Tuesday, 03 May 2005
A Musical Rant
I am annoyed. I am fed up of people's opinions of me. This rant is aimed at no one imparticular, but I am annoyed, nonetheless.
Why? Because for years, I was told there were certain bands and musical artists that were not suitable to my tastes, in one way or another. And, like a fool, I believed people without checking these things out for myself, and missed out.
It took me until I went to university to find out I love Nine Inch Nails (thanks Carl!), for example. And yet, even now, people act surprised when I mention that I like them, and tell me that they thought NIN were "too heavy" for me. I even caught my brother telling Jon that I would not like NIN for this very reason!
This annoyance has been bubbling away within me for a while now. Yesterday it finally culminated in me doing something I don't usually do. I rooted around in Jon's mp3 files for bands I did not know and played a sample of their music. I then went to gnoosic.com. This is a website that will recommend music for you to listen to, based upon three bands or artists that you tell it you like. If I did not know the band, I looked it up on google and found samples of their music. Now I have a list of bands whose music I would like to get! Shame Christmas is so far away...
Anyway, for your surprise or otherwise, here is a list (not definitive, but rather long) of music* that I like (in alphabetical order, for order's sake, and excluding yesterday's discoveries):
Abba, Bryan Adams, Louis Armstrong, The Bangles, The Beatles, Berlin, Blur, David Bowie, Meredith Brooks, Bush, Catherine Wheel, Eric Clapton, The Corrs, Counting Crows, The Cranberries, The Dandy Warhols, The Darkness, Dido, The Divine Comedy, Jason Donovan, Eels, Feeder, The Foo Fighters, Garbage, Green Day, Headswim, Hepburn, Hole, Jools Holland, House of Pain, Incubus, James, The Lightning Seeds, Longpigs, Madness, Lene Marlin, Moby, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Ocean Colour Scene, The Offspring, Roy Orbison, Pearl Jam**, The Presidents of the United States of America, The Prodigy, Radiohead, Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, Roxette, Saint Etienne, Semisonic, Simon & Garfunkel, Smashing Pumpkins, Smashmouth, Snow Patrol, Soundgarden, Dusty Springfield, Stereophonics, Stiltskin, Terrorvision, The Traveling Wilburys, KT Tunstall, U2.
I am not ashamed of my musical tastes, they're varied because I have different moods. I am sure to have forgotten some, so feel free to remind me, and I'll edit the list. Also, please recommend music not mentioned here to me, with links to where I can hear a sample. Then I can update my tastes!
In the above list I have deliberately not included local York bands, as not very many people will know them (although some may be trying to make it big). These include 23 Beasts, Brutal Tinkerbell, Heroic Trio, Pillow Talk and Mr Tickle (since they no longer exist, the website no longer exists either, but go to URY's downloads for University of York's Battle of the Bands Semis in 2002 to hear a sample of their music).
Bands I found out yesterday that I like (and would love to borrow an album if anyone has one): A Perfect Circle, Alice In Chains, Beck, Evanescence, Metallica, The Reindeer Section and Tool.
Music that I cannot stand, in no particular order: Manic Street Preachers, throughout their career; Suede; a lot of Prog Rock that Jon listens to (some is ok, some I don't like); Steps, Boyzone, Hearsay and other manufactured poppy 'bands'; The Beautiful South - I think it's the vocals, but not sure; and Savage Garden, whose music actually depressed me, believe it or not; The Verve, just bad, bad, bad, cannot stand anything about them, especially the singer. I know from repeated experience that I do not like these. While my tastes may change, for now, I try to keep away from these.
Ok, so now you may have learned a little more about me, and that little exercise has helped to calm me down. Before I stop writing, there is just one more thing I would like to add:
In future, if someone asks your opinion of a band or person, please, please, do not make a judgement for that person. By all means, give them your opinion on the music. But tell them to find out for themselves, too. And if you know where, point them in a direction to find out!
---
* This post has deliberately excluded classical music, as we would be here all day if I tried to list composers I like. Let's just say that on top of the above lists, I am also a big fan of a wide range of classical music.
** My appreciation of Pearl Jam is a strange one. Throughout the 90s, I loathed their music, despite the rest of my family loving them. Then they released a single called Last Kiss (I think it was a cover), which I liked, but I still did not like their other stuff. Since then, I have heard their old and new stuff and found that I really like it, although I cannot say when, how or why this change in my musical tastes occurred.
