I consider us here on the Org, people with great knowledeg, passion and respect for music. So what do you all think when you met someone who knows nothing at all about music?? I teach dance and recently started a fun series where every month, I teach choreography to a particular genre of music. In March in was Hair Metal. When I announced that's what we would be dancing to, almost everyone, asked"what is that"?? These are people in the 45-60 age range. This month it was New Jack Swing, once again every one asked "what is that"?? I ended up having to explain it to them. In May it will be Disco which they seem to know that genre is thank goodness. I think it's the craziest thing when people know nothing about music and when I spoke to a good friend of mine about this, who is also a hardcore music lover, he said "some people just aren't into music the way we are". Everyone that i'm close too loves music, so I'm always stunned when I meet someone with know appreciation of music. You know the type. The ones who say, "I just to listen to whatever is on the radio". What do you guys make of this? I feel so strongly about music. It is my life!!

Well it takes all kinds. Some people are not that interested in the history aspect of music, don't know what different genres are, don't know more than a handful of groups or singers that they like. But if they are interested enough to attend a dance class, I'd say they have some interest in it - maybe the most important part of it, that part that adds value to their life and makes them feel good.

Seriously? Someone who doesn't know what Hair Metal is has no knowledge of music?

How about you answer a music question? Match the following composers with their musical periods...

Periods

Classical

Romantic

Baroque

Impressionist

Contemporary

Composers

Copeland

Debussy

Brahms

Mozart

Bach


Aaaaaaaand...go!

[Edited 4/28/14 14:22pm]

Some people are not into music like that. It's no big deal. It's just something in the background. I know a lot of people heavily into sports, particularly NBA, boxing, & NFL, and have games from years ago memorized, but it doesn't really mean that much to me. One of my relatives is into flowers and knows about many different kinds, and what's the best season to plant a particular one. It's like in Smokey & The Bandit where Bandit is talking about Waylon Jennings & Richard Petty (a NASCAR driver) and Carrie mentions Elton John and Broadway. They had little idea of the things the other liked. Bandit tells her it depends on where you're from as to how dumb you are.

Yeah I think if I had any interest in sports I would remember a lot less about music!

these days you will find more and more a sepeation of the listener and the artist, we are the "minority" the "Majority" does not care now about album artwork, who plays on a record who sings back up etc...And to be honest that is 100% to blame on the digital format, people just do not care about all that stuff. They have tons of other interests that replace music now. Music is the fries with the meal now, i have been saying that for over a decade or so and its more true everytime. Sales for a "Hot" artist are now what got people threatened of being dropped back in the day. And artist selling 200,000 now of a record is like Triple Platnum, and yet that number back in say 1976 got Billy Joel a warning from Sony, the next album better sell or thats it.

As for knowledge how can you expect there to be some degree of even wanting to dive into it when people have attention spans of about 1 minute, People like Instagram because its just pics and they dont have to read like they do on Facebook and Twitter? And forget picking up a book. Im not really surprised, I dont expect a Lil Wayne fan to know who Hall and Oates is, just like i could care less who or what Lil Waynes new song about bitches is with.

It is extremely frustrating as a musician, describing key changes, music history, artist's background, or the industry in general gets a deer in headlights reaction when speaking to anyone under 25. The only folks who get me are other musicians.

Again, this is American culture of today, no sense of scope or reasoning, just "sit there and watch TV/iPAD/laptop" without thinking.

Exactly, most people under 25 think music began with the archaic early to mid 1990s recordings of Dr Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg. People over 60 tend to think music was no good after the Beatles.

Its ignorance at both ends, most white and older people I know eschew any popular music after the 60s if any popular at all and just listen to classical music and opera (Violins and shit) all the time.

And all the younger and brown ones I know listen to shit hop, rap, Chris Brown type R and B and older Brown people listen to reggae and 70s/80s type soul music.

Blessed are us who love Disco, Metal, Prince, 70s and 80s pop, 90s pop and Soul music.

Adorecream said:

Exactly, most people under 25 think music began with the archaic early to mid 1990s recordings of Dr Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg. People over 60 tend to think music was no good after the Beatles.

Its ignorance at both ends, most white and older people I know eschew any popular music after the 60s if any popular at all and just listen to classical music and opera (Violins and shit) all the time.

And all the younger and brown ones I know listen to shit hop, rap, Chris Brown type R and B and older Brown people listen to reggae and 70s/80s type soul music.

Blessed are us who love Disco, Metal, Prince, 70s and 80s pop, 90s pop and Soul music.

So you're saying that most of the over 6 billion people in the world only listen to these few types of music?

