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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3321 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 10, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Well, it's a hobby I guess, like say, collecting beetles, or building 10000 SPM bases in Factorio. We all need one, I'm told.

Apart from the tone and content reminding of the infamous music scene in American Psycho[1], I confess I don't really get 'rating' albums. Most music is .. just bad.

Even music from my favorite musicians is just .. kinda meh. Also, while looking up some music I discovered Arvo Pärt, one of my favorite composers isn't Finnish, but Estonian. TIL.

The most extreme case ever was Pixies. I liked 'Where is My Mind', downloaded what looked like the entire discography, tried listening to it and then deleted all of it.

[1]: this is the superior Tom Cruise version benefitting from the Tom Cruise bonus. He was apparently an inspiration for the actor for the role of Bateman.

The point of the music scene in American Psycho wasn't so much to demonstrate that Bateman was a music junkie as it was to demonstrate that his opinions on music reflected the yuppie popular consensus almost exactly. To Bateman, Genesis didn't become worth listening to until their position on the popular radar was enhanced by the more radio-friendly sound they developed in the 1980s (as opposed to the '70s, when they were a Progressive Rock band). He recognizes that Phil Collins's solo material is more commercial, and he admits that he finds it more appealing, but in a limited way. Well, what else is he supposed to think about it? After all, pop music is designed for mass appeal, but astute adults aren't fooled into thinking that this crass commercialization represents sophisticated artistic expression. Phil Collins initially launched his solo career because he had written a number of personal songs about his divorce, and didn't feel they were appropriate for a Genesis record. But his solo career soon turned into a commercial force that ultimately became bigger than the group, and the introspective songs were replaced by material that Collins felt was too commercial for Genesis, before it became his primary focus and led to the band's ultimate demise. But Bateman doesn't think this way; a musician's best records are those that are the most popular, at least the most popular among his peers. There's a scene in the book where he's dating a woman who likes Rap, and he proceeds to buy every Rap album available at his local record store before telling her he doesn't see the appeal. He likes thinking of himself as a person who cares about music enough that he's not going to cast judgment on anything before giving it a fair shake (or, in this case, an unreasonably fair shake), but he's enough of a conformist that his ultimate judgments aren't going to cut against the consensus of his peers. His peers don't listen to Rap, it's not marketed to them, so there's no reason for him to listen to it. That being said, I didn't think the movie or the book were all that great, so don't read this analysis as an endorsement or anything.

That's the point - he was as much of a music junkie as he was a normal person. A shallow facsimile.

Anything that looks like reviewing art acts like a fnord on me.

As such, reading your post just made me recall the scene - it's the only thing in my memory related to it-

I think you're kind of missing the point. Most people who are really into music have tastes that are at least somewhat offbeat—they're into groups that aren't mainstream and have no problem goring sacred cows, whether critical or commercial, and usually have strong disagreements with their peers on at least a few points. Bateman may or may not be a music junkie, but that's beside the point. From what we know about him, his critical ability is limited to what he reads in Entertainment Weekly. He doesn't have opinions so much as canned justifications for why he likes the same music everyone else likes.

The most extreme case ever was Pixies. I liked 'Where is My Mind', downloaded what looked like the entire discography, tried listening to it and then deleted all of it.

I enjoy Pixies, but 'Where is My Mind' is exactly one of the songs I skip.

I'm wondering if we'll ever find out why preferences differ this much. E.g. most of what my sisters listened to in adolescence (a lot of punk and.. ska? ) sounded like complete trash to me.

Is it an effect of culture and exposure, or is there a neurological reason ?

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