(no subject)

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

Following on from the discussions of what we are 'supposed to like', I thought I would pose the question: How open are you about your pop fandom to your friends? And how about new people you meet?

This was also triggered by thinking about music lists on sites like MySpace and Facebook. The artists I list on there are all ones I like, but there are some big emissions - Bodies Without Organs, Backstreet Boys, Darren Hayes. Some of my all time favourites but there is no mention of them on my MySpace or Facebook. When you're filling out these things you have to think of every person who might see it, and even though I am confident enough in my poptasticness to say that I like pop music, I prefer to list the lesser known poppy bands (such as Robyn and Margaret Berger), or the slightly more critically acclaimed ones (Patrick Wolf or The Pipettes, for eg). How do those of you who use these sites deal with this issue? Do you think anyone is completely honest?

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

With my friends, and usually friends of friends, I'm pretty open about my tastes; depends on where the conversation is going (like if two people are talking about the new Liars album, I'm not going to butt in with HAVE U HEARD THE POTENTIAL BREAKUP SONG!). Usually I get the most knee-jerk reactions when I talk about Ashlee or Paris -- Paris I actually tend to avoid in conversations with people I don't know so well because if they react too strongly I might end up disliking them immediately (through little fault of their own), but I ALWAYS underestimate the vitriol yr random stranger will have toward Ashlee. I once fought with an opera singer (!) for about an hour about Ashlee. I mean, I think I actually convinced her to listen to Ashlee (which she never actually had grrrrr), but really it was just kind of unpleasant. (NB: we were both drunk.)

But with stranger-strangers, I usually play whatever cards I need to ingratiate myself. It's very important to me for people to like me, and being overbearing about music/taste upon first meeting is a surefire way to turn people off, regardless of what you're saying. Online is a different story (would that you could use hypertext in regular conversation -- "why do I like it? Well, basically, [link], cool I'm gonna go get another drink").

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

It is easier to talk about the lesser known ones. Probably namedropping Girls Aloud here is like namedropping Ashlee for you. There are just too many ingrained preconceptions and I can't even be bothered to argue with someone so sheep-like in their opinions. You seem to have the same issue about not having time to explain why you like it, as you can online, so just keeping it simple is easier and makes more friends.