Post by: Bravo on September 23, 2008, 12:55:55 am
Actually, scratch that. It's a bit too broad. I'll answer it for you: 1) your current environment, 2) your upbringing, and 3) your own personal taste. These are the three major variables that influence musical taste. (This is not necessarily limited to just music however; it applies to pretty much all psychology, sociology, and philosophy.) Here is an explanation of each, accompanied of course with pictures found on google image search:
| 1) Your current environment concerns where you live. For purposes of this topic, it influences the music you listen to primarily through other people's tastes (peer pressure!), but also through what, if any, type of music is promoted in that area through other means. Example, you live in an area where people your age mostly listen to the Jonas Brothers, or your personal group of friends all listen to the most obscure crap you can find because its rebelling against all the dumb kids who like the JB. Either way, your taste in music will be influenced because you either listen to the same thing as the people around you, or you rebel against it and avoid that type of music.
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 | 2) Your upbringing is as important as your environment because it deals with what you listened to in the past. For example, when I was younger (like 8-11 years old), I listened mainly to classical music like Beethoven and the sort. Now therefore I have a natural tendancy to steer away from that genre because I no longer find interest in it. It can also work the other way around, say your parents are Polish and they played alot of polish pop around the house when you were younger; you may find yourself interested in hearing more of that sort of music now that you are at the age of comprehending what you are actually listening to.
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| 3) And finally, Your personal taste, which is not so much a separate category from the other two but rather a result of them. As you grow your taste in music will change naturally, helped along by the above two influences. You may say that personal taste supercedes the above two, and you are probably right, however that personal taste is still a result of the way your taste has been influenced. I include this category as a topic for discussion because while it is a large part of your decision on what to listen to, it is not always present. Take for example you are in the car with one of your friends, when she puts on a song that you've never heard before from a station you don't listen to. You end up enjoying the song, despite it not being (what you originally thought to be) part of your style. That's an example of your environment bypassing your personal taste.
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Very sorry for the long read, and if you are still with me up to this point, I guess you can reply in two ways: first, describe the things which influence your taste according to the categories given (environment, upbringing, personal taste); or second, argue with my appointed categories and perhaps add/subtract any from your response.
One last thing: This is NOT a thread to talk about what kind of music you like, we have enough of those. This is to do some introspection and figure out WHY you like that kind of music.
Post by: tomohawkjoe on September 23, 2008, 01:00:03 am
Enough to crush my balls
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on September 23, 2008, 01:04:04 am
crack rock, not the n roll type.
Post by: ThugTears666 on September 23, 2008, 02:25:14 am
Post by: Shepperd on September 23, 2008, 03:58:22 am
I discovered music on my own, when I randomly got Californication and started digging months later.
Then I met G and he pretty much helped enlighted me about the whole world of rock music.
Post by: unusualgamer on September 23, 2008, 04:14:02 am
I really like weird experimental stuff, and then on the other side I like brutal deathcore and stuff.
Post by: Parker on September 23, 2008, 06:50:02 am
Isn't really my environment. It was in like 7th grade. Friend introduced me to some bands, I latched on to them, but from that point on they didn't have too much of an effect. I'm one of the few kids I know that really enjoys Pop-Punk. And Ska, actually. And a lot of hardcore.
So I think it's personal taste. After I started listening to more music, I started looking for it on my own. A personal quest of sorts. I really, really enjoy music, and it's kind of a personal thing.
Post by: headphonics on September 23, 2008, 06:56:43 am
that's the thing that all the music i like has in common, more or less; it is mostly all at least vaguely catchy/engaging and intuitive, at least for me. there's some shit out there that is good but seems quite intentionally uncatchy and unintuitive and it's a big part of the reason i have to struggle to get into it.
Post by: Bravo on September 23, 2008, 01:30:17 pm
the first is what affects your taste currently, which includes but isn't limited to your personal taste.
the second is what affected your taste in the past, which includes but isn't limited to your personal taste.
the third is your personal taste, its kind of hard to explain now, but its everything that affects your taste once you eliminate all outside stimuli (sorry for philosophical explanations but I'm stuck in philosophical essay mode)
of course, if there wasn't anything other than your personal taste which was relevant in the first and second parts, then no problem, I'm just thinking though that some people are overstepping them unnecessarily
Wasn't my upbringing. A lot of Styx, Boston, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and James Brown. I still enjoy all of those acts to this day, but I probably wouldn't mention any of them if someone asked me to define my music taste.But, your upbringing DID play a part in it.....you listened to those bands as you grew up (I assume I'm interpreting your sentence correctly?) and they are part of your collection now right? I can see what you mean where it doesn't necessarily define your taste, but I think its still a part of it, unless i'm reading you wrong.
Isn't really my environment. It was in like 7th grade. Friend introduced me to some bands, I latched on to them, but from that point on they didn't have too much of an effect. I'm one of the few kids I know that really enjoys Pop-Punk. And Ska, actually. And a lot of hardcore.
So I think it's personal taste. After I started listening to more music, I started looking for it on my own. A personal quest of sorts. I really, really enjoy music, and it's kind of a personal thing.
