Anyone else (say they) listen to/like "everything"?
 

I do. It always seems weird to me when I run into people who seem to believe that no one can listen to or especially like "everything."

Obviously, that doesn't mean that one has heard every album, every artist, etc.--there's too much music in the world for anyone to have heard literally everything.

And I know that a lot of people who aren't big music fans will answer "everything" when you ask them what music they listen to or like.

Also, I have preferences of course.

But I listen to a like a huge variety of music, stuff from every genre, really, maybe with the exception of some genres that are extremely obscure that have only a few artists in them. In those cases, I just don't know about the genre. But I'm familiar with a ton of obscure stuff, too.

I regularly, equally collect music from 39 to 50+ genres depending on how you count them--those are my favorite genres, and I listen to and like plenty of music from plenty other genres aside from those, too. Some of my favorite genres are extremely broad--they have tons of subgenres. I like all of it.

I have thousands of artists in my collection and many thousands of albums. I've yet to run into a genre where I don't like some music that falls under it. I like the vast majority of music I hear at least a bit. There are really no artists I hate. Even the few things that I'm more indifferent towards I regularly listen to if they're in my collection, because almost everything grows on me/I've gone from not caring very much for something to liking it a lot plenty of times in the past. In fact, that almost always happens.

I also don't really have any clear hierarchy of favorites. I tried to make a list of all of my favorite artists one time and it ended up being somewhere around 2000 different artists. If I try to say my "top 100" of those, it ends up being at least a few hundred. I can't narrow it down more. I like a ton of stuff equally. I can't really name favorite albums by particular artists because if I like them, I usually like all of their albums about the same amount. There are a bunch of artists I like with large discographies where I'd give every album a 10/10. It's the same for songs. It's impossible for me to name favorites. I'd have to just randomly list songs. I tend to get into whatever music is playing at the time. My only requirement is variety.

So it's way easier to just say that I listen to/like "everything" when someone asks, because it's pretty accurate--and who wants a list of 50+ genres and thousands of artists?

I can say I'm open to everything. Chances are, I will find a way to appreciate it even if it's something I won't reach for everyday. For example, country is still the one genre I have the hardest time getting into, but I definitely have a handful of country albums that I think are pure classics.

Personally, I think this is what separates an audiophile from - say - a metalhead or hipster. Those labels apply to people who like a particular type of music and close themselves off to others (exceptions exist, but this is true for the most part). I pride myself in being an audiophile and if I find a style of music I've never heard before, I will most definitely give it a chance.

https://scontent.fsan1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...1a&oe=5842626C

I think that a lot of casual music listeners will say that they listen to everything simply out of ignorance of the many genres outside of what they hear on the radio. I have preferences as well and there are a few genres that I don't know of anything that I like in them, but I say everything for pretty similar reasons to the last paragraph of the OP.

Haha--I like the graphic

Got that one from Innerspaceboy.

I say everything unless I'm talking to someone I know will understand what I'm saying. Most acquaintances probably don't realize just how into music I am. The few times I've attempted to explain what my favorite music is, their eyes glaze over.

I can't stand when the topic of music is brought up, and the person replies with "oh, I listen to everything."

Not only is that statement highly unlikely, but it also makes it basically impossible to progress the conversation.

What the **** am I supposed to say next?

"Oh, well if you've heard everything, what are your thoughts on TMR?"
"Everything? Huh. What's your favourite Eric Dolphy album?"

Nah bitch, give me a few bands/genres/artists that you're particularly fond of and we'll go from there.

I don't. I only listen to hip hop, dancehall, reggae, r & b and a little pop. I also listen to some Drake from time to time

.

I am pretty damn selective about what I actually let into the holy temple that is my album collection. I spend most of my time listening to stuff that I know I like. Currently, that means 128 different artists, just under half of which I consider my favorites.
On top of that there's the many artists I know of and maybe did own albums with at some point, but who I got a bit bored with. There are tonnes of bands like that, which I like in small doses but don't need to actively seek out.

In terms of genres, it slowly grows wider year by year and I wouldn't say there's all that much that I'm missing in my collection (unless we're getting into specific sub genres, of which there are thousands). I've got no screamo, no country (I like a bit of Neko Case, though: Exhibit A), no rap (although I have stuff that contains rap elements). Can't stand surfer rock, rockabilly or ska. Then there are some of those contry-specific crap genres that old people listen to (exhibit B). I avoid that stuff when possible. Mostly though, I'm open to new sounds and I do enjoy variety. Life would be very boring if one never looked to new horizons, but I can't say that I'm listening to thousands of artists. I strongly prefer to dedicate a good amount of time to the music that fascinates me the most.

EDIT: Forgot ambience. I have no interest in ambient, probably never will have.

Exhibit A: I like this song. Its... partially country at least.

Exhibit B. Danish band called Kandis. Horrible old-people-muzak.

This is assuming the person actually wants to have a conversation about music. I've gone the route of listing bands or genre's I'm into at the moment only to be met with those glazed eyes I was talking about. If they really want to talk about music, I ask them what they listen to and I can work from there.

I don't listen to everything, there are tons of styles I mostly hate, but there's still a good chance I enjoy ar least a handful of songs of even those.

Dude, this was one of the most popular things to say doing ice breakers at college.

I try to find something in about every genre that I like. I can't stand the roughness of a lot of death metal becaudse it often gives me a headache, notably brutal death mketal. But I'm still looking. I know I really like the band Death.

