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Personality Secrets in Your MP3 Player
Jeremy Dean writes "Once past saying 'hello' and 'how are you?' to someone you've just met, what is next? How do we make friends and get to know other people? Psychologists have talked about the importance of body language, physical appearance and clothing but they've not been so keen on what we actually talk about. A recent study put participants in same-sex and opposite-sex pairings and told them to get to know each other over 6 weeks (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006). Analysing the results, they found the most popular topic of conversation was music. What is it about music that's so useful when we first meet someone and what kind of information can we extract from the music another person likes? "
I know thats one of the first things I ask when I meet new people...unless it's a work environment...but 9/10 when I ask I am greeted with a response that makes me say "eeewww" to myself...and then when I have to explain the kind of music I like I usually have trouble relating that to them...but you can usually tell who you can avoid by their (usually horrible) taste in music.
In a world of acronyms, the words are the real victims.
...music is supposed toc ome from the artists soul. Music explains an artists point of view on subjects.
If you and I like the same artists, chances are relatively high we hold the same views.
Not to mention when I'm blasting Emperor or Dimmu Borgir or Dying Fetus, you won't ask me to put on some Kenny G.
Living With a Nerd
It's much easier to say you like some crappy indie band in order to get inside a girl's pants.
So I guess I am out of the dating game, then.
Oh, well. More time for WoW.
I know someone who finds the lyrics from fall out boy meaningful isnt someone i want to talk to.
I just bought a new waterbed
and it's made for me and you!
Why don't, we get drunk, and screw...
Maybe Microsoft's Zune is onto something.
New line in a bar on a Saturday night -
"Squirt me three tunes, and I'll let you know if you can buy me a drink."
"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair" - George Washington
Music us everywhere, for the big global bands and artists there is generally something to discuss.
It breaks the ice.
liqbase
None, generally. The only things I've ever been able to draw out regarding somebody's personality from their taste in music is broad stereotypes which are invariably discarded mere minutes later. Music, despite how much I hear about it from others, has always proved to be completely free of any real personal content.
That does not mean it's useless, of course. Quite the opposite; it is a topic of conversation which is safe without always being boring, and provides a quick way to find superficial common ground with somebody. I don't get to talk to strangers much, but I am told that's how it's done.
Once you get past the introductions and the "I like everything except rap/metal/country (choose your typical singled out genre)", there's still plenty to talk about. Songs in general have a good combination of easy to understand qualitative concepts that extend beyond "this is better than that" to discuss. There's also the element of, "Hey we both like this ___, have you tried listening to ___?" Movies are the same way (as shown in that poll), though I'm a little surprised music beat movies by that much.
I don't really listen to music. Does that mean I have no personality?
Emu Anyone?
"Once past saying 'hello' and 'how are you?' to someone you've just met, what is next?"
* Retreat back to cube and resume coding
* Avoid eye contact and hope someone else comes along to relieve you from having to make conversation
* Launch into a rant
* "I don't have friends/conversations/etc, you insensitive clod!"
* Generic Cowboy Neal reference
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
Guy:Hey
Girl:Hey
Guy:Hey, I've got a nano!
Girl:I have to go... and... wash my hair...
Is this a random sample across all demographics and locations? I bet it isn't. It's probably one of those social science experiments where they draw sweeping conclusions about the whole of humanity by interviewing 30 college students.
Or am I too cynical?
I'm the new hire at work, found out our webdesigner makes her own techno and does some DJ work, and struck up a conversation on that. Then she got me addicted to WoW and won't start a new character. :(
Conclusive proof that the Zune helps people socialize. Microsoft needs to start advertising that!
"What really matters is what you like, not what you are like. Books, records, films -- these things matter."
LOAD "SIG",8,1
Music just has the right characteristics to be a good conversation topic.
Unless your a farmer or a meteorologist, you can't talk for more than a few seconds about the weather.
Sex, politics, and religion are way too dangerous.
But there is a lot of music, there is a lot to talk about, the chances are that two people selected at random know a lot more of the same music than the same books, the same movies, etc.
You can care enough about music to have a spirited, passionate discussion about it, but few people care so much about it that disagreements could lead to violence, or even to the breakup of a budding friendship.
If you take someone home to meet your parents, you don't need to worry about whether that person's taste in music will match your parents or not.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Well, that's probably (another) reason that I manage to have a hard time creating memorable "hooks" with other people; I have practically no interest in keeping up with or finding new music. (It isn't that I don't enjoy nearly all forms of music, mind you, it's just that, for me, there's approximately zero value in seeking out new things to listen to.)
On a related note, the common geek tendency to disparage everyone who doesn't have the same eXtreMely obscure/not-yet-trendy/running counter to current popular opinion taste in music as he/she does is very lamentable. Seriously, most people don't use their taste in music to define themselves, so judging people on that is very narrow-minded.
When 50 or 70 year old persons meet they probably would talk other things.
Wincopy
Me - I love you too.
Her - Yeah, they are a great band.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
My first question is "Do you know what Linux is?". I find that is infinitely more helpful than asking what music somebody likes.
