This is Not a Pretentious Blog Post

I'm not afraid to admit it:

I sing along to Nsync in the car. Loudly.

I've seen Backstreet Boys in concert twice.

I own music by Coldplay and Dido.

And I have a dance playlist on itunes that includes Fergie, Nelly, Beyonce, and Rihanna.

But this in no way defines what my music taste is. And I don't feel like I need to justify myself by listing off names of obscure artists that I also know.

Many people think that the only way to have an opinion that other people will accept is to have an opinion that basically bashes anything and everything mainstream. This, to me, is pretentious. They will post lists of their favorite music artists on public forums like facebook and myspace to be judged by their friends and sometimes even complete strangers. The more obscure of artists they list, the more they think people will say "oh wow, I've never heard of these artists. This person must be totally legit and artsy."

There is also the crowd of music listeners who complain when their favorite artist becomes mainstream. I'll hear them talk about how they can no longer listen to that artist now that everyone else knows about them. I agree that if that artist has compromised his or her music in order to make it big in the industry and the songs have changed to something that these listeners no longer appreciate, then it makes sense to no longer listen to him. But I do not understand what the problem is when a musical artist is finally being appreciated on a larger scale for all the great music that he made when he was just an obscure artist. My friend told me that she doesn't like when her favorite song becomes popular because then she hears it on the radio all the time and gets sick of it. I can understand that, since radios use a formula where they play the fifteen or so most popular songs of the moment over and over again, so if you are listening to the same station for over an hour, you are bound to hear the same songs played again. My solution to this problem, if satellite radio is not available, is to have my ipod hooked up in the car, or to put on a mixed CD if the ipod idea is not an option, or to change the station or turn off the radio completely.

In this blog, I choose to talk about music and to communicate to an audience that is also passionate about music. I do not neglect those who have a different music taste than I, and I do not mock those who listen to whatever it is they listen to. Music is supposed to bring people together as a community of listeners who are inspired and who want to inspire; it is not a forum of judgment and contests. Nobody "wins" for knowing more obscure artists than somebody else.

My friend told me it was cliché that my favorite band was The Beatles. Um, who cares? I mean, come on, they are THE BEATLES.

I love working at KSPC, my college radio station. I think it is great that it supports local, independent, and unsigned artists and it supplies a forum for these artists to be heard. The one problem I have, however, is the fact that it denies musicians that are already popular. I love a lot of these artists as well. I have no problem playing independent artists on the radio; in fact, for my future career, I want to work solely with independent artists and leave the mainstream artists to "the man". However, I also listen to music that's somewhere in between independent and mainstream - bands that aren't completely obscure but are still on independent labels, or bands that are totally obscure but are still signed onto mainstream labels. These artists are not supported by KSPC and thus I will not be able to play them when I am a DJ this fall. I don't want to just grab some random CD among the thousands in the vaults of KSPC and play it just because it exists - I want to play music that I actually know and enjoy and want others to hear. This is why I wish I could bring in my own music to play at the station instead of having to choose from the albums that are already approved. As much music as I already know about, it is impossible to know it all, and there will always be artists I haven't heard of.

I don't want to list my favorite artists on facebook (if you are my facebook friend, go ahead and look, I haven't listed them, I'm not lying) because I don't need validation from anyone about whether my music taste is acceptable or not. There is no right and wrong, musical taste is personal and just important to yourself. It is you. And I don't want anyone telling me whether I am acceptable or not.