

Dead Can Dance, Amon Tobin, Nick Cave, all deserve a youtube vid, but they're easy enough to find online!

One of my favourite beatmakers at the moment. Mansbestfriend is an alternate performance name for Sole, anticon artist. The Opus is another (the producer for Rubberoom), Dabrye, DJ Krush, Sixtoo, POS all favourites.

Mainly into the chilled stuff for electronic music atm, but won't ever complain about Aphex Twin, Tobin being chucked on.

Just a rag tag chucked in that I listen to atm. Not really listening to a tonne of music atm, and if anyone cared to see what else I've listened to normally, my journal has mroe than enough examples.

Are you attracted to the same musical qualities now as then?
I didn't care about music at all until I was about 17 years old, so I'm only 5 years old

. As far as I cared, music was for boredom over car drives. I still look at music the same way a tad though. Unless it is entertaining to me, I couldn't really give a damn about the nuances of the music, or its experimentalism. It's one of the reasons why I sorta carry the belief that suggesting you respect a musician whilst not enjoying them is an empty gesture.

Other than that I'm often jumping around from genre to genre in terms of what I'm enjoying at the moments. 5 months ago I had about 4-5 hip hop albums I actually cared about and now that has exploded massively to be probably my most listened genre atm. Before that I was in a huge electronic phase. I don't start disliking older genres I was into, I am just over them for the moment. Case in point, Nick Cave, who I haven't listened to for ages and don't really care to, but I would still class the Bad Seeds as one of my top few bands of all time.

Guybrush · 01-27-2011, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Why do that? I think for some people variety is one defining characteristics of their taste. Asking people who really don't have a favorite genre to pare it down to their favorites gives a false portrait of their relationship to music.

Usually, the music people listen to can be defined by some genre name, even if it's an umbrella term like electronica or rock, so I don't think asking for a few genres is that difficult. Some so far have been imaginative, but that's okay.

To illustrate why less is more, here's a really banal example. Let's say you want to see if people who like to use music as a way to vent anger more often listen to hardcore while people who like music for peace and harmony listen more often to classical. Let's say only two people answer, one who appreciates aggression in music and one who likes harmonies. However, because these people have some variety in their taste, the person who likes harmony also enjoys a bit of aggression now and then and vice versa. As a result, they both put up both classical and hardcore in their genre list.

When they both put up both genres, it's harder to know what attracts them to either one. Does the hardcore guy put up classical because he likes the aggression in the music? Probably not, but if classical (and not hardcore) was his only choice, you'd know that was the case. So, when they both put up both genres, the explanatory power of those answers is actually less - they don't help you answer the questions posed in the OP as effectively.

So, it's okay if people pile on genres, but I'd like to know what their one, two, three favourites are as it makes the answer more valuable to me that way for analytical purposes.

**Janszoon** · 01-27-2011, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

Usually, the music people listen to can be defined by some genre name, even if it's an umbrella term like electronica or rock, so I don't think asking for a few genres is that difficult. Some so far have been imaginative, but that's okay.

To illustrate why less is more, here's a really banal example. Let's say you want to see if people who like to use music as a way to vent anger more often listen to hardcore while people who like music for peace and harmony listen more often to classical. Let's say only two people answer, one who appreciates aggression in music and one who likes harmonies. However, because these people have some variety in their taste, the person who likes harmony also enjoys a bit of aggression now and then and vice versa. As a result, they both put up both classical and hardcore in their genre list.

When they both put up both genres, it's harder to know what attracts them to either one. Does the hardcore guy put up classical because he likes the aggression in the music? Probably not, but if classical (and not hardcore) was his only choice, you'd know that was the case. So, when they both put up both genres, the explanatory power of those answers is actually less - they don't help you answer the questions posed in the OP as effectively.

So, it's okay if people pile on genres, but I'd like to know what their one, two, three favourites are as it makes the answer more valuable to me that way for analytical purposes.

I think the first sentence in your post is a very big assumption. As I said before, for some people variety itself is a defining characteristic of their taste. So, to use the person in your example, what if his answer to the second question was "emotional intensity". If he only says he like hardcore you'e going to read "emotional intensity" as "anger" or something similar, while if he says he likes hardcore and classical you're going to understand that when he says "emotional intensity" he means something much more complex, involving a range of strong emotions. As a result, I think the explanatory power actually increases when people answer the first question with an honest assessment of what they listen to instead of attempting to pare it down to a couple genres.

Guybrush · 01-27-2011, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I think the first sentence in your post is a very big assumption. As I said before, for some people variety itself is a defining characteristic of their taste. So, to use the person in your example, what if his answer to the second question was "emotional intensity". If he only says he like hardcore you'e going to read "emotional intensity" as "anger" or something similar, while if he says he likes hardcore and classical you're going to understand that when he says "emotional intensity" he means something much more complex, involving a range of strong emotions. As a result, I think the explanatory power actually increases when people answer the first question with an honest assessment of what they listen to instead of attempting to pare it down to a couple genres.

