Do you have eclectic taste in music?

in college i would deliberately get into genres i had no previous interest in, mostly because i was encountering perspectives on them from people whose taste and ideas i really respected and trusted. so i got into metal, techno, dancehall... like, everything i could get my hands on, bc there was something other people saw in them, so i wanted to find that thing they saw, or find my own thing that i saw.

this has contracted considerably over the years bc eventually i kind of just focused on the music i got the most out of, which was like: boogie/electro funk, emo, death metal, house, jazz, jazz fusion that anticipates smooth jazz, '70s prog bands who tried to have hits in the '80s, etc. a lot of these genres have interrelated qualities that i respond to in each; for instance the way i respond to the lopsided rhythms in afropop is v v similar to my response to the same thing in death metal. idk if it's useful to refer to it as dilettantism, bc i really try to know as much as possible about everything i listen to bc context is paramount for me. but it's also probably dilettantism lol

i think a good test for eclecticism is half of your favorite records at any given time could not be connected to each other kevin bacon-style with less than 3 or 4 hops.

god I'm going to be that person, aren't I? The person who says that eclectic is relative, and thus, eclectic compared to whom? IRL friends and acquaintances? Our parents? What we imagine the "average person" to be?

That said, I'm pretty much in agreement with flopson re ilx and eclecticism.

― sarahell, Tuesday, January 5, 2016 3:14 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was almost this person too, i even typed this up in just as many words and then didn't post it

yeah i'm sort of reluctant to refer to my taste as "eclectic" bc i'm always going to think i listen to a relatively narrow range of music

fwiw brad i think of your tastes as highly eclective even relative to the ilx median. maybe not quite skot level but up there

I only like good music

omg me too

idk i had a blast listening to the Worst Of 2015 playlist last night

i guess i didn't like the music tho

it'll be an interesting experiment to compare the two once the Best of 2015 is decided.

I was willfully eclectic during my late teens (not coincidentally, around the same time I discovered ILM);
subsequently embarrassed by the extent & the vague neocolonial trappings of my willful eclecticism;
and am currently afraid of music.

sounds like there's only one album for you then
https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmichaelsprott.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F02%2Ftalkingheadsfearofmusic.jpg&f=1

yes. i have eclectic taste in music.

yes i have electric taste in music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtPk5IUbdH0

i agree with most itt that there is something *shudders* about the word eclectic. i think our revulsion stems from an association of eclectic with specific pieces of music, maybe 2000's-era mash-ups?

no, the revulsion stems people thinking it means "i am not like most people, i am interesting and cultured and like many things"

unlike most people, who only like one thing

like how ppl get mad at "foodie" because they think it means "i am better at eating food than you/more cultured"

i mean, it's totally silly who cares

i'm saying the people repulsed by "eclectic" or whatever just have bad attitudes about others

yeah I get it - joeks bruv

ha, namaste

you guys have eclectic taste in peacemaking epithets

no, the revulsion stems people thinking it means "i am not like most people, i am interesting and cultured and like many things"

― lute bro (brimstead), Tuesday, January 5, 2016 4:16 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like how ppl get mad at "foodie" because they think it means "i am better at eating food than you/more cultured"

― lute bro (brimstead), Tuesday, January 5, 2016 4:17 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ding ding ding

A lot of fans of things can come across that way.

I say that as a fan of fandom really.

foodie seems more populist though. would you rather be pegged as a foodie or a gourmand?

i would have to ask compared to who? to be able to answer this question.

Or let other people who know me tell me.

I like to think I do but i maybe dont actually do. Esp compared to music nerds.

so wait you all are saying that characterizing oneself in a general way is related to the perceptions of others? need a list thread hardcore rn.

i'm eclectic btw

I guess all I meant by my comment is that "I have eclectic taste" is not a very interesting thing to say/discuss in 2016 among music fans. It's certainly not a bad thing, it's just not remarkable.

maybe another way to gauge it is to see how many hours of programming the "eclectic music hour" for your local college radio station would you feel comfortable doing before feeling like a fraud

my local college radio station has a requirement that they have to play at least 3 genres per hour ...

i used to hate music as a kid.

it's alright now i guess. just a lil bit

Absolutely fuck not. The hell with "eclectic" taste in music, it just leads to dilettantism and wishy-washy-ness. I have extremely specific and particular tastes in what I like in music. And all I want to listen to is that thing which is at that moment scratching my itch.

