Do you ever meet those people (especially at parties, when they're drunk) that try to advocate themselves constantly? It's really annoying. There was this guy yesterday... he was like "How was your week." and I thought it was funny that i hopped over to Georgia, so i was like, "I went to Georgia." and then... he was like "Where in Georgia... Athens?... Really? My favorite band is from there. They're called ____. Yeah, it's an indie rock band. You probably haven't heard of it."
There seems to be this obsession with Indie rock music... That's not even a genre! It's just an artist that hasn't signed to a major recording label!! Does this annoy anybody else? Because... when you ask "what sort of music do you listen to?" and they reply "indie rock"... to me that just translates to "I'm too insecure to like mainstream music because I don't like being judged, and liking indie music is a safe choice, because I can list a bunch of bands I like and most likely you won't know who I'm talking about."
But, then again, that's like saying "I like pop." To me, pop is a music genre with old school Britney Spears, BSB, NSYNC, and other shit like that, which I will admit to listening to when I want to be in a bubbly happy mood, or just want something to sing along to. But pop is "popular music". Currently, pop would be synonymous with hiphop. Some people do separate pop-hiphop and classics and 'good' hiphop...
That's also something that annoys me... People classify music according to how popular something is. I've been downloading music for about 5 years now. I don't know what's popular except when I hear it on the tennis court on our warm-up cd. I'm like, hey I have that! I mean, sure, sometimes I download kelly clarkson, and i know that whatever of hers i download is probably popular. She was the american idol, after all. What's more pop than that?
Music is more than music these days... Peoples music preferences are influenced by so many things. Where you first heard the music, how many times you listened to music, who else likes the music, and then lastly, how quality the music is. "Quality" also has a lot of different meanings, depending on what you look for in music. My teammate barb looks for instrumental talent. This dude in my Global music, local cult class looks for good lyrics and good prose. Other people just want stuff that gets them pumped up, or otherwise affects them.
I don't hate any music, because if I listen to everything a few times I will eventually like it. There is one song I will never listen to, which is Train's Drops of Jupiter, because of the first time I heard it and how much that person pissed me off when he said something about the song...
Right now I'm clicking wildly on my computer and seeing what song it lands on. I'm in a very open state of mind, so even music that I wasn't moved by once before is sounding really good.
I really don't give a shit what kind of music you're interested in, unless you can open my eyes to new music... But you liking this kind of music for these stupid reasons is really annoying, and makes me not want to ever listen to your 'indie rock'.
I would care about your music, if I would find the music pleasurable. So only tell me, if your motives are somewhat unselfish. The only thing you should be gaining out of telling people what your favorite music is, is the desire to share the pleasure. Not to advocate your coolness.
mm.. good post. Yeah, for awhile now I've heard people talk about all of this indie music, and I'm like, "What the heck is indie music?!" I always assumed that it was music released on an independent label instead of a major one, which was the correct assumption apparently. I'm all like, "What does indie sound like?" I've never really had all that much of a desire to really look into it though. It really annoys me when people listen to music just because it's cool or because their friends all listen to it, or everybody else listens to it, etc. You're exactly right when you say that what you should be gaining is the desire to share the pleasure. I've been burning some mixed CDs for friends, and it makes me extremely happy when they tell me how much they enjoyed the CD or a particular song, or like when I hear them singing a song that I had put on the CD. That's always awesome.
Oh my goodness. I totally agree with you. For me, honestly, I listen to some little known bands because I genuinely like them. The other day, however, I had a girl tell me that she got into Indie Rock and was asking me if I had some bands to recommend her. Okay, last month you were singing Fall Out Boy, now you want to know what I listen to? I wanted to tell her that some Indie rock bands are "indie" simply because they aren't good enough. This is also the same problem i have with a lot of the other "Indie Snobs" who insists on telling someone else of their little-known-band. I don't know your favorite band because they're crap. Period.
I can't really say that I listen to mainstream labels or indie labels. Most of the music that I listen to is hip hop that's been recorded in someone's basement and sold on the street. I love it because most of it conveys a message and it's more than just the typical "bitches and hoes" mess.
great...
Hey the less popular bands have good music, and some of the one hit wonders are deep and meaningful to me. Like a made out to banditos with my frist boyf and now I can't find that song anywhere. And Vervcha Salt is not that bad. You just got to wade though the slush to get to the good ones.
OK, there are many interpretations for what's "indie", but why set such restrictions on how people present their favorate music? If someone's insecure about what they listen to but still willing to share, what the heck? Who's not insecure about something?
To me "indie" is outside the mainstream. You don't hear it on commercial radio, you don't hear it in major release movies. I personally like lots of commercial music but especially enjoy listening to unsigned artists who write original music and produce it themselves. It sounds raw and unpolished and sometimes has glimmers of genius. Most of all, I'm not sick of it yet and in many cases it's brand new, like it didn't exist last week, and there's something awesome about hearing something so fresh. Lots of this kind of music doesn't stand up to commercially produce music but there's so much of it out there I never tire. And it's free!