how much of a genre must someone hear before you will listen to their opinions on it?

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(or "How much of a genre should someone listen to before they decide they don’t like it?)

common statement on ILM - "people who don’t like X genre usually know little/nothing about it." understandably - this is prob true in most cases (people aren’t going to investigate very far within a particular field if they didn’t enjoy their initial dabblings with it.) have you found exceptions? Are there people who don’t like a genre you love, but you would still listen to their opinions on it? can people who only have a passing interest in something have a more refreshing outlook? What is it to "know about a genre" anyway? Can someone have a decent grasp on it from hearing just a handful of its most important releases? Are you ever interested to hear people talk about why they don’t enjoy a particular genre, or does such talk always sound patronising and mis-informed?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 25 August 2003 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

what's a 'genre'

― dave qunt, Monday, 25 August 2003 12:17 (twenty-two years ago)

It's often interesting, if sometimes frustrating, to hear the opinions of people who know nothing at all.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 25 August 2003 12:18 (twenty-two years ago)

the worst is people who won't discuss something before determining what 'genre' it's in, then I pay no attention at all. (ie "I don't like this but I suppose it's a good as a [x genre] track")

― dave q, Monday, 25 August 2003 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)

(or even worse, "I don't know what I think of this, I haven't heard much [ ]" - like, tell me what you REALLY think!! (So I can tell you why you're stupid!)

― dave q, Monday, 25 August 2003 12:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm guessing they just want to avoid getting in a fight about something they don't care about to begin with.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 25 August 2003 13:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd love to know what some ppl think of some of the stuff I listen to even if they are only hearing it for the first time. Its kind of why I hang around here: bcz the ppl that like 'stuff' i enjoy will also listen to loads of other things or be a bit more open minded (well I have little experience of other boards so this is a v general comment).

'genre' => something to make record shopping easier?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 25 August 2003 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Depends on the person proffering their opinion. If they can make me laugh I don't care much either way.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

dadrockismus always makes me laugh

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

You sound like you could do with a little laughter in yr life Marky

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

i need less :(

no more fun, no more distraction, no more people, no more no more no more

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

no more writing books.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I AM TRYING TO CHANNEL IT NOW

I MEAN THEM

:b :b :b

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

every genre has its classics, or starting points. i would at least expect someone to have heard the Sex Pistols, Clash, and Ramones before they start talking about punk rock.

― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)

CLASH 4EVAH!!!! ;-)

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

You forgot the Fabulous Poodles.

― Al Andalous, Monday, 25 August 2003 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

every genre has its classics, or starting points. i would at least expect someone to have heard the Sex Pistols, Clash, and Ramones before they start talking about punk rock.

Fuck that, if you haven't heard it, lie.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 25 August 2003 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

i think it depends
i mean,i may not know much about trance,but i am quite prepared to dismiss it as being shit
most genres,though,the most negative comment i would make is "i haven't heard much of that type of music" or whatever

― robin (robin), Monday, 25 August 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it is important, for jazz and hip-hop for ex. it took me a lot of listening before I could really 'hear it' and distinguish between a good solo/verse and a mediocre one.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 25 August 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

but everyon eknows trance sux.

― Savin All My Love 4 u (Savin 4ll my (heart) 4u), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 00:24 (twenty-two years ago)

"every genre has its classics, or starting points. i would at least expect someone to have heard the Sex Pistols, Clash, and Ramones before they start talking about punk rock."

I would have said this was an absolutely perfect example of how someone who has looked at the canon and scratched the surface from there (particularly if they only tried the first Clash album) could easily end up with a totally inaccurate and misleading view of what a particular genre's about (i.e. "Sex Pistols, Clash, and Ramones all sound reasonably similar, therefore all punk music must share the attributes these three bands share....").

Of course I fully understand why, if someone had shelled out to buy a 'Pistols CD a Clash CD and a Ramones CD in order to "try" punk; and ended up hating all 3 of them; they might feel disinclined to explore further.

That's why it's important to listen to the opinions of other people who know more about a particular genre before casting your own opinions in stone and ask yourself whether you'd like to see a genre you know and care about being critiqued and dismissed on the basis of a couple of it's more obvious and visible examples.

That said, trance really does suck, doesn't it?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 08:00 (twenty-two years ago)

In order to think a genre is good you need to have heard none of it. In order to think a genre is shite you need to have heard all of it.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 08:13 (twenty-two years ago)

An entirely laudable view, except.... that doesn't apply to trance too, does it Tom?!?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 08:36 (twenty-two years ago)

You're right Stewart - for trance you have to listen to all of it twice.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 08:44 (twenty-two years ago)

i often make my mind up about music without ever having heard a single note of it...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 09:15 (twenty-two years ago)

why stop at 'often'?

― dave q, Tuesday, 26 August 2003 09:21 (twenty-two years ago)

you guys need to get e'ed up more often. prefrably on a southeastasian island or in the indian desert.

― gaz (gaz), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 09:37 (twenty-two years ago)

"for trance you have to listen to all of it twice"

.... but how would you know?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 09:58 (twenty-two years ago)

i think i phrased the question in the title slightly wrong. i think "does someone have to like a genre to know about it?" or "does someone have to like a genre to speak interestingly about it?" would have been better.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:10 (twenty-two years ago)

"does someone have to like a genre to speak interestingly about it?"

Certainly not - genre bores abound and they of no interest to anyone but fellow genre bores

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:15 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, but are there people who HATE the genre, but can say interesting things about it?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, me (ha ha)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe there are but as a general rule they just say boring things about it which inevitably equate to "why does this genre differ from rock music in sonics/gender of artist/modes of production/entire song structure/anything else".

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

^^^
I find the above to be very true.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

aye. i suoppose it's only natural that "having something interesting to say" about a certain style would come with "an appreciation for" at least *some* of that style (the most obvious problem being - someone who hates *everything* from a particular area can't/won't differentiate between the good and bad stuff within that sphere)

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

this is proof of the greatness of the first time approach:

what the kids have to say about indie

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 10:56 (twenty-two years ago)

As long as they talk interestingly, I actually like the opinions of someone who doesn't know about the genre they are talking about more than the over-thought-out opinions of an expert with all sorts of biases.

― A Nairn (moretap), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)

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