The bandwagon!

[MacGuffin]

Long
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Stupid
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Suggestions

Purpose
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Survey

[godardian]

My friend told me I should listen to the White Stripes' new album. So, I did. I didn't like it at all. He said, "You are crazy. It rules. You must not have very good taste."

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I pretty much looked at him and said, "No, I don't like it. I didn't say it was bad, just that I don't care for it."

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So, he says, "There are some bands you should force yourself to get used to. They produce good music whether you like it or not."

I'm a huge, huge Radiohead fan. I also listen to Blur, Sigur Ros, Spiritualized, Mogwai, Supergrass and alot of other "progressive-thinking-twenty-something" bands. For some reason alot of these new punk bands grate on my nerves. I do see the talent in the music, but I just don't like it. For some reason, I feel like a social outcast or something. Like, no matter what I should automatically be a Strokes/White Stripes/Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Kills/Vines fan by default. Does anyone feel the same way? Like somehow we've been programmed to think that if our peers like this music, I should listen to it too? Like it us fucking Marijuana or something.

;)

Thats my rant for today.

I personally prefer tight, succinct, melodic and propulsive POP stuff like White Stripes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, because it fits my ideal of what popular music should be a lot more closely than Radiohead and Spiritualized, et. al., not that some of those bands haven't done their share of good work.

I fucking hate bandwagons, though. The reason your friend gave, that you should "force yourself" to like some bands because their acclaim renders them unexceptionable, is ludicrous. I do think it's a good idea to be able to articulate why you do like something, if only to use the things you love as a catalyst to find out some things about yourself.