The government can't save you.
music is very personalized and ubiquitous. There's probably very few people in America who haven't heard the top 5 songs of the day, whether they like them or not. Music is also easily accessible. In 3 - 5 minutes, a song could deliver lyrics that could change your mood or teach you things - like a little psychology session. And, people usually listen to music at any time for different things. People have music to study to, dance to, listen to when they're happy and music for depression. The easily accessible 3 minute package makes it easy to have music a part of your life unlike any other form of media. Books require a lot of attention and time, and tv isn't as portable and requires too much attention as well. It's really not surprising that music choices are the biggest conversation topic.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
i been away for awhile so i forget the kinda articles sometimes on /. OF course music is a relevant subject of interests. its one of the easiest ways to break the ice and see how compatible someone is with you. let me help the hapless /.ers who haven't been laid in awhile. don't get tongue tied when you talking to a chick. keep this accronym in mind. FORM. Family Occupation Recreation Music. thats my .02 cents any more info on how to get layed is gonna cost you. I open to bargaining i have this seg fault i can't figure out...
$action = empty(PHP) ? backToC() : unset(PHP) ; "when the concrete cases are understood, the abstractions are readily
The only thing on my iPod is the soothing sounds of Crispin Hellion Glover. What does that say about me?
This guy's the limit!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I hate shit like this. Question: Do you want to know how to make friends, or do you want to make friends? Because when you start to look for the secret procedure behind friendship, you start looking at people as if they were abstract personalities, with some quanitifiable set of properties, and you stop looking at them as human beings. And this attitude can prevent you from actually connecting with them. It's completely absurd. Not everything is meant to be turned into cold science.
they said the average age was like 18. What do 18 year olds have to talk about with random peers? If you mix an accountant and a construction worker, they may have similarities in that they may have kids, be sick of the boss, have funny co-worker stories.
Most 18 year olds don't have profound achievements that have a commonality. If you have kids, you don't mind hearing about other people's kids. If you're in physics club, you probably don't want to hear about a wrestling match.
Studies also show that teenagers blow at empathetic responses, so it harder to tell if someone is interested by subtle clues. If someone follows along on the conversation, its a go... So music is the most common ground shared by all teens.
Except me, i really didn't ever listen to the radio.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
I would think it would have something to do with not wanting to admit you still watch Saturday morning Spiderman (mostly the guys) or Hello Kitty (chicks), and thus appearing immature...
One thing I would like to see is musical preferences by Myers-Briggs/Jung personality type. I mention this because, although imperfect, I have found that these personality types will give you a lot of information about a person. Someone who is ENFP (typical 'party girl') is mostly only interested in having fun and would likely be really into the pop-music of the day, on the other hand someone who is ISTJ (typical accountant) is probably going to be far more interested in technical perfection and may like Classical or Jazz; the reason musical taste could be important is an ENFP will think that the ISTJ and his music is boring whereas the ISTJ will think that the ENFP's music and lifestyle are pointless.
It would be interesting to see this study taken further. I suspect that there is more to this than just coincidence - that is, one will probably find that people with similar tastes in music often have similar political/religious/philosophical views, education, perhaps even similar skills/interests, childhood experiences, etc. It's just a hypothesis, but I bet there's some truth to it. Any psychologists out there know of such a study having been done?
Deja Moo: The distinct feeling that you've heard this bull before.
More that it's non-threatening. When you are first getting to know someone, you usually aren't up for divulging your most personal secrets. However, you do need something to talk about other than the weather. Things like music are a good starting point. You probably don't really get, or give, much useful info about yourself but it is something to talk about and helps you get more familiar.
Relationships are about emotion, there's not always logic to how or why we do things.
Yesterday I was at a small party, the music was from an iPod. One song caught my attention, and I wanted to know what song and artist it was.
It would be nice to have this feature on the (wireless/bluetooth enabled) digital music players: an option to share the playlist, so I could get my cellphone and read (and store) the info on the music being played.
factor 966971: 966971
I'm taking you off my friends list.
With combining this with a service like last.fm since it already automatically finds people with similar musical taste as you. Last.fm as a music dating service?
and your subculture is most accurately represented by its music acts.
I can determine more about a person I meet from, "I like Brittney Spears and Justin Timberlake" or "I have two playlists: GWAR, and other" (including their willingness to admit either of those) than I can from half a dozen other interests and opinions.
Clothing often crosses subcultures, as do slang, political opinion, religious belief and behavior, but there are very people whose personality and approach to life will defy their music tastes. When was the last time you met a hyper-aggressive, Type-A asshole who lists smooth Jazz before Metallica?
Of course, when you meet someone who says they like "everything" and then proceeds to list mainstream rock AND mainstream rap, know the conversation doesn't need to proceed any further because they're a fucking toolbox.
You can tell a lot about someone by their taste in music. I think the music you listen to reflects (but not necessarily defines) your personality. What would your first impressions be if someone says they mostly listens to angry music? Dance music? Ska? The Cure? Greatful dead? etc.
we have a study in TFA that claims people are prone to discuss music when meeting each other, but on Slashdot the discussion about TFA is minimally good, at best, and yet most of it is about music. /. isn't quite the place to be making the point that Fallout Boy sucks.
The results of this study though aren't terribly surprising - as mentioned above, one of the first (and most important things) I talk about when meeting someone new is music. And it makes sense that its such a great topic of discussion - music is everywhere in our lives: on TV, movies, in the car, on the bus, football games, malls, convience stores - hell, I got pulled by a cop once who was listening to a local country station in his cruiser.
All throughout childhood, riding in the car on long trips or even just sitting at home with my parents, there would always be some kind of music playing. Oldies, jazz, the Eagles, etc., and all of that exposure has molded my ideas about music and when I meet someone new, comparing musical tastes is great because it allows you to connect to someone else almost instantly - I don't know your name, but you're a Fugazi fan, so lets talk about Fugazi to break the ice...it works better than the traditional icebreakers - I mean, imagine meeting someone and having them say "OK, you just cross your arms and fall backwards and I'll catch you - oh, and hi, I'm John."
Two things.
One, it's a common interest. Lots of people don't read. Many aren't into painting or cars or gaming or photography or other hobbies. But it's rare to find a person so uninterested in music that they can't converse on the topic at even a superficial level, even if all they hear is what's playing on the radio at work.
Second, it's a safe topic of discussion. It's not religion or politics, and it's even unlikely to segue into those topics.
So "when you first meet people," it makes sense that it's a popular topic of conversation. You have a high likelihood of actually being able to converse, and a low likelihood of pissing people off.
music is directly emotional in a way that movies aren't. it's also highly interpretive, so WHY someone likes something is as important as what they like. it reveals how deeply they think about that certain part of themselves that is ecstatic and interpretive.
:-)
there are very valuable emotions communicated by very shoddy musicianship. there are very bland emotions communicated by overproduced garbage. the conglomeration of what people like is telling at least of what they're going through at the moment.
it tells you if they're into ecstatic fun stuff, if they're into sad stuff, angry stuff. music is cathartic and healing, and it shows you what the person needs. it can be revealing if they view it as entertainment, or just background noise.
the kiss of death for me is, "I like all music," um... like what? "Oh, I listen to everything," and what are some bands you like... "[billboard top 5]" if people like music I don't like, but like it for a reason, and are interested in it, then I'm fine with that. but then, I'm a musician. when people ask me about painters, I say the same thing.
that's my opinion anyway.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
People might enjoy a wide variety of music, or they may have narrow tastes. But I've never met anyone who hated all music.
I know people who hate television and movies, calling them "useless time-wasters". I know people who don't like ice cream and hate dogs. I even know somebody who hates nearly everybody else. But music is different. Some people don't notice it much, but even they know what they like.
People know that their musical choices are very personal. If you ask what kind of music they like, they get a chance to talk about themselves. And many are proud of their musical taste. It's like fine wine. Some people are connoiseurs, and some just drink whatever is available. And a wine expert generally just LOVES to talk about wine.
For anybody who thinks that showing disdain for some form of music somehow increases their credibility on the subject, remember this: nothing turns off somebody else faster than saying their favorite band/artist sucks.
The only way to learn the name of a band is to have a real, live human being tell you it. This isn't true of clothing brands, of film or television, of interests or hobbies, of favorite authors or magazine subscriptions. I guarantee that if someone on Slashdot mentions 3 bands "as examples" of bands, it tells you more about that person than it does about the bands. This isn't true for anything else.
Diet Coke, Snapple, Gatorade.
Music is a great conversation piece because everyone likes some kind of music. No matter if you're male or female, rich or poor, smart or stupid, you have to like some kind of music. "What kind of music do you like?" is a safe question that everyone will have an answer to. As opposed to something like politics that the other person may have no idea about or could potentially be offended by your own view points.
Music can make or break a relationship. It's always an easy topic to start off with because everyone listens to music. If you don't you're either deaf or very boring and even deaf people like to "listen" to bass lines. People find it easy to discuss their musical tastes so its an efficient ice breaker. However, deeper psychological connotations of musical taste differs greatly from person to person.
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
I've always been aware that when people get together they tend to talk about music, and it's always disgusted me. The reason it disgusts me is that they are not talking about music because they have really strongly felt preferences or something of interest to say but because you can always find someway to agree and the conversation topic is so bland it won't frighten anyone off. Music has two properties that make it so apt for this purpose.
First of all it is all about preferences so it isn't intimidating like history, mathematics, science, religion or anything else with definite answers you could be wrong about. History might otherwise be a good topic to talk about at a party but it intimidates many people because they don't want to admit they don't know things nor turn out to say something and have it be wrong. Admittedly hipsters are pretty good at turning music into a similar sort of topic but if you are inclined to be friendly with someone there is nothing you *need* to correct them about as you might with history.
Second of all the terminology and the classifications are sufficiently vague and deep that it is easy to subconciously twist your responses into agreement. I mean suppose she asks how you feel about rap, maybe you say something negative she can respond by saying, how can you not like so-and-so at which point you can clarify well their okay what I really dislike is Y or I don't know I've only heard Z type of rap. It might sound slimy but just listen to any two people who are meeting and want to like each other talking about music and you will see everyone tries hard to end up agreeing. Also since music is such a broad topic with various small preferences you will likely uncover SOME interest that you two have in common.
I mean how the hell do you think we get so many people excited about the boy/girl they met b/c 'we both like band Y' or 'we both hate punk'.
Music is a non-conversation. It is a way to make noises while avoiding actually saying anything of substance and that really annoys me. I want to know something about the personality of the people I meet not hear generic drivel. Sure one could talk about music reasonably that's what music critics and hardcore aficionados do but when they talk about it agreement isn't the normal course of business.
--
By the way "likes jazz" usually means "I want people to think I'm deep and intellectual." Now often that is correlated with really being an intellectual but that isn't what it indicates. I know this is tough to believe but what music you like is just a matter of taste, just like what food you like. Preferring fine french dining to burgers and beer may show you have spent time refining your pallet and indicate a certain social class but it doesn't say anything about being an intellectual, being smart or anything of the kind. Similarly with what music you like.
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
Don't judge people by the music they listen to,
Judge them by whether or not they try to force YOU to listen to it.
I likes me some quiet time.
The Onion has a feature called Random Rules. They take a celebrity type person and put their MP3 player on random. Then have the person being interviewed discusses what happens to come up on their player.
It's actually a pretty good feature. I especially liked the one with Gerald Casale.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Shows how out of touch I am. I don't know anyone who buys singles so I've no idea what "top N songs" could even mean.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
So which is which? T
he person who listens to music he enjoys or the person who listens to music he enjoys telling other people he listens to?
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Well, there's that whole "talking" thing. Do people really need gadgets now to have a conversation?
I thought Country Music caused incest.
Well, for one, knowing what kind of music someone else listens to is a great way to find out a lot of cultural similarities between yourself and them. Pieces of music seem to compact weeks worth of communication in to a short length of time. If you and another individual are in to the same obscure indie rock band, you're probably going to have a lot of cultural connections. The thing is, it's never really about the music. The non-musical aspects are much more important. How we first came to hear a certain piece, who told us about it, who else listens to it, when it was from, why it was made... all of these are more important than the chord structure, lyrics, melody, and form of the song or piece.
IAAMusician, and let me be the first to tell you that coming to this realization was not easy at first, probably due to the fact that I had to first learn and internalize most of the fundamentals of music, which kept me focused on the structural aspects. That being said, I still have no idea what music is or why I enjoy to make or listen to it. I do know that most people refuse to believe that the reason they don't like rap music isn't because of the sonic structures or lyrical content of the music rather the fact that they cannot relate to the culture that is responsible for its creation. Most musicians I know refuse to believe this as well, and while I cannot even come close to proving my thoughts on this, I know that if it is not the most important aspect of music, it is at least partially true.
For example, last night, I was coming back from a friend's place, and I took a cab, not the easiest thing to do right after the Superbowl ends, especially in New York City. I was lucky enough to get a cab almost right away. The driver, as usual, was minding his own business. He was listening to a type of ethnic music typically known as Hindustani, originating from the Northern parts of India, near the Pakistani border, but also closely associated to Bangalore. I'm pretty in to this kind of music, the vocal styles, the tablas, the sitars here and there. However, he was used to the fact that most white dudes would probably rather listen to classic rock and offered to change to a radio station of my choice. I told him that I was enjoying this music, and immediately, he sprung to life! He handed me the album case and started telling me all about who this guy was that had written the songs, who the singer was, and tons of other information about the music and the culture behind it. Apparently, it was all written by this man, Rabindranath Tagore, who my cabbie enthusiastically told me was the first person from Asia to win the Nobel Prize, AND, that he had written all of his work in his native language. He was overflowing with pride. Not wanting to be the cultural hog of the conversation, he grabbed another CD case from the front and passed it back. It was a compilation of the Greatest Love Songs, with stuff like Genesis, Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, etc... He had grown fond of listening to an Adult Contemporary station here in NYC and bought some albums and he was really in to it! I told him that if he enjoyed these songs, he would love one of my favorite songwriters, Burt Bacharach. At the end of the journey we both exchanged information about the artists we had recommended to each other and completed our cultural exchange.
So your musical preferences will have a direct relation to your cultural preferences. How all of this applies to todays hyper-culture, with it's multitudes of sub genres and opinions scattered left and right, I have no idea. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I wouldn't have a hard time believing that if two people are both into neo-industrial-hardcore-skate-ska that there would be enough of a cultural/personality match for them to make a good couple.
So, no offense to all of you Julie Andrews fans out there, but the sound of music really doesn't seem to be as important as the culture of music.
I've always prefered a command line interface. GUIs are such a cursory way to interact with a computer.
