part of this has to do with exposure. the popular music canon is gigantic. not everyone makes it through quickly. not everyone is exposed to different corners of it through everyday life. the are huge subgenres i've never explored. i know people my age who are just now being exposed to indie rock and yet have a ton of exposure to early blues and i know people who are the exact opposite. i've spent tons of time listening to different subgenres of jazz, and yet i've never listened to Duke Ellington. exposure just takes time. and what you consider the canon is a matter of exposure too. for someone who has dived deep into bluegrass, talking about Tony Rice would be boring. you get exposed to him early when you go down that path. but for someone who has never listened to bluegrass, he would be a new discovery. yeah, its hard to imagine someone just being exposed to huge cultural touchstones like The Beatles or Elvis or whoever. but is it really hard to imagine a 20 year old just discovering King Crimson? or someone who has listened primarily to rock just now discovering Eric Dolphy? yet we think of them as being huge figures within music history. and to people who have went down those paths, its hard to imagine not being exposed to Dolphy or Crimson. just as im sure people here who have went down the electronica path would find it difficult to imagine that someone (like me for example) has never been exposed to Aphex Twin.

i just think sometimes we forget that not everyone has been exposed to the same things or went down the same paths that we have.

I'd make that the first thing you correct.

WithinTheRealm's super-eclectic score is

832/1000

That's definitely true but it doesn't really help me answer the question what dreamcoil considers to be "boring" taste. There's no doubt that music is a very wide field that contains different canons. Yet there are certain works that are more likely to be considered part of a canon for music in general. Sticking only to those without delving into certain areas more deeply probably could be considered boring taste but then again I don't think anyone hear really does that.

I feel like there are certain albums you must listen to before you can stake your claim as a serious music listener.

pauldrach - i don't think my own opinion is that important personally, especially in regards to everyone else's listening habits

and what on earth are you talking about? have you seen the artists we discuss here at length? you could probably count them on two hands. not that it's a big deal at the end of the day anyway - it's music taste, but definitely not relevant to my interests

and joe c - disagree. fuck the canon. there is no said and assured way of getting into music.

Then why did you give it?

Well, I think you're a good poster, so I was interested in hearing what exactly you mean when you talk about boring taste. In your observation you seem to make the mistake of mixing up artists that are discussed on the boards and artists that people here actually listen to. The last bunch would probably include a far wider array of artists. For me the problem is that I don't quite see why I should discuss artists whose music I'm already familiar with, while I'm always interested in others' opinions about music I don't know yet, which is a pretty egoistic approach I guess. I don't see the limited ongoing discussion as a result of "boring" taste though.

EDIT: This was in response to dreamcoil obviously.

That's only partly true. It's totally legitimate to get into music only via uncanonized and obscure artists and you might get an in-depth understanding of a large number of interesting styles that way but if you long for a thorough understanding of the music's history, its roots and ancestry, its line of development, the evolution of underlying ideas to certain musical concepts, then certain canonized records are absolutely essential.

Yeah, that's what I was trying to get at.

And lemme guess, they're all from the 20th century and were made in either America or the UK?

Was music an important part of people's lives before the advent of recorded music?

Im curious to know what you think some of these albums are joe.

but, batman, the idea of a "serious music listener" (the record collector nerd, someone who spends hours every day listening to music, etc.) is a very recent phenomenon, too...

thank you, batman. very strong point. tell me paul, why this fetishism with the western canon? if you look across other cultures in the world, south american, east asian, indian subcontinental or whatever it is, people are usually wary and reluctant of the idea of canonising things. yet music is lifeblood to them just as it is to us, or any other member of the human race. i think there's a fault on our part here.



not really, because this implies that there is always that one album or only one artist undertaking those developments or evolving the sounds. which very rarely is the case, mostly rock journo myth. delve into other contemporary artists of the era and you'll often see ideas forming and evolving steadily over a course of time, label, zeitgest and place, just like any other artform.

besides, i don't have a problem discussing the beatles, stones zep, who and pink floyd once in a while, all legendary bands and very popular. but really - you're going to tell me that music ancestry, evolution, development and stylistic variance was at its apex with these acts or all of the above was the most significant in the 60's/70's? fuck that. no one needs to hear any of these bands unless they have a genuine interest in them. it's by conforming to these standards that we have near identical music fans in taste and character. same top 10 lists, same favourite artists and what not. again, not a bad thing, but at some point - when you really love music - the sounds, the making of the sounds, the stories, people involved, the cultural significance of things, the counter culture - you realise that you are lost in terms of treading new ground and no amount of friends and music buddies can really help you out now. you're on your own, and that's where the journey gets really interesting. we would be mostly lost, but you know, the internet. these are the best of times.

in terms of actualising and realising this ideal - yes. in terms of people passionate about and longing to hear, play and explore music, of course not. it's innate human nature.