jekylljuice |
11-11-2008 04:27 AM |
Music purists...or, more accurately, music purists who look down upon you if your musical preferences do not accord with their own, or if you admit to liking a band or form of music which they’ve written off as unworthy. Basically, I don’t care if your tastes in music are very focussed and specific – I mean, why should I? It’s your prerogative entirely. But it annoys me so much when people behave as if the music they favour is THE definitive kind, and I hate being sneered at or treated as if my own tastes are somehow inferior just because I like a wide variety of music and will happily own up to liking music or artists which aren’t considered cool or fashionable in certain circles.
Case in point, when I was talking to my brother the other day, he asked me what he could get me for Christmas, and I told him, the New Kids on the Block greatest hits CD which came out earlier this year. And man, did he scoff at me. I should have seen it coming, really. Fair enough if he doesn’t like them, but he doesn’t need to be so arrogant about it. Maybe I am being a bit ungrateful here - I’m sure that he’s still going to buy me the CD, after all. But he does do this to me A LOT, and it probably wouldn’t bother me so much if he himself wasn’t into all these contemporary rock bands which I personally find rather dreary and uninvolving (and yet which he routinely forced me to listen to regardless when we were growing up together, whilst turning his nose up at anything which I liked). They clearly do mean something to him, however, so I happily respect that. Too bad that I don’t receive that same degree of respect in return. I’m not going to claim that NKOTB’s music is any kind of high art exactly (and nor would I make that claim about any of those indie or “alternative” bands which my brother listens to) but it’s fun, catchy music which I genuinely enjoy, and I believe that those arguments are as valid as anything which he could come up in defence of the stuff he likes. I have very eclectic tastes in music – different kinds of music appeal to me for different reasons...but at the end of the day, if you don’t listen to music because you enjoy it, then what is the point?
(Oh, and while we’re at it, maybe someone would care to explain to me just what it is that makes all this so-called “alternative” rock so alternative anyway? Personally, I’ve never been able to see what it is that’s supposed to differentiate it from regular rock. Clearly I’m showing my ignorance here, maybe somebody will help me out.)
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