So what should we talk about, normal people, who like not to hear any of that weird shitty noise that you call "musik" while thinking/working/slacking ? :)
I prefer books. Not only will I talk about books, but the first thing I will do on visiting someone for the firt time is look at their book shelves.
A lot of my friends have overlapping taste in books - and I have often discovered this after making friends. Presumeably the same applies to music.
Country is for emotionally stable and jazz is for intellectuals. Hmmmm. Tell me please, dear psychologists, what is my personality if I don't listen to any music at all?
What if you don't listen to music?
I translate "likes jazz" as laziness or "I like auditory mobeius strips of wandering saxaphones."
:-P
And the Italians utterly pwn the French in dining. French cuisine is for people who have decided they hate food, and that meals must be an ordeal to be endured rather than enjoyed.
Hey, mod me +5 in-tuh-lektual, baby!
Telling people you like classical is usually enough to end any conversation.
If they can't answer "What level is your character?" without flinching, it's DATE OVER.
Even though I sing in a church choir, I don't listen to music much, and I don't own any kind of personal music player, except for my old Walkman, gathering dust in the back of a drawer somewhere. When I have the radio on in the car, it's either talk radio, a book on tape or a lecture on tape (currently 9 hours into a 15-hour seminar on Dante's "Comedia").
I'm very knowledgable about art, history, literature, science, religion, politics, cooking, gardening, hunting, woodworking, and a jillion other things. I like to learn about things that interest other people, and I like to talk about things that interest me. I can hold a conversation and engage in a discussion with someone who holds a different viewpoint, without being disagreeable or opinionated. I have a lot of interests, but music isn't one of them.
But because I don't listen to music, the most obvious middle ground is closed to me. I have no idea who any of the big music stars are these days, and do not recognize a hit tune when it is played for me. Even worse, when I say, "I don't listen to music.", it's assumed that I am a completely uninteresting shlub who's leisure hours are filled with TV sitcom reruns.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
It doesn't surprise me that what music you like correlates with certain personality types. However, I think the assumption that people are making, that what music you like reflects something deep about you, is totally bullshit.
Musical preferences, like many other preferences, are formed as much by associations and practice as anything else. Often we might not like something at first or be neutral to it but then when your friends keep putting it on you associate it with good times (or just by repetition) and start to like it. One reason that our musical preferences say things about us is that it reflects on who are friends were and what sort of environment we grew up in. Another reason is that these very societal stereotypes affect what music we are likely to be open to liking.
For instance I know several people who weren't particularly into jazz (never really listened to it at all) but they view themselves as intellectuals and having heard that jazz is so complex and deep if you only know how to listen to it they decided to start listening to jazz. Of course they eventually started to get into but I think they could have done the same thing with Britney Spears if they had honestly believe that the music was really deep and complex.
In other words how we feel about music is often just a reflection about the societal stereotypes we have about that sort of music.
If you don't believe me try and think of how many people you know who claim to hate country music who have ever given it a really fair chance? Same with rap. However, pick a song they think they 'should' like and they will give it a much better chance. Particularly with rap and country our likes/dislikes have a lot to do with our attitudes to social class.
I know many people won't believe me because it very much *feels* like you are responding to something in the music. However, just think about how strong the placebo effect can be and how good we are at tricking ourselves and ask whether this is a plausible explanation.
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
...As an icebreaker. Classic moment is when Ralph Wiggum is walking with Lisa and he didn't have anything to say, so he said, "So... do you like... stuff?"
I have this theory that all things in life can be referenced by something on Simpsons, Futurama, or Family Guy. So like an idiot, I tried testing this theory once, with an actual pro football cheerleader I was out on a date with. (Yeah, wrong time to test that theory).
We had things to talk about, but when a moment of dead silence came, I did the Ralph act, "So... do you like... stuff?", and she gave me a WTF look. Yep, I quickly moved onto music and other safe topics.
Most people don't know what to say to me when I tell them my two favorite genres are bluegrass and doom metal.
Judas Priest
Yello
Boston
Mozart
Blue Man Group
Green Day (the original stuff)
Yeah, go ahead. Just TRY to put me in a category.
Someone's musical tastes can only give you so much information about someone. The only way to know what a person is really like is to spend time with them.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Even worse, when I say, "I don't listen to music.", it's assumed that I am a completely uninteresting shlub who's leisure hours are filled with TV sitcom reruns.
So wait, who's going to be the new fun guy then?
I'm deaf, you insensitive clod.
Trust me. If you could hear it, you'd like it.
Besides, even deaf people can dance if the bass is loud enough. You dance to a beat - not to a melody.
But shouldn't first check if her pants fit you?
"We have ALL kinds of music. We have country AND western"
Well, I'm gay and I dislike both Abba and Depeche Mode.
:)
Can we stop with the stereotypical generalisations now?
DugUK
You could always explain the ideals of FOSS and the merits of the GPL.
(if nothing else you'll get yourself out of having to do actual conversation)
And you call yourself the Fun Guy!;-)
picpix image polls. create - share - vote. fun!