The problem is, that That Particular Thing that I get really obsessed with doesn't seem to bear any resemblance whatsoever to whatever it is that people seem to talk about when they talk about "Genre". "Genre" seems to be random attributes thrown together with no regard to whatever it is in that particular artist or piece of music that I like.

So, y'know, the with hell eclecticism for the sake of it. But the hell with this notion of "Genre" even harder.

― Liebe ist kälter als der Todmorden (Branwell with an N), Tuesday, January 5, 2016 1:42 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

YEAH THIS
When Pandora first came out I was dead excited because I thought it might actually analyse the stuff I liked and find more stuff where the melody does this or the production evokes this exact feeling but no it was more like Spotify's oh hey have you heard of david bowie?

A colleague and I drove up to a sub-branch of the company we work for, I was driving my car, ok?

Anyway, he says "Oh, I have quite a wide taste in music" he peruses a bunch of cds that are in the arm between the front seats. He finds Aphex, Sun Ra, Mungo Jerry, Big Audio, and Jane Weaver.

He put them back without comment.

Basically, I'm not saying yes or no.

my local college radio station has a requirement that they have to play at least 3 genres per hour ...

mandated diversity in programming always baffled me at KZSC, but then again I was just an entitled stoodent that wanted to be able to play whatever I wanted

is the 3-genre rule station KALX? the metal/noise guy played this once but I could never find the single in shops:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVAt_3WM8Jw

most of the other DJs somehow made the 3 genres sound pretty close to each other though...

embarrassed by the extent & the vague neocolonial trappings of my willful eclecticism

did you see your record/mp3 collection as an assortment of cultural loot ala the british museum? at what point did the records turn from glorious idols to shameful relics? i'm looking for a specific record if possible

this thread is a trap

http://cdn.discogs.com/6G42tOgnKlZ_8pej2uFxhyXwbRc=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb()/discogs-images/R-1600530-1281755572.jpeg.jpg

xp Philip Nunez - yes, it's KALX. I think KDVS had some similar rules, according to a friend that was a dj there

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dj-nic-harcourt-why-spotify-672688

Ha, I had assumed the "3 genres/hour" post was a joke.

http://openglam.org/files/2014/12/SnowflakesWilsonAlwynBentley.gif

idg the snowflake line. am i supposed to believe that snowflakes are more complex and interesting than ppl or am i supposed to refuse to recognise snowflakes as a significant category and insist that snow is snow only to be understood as an undistinguished tedious mass

what is snow? we don't know. but snow is lots of fun, we know.

vonnegut had a similar line that i prefer: "genius is as common as daisies"

this thread is a trap

I think eclecticism entering the mainstream is a positive development, and it connects well with postmodern & poptimist "relativism". Like so many other aesthetic preferences eclecticism could be used for social positioning, but I don't think that's too interesting. I do find it interesting that it seems like most people are able to enjoy most music. Maybe it points toward some shared qualities in all music.

I don't think eclecticism necessarily reinforces conservative genre constructs - eclecticism could just as easily be seen as a critique of genre rigidity, since it makes the case that genre doesn't matter much.

Instinct is to say 'no' because I know people - mainly online - with much broader taste than me, and I feel like my own taste is ossifying as I get older, in that I know the kinds of things I'd like better and better. But then I also feel like I know nothing of any depth about any particular area when compared to genre specialists, and that I flit about ridiculously from one taxonomical category to another as far as some people are concerned. So I'd probably refer to myself, pejoratively, as a dilettante.

But then I read BraNwell's posts, and basically, aside from the fact that I don't really understand my own exact triggers for enjoyment (not playing an instrument / knowing music qua music as a language), that pretty much sums up where I am.