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[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Sparked by a familiar controversy rearing its head on The Lex's LJ, I thought maybe a poll would help us get further into this question. (Let's not go all ILM here, please.)

[Poll #663010]

The underlying question maybe:"Is it important for your consumption of music to reflect your social and political beliefs?" (another old ILM favourite). When the choice to be made is a negative one, a lot of people say "yes" - someone who hates homophobia may well boycott records by an act they see as homophobic. But my guess is people who believe in racial equality don't make 'positive' choices to support that in their music consumption (for instance). And why should they, if they don't like the music? But I think it's an interesting area.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I'm having trouble thinking of the last 10 records I bought! Downloading might count but then all 10 would be BANGING GERMANS because of Saturday's electro spree.

My nuanced response to No 2 is - people should listen to whatever they feel, but if their taste skews heavily away from black people, or women, or whatever, they should maybe think about why this is the case beyond "I just don't like it", and maybe be aware of the social and cultural factors which have constructed their taste, and not dismiss certain 'aspects' of the music out of hand (eg people waving the entirety of hip hop away because it's all about guns'n'hos or whatevs). And if there is underlying snobbery or god forbid genuine racism underlying their tastes then I dunno, have the decency to admit it or something.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Actually the 10 rekkids thing is easy - about 3 in 10 (all banging German dudes) of the stuff I listen to is male and about 0 in 10 is quarter-English quarter-Scottish half-Chinese.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

You are plainly ashamed of your heritage, and you should listen to loads of Chinese-Scottish-English-Chinese stuff immediately.

[(Anonymous)]

Ha, I read that as a dig at KT Tunstall the first time. Although that would be slightly off.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

it is a dig at the horrid Tunstall AS WELL.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Aye. Plus moving outside yr musical comfort zones is usually a good thing, and this is a likely side-effect of trying to broaden yr listening demographically.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

But is it always a good thing? Aren't we trying to impose a particular view of music - that it ought to "challenge" something? And isn't this exactly the view that infuriates those of us who've got sick of the indie (or Wire-ite) consensi?

An Anecdote, Not Strictly related to Ethnicity:

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

I bought As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade a few months back, on the strength of Mark Stewart's reputation, and because I wanted to try something 'different'. I listened to it, didn't particularly enjoy it all that much, my flatmate came in. We got to chatting about why I was listening to it. I muttered something about wanting to "challenge" myself; "broaden my horizons" and, basically, came off looking like a bit of a twat.

Why, my flatmate said, didn't listen to stuff that I enjoy!

(The answer to this is, yes, because I want to enjoy MORE, but still, be aware of this counter-arg!)

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

I said usually! And it's not necessarily about challenge - I meant moving outside yr comfort zone in terms of seeking something new and/or different rather than seeking something difficult. The problem with the Wire/indie consensus is that it equates challenging-ness with merit. Of course, this itself becomes a comfort zone - see the predictability of Wire covers over the last 10 years or so.

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

You're right obv. It's an easy fallacy to slip into though: pushing yrself/challengin yrself is often equated with merit/'good for you' outwith music: exercise/academia etc etc.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Eg forcing oneself to listen to an artist's "rubbish" albums just to see if anything has changed since you last listened to them x million years ago. See the Stranglers.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Can we take it as read that I posted a version of your response with all the terms reversed so it's about you vs. white male guitar bands? Coz I don't want to have to type it up, I'm a bit tired.