As for environment: it played a part in the past (so, during your upbringing), but it doesn't currently. I would file that under upbringing...see, the categories aren't exclusive or even one at a time things.
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on September 23, 2008, 03:18:49 pm
sure you can stretch that to AH BUT WHO TAUGHT YOU TO READ or WHERE YOU LIVE NEEDS GREIL MARCUS ARTICLES but come on. my environment is suburbia, my upbringing is Indian. very little of that is reflected in my music.
Post by: Wash Cycle on September 23, 2008, 05:09:08 pm
my dad's musical taste has a lot of influence on mine. he got me into blues and also into all the various singer-songwriters that I like heh
my own taste in music dictates what I listen to because I cant stand music with boring percussion or if it has no real musicians involved in it
Post by: Bravo on September 23, 2008, 06:39:20 pm
i think the problem with this topic is you're still assuming environment and upbringing have anything to do with what people listen to when it could just be they picked up a Greil Marcus article and plowed through it.yes i am assuming that, and I guess there are exceptions, but are you telling me that you never had a friend who listened to generic genre a and you ended up getting into it because of him? or your dad listens to indian music but you aren't interested in listening to it because you did before and now it bores you?
sure you can stretch that to AH BUT WHO TAUGHT YOU TO READ or WHERE YOU LIVE NEEDS GREIL MARCUS ARTICLES but come on. my environment is suburbia, my upbringing is Indian. very little of that is reflected in my music.
maybe its just me but i kind of highly really really doubt you don't have any outside influences dictating your taste
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on September 23, 2008, 06:41:25 pm
Post by: headphonics on September 23, 2008, 06:47:36 pm
Post by: Puppet Master on September 23, 2008, 10:26:28 pm
Post by: Farren on September 24, 2008, 07:10:37 am
Post by: Parker on September 25, 2008, 05:34:21 am
Honestly if I hadn't come across this place I would probably be listening to most of the shit on the radio and I am so thankful that didn't happen.youd have more friends
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on September 25, 2008, 12:56:17 pm
youd have more friends
yeah what.
he didn't say he was a dick to people who didn't listen to what he did, just that he didn't listen to most of the shit on the radio.
sorry we all hate circa survive and paramore jojoface.
Post by: Bonehead on September 25, 2008, 03:38:08 pm
We all started listening to metal 'round the same age and it partially stuck with me. Nowadays I like
to think that my music taste has broadened (I listen to everything from go-happy radio pop to trashy
metal). Guess the older you get, the more you follow your personal taste.
If you're into music that is. I know people that have and will always stay to the music radio plays 1000
times a day. Dunno, maybe I've got a wide taste because I make music myself and enjoy exploring all
kinds of genres..?
Post by: Yeaster on September 25, 2008, 06:49:18 pm
Quote
Nowadays I like to think that my music taste has broadened (I listen to everything from go-happy radio pop to trashy
metal). Guess the older you get, the more you follow your personal taste.
That's me in a nutshell. I just like listening to what sounds good to me. I don't think there's any particular "reason" or an "event" that explains why I like the music I like. I just do. I can enjoy pretty much anything, no matter how old it is or what genre it is.
I just like what entertains me.
Post by: Parker on September 26, 2008, 12:32:23 am
yeah what.Didn't think ANYONE would take my post seriously.
he didn't say he was a dick to people who didn't listen to what he did, just that he didn't listen to most of the shit on the radio.
sorry we all hate circa survive and paramore jojoface.
Post by: Artis Leon Ivey Jr on September 26, 2008, 02:12:11 am
I mean really, it's kind of established fact you listen to shitty radio music, sorry for taking that at face value instead of assuming you were being unfunnily self deprecating I guess???
Post by: Farren on September 26, 2008, 02:25:11 am
Post by: last life on September 26, 2008, 05:34:57 am
Current environment I think is a broader term than what most people are taking it as. I think it works for most people if they take into consideration their location on a global scale. Like obviously people in japan, and people in india, and people in eqypt, and people in america will tend to listen to different music. The problem with this idea is that because the internet and shit, people are exposed to all kinds of world cultures from an earlier age. So I really think the only one out of the three that matters in #2, which leads to the devolpment of #3
Your upbringing is basically everything you've experienced in the past which, like it or not determines your musical tastes. It's not just your parents or past friends, it's all that you've been exposed to, and also the context under which you were exposed to those musics. Like if you were forced to listen to music often as a child, especially when you might've not wanted to listen to it, I think it's fair to say you won't like that music. Also if someone you really disrespect likes a certain type of music, your disrespect for them might carry over to the music, vice versa. This eventually forms your taste or whatever. I think the thing that alot of people don't realize is how many influences there at all times, not just your parents and friends, but the media (tv, internets eteteteccece), and how people around you perceive the media, how people you admire perceive it, etc.
But most people would say, "hey, I just like what sounds good." I think what the opening post is trying to ask is, WHY do you think certain things sound good? And if you have other reasons for liking music (political, philosophical etc.), why do you like music for those reasons? What is the cause of each of our personal taste?
fuck I almost started writing an essay or something...
Post by: Barack Obama on September 26, 2008, 09:16:10 am
this pretty much explains my tastes in music
Post by: Goji on September 26, 2008, 11:20:35 pm