Strictly for interest’s (whose I don’t know) sake, here’s a scale of music styles, and my feelings toward them.
The Passionometer!
—LOVE
Rock
Lounge
Techno
Jazz
Classical
Folk
Country
Pop
Hiphop
Rap
Reggae
—HATE
Of course there are no absolutes, and of course these classifications can be further divided. For example, Punk Rock – Soft Rock. I like some of both. I love Nomeansno but Janice Joplin rubs me the wrong way. I’m not even sure how Blues and Soul are defined, so I left them off the list. Special notes on jazz: the “experimental” jazz that is all over the board and has no rhythm I’m not fond of, but bouncy jazz, such as that of Glenn Miller, I love. Tom Waits – wherever he falls – equals good.
I find the music industry to be offensive, even though my experience with it is limited, but I more or less know how it works “behind the scenes” and I know that what we are presented with on the radio and tv as “the hits” have less to do with musical talent and more to do with marketing, style, and sex. As such, I have programmed MuchMusic out of the tv/vcr, so that when I’m channel surfing it gets skipped over. The cons outweigh the pros as I find myself offended or at least appalled even by glimpses of most music videos. This usually leaves me feeling a little embarrassed when I’m at another person’s house and Avril Lavigne comes on and everyone seems to know who it is and when I ask “who’s that” I get laughed at and I have to ask again. But it’s all monkeys in the pudding, and I’m fine with that. I don’t mind taking a percuss to the ego occasionally as a tradeoff for living in a world isolated from that brand of crappiness. I figure listening to the radio in Shoppers Drug Mart and other public places is enough exposure for my needs. I’ll just have to rely on my friends to tell me if anything good comes out of any given “scene” while my back is turned to the media that ostensibly introduces music its fans.