From TFA: the MPAA documented 179 camcorded movies as the source for infringing DVDs since 2004. During that time, its members released approximately 1400 movies, suggesting that approximately one in every ten movies is camcorded and sold as infringing DVDs.
Wasn't this supposed to be an article on bashing bogus statistics, or is 1400/179 = "approximately" 10 only when it suits our purpose?
BBH
Latent craziness is inversely related to musical taste, or at least obscurity of musical taste. Look at the general lyrical ideas:
Pop: "Something sad happened but I didn't let it get me down"
Country: "Something sad happened but I'll get over it"
Indie rock: "Something sad happened and I want to kill myself"
Metal: "Something sad happened and I want to kill you"
There's plenty of sad bastard country out there, but it's not what most people have in mind when they ask "what kind of music do you like?"
She was a big fan of punk (like me) and had seen Fugazi several times. That was important to me.
We disagree on some music though. She likes U2 and I don't. I like Aimee Mann and she doesn't.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
"What really matters is what you like, not what you are like. Books, records, films -- these things matter.'' -Rob Gordon
Every once in a while SomaFM's secret agent station plays some Burt Bacharach and I think "man, he's so underrated: this is *amazingly* good music." And, somewhere inside me, the last lingering echo of my 21-year-old self tries to commit suicide.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
I've been amused that my own music player has a list of songs lumped together that begin with:
The Ashley Tisdale cover of Kiss the Girl.
Linkin Park - Numb (The immediate consequence of kissing the girl, I guess)
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (The eventual consequence of said kissing)
Marilyn Manson cover of Suicide is Painless (The ultimate consequence?)
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
Generally the only time I actual understand what the band is singing about, is when I'm just about tired of the song. Even then I really don't hear what they're saying most of the time. When I sang for my band, the lyrics usually changed a fair amount every time I sang the song. I did keep some of the words the same, just because of the way they sounded.
If the words are the most important part of the song - then fine go listen to it, but you can drop the music part, since it's not the focus, and call it a poem, so I won't have to listen to it.
..........FULL STOP.
The best quote I ever heard about music was in a discussion about pre-fab boy bands where someone said "I prefer real music. Music made by ugly angry men who write their own songs and play their own instruments."
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
Just out of curiosity, how does someone with a nick like "lonechicken" get a date with a pro cheerleader? No offense intended...but c'mon, this is slashdot...
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
Just out of curiosity, how does someone with a nick like "lonechicken" get a date with a pro cheerleader?
Perhaps a person who chooses a handle like, "lonechicken" is a person who is not afraid of criticism? I don't want to speak for the previous poster since I don't know them, but on a related topic, when I left home and went to school at a huge engineering university I was amazed by how many guys there did not talk to women and yet complained about having trouble meeting people. There were three women for every guy at that school, but I never had problems meeting women, because 80% of the guys were too scared to talk to them. Just being confident enough to approach some girl is the largest hurdle many people face.
--
If you think you are loosing your rights, ask your self, has your life been altered since you lost them?
<drum name="grammar" style="beat">
One lets loose the dogs.
One loses one's rights.
Or to put it another way:
If you loosen your grammatical standards enough, eventually you will lose the ability to speak coherently.
</drum>
The date? She was a co-worker's sister. I suppose it's a quick lesson on how to get a date with a "hot chick" without having to go to a bar and get up the balls to approach someone at said bar. And also a lesson on how not to blow it by referencing something slightly geeky to try to get a laugh when you don't even know if she'd get it.
Even though I sing in a church choir, I don't listen to music much, and I don't own any kind of personal music player, except for my old Walkman, gathering dust in the back of a drawer somewhere.
Even worse, when I say, "I don't listen to music.", it's assumed that I am a completely uninteresting shlub who's leisure hours are filled with TV sitcom reruns.
I feel much the same, as an amateur musician, and I've noticed that musicians tend to value silence a lot more than music lovers do. It's partly a physical issue of saving your ears, and I also find that surrounding music interferes with my thinking of new musical ideas. Needless to say I don't use a portable music player, though I'm considering getting one with recording capabilities for quick and dirty field recording.
You should be able to turn the situation to your advantage. People who like music tend to appreciate those who make music, even if they're completely off their preferred genre.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
I use my MP3 player to avoid saying "Hi" to anyone. But then, I am an anti-social bastard.
For what it's worth (and it ain't much, but it may help identification of other anti-social bastards), here is what is on my MP3 player (artists only, it's probably weird enough):
AC/DC, Elvis Presley, Etta James, George Thorogood, Holly Stell, Led Zepplin, Mozart, David Wilcox, Rolling Stones, Stray Cats, The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, The Ramones, Eric Clapton & JJ Cale, Violent Femmes.
So, its only a 1GB player; mostly because I am a cheap anti-social bastard.
If you hear of anyone with that playlist, I recommend you RUN AWAY. Because I probably don't want to talk to you, either.
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
A lot of times talking about music makes it really easy to break the ice. In the instance of two people liking the same groups or style, they can immediately break into a discussion about favorite work or band, latest albums, where they get their music, etc. These conversations can branch onto others, but finding a stable common ground is important.
