"What do you listen to?"
 

I'm not asking what you listen to, but rather how you respond to that question that so often arises in small talk. I have a difficult time being precise with my answer, and I feel I often ramble on and on when someone was just looking for a simple pleasent response like "I like stuff like cold play."

You really need to judge the person you are speaking to, but don't want to sound like you only listen to stuff on the radio. I generally say something like:

"I listen to everything really, mainly [insert genre] and all kinds of [insert genre]. But if I find some good [insert genre], I will give it a go"

I try not to go with the cliched "pretty much everything." I usually go with saying that I listen to mainly experimental music with jazz and rock thrown into the mix.

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"You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

I usually get asked this question at work. Fortunately I also take my Ipod to work. So whenever I'm confronted with this question I simply invite them to listen to Naked City.

Usually after about 10 seconds they tend to leave me alone.

That's a pretty good one.

:laughing: That's good. I used to answer this question by handing people my iPod, but since my computer and my iTunes library went ker-put and the last place I sinced the thing was to my mother's library, I don't think it's a good idea anymore. Unless I want to give people the impression that I believe Susan Boyle is the greatest singer of the 21st century.

I usually give people way too long of an answer, that no doubt makes them want to roll their eyes at me, which goes something like this: "I like all kinds of stuff. I grew up on mostly rock music, but I listen to a lot of jazz, metal, hip hop, electronica, latin music, afro-pop, classical, experimental stuff, basically name a genre and I probably like at least some of it."

The funnier thing to me is how I once overheard my wife describe my taste to someone who asked her: "He listens to punk."

I got asked this yesterday by a girl who was cutting my hair. I find it hard to answer too, usually I just say I listen to punk and 'indie'. When I said I liked punk she thought I meant bands like Metallica so she wasn't too clued up :)

Haha, now I'm curious how others would describe my music taste.

For me, it depends on my mood. Sometimes I feel like intimidating people, so I just name whoever I'm listening to a lot at the time. Usually, they have never heard of them. In this situation, people can sometimes impress me and we can actually have a good conversation.

If I'm already sure they won't know wtf I'm talking about, I'll just say "I'm an audiophile so...a lot. But my favorite band is the Smashing Pumpkins". Or if I'm really not interested that gets shortened to " I like the Smashing Pumpkins."

Other times I'll try to gage what I'm up against and throw it back on them..."Before I answer, what do YOU listen to?" I then continue from there. If the response is..."Mostly rock. I like Incubus a lot." I know things won't get much more interesting.

If my iPod is handy, I'll throw that at them. After a few seconds of scrolling, I see a change in their face and they hand it back. I get a few different responses..."You listen to a lot of music...", "I haven't heard of any of this", or the nonchalant, "That's cool...".

I usually say "I'm pretty open minded, mainly post punk or indie". It works because indie looks kinda approachable and cause many people haven't heard of Post-Punk it hopefully ensures I don't look like a hipster or an idiot.