What types of music do you not appreciate quite as much as one really ought to if one were totally civilized?

[wgscott]

Well?

 

[For all those who are squeamish and unable to see the original title was obviously tongue-in-cheek (and an oblique reference to shark jumping in the hi rez scandal thread), I've made the title more acceptable to those who really like small cuddly furry animals.]

 

[wgscott]

1. Country.

 

2. Western.

 

3. Country and Western.

 

4. Opera (wouldn't be so bad, except for all that "singing").

 

5. Muzak.

 

6. Musicals.

 

7. Sappy "Pop" music.

 

 

 

[blueixus]

I can't imagine 'hating' any sort of music, neither do I believe others do either.

 

Here is an example - I used to think I hated 'Joseph and the Amazing Techicolour Dreamcoat' - that was until I saw how much pleasure my daughter derives from it and how well she sung it at school. I have to admit to at least appreciating it now.

 

So the answer is none...

 

[sidssp]

Heavy metal.

 

[coot]

that anyone on this site would be bold enough to open these floodgates!! I expect many soapboxes will be stood on and crushed as the discussion proceeds.

 

But since you asked... and at the risk of full-on snobbery... here goes. I refuse to accept anything in the pop-hip-hop-twangy-punky-etc., etc. realm as music. Real music is a balance of melody, harmony and rhythm. Much of what is referred to today as music is so overbalanced on the side of rhythm that it is grossly distorted. The muse is not pleased. And it is painful when I am assaulted by it, ie. a passing "thumper" car. Those I truly hate.

 

Considering how much truly great music there is, it is very sad so few - especially of the young - will ever be exposed to it.

 

My 2 pennies.

 

[coot]

I felt the same way as you about opera ("all that singing") until I watched this DVD. I now realize I have been missing a lot of truly beautiful music all these years.

 

Highly recommend you rent it.

 

Beethoven: Fidelio (Metropolitan Opera)

2000 NR 123 minutes

James Levine conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus in this 2000 presentation of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fidelio"

 

[Vade_Forrester]

None. I'd just as soon not hear certain types, but life is too short to waste hate on music.

 

Vade Forrester

 

[wgscott]

Fidelio is the one exception. (I have the CD but not the DVD.)

 

FWIW, this isn't a thread to take too seriously!

 

I even own a couple of Country and Western albums, and I bought a Justin Beiber song for my 8 year old kid.

 

[Jud]

1-3: Check out Ryan Bingham. Not saying you'll automatically like him, but hey, it's worth a try. Also, I always liked "I Got Friends in Low Places" because of the anti-snob sentiment. And finally - it's hard to argue with country being the source of some of the all-time best titles. (E.g., "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away;" "My Wife Ran Away with My Best Friend and I Miss Him.")

 

4. Unh-uh. A decent Pavarotti performance of "Nessun Dorma" will raise the hair on the back of your neck (in a good way). I have "Au fond du temple saint" from this collection on my iPhone - http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Century-Bjorling-Ultimate-Collection/dp/B00000J911 . It was later covered by David Byrne and Rufus Wainwright (seriously).

 

5. Yep.

 

6. Except "Hair," which I saw live on Broadway in its first run.

 

7. Yep. (Why don't I think more often of buying Barry Manilow CDs as gifts for people I dislike?)

 

[Fitz Music]

Here! Here! for the coot!

 

No reason for democratizing taste. (I am, by the way, a rabid liberal politically.) The Parthenon is beautiful whether you like it or not. A dump is not. For the most part, we live in a musical dump. I suspect it began when the merchandisers discovered they could sell masses of disruptive sound to petulant adolescents. Makes Mommy and Daddy mad, so I like it! Now we have petulant 70 year olds who never gave up childish annoyances.

 

Witness the photographic cliche for rock groups: Several black-garbed scrofulous dudes, rumpled, surely smelly, lined up in surly, glaring poses. Seems clear what they are selling, and it is not melody and harmony, but malignant libidinal thump and boom indeed. A kind of auditory porn. Mommy doesn't like it.

 

 

fm

 

[coot]

The thread I agree. It's the music I take seriously - well, maybe except Willie Nelson.

 

[wgscott]

My wife got me a Willie Nelson CD about 15 years ago and I finally unwrapped it, ripped it, and played it. Once.

 

In honor of this thread, I just put on some Public Enemy (Don't believe the hype!).

 

[wgscott]

8. New Age music, especially phony Native American Indian stuff.

 

[Jud]

Phony Native American, OK you got me there. OTOH, there's a bunch of pretty dazzling guitar stuff I really like - the late Michael Hedges, Pierre Bensusan, Ottmar Liebert.... Oh yeah, and in small doses, Native South American Inca-stone-flute stuff.

 

BTW, whaddaya think about Country Western instrumental - Jerry Douglas, Mark O'Connor, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck...?

 

[wgscott]

When it becomes bluegrass...

 

[Bear]

To say I hate any type of music may be strong word, but I will not sit down and listen to Rap or Hip-Hop - I also have a ittle bit of an issue with all that singing in Opera. If I could understand what they were singing it may change that...? I certainly admire the vocal capabilities.

 

[wgscott]

... my favorite hip-hop recording:

 

 

[coot]

Select one by a composer whose music you like. Don't just sit down and listen without some knowledge beforehand or you will prolly quit before the first act is finished. Go to Wikipedia and read the synopsis so you know the story. Then watch a video of it with subtitles in your language so you can follow along. Take a break between acts - maybe even resume it the next day or so.

 

Avoid versions that have actors lip-synching instead of real singers.

 

Be patient. I have been listening to other Classical music for many decades but only last week have we begun an interest in opera. I say we; it helps to have an interested friend or spouse for discussion.

 

[DigiPete]

Hate is for adolescens and people that have been brain washed!

 

I prefer music that is well performed in a suitable venue and recorded by accomplished technicians.

Or even better: LIVE.

 

Quality, passion and ability.

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul R]

Here's the one that hooked me into watching Opera on DVD. Before then, it was live or "no thank you!" l with me, as far as Opera was concerned.

 

This version of "The Magic Flute" with Simon Keenlyside as Papageno, and Diana Damrau as the Queen Of The Night, and with the orchestra led by Sir Colin Davis.

 

Damrau tosses off impossibly high notes like they were everyday magic, and Keenlyside is the best Papageno ever. He made me, and the audience, laugh out loud in pure delight more than once.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Zauberflöte-Keenlyside-Roschmann-Hartmann/dp/B0000C5RQF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310414733&sr=8-1

 

[Paul R]

Or whatever kind of rap it is where the subject of each song is how many people the guy has killed and how many women he has bedded, etc.

 

The music might even ok, what little of it there actually is, but the words simply turn my stomach. Why they don't find themselves arrested I will never know.

 

-Paul

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hey Paul - I have to admit to loving N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton (1988). It was a groundbreaking Gangsta Rap album that continues to inspire many artists to this day.

 

I bet you wish it was never made :~)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_Outta_Compton

 

 

 

[4est]

I am with Paul on this one- I really do not need the negativity, even if the attitude is deserved.

 

[wgscott]

I have that too. Since I am at home with the kids, I decided not to put it on. Track #2 is quite catchy.

 

Ever come across Consolidated?

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

"Ever come across Consolidated?"

 

No.