h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Indeed, what have you got to lose?
Except the respect of those who believe that you're not human unless you despise all music pre- 2000...

TK

ahhh I must be lucky then, all the people I know respect the pre2000 stuff, in fact most of us prefer it.

it may take another few years for the the rock, punk and new music to come back in but we're on our way.

And I haven't been into the teenybopper music since I was about 11 when I bought Nevermind by Nirvana

I prefer 60s, 70s, 80s stuff, and I'm not impressed with most of today's stuff. Most of my friends like older stuff, but I know a lot of people who will brand you as 'sad' because you're not fanatical about eminem...

TK

I like a mixture, I like a lot of the punk stuff like the Stranglers and the Ramones and The Stiff Little Fingers, and then there's Hendrix and Queen and teh Beatles and the Clash, the Who and more up to date stuff like Nirvana among a very long list of other.

to me (at 17) music is getting better, it went down hill when I was younger and now it's pulling itself back up, we've got some cracking bands about at the moment.

Eminem...I think his lyrics are clever but I don't get anything out of rap.

I'm not a rap fan at all...

At 20, music was best before I was born, was O.k, but overloaded with cheese in the 80's (makes for good themed nights at the student union though ) and was pretty much pants all through the 90's. I can see a few more decent bands emerging, and there are a couple of artists I think show some talent- for instance, Robbie Williams has genuine talent (I wasn't appaled when he teamed up with Queen:D). Avril Lavigne (despite certain disagreements with the "We're better than you because we wear baggy trousers" ethic) is quite talented, and having listened to her album, I'm quite impressed that all the songs don't sound the same, as happens with most of the current bands. I quite like what I've heard of Audioslave too.

I think I can see where you're coming from- there does seem to be a small increase in the music I can identify with. Who knows, with any luck, we may see the rebirth of glam! Oh please oh please!

TK

I don't really like robbie Williams, I used to, when I was still in my teeny bopper phase, but although I don't really like his music he's quite a good performer, he captizates the audience and in that I can see why they picked him to go on with Queen. Avril Lavigne, I liked her, until everyone else did, now I'm made to listen to it every five minutes in the common room at school and it's not that it's bad, it's just that I've heard it too much (she's also not very good when preforming live apparently). However I'd rather listen to her than to SClub7 or Britney etc.

Alot of the more modern music is just remixes of what people have been doing for the past twenty, thirty years, but there are some good bands now.

I've never been into rap or dance music, or things like Slipknot like my friends used to be, I also just kinda stuck around music that is music rather than random shouting.

My brother's into slipknot shouty type stuff... I like a readily discernible melody and imaginitive lyrics .

I agree with the sclub/ britney etc thing... maybe pleasing visually in some cases, but musical talent is an oxymoron in their cases.

TK

Most of my friends went from liking Nirvana to Slipknot and then into American Punk, which is no way as good as classic punk like the Ramones or The Stiff LIttle Fingers, but there are some good American Punk bands.

My sisters are fairly broad minded in their music likes because my dad's into classical and jazz and radiohead and things while mums into the kinks and the beatles etc

Mum has a tendancy to make me make her up mix CDs of all the CDs she's stolen from me and the songs she likes from them

Bands don't have to be visually good in my mind they just have to have a certain degreee of talent, they need a good melody, guitar, drums etc and like you said imaginitive lyrics. Music needs to have meaning.

My theory on music is it's all preferences and you can't agrue witha preference. That and if there's a song that I like it doesn't matter what the band is by the song and tell everyone else to get a life.

Never really been into punk that much, although when in the right mood I can enjoy a bit of the Sex Pistols, lol.

My dad's into the Moody Blues.... I can't stand them! He does have a fairly good record collection other than that though; couple of Beatles albums and some Pink Floyd etc... some of them are my mum's too. I love the sound of Vinyl... beats a CD hands down
My mum's more into opera, which I'm not too keen on, but other than that we have pretty similar tastes. She's really into kareoke at the moment, and it's so funny when we go to a kareoke night.... she's professionally trained, and usually ends up blowing a speaker or the mic...

