Mrd00d

Nope, not everything, and I certainly delete what I won't ever listen to. But truth is I haven't listened to everything yet. I've only gone through and rated about 50,000-60,000. I don't want to bother looking it up, but that's a good guesstimate.

But apparently, Unicr0n has us all beat with 232,000 or so. That's something to aspire to.

When I get the space, I plan on getting more jazz, more classical, more electronic, etc. etc.

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CanwllCorfe

I'm down to around 3,000. I usually hover around 2,500-3,500. I delete everything I download and don't end up liking, as well as stuff I might like but has just gotten stale and is just stuff I don't really pay attention to.

And as for the question, I sometimes respond normally. Usually I'll tell them, "Most everything, but mainly electronic stuff."

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Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.

Freebase Dali

Is it weird that I find it weird that all you people get asked this enough to either get annoyed by the question, or have a well-performed answer?

I can't remember a scenario post high school where I actually got asked what music I listen to (outside of a general music forum like this).
In my experience, music taste of acquaintances has always sort of been realized over a long enough period of interaction and exposure, with style preference knowledge being sort of an incidental thing.

But maybe that's because I don't associate with people based on musical preferences. I'm not saying that isn't a good way to find relations with people or anything, I'm just saying it isn't important enough to be a prerequisite for either me or the people I befriend.
I could be really askew with this kind of thinking, so I welcome any sort of analysis. But I think the answer to my own question could probably lie in the observance of the miniscule quantity of my actual musical opinions at an actual music forum...

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CanwllCorfe

I never initiate conversation about music, because I know it will never be enjoyable. It's usually just, "I love music", and then they ask what I listen to. Maybe one day I will find someone with similar enough taste that we could discuss it, but I don't see that happening.

Well, it did happen once. I played Trance in my metal shop class. Two kids, who I was kind of friends with, hated it. Especially Johnny. At one point he actually unplugged the stereo. In time he eventually came to like it. Now? Well, now he listens to it just as much as I do and wants to be a DJ.

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Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.

Freebase Dali

I just don't really see the point in discussing my music tastes with random people in my life. I'm more than happy to mooch off other people's musical perspectives, but I'm selfish, so that's as far as I need to take it. Fortunately, no one I actually know has anything valuable to offer anyway, so it's no harm no foul.
If I wanted acquaintances to reiterate their values of all the popular music I've heard since the '80s, it'd probably be a different story. Fortunately, it's not.

Some would say I need better friends, but basing their importance to me on their music taste would be just as fruitless as me trying to change it. I just don't see the up-side anyway. I can hang out with me all night, and I don't need more than me to enjoy listening to what I enjoy, and I certainly don't need anyone to validate it.

I'm drunk, so if none of this makes sense (or if I'm just talking to no one), then sorry. I guess I could be rationalizing why my life isn't exactly filled with daily occurrences of music discussions. I love music. I just don't think it requires what other people seem to think it requires.

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Mrd00d

That's not a bad point. I like the way you drunkenly put it. But as to your earlier statement, it's something that comes up when I meet people, not so much with pre-existing friends. Usually at a bar, I'll get asked that, and I usually head for the jukebox and give them a sample (granted there's something worth playing on the juke - but there's usually *something*).

As far as when I have to use my words, if they're actually interested, I run them through my history in a nutshell.

"Well, I wasn't big on music until I was about 10, but my mom's influences started to work into me - Classic rock with a couple 80s classics ... Queen, Metallica, Eagles, Creedence, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles {Which I hated at first, but grew to like when I realized they didn't spend their whole career wearing matching suits and mop cuts, singing/playing tracks like I Wanna Hold Your Hand} and around the same time my friend got me to listen to a Bay Area experimental avant-metal type band called Nuclear Rabbit. The lyrics were off the wall and the playing was so complex I couldn't fathom what was going on - but the wall of noise sounded so perfect [If they're interested in that, I'll tangent on Nuclear Rabbit for a while]. I got into Mr. Bungle, Godsmack, Beck, Cake and Powerman 5000 from him as well. It was the 90s. [I explain about Powerman that I preferred their early funky style to their spaceman stuff and their spaceman stuff to their newer releases]. From there I got into Alice in Chains and Tool. I spent years listening to Tool almost exclusively. And then in high school, while still being in love with Tool, I heard Del the Funkee Homosapien. First it was on Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood", then "If you Must" on Tony Hawk, and then, Deltron 3030. My introduction to hip-hop was complete. I'd been avoiding hip-hop because all the kids at school listened to top40 rap and west coast gangsta rap and I didn't care for it. But now I understood that hiphop wasn't inherently bad at all! Aesop Rock came relatively later, in college, but I spent years deciphering his lyrics and finally being able to sit through his tracks and not be overwhelmed by his wordplay. Def Jux record label led me to El-P. From there I was on a search for "smart hip-hop" or what's sometimes called conscious hip-hop. I got into Poor Righteous Teachers, Freestyle Fellowship, etc. One of the big barriers I had to breakdown was digital music. It wasn't my style. But then I got into DJ Shadow through Gift of Gab, and that started to change. If a DJ can move me like that, maybe I've been pigeon-holing the concept on digital music. I tried out some techno, but it didn't stick. I was able to find downtempo electronic though, psybient, etc. Then things exploded. I got into jazz, I got into funk, I got into just about everything under the sun. Just try not to play top40 pop/rap or country and I think I'll be okay."

Or the short version: "I like a little bit of most genres, but keep me away from country, techno, top40 pop and rap and we'll be cool"

It's a lot easier that way, but the long way does have a way of getting side-conversations going. The spiel can be stopped at anytime to pursue a shared interest.

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NGPercussion

I generally just tell them I listen to anything, mostly rock. I listen to jazz, classical, pop, rock, country...a lot of stuff. I have found stuff I like in almost every genre of music.

Frownland

If I used musical taste as a basis for peer-friends, I would have two friends.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Unknown Soldier

I usually have a problem with this if I'm talking to an average music listener, if I mention metal it normally just kills the conversation dead. I tend to just go with some mainstream bands first, 60s to modern day and then add in prog, alternative before slipping in metal.

Mrd00d

And that's why I have two friends.

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