Are you sure these weren't elementary school students?
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
I always liked the line in Hi Fidelity by John Cusack:
"It's not what she's like, it's what she likes that's more important"
Peace
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
I forget exactly what I have rights to now - is it okay to like music you don't actually own, or can you go to prison for that?
Just to be safe, I now hate all recorded music (at least if RIAA asks).
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -- "Step Right Up", Tom Waits
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
RIAA steel-tip jackboots approaching
Travelling forward in time at a rate of 1 second per second.
[partial sarcasm]
All I have to do is ask a girl about American Idol.
If they know any information at all about the winners, contestants, etc., they're off my list.
So far its working out great - I don't have to listen to some mindless tart babble about unimportant bullshit before I f*ck them.
Now if I could just get around having to pay them afterwards.
[/sarcasm]
Music might be be a "safe" topic of conversation for most people
and most people at least listen to "Something"
I mean art and music are part of what defines "human"
evolutionarily the point where our ancestors moved from being "just another great ape" to being "pre-human" could be defined as the point where they (we) began to recognise the beauty in things
but notice I said "art and music"
not all of us are "into" music
I for one have a extremly visual personality http://rifraf.co.nz/
I think in pictures not words
I was intending to make a comment asking
"what about other non auditory personality types ? what do they talk about?"
but as I wrote this I realised that its really only auditory personality types who do 'talk about things'
Well, I'm gay and I dislike... Abba...
If Waterloo does nothing for you, I'm afraid you're not gay.
Is there anyone out there that finds this to be an incredibly boring / stupid / loaded question?
Does that person want to go out sometime?
I listen to music. If I had some way to say "give me a random sampling of the whole of music in the universe", I'd do that. Every now and then, I will listen to the same song repeatedly for several days.
Reggae makes me naucious, but I'm pretty sure that's a physical reaction, not related to preference. Other than that, I will make the sweeping statement that people who like particular music are assholes.
I like to listen to music. What kind? The kind with notes, rhythms, or sounds, you fuckhead.
I hate the conversation, because when you just don't give a shit who is playing what kind of music you're listening to, there's not much to it.
"What kind of music do you listen to!?"
"Any of it. I usually prefer things that either doesn't have words or has words I don't understand, though that's more a statistic than something actively sought."
"Yeah.. but.. what bands?"
"I don't know."
"What genre?"
"I don't know."
"Do you like coldplay?"
"I have no idea. Is this coldplay?"
"no"
"Then I don't know."
I own an Avril Lavigne CD. Somebody pointed that out once, so I thought I'd mention it.
I bought it because every now and then I find music that I know to exist in stores, and I am in favor of supporting artists. I don't think I even bothered to play it. I already had some MP3s.
I just pushed play on my ipod. I have no idea what the music is I'm listening to, but it sounds nice.
It's a shuffle, so I don't know what it's called. (no screen)
But everyone always hates the music I listen to. I think this is indian or bulgarian or something.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
But when they do work, you know you may have found someone fantastic. My wife had "I Choo Choo Choose You" engraved on the inside of my ring. God I love her.
Death and danger are my various breads and various butters.
What is it about music that's so useful when we first meet someone and what kind of information can we extract from the music another person likes?
Not a thing. You can't tell a damned thing about someone based on what kind of music they listen to, or what kind of books they like, or what their favorite color is. What you *can* do is form the basics of a relationship by, perhaps, establishing common ground, as you start to get to know someone. It's superficial and largely unimportant (unless one of you happens to be a musician), but that's how the beginnings of a relationship often are. It's not so much that music is an important or insightful discussion, per se, but rather that almost everyone likes music (except for me, I'm bored of it all), so it's a safe area for discussion. It's smalltalk, like the weather, current events, and celebrities.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Aren't we, as humans, driven and defined by all things that we choose to enter our life? We can do psychological surveys on favorite foods, clothes, costumes...paper or plastic?
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
Music? I prefer CBC Radio One, NPR, BBC, that kind of thing: news, discussions with interesting people, ideas, politics.
So does that make me a philistine, or am I just destined to be alone?
If you can get past the iStalker factor, it's a pretty interesting listen.
This is the main reason why myspace is the most popular social network. People explore the potential for friendship with others all the time on social networks, and the main focus of myspace is the music its users like. So, naturally, people will flock to the place that best supports socializing based on music.
... is whot bwings os tugevza tsuzay.
If the words aren't important why not just sing the same melody but filled with nonsense, like scat? It's like saying you don't go to movies to follow the plot, you just want to see the pretty pictures.
I'm convinced that the single most important factor in defining your relationship with another person is shared experiences. The intensity and timeliness of those experiences determine how good a friend that person is at a particular moment in time. I think this explains why your High School friends are so vitally important to you in High School, but so meaningless ten years later. Or why war buddies from Vietnam or Korea still feel incredibly strong friendships for people they haven't seen or talked to in twenty five years.
