Lack Of Eclecticism=Prejudice?
The talk of like and dislike of various genres on music in the Loud Music While Driving thread has got me thinking.
I consider myself to have a rather eclectic taste in music. I believe that there's good and bad music in every genre. Every genre I've ever heard had just confirmed this opinion. So, this raises the question:
If a person dislikes or dismisses an entire genre of music, does that make them prejudiced against that genre?
That depends on whether they've given it a fair chance or not. But I've yet to encounter the genre I universally love or universally hate.
No, it just means they don't like that genre. There's nothing wrong with that. You can't expect everyone to like everything.Originally Posted by The Ceej
For example, I dislike country, rap, and contemporary Christian music. That doesn't mean I have a problem if someone else listens to it though.
No song is indicative of its genre. If you take any two songs from the same "genre," you cannot use one to judge the other. Then you take those two songs and use them to judge the entire genre? That's prejudice.No, it just means they don't like that genre. There's nothing wrong with that. You can't expect everyone to like everything.
I'm not saying they have to like every song I like or dislike every song I like. What I'm saying is they have no right to judge an entire genre based on the two songs that they've heard from it.
EDIT: I have a solution to this problem. We just remove genres from music and all music falls under one genre. That genre is music. Then, people can no longer judge an entire group of music, but only individual songs or artists.
FURTHER EDIT: I've had it up to here with going to a music store and having to check three or four different genres where the artist could be because there are no real genres anymore. They should just put all the music in the store in alphabetical order and scrap the whole genre system.
Last edited by The Ceej; 10-01-2008 at 04:36 AM.
I think genres are still valuable, although admittedly they can be somewhat obstructive from time to time.
As for eclecticism, it has nothing to do with prejudice. Eclecticism is about taste, and there can be no prejudice in taste, as long as the taste is honest. Neither does disliking a genre have to mean prejudice. For example, I'm not particularly found of the country genre, but I do have the common sense to add to that: in general. I can name several country artists that I love, but I know that I tend not to like the majority of country music because of its general sound. I still give country artists a chance, or five chances.
Where prejudice comes in is when you dismiss (or for that matter, decide you like) a song based upon any category it may fall into, or an array of songs based upon your experience with a subdivision of it.
I have yet to encounter a country song which I even remotely enjoy.
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.
I stopped using genres to classify musical catagories when things like Nu Metal, Viking Metal, Protopunk and Desert Rock became actual genres. The entire idea behind genres has pretty much turned into a big mess.
I think so, yes. I have heard Ska and still don't like it, but that doesn't mean Ska isn't for me (not bloody likely though)
I have dated a girl who likes Country music, so I have been forced to listen to that filth. Since I do not like this person, I have associated Country music with her. That's as prejudiced and illogical as you can get in terms of stereotypical prejudice.
Also it should be pointed out that while I could probably point out hip hop songs that have a good message, that are not 'crap', it does mean that I could convince a 'rocker' that he likes 'hip hop' just because of one or two songs. So it goes both ways.
if a song doesn't indicate a genre, what is the point of saying there's a genre?
Exactly my point.
Well... Not my original point, but rather one of my subpoints.
but there are songs that have similar musical qualitities x.x
I find that to be a bit of a hassle. It's much easier to say 'I dislike country music, but there is a possibility there is a song or artist I MAY like' than saying 'I don't like _____, _____, _____, ______, ______, ______....' and so on.
So yes, while all of music is a genre in and of itself, that still leaves the subgenres to compare and contrast different styles of music. I could say that Metallica and IOSYS are comparable because they fall under the genre of music, but since they have absolutely no similarities otherwise (IOSYS is a Japanese doujinshi technopop group that mainly does remixes of Touhou music).They sound nothing alike. That's why genres exist-- to make things easier, which goes back to my point: it's not prejudice to dislike a style/genre of music, you just dislike it and that's all there is to it.
A little predujice for or against a particular genre of music isn't really a problem in my opinion x)
If they have no similarities other than their genre, then you have just proven my point. Nay. All my points.
Saying "I don't like genre X," isn't saying "I don't like a single song in genre X."
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