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.