The way I see it, if someone likes variety, then I am asking them what part of the spectrum of that variety do they like the most. If they like something out of all possible genres and really appreciate everything there is to appreciate about music, then I expect that there will still be something they like the most. I'm after that most. If that takes a lot of soul searching to figure out, that's fine.

Howard the Duck · 02-01-2011, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

The way I see it, if someone likes variety, then I am asking them what part of the spectrum of that variety do they like the most. If they like something out of all possible genres and really appreciate everything there is to appreciate about music, then I expect that there will still be something they like the most. I'm after that most. If that takes a lot of soul searching to figure out, that's fine.

I'm a multi-genre fan myself - electronica, country, classical, metal, jazz, pop

If I had to pin down what I like the most, it's probably jazz-rock cos it's complex AND intense.

Buzzov*en · 01-26-2011, 06:57 PM

Favorite genres are

Sludge Metal
Hardcore Punk
Thrash Metal

Love the agression in the music and lyrics.

s_k · 01-26-2011, 07:42 PM

What I probably like best about music is that I can control my own emotions by just picking the right record at the right time out of my cabinet, play it and listen. It can change the world for that moment for me.
I'd be stone cold dead without the helping hand of music.

01-26-2011, 06:57 PM	#9 (permalink)
Buzzov*en Anxiety Hangover Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Gardenia Posts: 501	Favorite genres are Sludge Metal Hardcore Punk Thrash Metal Love the agression in the music and lyrics. __________________ Save the environment, shoot yourself in the head. And when there is no hope I'll smoke some crack I'll shoot some dope.

01-26-2011, 07:42 PM	#10 (permalink)
s_k Music Addict Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,206	What I probably like best about music is that I can control my own emotions by just picking the right record at the right time out of my cabinet, play it and listen. It can change the world for that moment for me. I'd be stone cold dead without the helping hand of music. __________________ Click here to see my collection

01-27-2011, 12:35 AM	#4 (permalink)
Zarko Barely Disheveled Zombie Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 1,196	Favourite 3 Genres Using as broadly defined genres as possible, probably looking at experimental, jazz and electronic. Though experimental is probably a bit too over the place as a definition, so the third would probably be hip hop. What attracts me to music Can't really pin it down to anything. My emotions don't really decide what I feel like listening to or anything like that. I guess it's just something I find interesting and enjoy. Although I hardly listen to it exclusively, I am always fascinated in experimental music in general, and funnily enough listening to the experimental side of things have often gotten me more into genres than listening to the 'easy' stuff first. Best example would probably be hip hop, where I've started enjoying a lot more of the mainstream type stuff after having been initiated by the experimental side of things. Not to say I enjoy one more than the other. I'm very specific in my tastes though (I'll know whether I like something or not from only a few songs), so it is often difficult to get suggestions from other people unfortunately. Classic - The Church is one band I just can't seem to 'get over' and I keep on coming back. I saw them last month which helps no doubt. Priest = was my favourite for a long time, though I have moved to listening to Untitled 23 now as well as Seance. 23 is probably my favourite album of theirs atm. Dead Can Dance, Amon Tobin, Nick Cave, all deserve a youtube vid, but they're easy enough to find online! One of my favourite beatmakers at the moment. Mansbestfriend is an alternate performance name for Sole, anticon artist. The Opus is another (the producer for Rubberoom), Dabrye, DJ Krush, Sixtoo, POS all favourites. Mainly into the chilled stuff for electronic music atm, but won't ever complain about Aphex Twin, Tobin being chucked on. Just a rag tag chucked in that I listen to atm. Not really listening to a tonne of music atm, and if anyone cared to see what else I've listened to normally, my journal has mroe than enough examples. Are you attracted to the same musical qualities now as then? I didn't care about music at all until I was about 17 years old, so I'm only 5 years old . As far as I cared, music was for boredom over car drives. I still look at music the same way a tad though. Unless it is entertaining to me, I couldn't really give a damn about the nuances of the music, or its experimentalism. It's one of the reasons why I sorta carry the belief that suggesting you respect a musician whilst not enjoying them is an empty gesture. Other than that I'm often jumping around from genre to genre in terms of what I'm enjoying at the moments. 5 months ago I had about 4-5 hip hop albums I actually cared about and now that has exploded massively to be probably my most listened genre atm. Before that I was in a huge electronic phase. I don't start disliking older genres I was into, I am just over them for the moment. Case in point, Nick Cave, who I haven't listened to for ages and don't really care to, but I would still class the Bad Seeds as one of my top few bands of all time.