11/12/2005

loyalty

I guess I consider myself to be critical of music. I know what aspects of music I enjoy, and I don't listen to the other crap (sucky slide steel guitar -- you can have that). On the most basic of scales, that's how I measure what I like. Being a musician, it's musically-healthy to be critical of what you hear.

So, with that out of the way, I can say that I love music. If I could, I would have the mp3 player constantly hearing stuff, if not, then playing it. I like many kinds of genres, rock (goth, classic, metal, alternative), selective hip hop, classical, new age (world), blues (classic and modern), and selective jazz... just to name a few. My bias probably stays in the rock field, however.

There is the issue of loyalty. Some people like the sound of a few bands, and buy their albums, no matter what it sounds like. While some others like songs that come on the radio and have no idea who they are, or what else they sing. Not me. When I hear a song that I like, great. That by no means that I become loyal to that band. I might go to B&N or Yahoo Music to check out the album. But that's it. I also might like a band/musician and never buy any of their stuff, like Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band, Busta Rhymes, or any one-hit wonder. I may like one or two of their songs, but for the most part, I enjoy their artistic talent.

I will state, however, that there are bands that really have some great stuff over the years that have more good stuff than not: Sixpence None the Richer, Sarah McLachlan, and Disturbed. There are more, but I'll save that for later.

3 comments:

jerry said...

yeah i got the new disturbed album, its freaking awesome......one thing i like is bands that you can see them "mature" in their music i guess, not to say that their first stuff was childish, but more just on the lines of seeing true growth as musicians and songwriters, without sacrificing their heart in what they are doing.....if you like dave matthews band, you may wanna get a live album if you ever do buy one, their live stuff is amazing, i can never get enough.......oh and i found this band, if you like natalie merchants tigerlily, the guitarist from that album, jennifer turner, has a band called furslide...i havent heard any of it yet, but i like her playing so im betting its good....you may wanna do a search on that and see what you find.....

Laje Kahr said...

I have a very similar feeling on music. I have extremely eclectic tastes. However, I do have one question:
What about content?
For instance, I love the German version of the song "Engel" by Rammstein. The translation is nothing particularly good or bad, per se. However, I cannot in good conscience listen to their other songs because as a Messianic Jew, they are offensive to my beliefs and rather vulgar. Do you then pick and choose the songs also by whether the content is acceptable to Christian theology or is that not a factor to you? (I ask cause I have yet to hear a Disturbed song that would qualify and it appears from your blog that you are a Christian.)

Kent said...

Content is something I look at, and I am a Christian. However, unless there is something apparently, divertly something in the song that insults my God personally, I'll generally give it a try. A band that intentionally insults Jesus Christ himself is the band called 'Live'. For that, there is no try.