Myspace Re-Post #19: What kind of music do you like?

Note: Re-posted from my now-defunct Myspace blog, where it was originally posted on August 23rd, 2007.

You know, this used to be such a simple, innocent question. People strongly identified with a particular music genre and its accompanying subculture, whether that be the folk scene in Greenwich in the early sixties, or rock and roll, or grunge and the the Seattle scene in the early-to-mid nineties. Even now, there are many emo kids and the like. And yet, more and more it seems that people of our generation keep saying the same damn thing: "Oh, you know, everything."

Even in the late nineties, I could catch people on this by following up with, "even country?" and they'd be like, "well no, except country." But even that caveat no longer holds true these days, with country being one of the top-selling genres of the past ten-to-fifteen years, and increasingly a staple on Top 40 radio and MTV (you know, between 2 and 5 in the morning, when they show music videos?). What has happened to our once-powerful identification in particular forms and kinds of music?

In truth, I too frequently say "everything," or at least want to say it. But that's not really what I mean. To me, a genre is not a good or bad thing in and of itself. Rather, it's a mode of expression, within which one can excel or dramatically fail. Indeed, it is within genres that I make my distinctions. and every genre is fair game. I maintain to you that almost any genre or subgenre has its good, its great, and its awful musicians/artists. example: within hip-hop/rap/whatever you want to call it, we have the great: Jay-Z. and the good: Kanye West. and the awful: Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/Diddy/just shut the fuck up already, no one cares anymore. Similarly, hair metal has its (sometimes) great progenitor Van Halen, its (occasionally) good Def Leppard, and its (generally) awful Bon Jovi (oh boy am I gonna get shit for that one - ok, just pretend I said poisen!)

Anyways, my point is this: It's ok to like every kind of music, but pick the good music from the bad. Not all songs are created equal!

In addition, don't dismiss a song or band by its genre - that's like judging a book by...well you know what I mean. Country music has given us Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, and even metal has its moments (some of Metallica's early albums contain some astonishing melodic sections, not to mention brillian soloing).

And finally, when I ask you what kind of music you like, all I'm trying to do is engage you in a conversation about music. If you truly don't like music (or at least don't like to talk about it), then fine, say "oh, you know, everything." But if you wouldn't mind a discursive tangent on the relative merits of some of your favorite bands (I'll let you pick - I'm musically omnivorous), give me something to work with!