The Merits of Music

[Tea]

Why do you listen to music? I've seen and been given a lot of commentary lately about the bottom line reasoning of listening habits. Particularly, whether or not what's being listened to is also being enjoyed. Do you think many people listen to bands because of their social group, because they mainly appreciate the artistic sense or attitude, because they want to understand current pop culture- any of this over personal enjoyment? Do you think this is acceptable or fake?
I think sometimes it's necessary to listen through new music that doesn't particularly or instantly click with you to let your tastes evolve and hone in on what you do enjoy the most, and not sit at a standstill.

TL;DR: U a posa or reel gangsta?

[sheepdean]

I listen to music because it keeps my head from overflowing. Good music, and I say that to mean "stuff I like", takes over my thoughts. I don't think there's such thing as "fake" music, many manufactured artists are fairly talented and many artists who appropriate their genre of choice do it very well.
And as for music that doesn't click - if I hate it from first listen, then of course I won't give it another chance. If I simply think it's bland, I'll be willing to try it again further down the line.

[halloween]

i listen to what i enjoy above all and a lot of what i listen to i feel has a certain artistic element to it that i really appreciate. i definitely listen to what my friends listen to, but only to the extant of "oh you like that? i'll give it a try because i respect you as a person so maybe i'll like it too." but i don't KEEP listening to something i think is shit just because others do. I also listen to music that doesn't necessarily have THAT much artistic "merit", but that i still highly enjoy (such as mindless self indulgence! heh) I don't necessarily think it's important to stay on top of music to understand pop culture, but i do like to listen to as much music as i can just because i think it's an art form, and if i can find new music that says/does something different for me, is extremely exciting!
I get really strong emotional reactions and associations with music, and i don't think i'm going to get everything possible from just a few bands. I get into certain moods too where none of the music i know really "hits the spot", and that's when i find myself exploring new music the most. And by new, i don't mean contemporary, just music i haven't heard before.

There has been a lot of music that i see/hear the artistic merit, but doesn't instantly click, and that's when i do try to work through it, listening to it when i'm in different moods helps. i always get disappointed in myself when i just can't "get into it". can't name any off the top of my head... in those cases, it's like any other art form- you see it's there but it might take a while to crack the code or "get it", like when i took a poetry class- i can't just read poetry all the time and just like it, but once i sat down and took the time to understand it a little better, it was extremely satisfying!

I have a friend who LOVES to push new music on me, that has a lot of technical artistic merits, but just...no feeling. I get absolutely bored because it does nothing to me. It's like seeing a photorealistic drawing of...i don't know, a beautiful smiling girl. It's pretty whatever, but it gets boring. Then my friend argues that i need to just get high and listen to it. For me, good music is only good if i can listen to it sober first without getting bored.

[icklekitty]

In my case it's definitely nothing to do with a social group. I've always liked different music to my friends. If anything, I seek out social groups based on the music I like. The humans are secondary to the music.

In some cases, I do look for an "attitude" in music. I might be referring to this tenuously, though. Like listening to Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" sounds awesome when I'm swaggering down a hip part of town, and ATR's "Activate" is the first track on my exercise playlist.

I can kind of appreciate the pop culture thing, and I think it's a valid reason for exploring music, but past my teens I can't say that I relate to music in this way. Back then, I used to be teh muso. I sounded like I'd eaten an entire subscription to late 90s NME/Q magazine/Mojo. Possibly tied to the social group thing, I listen to the odd bit of new music when one of my hipper friends talk or write about them, but I'm quite happy to listen to the same few musicians obsessively day in, day out. In that respect I'm SO different to who I was as a kid.

I agree that it's a good thing to let an album grow on you and really let it sink in. It's how I listened to music back when I bought CDs, and I really hate the current disposable attitude I have to new music outside of that made by my favourite artists. If I had this attitude 10 years ago I probably wouldn't have gotten into NIN.

Essentially though - and I warn you this paragraph is going to make you throw tomatoes at me - I listen to music because it is my oxygen. Music raised me, it's been my constant best friend, it's tied to my landmark life experiences, it's saved me, it soothes me, it makes me feel. Music is my one true love. I love music more than I could possibly fathom loving any living creature.


I've met a couple of people who "don't like music". I....don't understand.