I think that's a good way to put it. I obviously haven't heard every genre of music out there, but I listen at least a little bit of every genre I have heard and I'm always open to hearing new genres.

I never thought it'd happen but I found a crunkcore album I more or less tolerate. Maybe someday that'll happen for bro-country too.

Kinda unrelated but I was meaning to post this somewhere.

There are two kinds,of people advent music fans who listen to everything ...and spend hours a day digging

And casual music fans ...which is,self explained

I always figured kids and adults these days listen and are open to everything cus,we live in the internet age ....if not then that is,weird 2 me

Cus back when I was a,kid in the early 90s it was much harder to discover and dig for different styles of music

That's what's tough for me, because I don't have a favorite Eric Dolphy album, even though I have every Eric Dolphy album.

Plenty of times I will list favorites just to play along. But I don't really have favorites, and I never really thought about music that way prior to getting more involved with music fan message boards and the like on the Internet.

Yeah, it took a lot more sleuthing to discover stuff when I was a kid, although that was part of the fun, too.

I mean...Out to Lunch! is totally the best Dolphy album, even if the others are all 5 star albums.

I find myself in the middle. I take half-hours a day.

In seriousness, I don't take very long to look for what album's next, since I usually go on buzzes. But I sure don't take hours deciding.

Are "advent music fans" people who are really into Christmas music?

I tend to both acquire and listen to stuff via (often rather complicated) "systems." Well, or I alternate that and randomness ever since randomness was more feasible via computers, with random shuffles and the like.

The systems thing is one of my OCDish tendencies. I've done that since I was a kid.

I think that I've generally found my niche(s) in terms of what music I like/think that I have a higher chance of liking. I don't specifically cut genres out completely, but I feel as though I know what my preferences lean towards and I prefer spending my time exploring music that I believe I have a higher chance of enjoying (short term or long term). So, no I don't listen to everything, and despite the hyper-positive "I-listen-to-everything" ideal, I'm not really open to everything either (I try not to openly bash music I don't normally enjoy, but I certainly won't be too enthused to listen to the newest/greatest hard rock or indie folk album).

I used to consume any and every type of music just to see what sticks. And now that I have a general idea, I like exploring the branches that I've found the most enjoyment in. And that's not to say I stick to one specific genre anyway; as much as ambient (or like genres) is what I tend to gravitate to the most, I couldn't listen to it all the time. But there definitely are genres that I have, for the most part, pragmatically cut from my regular listening.

And I too have similar problems as the OP. I find it exhausting to rank artists/albums by my favorites as those change regularly due to mood - not to mention I have a difficult time comparing albums that are vastly different sonically. This just happens due to the immense volume of listening that most of us have, rather than the total number of genres that we regularly listen to.

Damn, Frown answered that for me.

I could get behind someone liking his Mingus work or The Illinois Concert ftr.

Edit: Seriously, **** not being able to delete your posts.

I can't really take to Jazz.

These three tracks were essential for me on route to becoming a fan of jazz music.

For one, I don't mean that I like every single artist. I do like some stuff in every single genre I've ever heard, though. I explained this in my initial post. And I do listen to every single artist I've ever owned something from. Also, I don't really dislike any artists. There are some I'm indifferent towards, but I continue to listen to them, too, because really everything grows on me at least a bit, and tons and tons of stuff I've come to love that I wasn't so enamored with earlier. And I don't dislike Nick Cave. I do like other artists more than I like Nick Cave, though, and I especially often wish that people would focus on artists who I never see mentioned rather than someone like Nick Cave, who is a hipster darling (surely the Big Star thread is next :-p). None of that is inconsistent with what I said in my initial post.

Why not?

^ Yes, I used to get annoyed by this remark too, but now, outside the obsessive nerdworld of MB, I just take it to mean, "Can we talk about something else please?" and move on. In actual fact, this new-found equanimity is thanks to the obsessive nerdworld of MB, which allows me to discharge my urge to discuss music harmlessly among fellow-sufferers.

^ This is exactly how I operate too. :)

I just counted up the music forums we have here, so it's official; music can be divided into just twelve categories and everything else is some kind of sub-genre. Somewhat humiliatingly, I realize that I only post regularly in about four of the available forums. Well, at least I have my answer ready - next time someone asks me I´m going to tell them, "I listen to thirty-three point three percent of available music."

And how about the rest of you? How many of these forums do you post in:-

Punk - Rock&Metal - Rap&Hiphop - Pop - Reggae&Ska - Indie&Alt - Jazz&Blues - Classical - Electronica - Country,Folk&World - AvantGarde - Soul&Funk

That's how I interrupt it as well. It's just strange to me that if the person doesn't want to talk about music, why not say they don't listen to all that much? Surely that would make more sense.

I brought up Carly in college as one of my favorite artists. First day, just ****ing brought up Carly. I'm a cool, popular person now. Screw the metalheads, the real fun is where the pop music is. Noobs

I guess if you say you listen to everything, you sound like you have a more open, fun personality.

BTW, I'm intrigued by this newly-emerging sub-genre : http://www.musicbanter.com/rap-hip-h...ml#post1744390
Is it hip-hop played on harmobica, piabo and violib ?

I'm gonna VHECK it out.

^ Thanks! Let me know if it's worth me breaking out of my four-forum compound...

Join the dark side.

I think it's a typo and that they were trying to make a thread about trip hop instrumebtals.