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| From | Christobal <plattc@optonline.net> |
| Subject | Re: seminal music |
| Date | Fri, 20 Jun 2003 12:09:22 -0400 |
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> > > This is in line with a concept I've been thinking a
> > > lot lately, that
> > > musical tastes are very much formed early on, based
> > > on exposure, but
> > > that as those tastes mature and evolve, they
> > > simultaneously both broaden
> > > and narrow (at least for the avid music-listener).
> >
>
> I am increasingly of the mind that most of us of who grew up
> in the 1980s listening to indie or college radio rock
> eventually found our way round to every band in that
> era/movement. That is, you could listen to both 10,000
> Maniacs and Husker Du, and there wouldn't be anything
> mutually exclusive about that. There was plenty of room in
> record collection for both Dinosaur Jr. and REM. I think, in
> those days, it was all of a piece. I think it was just the
> nature of the time; there were so few bands (until the majors
> got wind of them) making the kind of music that we
> (collectively) were into, that there was plenty of
> cross-pollinization.
>
> While the Internet hs been a blessing in that it's connected
> me with like-minded fans (instead of feeling like a lone
> outcast in the days of my youth), I think it also serves to
> hyper-compartmentalize individual interests, and it has made,
> to a degree, that kind of cross-pollinization more difficult.
>
> And I don't think it necessarily follows that, as you age,
> your tastes calcify. If anything, I find myself more curious
> about different forms of music outside of the admittedly
> limited diet of guitar rock I grew up on. I started exploring
> trance/electronica this summer, and have some affection for
> some rap. While I'd rather chew aluminum foil and cut my hair
> with a cheese grater than listen to nu metal or teen-pop, I
> understand its place in the cosmos, and I don't begrudge it
> that space.
>
Actually, I didn't mean to imply that tastes calcify with age, which I
thought I kinda made clear by saying "both broaden and narrow." My
point was that our initial musical tastes would seem to be set early,
and that indicates the *directions* we might branch into, not that it
limits those tastes outright.
I think I could probably expound on this a good bit if I had the chance
to focus today... I'm especially interested in exploring John's thoughts
on the state of cross-pollinization today -- I think arguments can be
made for both sides, that the openness of the Information Age could be
seen either as facilitating greater cross-pollinization of genres or
stifling cross-pollinization (and the truth probably lies somewhere in
the middle). But I guess you all have to settle for my half-assed,
poorly organized, semi-rambling posts.
Oh well.
Christopher
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