Filosophy @ mnml.nl

Aïsh · Post by **Aïsh** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:48 pm

This is about a question that came into my mind a while ago, and maybe you guys can help to me to find an awnser.

Does the taste in music of someone tell you something about the intellect of the person?

f.e.:
If you look to the more experimentle music genres like for example music of Autechre or experimentle things of twerk, Aphex Twin or whatever, there is only a select group of the society who listens to this music and can appreciate the more difficult rhythm patterns than other music.
I personally dont know any one with interest in this music with a non educated history.

Is it because educated people are more open minded? Beause they know more about some things in life than non-educated people?
Do mine workers listen to ambient?
Do structure builders listen to noise?
Is this total nonsense?
Is it about the vision of life people have?
Is it due to the people you meet in your life?

I'm curious what you guys think about it!..

plaster · Post by **plaster** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 3:31 pm

interresting question...

well...i think that it's related to one another,i mean a lot of ppl i know listen to only one genre of music and they have a hard time getting into serious conversations.
i tried to widen their horizons with some idm,but it's not acceptable by them.
i could say i have a broad taste in music...idm,minimal,breakz,funk,downtempo,hip hop and recently i started to listen and make noise.
it's a strange connection,but i think that what you said about the educated ppl is right...umm,not that other folks are stupid,but less flexible and open minded.

Aron · Post by **Aron** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 4:27 pm

I don't think intellect matters for musical taste. I know PhD.'s who listen to the shittiest music, and high school drop-outs who love the most uncompromising music there is. Musical taste is totally dependant on how hard you are willing to try and get into certain types of music.

Most people just like to dance to cheesy top 40 hits or go to a hardstyleparty. Some may venture deeper into the world of electronic music. Others may find house music all together a bunch of stupid clicks and beats. Who's to say which one of them is smarter?

Sweet Fool · Post by **Sweet Fool** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 5:06 pm

I think there's no relation AT ALL...
Plus, who's to say what music would be for higher educated and what would be for the more simple people?
You can complain about commercial crap but even in the hitlists there are artists who for sure are very musical and make a high quality-product, but just for a wider public..
It is where your interests are, you find a sound that you like and you will start listening into it and expand your taste..

At home I listen to hip hop, mnml, lounge and some stuff like red hot chilli peppers and even christina aguilera (sorry she has a nice voice and some good lyrics). When I go out I enjoy tehno, electro and also hardstyle.
I'm open for a lot of music and I don't even know to name all the things I enjoy, do not have the ability to put a label on something when I hear it..
I just check everything out and see if I like it or not.
What would you say about me then? Would you think I am educated or not??

I could go on for a while but I think I made my point...

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 5:28 pm

I don't know if it's a question of intelligence, but some people just seem to be happy to accept whatever music is given to them by the magazines and the TV, and never to actually explore different types of music for themselves. When I was a kid I used to think that if a record was not in the top 40 music chart, then it must be sh!t. If it was good, then more people would have bought it, so it would be in the chart, right? Thus, if it isn't in the chart it must be sh!t!

Then one day you hear a tune you like. Maybe on the radio, in a club, in the street, whatever. You like the tune, but it's not a record in the top 40 chart. You start to explore a little more into non-chart music, and then the whole world opens up right before your eyes...

I think it is just a question of being the type of person to challenge what everybody else does, and to look for an alternative. 90% of people listen to sh!t music in my opinion. These people simply see their music in commercial magazines, or on TV (Top of the Pops!!) and they think that is all there is. They don't even KNOW that there is more music out there.

I think it is absolutely pathetic when you see shows like Pop Idol, where the TV people manufacture a pop group during the show. Everybody knows they are a manufactured group, put together simply to earn money, and yet everybody still goes out and buys the record. This is fucking stupid. It really annoys me to see adults buying CDs by the Spice Girls etc. Do you really have no taste? Do you honestly think this is good music?? Do you not want something a bit more authentic, produced by someone who actually likes the music they are making, and doesn't just make it to earn money??? Grow up...

I wouldn't say it is to do with intelligence, simply a desire to live life differently, to explore and discover, to find what you truly like, whether or not other people like it, or if it is "cool" or not.

Aïsh · Post by **Aïsh** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 5:36 pm

Sweet Fool wrote:I think there's no relation AT ALL...
Plus, who's to say what music would be for higher educated and what would be for the more simple people?
...

thats not what i mean to say. My point is acutally, if you would ask 1000 people what music they listen to and what f.e.: their background is, what percentage of them is educated and what percentage not.

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 5:37 pm

He he... sorry for getting angry! I just hate the way that people are too stupid to see that most commercial music is just about money. In a lot of cases, the artists don't even like the records they make, they just produce them because the record label boss tells them what style to make to sell a lot of copies. This was actually the case with the Spice Girls. In an interview after they split up, Mel C said she had actually hated a few of their songs, but that they had no choice but to make them, if they wanted to earn money. Also, how many of these shitty groups even make the music themselves anyway? How many of them write their own songs, play their own instruments etc?? Not very many...

I just think people need to wake up and discover better music. Don't just accept what is given to you, look around and find what you actually want.

Sweet Fool · Post by **Sweet Fool** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 5:53 pm

Aïsh wrote:
Sweet Fool wrote:I think there's no relation AT ALL...
Plus, who's to say what music would be for higher educated and what would be for the more simple people?
...
thats not what i mean to say. My point is acutally, if you would ask 1000 people what music they listen to and what f.e.: their background is, what percentage of them is educated and what percentage not.

You're still saying the same thing, you'll know what they listen to and you know what their education is.. so what conclusion could you get out of that? If most educated listen to hard rock, that would be the 'smart-people' music and if only a small group listens to mnml, because it is not so well known maybe, that would make it less intelligent music?! It's a research that will never have a suitable outcome..
But I do understand your point though..

It is true that a lot of people don't bother to look beyond the charts, but these same charts are needed to reach people and to get them to explore more kinds of music..
I don't think it is right to say that all artists that make good money with their music and are in charts are crap, sometimes they just bring out a bit of a commercial song to reach the audience who might like their more specified album..
It always seems a bit of a jealous statement to me that music for a wide public is ALWAYS sh!t..