What do you think the weird music you like sounds to "norms"?

We're all so used to our weirdy beardy music, and today I stopped to think, "what would that James Blunt loving girl think Charlemagne Palestine sounded?" To me, it's brilliant and makes perfect sense as music. But to a norm? What?

I played Telescopes -Flying for some chums lately ... chums who unironically listed Billy Jeol as their favorite artist. One was like, "this sounds like acid ... and I've never even done acid!"

WellL??? Any examples of your own, my friends?

my first Suggest Ban

who the hell are you? at least if it were weiny weingarten I'd bel ike, 'lol u loco, blanco"

most commonly "this is depressing" or "this sounds like the cure"

and that was just the go betweens

Life is hell, innit burt?

Yeah, it's so weird. I mean, this stuff is par for the course for the music heads out there, but to regular folk? This stuff must really blow their minds. "Wow, this is a world of music I never thought could even have imagined..."

Note: this is probably US centric. the UK seems to have higher tolerance for weird crap

So, you're not a "norm" and you're not a hipster, what's your fucking deal man?

are you like, a nerd?
a goth?
a punk?
a student???

lol i'm in law school but what about all those NORMAL PEOPLE...

fuck you.

he is transcendent. and shimmering.

the most meaningful rebellion is the one that goes on deep inside, hidden from the world. a life lived as rebellion to the modern world! to live as a soft, gentle person in a world dominated by violent chavinism ... that, my friend, is the most important rebellion of all.

both sides of bart stanberg

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/original/hipsters_060807.jpg

you're not doing so well with the "hidden from the world' bit. xp

you dont know who i am

O RLY!

While in high school, I was relaxing by myself at home and blasting some Mercury Rev at top volume (probably Boces or Yerself). For "atmosphere," I had replaced some of the lightbulbs in the basement living area with black lights & colored bulbs. My parents surprised me by coming home early and interrupting my bliss-out & all of the combinded elements they witnessed very nearly resulted in my being sent to a psychiatrist.

is 'relaxing by myself' a euphemism?

What's up with parents always 'suddenly sending' their kids to psychiastrists? Don't they understand the only that could help ... is their love and attention?

Anyway, most people have said "this music makes me want to kill myself", no matter what. Fascinating.

It always used to be a point of pride to play the weirdest music I had on hand for poor, unsuspecting friends. That's why I've never had a birthday party. : {

is 'relaxing by myself' a euphemism?

lol - no, actually. I was neither spanking the monkey or hitting the bong at the time.

Things Your Parents Say/Said About Music

suggest ban: sleeve. reason: lies

after you graduate from high school a lot of things tend to become clearer

good luck burt stanton

thanks edward

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/1859/imageuploadimagebq6.gif

http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/7615/imageuploadimageom5.gif

explain it to me, i was a lib arts major

Most decisions express the will of god. The outliers -- more than one standard "deviation" out -- either are too prideful or too animalistic.

Also, put a condom on yr moral error before you thrust it into the domain of ignorance.

nah

Hah, no I wasn't being that clever. It's just a pic of a normal distribution.

oh

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2415303050_90d6dc5667.jpg?

Well, if you buy another round, burt, i'll tell you it sounds like a choir of angels.

oh norm you're my favorite

lol - Mother, it sounds like flies buzzing inside of my ears.

http://www.youthink.com/quiz_images/quiz1558outcome1.gif

fake burt stanton

I'd guess that if you don't follow music closely, everything that is even vaguely underground or out or whatever just gets labeled as "weird." So while you can see the world of difference between James Chance and Tom Waits and No Neck and whatever, to them it's just "weird" and that's that.

This kid didn't want to hear the backwards part in some old Camper Van Beethoven lp for the reasons of his soul. Just in case.

what up "norms"?

what up "baaderonixx"?

After playing some Velvet Underground to someone: "what's this?! are you trying to turn me into a drug addict or a homosexual or something?!"

A similar thing happened when I played some people the William S. Burroughs/Disposal Heroes of Hiphopracy album. In addition to the drugs/gay comments, for the following few weeks afterwards one of them would chant "Spare Ass Annie! Spare Ass Annie! Hey, snoball, did you bring your spare ass?! hahahahahahalololololol" whenever he saw me.

We were groovin' to "Ice Cream for Crow" this morn.

It's become a comedy thing in that we regularly have nights out where we all end up back at my house and I take on my role of DJ and entertainments officer. I often feel like I'm hosting an episode of "The strange and wonderful music show", when all I'm actually doing is playing interesting music, that I like, to a group of friends.

I mean, what sounds perfectly accessable to me is often perceived as "A noise" or "Comedy" to other people. It bugs the hell out of me at times, for instance, everyone knows I'm a huge Fall fan and 20 years of listening to The Fall have taught me that trying to convert anyone is a futile operation UNTIL I play "that track from the advert" IE Touch Sensitive and people fall over themselves to state what a good song it is. I've had similar experiences with Arthur Russell, Serge Gainsbourg, Red Krayola, The Monks etc, etc. It doesn't sound weird to me but to others, it's unlistenable rubbish. Sigh!

Conversely, when I pay Boney M or Chic or Funkadelic, people think I'm trying to be ironic or esoteric and laugh at how hilarious it all is. We usually end up listening to something that everyone likes IE Forever Changes by Love or Talking Heads or Pixies or something equally at home in the "Canon"

My daughter gets it though. She is 16 and all she cares about is if it's any good or not.She gets Metal machine music and Can as quickly as she gets the new Justin Timberlake single and finds it hilarious that her music can provoke such intense reactions and feelings of revultion in people...I suppose she's been exposed to it against her will in that we've always been a music house rather than a telly house, but maybe that's how the process works.

I think you can get educated with music in the same way as you get educated by books. Not that I'm trying

Yeah, my daughter(s) also: It's about being exposed to a range of ideas. Not necessarily to make them Beefheart fans, just that there's more to find in this world than what's on the surface.

There's a whole bunch of "strange music" that you could play at a kiddie's party without making them cry:

"Turtles have short legs" Can
"Yellow Brick Road" Beefheart
"Buffalo" Stump - and "Charlton Heston" too

And for a while, my two liked "I don't like your face" Furious Pig. But then...

This is a good thread. MVP = Sven Hassel Schmuck.

And Mrs. Hassel Schmuck in supporting First Lady role.

The best place to expose people to new music, and the place where people are most receptive, has been and remains the car. Long journies can become road to Damascus experiences for passengers. "Loveless" works brilliantly in this context. I have also introduced a whole bunch of people to the joys of Giant Steps by The Boo Radleys and my Dad is now a fan of "Music for 18 musicians" after a journey from Lancashire to Plymouth.

Matt. What's MVP?

You're right. This is a great thread.

Can we lock people in this thread and treat them like prisoners?

I am a "norm". The "weird music you like" just sounds like a load of shit, I guess?

hey pash, can i blow this thread up with a bunch of nsfw gay images involving prisons?

Getting back to the thread, Buddy Holly sounded like it was from a different planet to listeners in 1955 but sounds pretty tame and conservative now. If our receptors are up, we might have a chance of taking something in and placing it in context. But we can only place it in the context of what we have heard before.

Point being, what sounds weird and unlistenable to us, will very quickly become something else, good or bad once we are exposed to it enough to make that judgement.

Children, however, are much more receptive to the strange and new as they have no real context to place anything in. Children rule.

pretty sure that's my cue!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hCsPtIKhpsk/SMGAyh9c-WI/AAAAAAAAB5M/gkfAKajqYlQ/s1600/x-h%C3%B60025.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hCsPtIKhpsk/SKcS-_lR6uI/AAAAAAAAB1k/C50r6ZBkRJ0/s1600/xl-095.jpg

no prison theme here but pretty SWEET

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hCsPtIKhpsk/SDcA0gIcXCI/AAAAAAAABwg/vc4SGUvWZhQ/s1600/xx08-290.jpg

Maybe just describe them to us Matt? :-)

what's he doin over those cement mix packs i ask you norms

WHAT IS HE DOING SVEN HASSEL SCHMUCK

I don't know Matthew. The pics aren't working.

He is correct, Matt. The pics are fux0r3d.

that's good, i'm sorry. carry on.

hray, he added advisedly.

damn, poor sven. went from MVP to threats on his life in about 5 posts

pash, that was really bad form thanks for catching it. at the time it was funny but in the daylight over everywhere else right now it wouldn't be.

x-post uh no thread on his life that i could see? just an observation that we all die.

threat

kevin keller, i hope you die.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/greatthread.gif

It was The Boo Radleys that did it.

terminate (thread) with extreme prejudice!

I like this thread :-(

This thread turned into something good for a while.

I like when people talk about their kids' taste in music.

my daughter never ceases to amaze me Masonic. The existence of of download sites has definitely increased the availability of music but the speed with which she goes through genres and bands, absorbing the good stuff and dismissing the bad, is pretty breathtaking. If it wasn't for Emily (she's 16) I wouldn't have heard Unicorn Boy, Jester, Crystal castles before they could be judged on things other than their music, loads of really mad german minimalist stuff... the list goes on. AND she's a Fall fan.

She's the best daughter a father could wish for :-)

I like this thread :-(

― Sven Hassel Schmuck, Friday, November 7, 2008 2:48 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

believe you me, it can only get worse.

Our Alice made me play "Odessey and Oracle" more than I would have. Ditto the "Rezillos" CD a few years ago.

Sometimes, a fresh pair of ears is all you need, sometimes not even your own.

Sweet. How old is she Mark?

eight now.

Our nine-year old kid, he doesn't give a shit about music! All he cares about is Dr Who and the Daleks. I took him into the music room, and all he was into was doing Dalek talk through the ring modulator, making zap noises and working out how to play a bit of the Dr Who theme tune. (thje latter was pretty cool, I must admit)

lad.

It does seem that the girls are more receptive to music, but then I'm geneneralising. However, of Amber/Alice friends/family, the girls do have some sort of musical feeling, and all the lads are Spiderman / football fans.

Alice likes her some Dr Who, though.

Then when lads hit 15/16 they get into music

Lads get into music around the time they hit puberty, and realise that *girls* like music. And then they try to utterly take it over and drive the girls out.

whatever you say

Well, at that age, I think I was the only one watching TOTP, whereas everyone else was watching 6M$Man, or "Kit" NightRider, or some such...

I don't remember the girls being much into music, beyond pinups like David or Donny etc.

Then, it was all Prog, followed by Punk, until SatNightFev/Grease happened.

Lads get into music around the time they hit puberty, and realise that *girls* like music. And then they try to utterly take it over and drive the girls out.

Unless it's literaly about music classes, which I have no experience of beyond age 12 or 13, I don't understand that at all

literally

should it be a parent's business what music their kids like?

Tipper thought so.

I made this thread when I was a little buzzed, but it's strange to think that what seems mundane to us is like this uncharted world to people. Slowdive to them is "weird drug music"

Parents' "business" is an odd word to use in these circumstances. Seems more along the lines of "interest"?

It's like...

I come from a very culturally aware family. We would often take an interest in what each other were reading, visual art we liked, television programmes, movies we would all go and see together and then discuss.

So it was, in a way, really weird that pop music was like this fenced off area that my parents wouldn't or couldn't understand. My mum because she was utterly non-musical (she did try, though - I desperately wanted to share stuff with her) and my dad because some distaste for synthesised/amplified sounds which would send him running from the room going "argh, square waves, my poor stereo equipment!"

Sure, I went through a rebellious period in my teens where I loved stuff *because* my parents hated it, while trying to establish mine own identity. But that was a period of rebellion, rather than the general tone of my upbringing.

It just now seems weird that in an otherwise very culturally open family (I mean, we were taken to classical concerts, so it's not like music wasn't part of our cultural education) that popular music was fenced off.

But now, I see the way that my friends are raising their kids, it's really *positive* to me to see that it doesn't have to be that way. I think it's a good thing that there are families where an appreciation for pop music is viewed as part of the general cultural education.

Well, it seems a lot of what is considereed "culture" did not apply where Pop music is concerned. There'd be some amount of chin stroking and hmm-ing during the dane pereformances of Pina Bausch, for example, whereas if one of the Beatles did it it was weirdybeardy..

Theye bought Sgt Pepper when it came out, and made the effort to appreciate it, as they had for all the other albums between HDN and Revolver (missed Rubber Soul for some reason), but that was it for pop music and it was Esther Ofarim and Abraham / Nana Mouskori from then on.

Dance performances, not Dane ones.

When I was in my preteens my mum and stepdad played a lot of 'adult music kids might like' around the house: the zanier Beatles songs, Tom Lehrer, Bonzos, Ivor Cutler. Thematically weird stuff basically. It was pretty good grounding I think. Once I actually started listening to music I was pretty much left to my own devices but I guess if my siblings or I had been something like an obsessive Take That fan or a white gloves'n'whistle raver there might have been a lot of eyerolling or maybe intervention of some sort

They quite liked folk music.

I told the tale of how my Dad was at the studio when John Martyn made his first lp. Still got it. Worth a fortune!

My parents just think I listen to noise. Which after all these years is accurate now!

My parents keep buying albums by people on x-factor and the usual katherine jenkins/russell watson type stuff. My dad buys cd's now and again, stuff he used to have on lp. My mum usually is just content to listen to Radio Clyde 2 and her ipod gets used once a year on holiday.
As a kid they never played anything decent. They werent "music fans" really, just played whatever was popular amongst their age group. 30 years on they still play Abba.

x-post
My dads friend used to take my dad to folk clubs in the 1960s. He saw some real good stuff, but he was only there as his mate was a fan. Shame he didnt influence my dad musically.

I can't recall if I actually posted this on that TOTP clusterfuck thread but for all the corniness of the 'family sitting down in front of TOTP together' image we actually did do that, circa the mid-90s. Except it was basically just to lol at music we thought sucked for about 4/5 of the programme. That constituted most of our shared family music experience

When I was a teenager all the "norms" liked Pink Floyd, so you could play them something like Sonic Youth and they'd say, "It sounds kind of like Floyd." I figure Radiohead fills a similar position these days.

"This sounds like the most amazing techno song I've ever heard."

-my hippy friend's response after hearing a Go Team song