Talking to people is easy. All you gotta do is start asking questions and the conversation flows like the Nile River. Hey, how ya doin? Where ya from? How old are you? Where’d you go to school? Where ya work? Boom, just started a 3 minute conversation, keep it going.
One of the questions I like asking is what kind of music someone likes… Pretty easy question, just tell me what you listen to on a regular basis. Don’t let, “Oh, I like all music” come outcha mouth because you’re lying. I personally can’t begin to imagine how much music is out in the world. There are dudes wearing loincloths in the middle of Africa banging on drums, that’s music. Bagpipes in Ireland. Chief Keef… It’s impossible to say you like all music.
If I were to ask you to listen to a song I’m sure you would oblige, so it’s fair to say that you would LISTEN to all music; doesn’t mean you like it. I’ve narrowed it down to I will listen to any music… except classical. Not going to find me listening to Mozart in this lifetime. It’s easier to answer the question in Pandora stations, because it covers such a ride range of songs, you can pick up the vibe of their music taste. Blink-182, you obviously dig the 90’s; Beyoncé you like pop/todays hits; Backstreet Boys you like, well boys..
If I could pick 4 stations to listen to for the rest of my life they’d be Goo Goo Dolls, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Dicky, & Ed Sheeran; my number 5 would be a Barstool station, it’ll happen. Luckily, I’m living the Spotify life and can listen to whatever music I want when I so please. I have a very broad music selection, and I just throw it into a playlist so I’ve got like 300 songs all over the spectrum
Drink it in, a little taste of my music selection. I’d like to draw your eye to the middle three songs. Te Ves Fatal, according to an RBI cook, is just a song talking mad shit about a girl but the tune is so catchy I listen to it at least twice a day. And I would like to thank Barstool for introducing us.
https://www.facebook.com/barstoolsports/videos/10156128390977502/
Everybody loves a little Fleetwood Mac and if you haven’t heard the most beautiful thing ever, prepare to cry. And of course Migos, making bangers for the last couple years. I’m all over the damn map and the selection continues to expand daily.
You better come up with a good answer if I ever ask you what music you like or you and I are going to sit and listen to Russian show-tunes until the cows come home.
Here’s my take:
Liking music is something you can influence by teaching your brain how to interpret different types of music, but this process takes a lot of time. Years even, in the case of less predictable music (such as Jazz, or as you mentioned Western Classical). For this reason I would find it hard to believe someone if they told me they “liked all music” not because it is impossible, but because it takes a hell of a lot of time. We are not trying to appreciate music–that’s easy. If that is our goal, I can just say to a musician “wow, that thing you just did sounds annoying. But it looked hard to do” and poof, we’re done. We are developing structures in our brain to help us ENJOY music of every available genre. In order to do this with any level of effectiveness, we need to listen to music systematically and all the time, with an alert and critical ear. It’s very difficult, and it is rare to find someone who has the guts and time to do it —
But it can be done.