Sunday 28 April 2013

Listening to show tunes is NOT embarrassing!

Back when I was still using Spotify Free, there was (probably still is) an annoying ad about the Private Session application which allows you to listen to music without sharing with other users what you listened to. I only heard the ad in Finnish, but the liberal translation would be something like "now you can listen to those Broadway tunes and nobody will know!"

Excuse me? Not only is the ad suggesting that some genres of music are somehow more socially acceptable than others, but it's picking show tunes as the number one guilty pleasure! Why should I be ashamed of listening to stuff from Les Misérables and The Sound of Music, for example, when they've been immensely popular and loved by thousands of people for dozens of years? I can think of at least a handful of types of music that I would consider much more "embarrassing" if I wasn't of the opinion that everyone should just listen to whatever they like, screw the public opinion.

I'm going to make a music-related confession right now, and it won't even hurt: I listen to One Direction when I clean my apartment. There, have I now officially made myself a most despicable human being with a shockingly low taste in music? 

If you're not too disgusted by my revelation, you could state your opinions on taste in music vs. social acceptability. Do you feel like you can't be open about the music you listen to because everyone would think you're a dork?


1 comment:

  1. People don't really understand why I need eleven different recordings of Les Mis – but I still mention that whenever favourite music is discussed. ;) I'm not ashamed of anything I listen to (not even Amaury Vassili, France's Eurovision contestant from 2011, placed 15th...), and I don't think anyone else should be, either. Listening to whatever doesn't make you any more special or more important than anyone else, so why not listen to the stuff you really enjoy!

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