The point of this is that the experiment is flawed. The way you build a friendship with someone is by doing the things you do. That shared experience is what the friendship is based on. Attempting to use conversation to build a relationship with someone else is a fundamentally flawed. You can never have a real friendship because you haven't had any shared experience that carries any significance or weight. The shared experience in this case is "I'm stuck in a room talking with this person that I don't know." Hardly the stuff of a meaningful friendship.
I can identify a number of influences on my musical tastes:
1) Growing up, my mom listened to oldies. Even though I'm 32, I like the Monkees, Herman's Hermits, Jim Croce, Mamas and the Papas, and a lot of other music from the 50s and 60s. She also would listen to country, and I still like a number of old country songs.
2) I didn't start listening to other music until I was probably in the 8th grade (about 13 years old). I started with Guns N Roses and Def Leppard's Hysteria. I like hard rock, but never really got into metal. Although some of the music I listen to is (or was) quite popular, not all of it is. I tend to only like one or two songs by any particular artist, much less a whole album.
3) When I was a little older, I had an exchange student from France who stayed for a month during one summer. He had some tapes from a singer, Francis Cabrel, which I enjoyed a lot. After he returned home, he sent me the tapes. I eventually bought all of Cabrel's CDs. Also, in high school French class we had an audio program called "Champs Elysees". My teacher let me dub all the songs onto a tape. Due to the modern wonders of the Internet, I have managed to download them all so I can hear them again. (My original tape got eat in the cassette player years ago.) I listen to a lot of music in French that, if it were in English, I probably wouldn't.
4) I tend to be very verbally oriented. I like music mainly for the lyrics. Songs with long instrumentals or over ornamented musical structures (like jazz) don't appeal to me very much. (Although hearing Liane Foly's smoky voice in "Au Fur et a Mesure" is quite sensuous.) Still, lyrics are vital to me liking a song. It doesn't matter if they're smart, funny, silly, bizarre, or whatever. If I can't connect with the lyrics, forget it.
5) I have an odd sense of humor. I tend to find surreal or silly things very funny, so I'm also drawn to that kind of music as well. They Might Be Giants, Weird Al, Jonathan Coulton, Da Vinci's Notebook / Paul and Storm, MC Hawking, and so on...
6) I didn't listen to a lot of music in the 80s that my wife, who is a little older than me, did. She has TONS of mp3s and has introduced me to an entire "new" style of music over 20 years after it was popular.
Funnily enough, if I'm talking to someone I don't know, I'm probably not going to mention music unless they seem odd enough to enjoy a song about the Mandelbrot Set or something similarly strange. I don't use music to find out about people as much as confirm what I already suspect. It's probably because I don't listen to a lot of music, I'm not really familiar with anything outside the stuff I already like, and I'm not typically willing to invest the time in finding anything new; I wait for new stuff to come to me.
I have better ways than talking about music to get a feel for someone's personality.
bytesmythe
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together.
-- Scott Meyer
...when he said he "moved those rocks so they looked like they had fallen there." I mean, where would they have fallen from? Having them look like they've fallen from someplace, unless there's a cliff behind his house, might make them seem rather unnaturally out of place. Falling from somewhere implies there was something, at one time, above them from which they would have fallen -- like a wheelbarrow or dump truck, although there's a slim chance they could have been a glacial erratic, meteorite, or volcanic bomb (although the first one would require it to be someplace where there could be glacially rafted debris, the second one seems rather improbable, and the last one implies the presence of a nearby volcano).
I don't make friends very easily.
-1, Pretentious Musician
OK, why was he modded insightful? Clearly this was intended as a humorous post... (or the modders are clearly not from America) :P
Experience teaches only the teachable. -AH
Everybody likes music. Some like it more than others, and we all have our individual tastes, but it isn't like talking about computers, or bicycling, or cars, where some like it, and some don't. You can get a lot more info from "What kind of music do you like?", rather than, "Do you like computers?"
C**L
Pop: "Something SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD happenennnnnnd but I didn't let IT get me dowwwwwwwwwwwn. I'm picking daisies and petting the clown"
Country: "Somethin' sad hap'nd buht aye'll git over it if'n drink enough down."
Indie rock: "Something sad happened and I went and killed myself. *static*" -wins award- -useless profit-
Metal: "Something *explitive* *explitive* *explitive& sad *explitive* *AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA* *WWWWWWWWWWWWW* happened and *AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA* I want to *AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA* I want to *AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*
I
want
to
kill
all
of
you
*explitive* "
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
test 123
According to an article in Fortune last fall, which quotes the authors of the study, the project was conducted at University of Texas.
c hive/2006/11/27/8394347/
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_ar
Bullshit! I'll bet you watch Gilmore Girls, too, ya fairy!
I found a website based on this very idea, social networking where playlists point you to people with similar interests. Check out http://www.playlistplay.com/.
But, I usually go to the movies for the plot/story, not for the explosions. Although Jurassic park, and a few others really didn't need any dialogue. It would have been just as good to see the dinosaurs run around for 80 minutes or so.
..........FULL STOP.