I guess inevitably there was gonna be some discussion of stuff people don't like. I think music can be a bit like politics and religion in that respect - it can stir up strong feelings, both positive and negative. Which is good I think - it's good to make an emotional connection. I guess I tried to avoid it in my original post - tried to focus on the positive. I could, however, rant on for hours about my loathing for progressive rock
Also, I think it's pretty much a given that anyone who has any real interest in music hasn't much time for commercial manufactured pop. For me, it's like your 'musical palate' becomes more refined the more you explore and experience, and the stuff that drones out of the radio is just way too bland and insipid to hold your attention. It just becomes annoying background noise, like the buzzing of an insect. Having said that, I do believe that there is such a thing as
good pop music - admittedly you usually need to go back 50 or so years to find most of it - but occasionally something still surfaces.
I'd like to unpick or unpack this paragraph just a little bit. I think you may be right on about the politics and religion point but i think you are a bit off when it comes to what you say about popular music though. So what i say is bound to get up someone or others nose here. Its not actually my intention though its bound to happen.
For a start how many people here who think they have refined musical taste like or dislike opera. How can you dislike opera and think you have refined taste?
Me I like a little bit of opera though i don't walk around the house with pavarotti or La Stupenda blasting out of the walls as a general rule. The more familiar I become with it and or other classical pieces, the more I like it. When its unfamiliar i am not so quick to take to it and I think that's probably what's going on for a lot of people who say they don't like it. Last night I was in an opera. I wish i could have watched it but being in it, i had to sit out the back and listen when I wasn't onstage. Most of it was unfamiliar to me but the songs i'd been learning as part of the chorus I quickly grew to love as much as any other favourite song of mine and its pretty much been the case for nearly every classical song i've had to learn for being part of the choir i've been in for about three years.
I also really like the lady's opera voices. Sometimes also the men. Here's one i really like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roJSYFu3pYk have a listen to see what you think.
On the other hand, i'm not fussed about folk, irish, even to be honest, blues but i have noticed the more i listen to a good blues song the more i like it. Irish and folk to me its just like country pop which has very little appeal but then there's always exceptions.
Pop on the other hand, well for the last 30 years I've not paid a lot of attention to it so i got behind but some little bit i have caught up with in recent times I like. I mean i really like Its all about the Bass for example. And landslide by Stevie Nicks i loved the first time i heard sung by Karise Eden on oz version of the voice. Creep is a gorgeous song. And there are plenty of others that i like just as much. A dollar is all i need or whatever its called. I guess i just like pop. Whether or not its come out of some so-called pop factory i couldn't give a damn. I'm not invested in it and am free to like or dislike any of it. I htink there is good and bad in all genres and I'm really only intersted in the good or at least finding out what is good and i might like other stuff too.
Techno and house music on the other hand doesn't really rock my boat but I think in every style there's good and bad and innovation and boring. But i know there are innovative and interesting songs in this genre too, though they are probably not called songs.
I'm currently working through a book called 1000 songs you should hear before you die and i'm starting from the back and from the frontat the same time. The songs are arranged in chronological order. Some of the ones towards the end ie more recent are: Fortyfiveseconds by rhianna, Hunger of the Pine, Video Games, My Siliver Lining, Eyes to the Wind, Lazeretto, Digital Witness, Shake it off, Two weeks, Drunk in Love, Happy, Where are we now, - those are the ones listed since 2013.
I won't say i like them all but they are interesting. The book has a blurb about them and why they are significant. They are generally innovative in one way or another or highly influential or something like that.
Two listed from 2012 are by Bruce Springsteen - who does absolutely nothing for me. "Yuck!" i would go so far to say. And one by the Rolling Stones who is equally yuck for me - Doom and Gloom its called. I am bored shitless by the rolling stones I'll admit. I don't think their music holds up well over time.
When i'm looking at a song, i find the lyrics and read through them too. I've recorded each and put it on my ipod becuase I'm trying to see what the big idea is. And i have to admit that most of them are pretty interesting sounding songs even if i don't take to them straight away or even if the lyrics don't resonate with me. At least they are noticeably interesting and not the tried and true. One of the various reasons for doing this is that down the track i might want to try my hand at song writing and i think it would pay to be educated about what is a good song.
I think the reason people here seem to say often they don't like pop is that they are just old. It's not that they have especially refined musical taste although it appears that this is what people like to tell themselves.
And if i could prevail on you to listen to one more opera piece, try this. It's quite funny and you don't need to know what they are singing about. This is my favourite part of the opera we just did but obviously this is not from our show. I just love singing it but its really hard to run around on stage and singing this stuff at the same time, especially when you are not singing the melody line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Usi5bA84bYI beg if you start to listen to it, continue to the end because it gets better the more you go into it.