How much do you judge people based on their taste in music?

A few of my best mates only really listen to chart stuff, I'm not prejudiced against any genres and I enjoy clubbing and drinking as much as anyone else. I still listen to stuff like Lady Gaga etc. and don't view it as a "guilty pleasure"; I think that's a stupid position to take. I would defend liking chart music against snobs along with any other music that I like.

I don't really agree with the bolded point though, I'd say you covered most of mainstream entertainment there. Perhaps music is a bad example when contrasted with books and film, I don't think music has as much of an intrinsic intellectual component as those media.

Naturally I to enjoy people's company more if they share common interests with me; music, film and books are among my main interests.

like many infer here hip-hop is one of the finest forms of expression out there. That is, of course, once commercial rap is disregarded.

When finding out that someone has certain musical tastes, do you ever assume their general level of intelligence, or other aspects of their personality? Same applies to class etc. Is it something that you feel is an important factor in terms of getting on with someone? Examples welcome.

I pretty much like everything; even the most dire bands have one or two good songs

Well I don't care too much, but yes, I do tend to judge slightly. If someone listens to grime, hip-hop, generally chavvy stuff, then I'll assume things about them. It's not true in every case though.

Glad you said this; since I'm the type of person that one minute is listening to some good old Manchester grime and the next, 80s power ballads

Haha exactly, there are some exceptions! It's the people who go around blasting it out their phones, song after mind-numbing song, and who generally fit the whole package, that I judge.

"screamo" stuff can, in certain circumstances, be very intelligent and endearing. Ambient black metal artists such as Burzum and Alcest are quite complex musically while work composed by Kayo dot and maudlin of the Well, right on the edge of what is considered metal, is extremely technical, taking influence from classical composition, and, in my opinion, of great value. And, indeed, screams and growled vocals are integral to the sound of these artists. From my experience all genres of music have the capacity to genuinely move.

I have to admit I do play my music rather loud on my iPod when I'm on the bus

Do you have earphones in or not? If you do, then it's acceptable. If not, however...

I judge men on their music taste. I don't judge women as much because I accept that most of the time, women aren't going to like old school hip hop. If a bloke says he likes whatever's in the charts, I assume he's a sporty person, if he's not a sporty person I assume he's a geek, at which point I assume we have nothing in common until proven otherwise. If he is a sporty person, I don't like them that much. I'm a music person!

But girls are more complicated cos they usually have a broader range of taste (e.g. my sister has a great taste, she introduced me to a lot of my favourite ska, punk, rock bands. But she watches and enjoys X Factor!).

So, males - yes, females - to a lesser extent.

Well, I tend to differentiate between types of music on a much coarser level then most. So at a root level, I would split my own musical preferences into something like:

1) Art music
e.g. baroque, classical, romantic, impressionist, serialist, post-serialist etc.

2) Folk/traditional music
i.e. regional or culturally based traditions of music

3) Popular Music
e.g. Rock, Chart, Metal, Rap, Hip-Hop

4) Jazz
e.g. Big Band, Bebop, Modal, Latin Jazz, Jazz Fusion etc.


I realise there is a lot of interplay and relationship between the categories but this is just the way I generally think about, understand and enjoy various forms of music.

In particular, I closely associate the various forms of music I am calling pop because they share many formal attributes and methods of production and dissemination. To name a couple:

i) mostly one vocal part and three to four instrumental parts.
ii) mostly song based forms e.g. intro/verse/chorus/verse/middle eight/chorus/outro etc.
iii) similar commercial models.
iv) lyrics are generally more important than in other musical forms.
v) mostly released in the album format with 8 to 12 or so 3-6 minute songs.

Of course these characteristics aren't totally unique but you have to organise things in your own mind somehow. I do see the difference between say a Death Metal band and Lady gaga - I just see the difference as being less profound then the difference between either and, say, Mahler.


Edit: Also, it is because I don't resent the majority of people calling things as diverse as gregorian chanting and post-serialist music all 'classical' because I understand what they mean when they lump the forms together in that way, even if I think they are more disparate than some of the items I consider to be 'pop' music .

You're one cool cat . I do like Black Metal to some extent bands such as: Behemoth, 1349, Agalloch, Celtic Frost, Marduk (quack, quack ), Venom and Dimmu Borgir, though I'm musically diverse. Perhaps you could reccomend some Black Metal from my selections as you're a Black Metal connoisseur if that's ok with you .

... so based on musical tastes, you think there's only 2 types of people?
How does that even work when it comes down to your music tastes:
1) If you listen to chart stuff then you're a "sporty type". But you dislike sporty types, plus you've already admitted to listening to genres of music that don't feature in the charts.
2) You say that people who don't listen to chart music are a "geeky type".
3) Logic dictates that seeing as you don't listen to chart music, and you dislike the sporty type people anyway, that would (by your own definition) make you a geeky type... and you said you assume you have nothing in common with them.

What is this, I don't even...

I can't really be arsed to explain what I said, I didn't realise it was going to be taken so literally. I've stereotypically put people into 3 groups - people who like music, people who like sports and people who like games/other media. I know there are other types of people. What I'm saying is that if someone is really into their music, I'll get on with them - no matter what music they're into, I can always relate. What I find with people who are not so headstrong & passionate about their music tastes are usually into their sports or just have no real interests.

So, in conclusion, I find I can relate better with people who are passionate about their music taste (which is rare when somebody listens to pop music).