Inspired by some comments in another recent thread where someone dismissed an entire ‘genre’ of music outright, I just wondered how diverse you’d consider your tastes? I’ve got about 2000 albums on CD and I think I’m quite eclectic. For example - the top row of my cd collection looks like this -
4 Non Blondes, 10cc, 22-20s, The 88, 801, 10,000 Maniacs, AC/DC, Adam & The Ants, Air, Alisha’s Attic, All About Eve, All Seeing I, Tori Amos, The Anchoress, Angelfish, The Animals, Fiona Apple, Appleton, Arcadia, Tamsin Archer, Joan Armatrading, Louis Armstrong, Ash, Athlete, The Auteurs, Emilie Autumn, Kevin Ayers, Baader Meinhof, Babe Ruth, Badfinger, Badly Drawn Boy, The Band...
I just like what I like. I couldn’t care less whether it’s considered retro, now, classic, popular, obscure or what some list in a book or magazine says. And I don’t think my taste is locked into any era or notion of ‘my day’ (never understood that expression.)
I feel it’s made me a better guitarist. Over the last few decades I’ve played in pop and rock bands, a blues band, a punky ska band and even, for a while, played nylon string acoustic in a jazz/torch song style band. May be an element that I’m a jack of all trades and master of none, but I’m happy with that. I just love music and love making music. Whatever form that takes. (Probably why I favour fat Strats- very versatile.)
What say you people?
Comments
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
No Medieval, Renaissance, Classical, Baroque, Romantic, 20th Century, Avant-garde, Latin, African, Aboriginal, Inuit, Mongolian, Hip Hop, Grime, Trap, Drill, Metal (and all its subgenre's)?
No electronic music?
Nothing from China, Japan, Korea or the rest of Asia?
The artists you list don't convey someone with a broad interest in different styles of music to me.
YMMV.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
What I listen to day to day is pretty narrow, I guess it's taking comfort in the familiar to some extent. However, I have listened to a fairly wide choice, I find it interesting. Within that are things that aren't English language, that aren't to Western musical tastes ( I have fond memories of going to an evening of Tibetan throat singing for example). I have a lot of inverse snobbery about classical music but if it sneaks up on me that's fine. I listen to current music to some extent and what gets into the charts/ airplay now is pretty narrow and I find that annoying.
1) Blues
2) Electric Blues
3) Acoustic Blues
4) Bluesy Music
5) Blues
If the guitarist can play a solo in a minor pentatonic then IMO they can't guitar....
I mostly listen to prog, metal, fusion, various electronic genres, 20th Century and bebop.
I've got some friends who are not musicians who have a much broader music taste than I do- I put it down to music being enough work just to be decent in the genres I play in.
If I was listening to music was my main involvement with music, rather than playing it, then I'd probably listen more broadly.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
As others have said it’s a question of perspective and personal judgement. I’ve come across a few folks who have claimed to have wide musical taste, but whose taste is constrained just like mine, with the added limitation that they only like music made by men.
My feedback thread is here.
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
https://i.imgur.com/jEAhOiT.jpg
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
That’s NOT my thing, to say the least. I generally describe my tastes as involving “guitars and beards”, which I think is relatively clear, but covers most of what I listen to - typically alt/indie/rock, alt-country, country (proper country, not poppy nonsense), some pop, classic rock, and branching out into soul especially since picking up the drums. I also loved the last Lorde and Janelle Monte records fairly massively, but don’t like LCD Soundsystem or Bach or Slayer.
It seems quite wide to me, but the vast majority of it could be classified as hard rock to metal. Or what's now called classic rock. And a bit of prog. And a lot of Frank Zappa, whatever he is.
Some of the metal is quite poppy. There's a bit of jazz and a fair amount of blues, but mostly at the rockier end of those genres. And there's even a bit of rap and funk, but only in a rap-metal and funk-metal kind of way.
There's nothing that's 100% unadulterated soul or gospel or rap or dance or techno or folk or country or (shudder) Americana. And very little pop, even. I don't dislike classical music but I rarely listen to it and own almost none.
So, probably not very wide.
For example I go to a quiz every week where I'm the youngest there. And because I occasionally get something "modern" right in the music rounds ( modern is anything post 1995) I'm effectively used as a reason for them not having any music from the last twenty years because they think I might know it. Chances are I don't, but they don't need to know that
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic