Do you have to listen to certain artists so that you can properly appreciate a musical style? Is it important to pay “the tribute of your preference” to the pioneers of a genre? Is this a matter of you being a bad person or not?

What Should Music Be?

It really boils down to what you want music to “do for you”.

If you’re listening to music just because you like listening to it then you shouldn’t sweat having to like the things that you don’t really like.

But if you’re listening to music for things that surround music (academic, cultural, social, etc.) then I think being familiar about the ropes of your genre’s niche might be important.

If you are interested sharing an identity with other people over a common preference, you’ll have to understand how that group works.

And if the group values history, precision, and passion on the subject at hand, this might also be expected of you in certain ways.

You may or you may not like that. Some people read it off as a simple by-product of passion, while others consider it as elitism.

How do you see music? What do you want music to do for you? And what do you want to do with it?

What Is Essential?

I don’t necessarily like The Beatles. I like some of their songs. I think they’re nice. And I completely understand why people would be so in to them. I’m aware of who the band is and their cultural significance but that doesn’t cause me to revere them whenever I hear their name or music. The characteristics of their music doesn’t “speak” to me the same way it does to a lot of people. It simply doesn’t reflect my preferences.

The same goes with local Filipino music, OPM. I don’t find myself having the same regard for Eraserheads, Rivermaya, or Parokya Ni Edgar the same way many people from my generation do. I don’t “hate” them. I think they’ve done a lot for OPM — but this fact is completely inconsequential to whether I like the actual music or not. I would pass it as good, decent, and fan-worthy music — but I am not a fan.

What about rock and metal? I love that! But I don’t necessarily regard Metallica, Dream Theater, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Blink 182, Black Sabbath, Green Day — or some other “essential” rock or metal band out there as highly as many people from the “metal/rock community” do.

In fact, I don’t even know who most of those essential acts are nor how they sound like. I’ve listened to a few of the more recommended songs and singles for quite some time hoping for a change of mind. I still don’t like the music.

The truth is when I go to Spotify and given a random playlist with all the essential artists mixed with the artists that hits closer to home, I skip the essential artists — and I keep on listening to what I like.

Does it make me a bad listener? Does that mean I have bad taste? Does it take away from my musicianship?

Certainly not.

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash.