why is music so stereotypical?

Question

case in point: i spent several years hating my chemical romance without listening to enough of their music to give them a reasonable judgement, simply because i didnt like the emo scene. it wasnt until my friend brought over a copy of "three cheers for sweet revenge" and i actually listened to it, that i started to wonder why the style assumptions we make about bands are more important then the music. even if im not an emo, cant i listen to MCR and even like some of their songs without being labeled an emo? can i appreciate lynard skynard without being a redneck and instead just a guy that likes what he hears?

and dont pretend you dont do something similar with whatever clique you associate with.

Answer 1

I do that kind of thing usually. Sometimes if I hear a good song though from that certain band I won't be so stereotypical, but that also doesn't mean I am all of a sudden a huge fan.

Answer 2

Honestly, if you want to throw out a band like My Chemical Romance, I've only heard one song from them with that being 'Helena' and I found it to be catchy. Am I interested in the rest of the catalog, no, but you won't find me ripping on them either. The way I look at it is different strokes for different folks and life is too short to be listening to just one style of music.

Why can't you listen to Skynard without being called a redneck? Why can't you listen to MCR without being labeled an emo? The simple fact is you can listen to whatever you want without being categorized. My preferences fall in the 1980's alternative and punk movements but I refuse to place myself in that category because I don't want to be labeled. My collection varies from African beats to Patsy Cline to Public Enemy to Charles Mingus to Bill Monroe to The Carpenters. The big question is not why can't you listen to an artist without being labeled but rather why do you let somebody label you for what you listen to. I mean honestly, why do people really care about what others think when it comes to tastes and personal preferences.

Answer 3

I don't associate with any clique.
I judge a band / artist on whether or not I like their music, not on what genre they fall into.

As with Dani G, people would look at me and make assumptions on my musical tastes based on how I look.

To the casual observer, I probably mostly look like a Folk Rock gypsy. But my musical tastes include :~

Classic Rock ; 80's Rock ; Prog Rock ; Folk / Folk Rock ; Celtic ; Acoustic ; Classical / Modern Classical ; World ; Goth ; Jazz / Swing ; Blues ; Rock n' Roll.

And even then, there are a few tracks in my music collection that people may not expect me to have.

Answer 4

Well, using MCR as an ex. I actually *did* go & do a little research on em. This is why Youtube is so great.

After watching/listening to 3 or 4 songs, I made my mind up- not my cup o' of tea AND the hype around them is a drag.

Answer 5

You make your own rules for what you listen to.....who cares what others think. You can listen to and like My Chemical Romance AND Skynyrd. Who cares? Labels are just there because everyone has to categorize and name groups where others fall. Its a natural thing that people automatically do.

Me.......on physical appearance alone, I look like a granola crunching, folk listening hippie......do I listen to folk? Yes, but I also listen to hardcore punk, metal, rock, qwaali, industrial, classic rock, 80s emocore and bluegrass. How do you label that? Eclectic.