I agree, talent is more important thant the visual stuff, but at least it's some consolation if a talentless 'performer' at least looks nice, lol
I find that all my favourite songs are ones I can identify with.

I agree with the preference thing, but a difference in preference with the right person can make for interesting and entertaining conversation

hehe sounds like your dads record collection is fairly similar to my dads hehe my mum and dad got together because of a Mood Blues Album

Yep, it's always good if you've got something to look at with a good band

MOst of the songs I have on my top 100 list are ones I identify with, I think you have to with music otherwise it's just sound. Good sound, but sound none the less. It's the songs that make you tingle that are always fun

Yeah preferences can lead to interesting conversation with the right researcher, but I don't think it's fair to just outright say that some music is crap, you have can't do that because everyone's opinion is different.

(It's the same with art, I've had to learn that just because my teachers think I'll get a certain grade the examiner will often disagree and mark me down, ce la vie)

Aw... my mum has pretty much the same views on Moody Blues as I do, lol!

I think one of the best feelings is when you're learning how to play a song you like, and it suddenly clicks... then you drive everyone in the house crazy playing the same song over and over again for the next week...

You can say that a certian piece of music is crap 'in my opinion', as long as you don't try to make out that your opinion is the definitive one.

I didn't do art I used to get decent marks for it, but that was only when my teache rmarked my work.. she sort of knew how my mind works and could see where the art was. I don't think you can fairly comment on a piece of artwork without knowing something about the artist.

TK

Yeah I learnt some of the Beatles Tabs and the Tab for the punked up version of 99 Red Balloons, then taught my little sister, it was great

I hate it when people try to make out their views are finite.

Well I'm attempting to get into art school so I must be doing something right, but no two peoples view on art is the same, it's like music liek that, no one person has the same view or feelings about one piece of work.

I can't understand how anyone can do a course in art or music... the whole idea with an academic course is that it's marked to a standard, and how can a musical piece or a piece of artwork be marked according to a standard, when it's all down to the observer and the artist? There is no 'standard' against which you can be judged. Art and music are both forms of expression, and where you can be right or wrong in maths and physics, how can you possibly be 'wrong' with art, where it's all subjective?

TK

THis is why I'm finding myself consistently disappointed with my work, last year I worked my ass off, and came out with two final outcomes which I couldn't have been happier with and got a good response with everyone who saw them. In the ended I got graded down for no apparent reason.

The art work is all about preference, if you don't have the right style for the examiner, no matter how broad minded you are, and no matter how strictly they stick to the marking guidelines (there are certain features that you must include in your final outcome and it's the performance in them that you're marked in first) it doesn't matter how even mindedly the marker looks at your work, they're still prejudice.

It's just something you learn to live with because there will always be people out there who enjoy your work.

1. Marillion, All of it, but especially : Brave
2. Tears For Fears : The Seeds of Love (Swords and Knives)
3. Joe Jackson - Blaze of Glory (Evil Empire)
4. Fish : Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors (Vigil)
5. Pink Floyd : Wish You Were Here (Shine On..)
6. Sarah McLachlan : Surfacing (Do What You Have To)
7. Dave Matthews Band : Crash (#41)
8. Coldplay : A Rush of Blood To The Head (The Scientist)
9. John Coltrane : Blue Train
10. Del Amitri : Waking Hours (This Side of the Morning)

Er... was that supposed to appear here?

yep exactly the right place

OK. It changes a lot, but that's mainly it. I could have a list with 5 Marillion albums on it, but that's not much fun is it?

I've got a friend who's older brother had the same problem at A- level... he was really talented, it was just quite 'alternative', and the examiner obviously didn't appreciate it. Shame, really.

TK

It's not a fair subject. But unfortunatly it's the subject I wanna do.