Genesia said:

robertgeorgeakabob said:

Genesia said:

Seriously? Someone who doesn't know what Hair Metal is has no knowledge of music?

How about you answer a music question? Match the following composers with their musical periods...

Periods

Classical

Romantic

Baroque

Impressionist

Contemporary

Composers

Copeland

Debussy

Brahms

Mozart

Bach


Aaaaaaaand...go!

Hair Metal and New Jack are modern and popular. To live through them and not even be aware of them is not the same as having a comprehensive knowledge of classical music. I could reference lots of music that you wouldn't know about.

Thank you for reinforcing my point.

classical music and opera (Violins and shit)

Haters gonna hate.

robertgeorgeakabob said:

Hair Metal and New Jack are modern and popular. To live through them and not even be aware of them is not the same as having a comprehensive knowledge of classical music.

I have some older relatives of my grandparents generation that lived through hair metal & new jack, that I doubt have any awareness of them, as they don't listen to secular music. They're strictly gospel & spirituals, and not the Kirk Franklin/DC Talk/Sandi Patty kind either, but traditional church choirs with an organ/piano or the old Consolers type. If it's wasn't church music, a few of them would call it "blues" or "devil's music". One of my grandmother's cousins didn't even own a TV because she didn't think watching the things on it was right. My grandfather only listened to blues music, and everything else was noise to him.

eeeemm, when it comes to popular music, I think only a few artists/bands are worth knowing...

mostly from the '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s...

The comments in here reeeeek of music snobbery. I hate to break this to some of y'all. But there's more than 100 kids in America, and more than 1,000 in the world (What a concept!) Have any of you been to a fucking high school? you'll see dozens of kids wearing The Beatles, Iron Maiden, Run DMC, Motley Crue, Metallica, The Smiths, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix etc. Just to name a few... there's dozens of kids into older music. And dozens only into newer... it's this thing called ''having different tastes'' yet another shocking concept to you older orgers. I'm 23 and have listened to Prince religiously since i was 14. And does that make me special? NO

Can y'all snobs name classic Cantonese artists? Vietnamese artists? Haitian artists? if y'all are so knowledgeable...you would know the answer right?

You're not special because you know a lot about a genre. There's thousands of different kinds of people. And people like lastdecember doing the same old tired ''no good modern music is good, no artwork, no label, no music video blah blah blah'' Been saying the same shit for years and years and years. Yet when me or someone else makes threads about good modern music, genres, artwork, and up and comers. Your ass runs away or never comments. Maybe cause you don't have a vast a music knowledge as you think? maybe none of us here do. So stop being uptight fuck nuts about what other people like or don't like

I'm between 45 - 60 and I know a lot about music, but I couldn't tell you what New Jack Swing is, or name one song that is New Jack Swing.

But so what? People like what they like.

RodeoSchro said:

I'm between 45 - 60 and I know a lot about music, but I couldn't tell you what New Jack Swing is, or name one song that is New Jack Swing.

Have you heard any Bobby Brown music, Knocked Out by Paula Abdul, or Remember The Time by Michael Jackson? That's New Jack

RodeoSchro said:

Genesia said:

Seriously? Someone who doesn't know what Hair Metal is has no knowledge of music?

How about you answer a music question? Match the following composers with their musical periods...

Periods

Classical

Romantic

Baroque

Impressionist

Contemporary

Composers

Copeland

Debussy

Brahms

Mozart

Bach


Aaaaaaaand...go!

[Edited 4/28/14 14:22pm]

Damn it, My computer was having issues getting onto this site for a couple of days, so I haven't been able to come back and respond. To answer your question, No I can't say I know a whole lot about classical music. I used hair metal and new jack swing for just a couple of examples because to me artists like Bobby Brown, New Edition, Motley Crue, GNR, Poison and others should be recognizeable to people between 45-60 years old generally speaking. Of course there are exceptions to the rule as I'm finding out more and more. I have another 30 year old girl who takes one of my classes that has never heard of Madonna, Nirvana and the Beastie Boys, which I was stunned by. I'm just amazed when someone doesn't jave basic knowledge of "popular" genres and artists but I guess some people just aren't really into music that way.

[Edited 4/30/14 13:13pm]

dancerella said:

I'm just amazed when someone doesn't jave basic knowledge of "popular" genres and artists but I guess some people just aren't really into music that way.

There's the case that some are into other types of music. It also depends on where a person is from like I mentioned with the conversation in Smokey & The Bandit above. Do you know who Vicente Fernandez, Willie Colon, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Trevi, or Little Joe y La Familia are? They're really popular.

Genesia said:

robertgeorgeakabob said:

Genesia said: Hair Metal and New Jack are modern and popular. To live through them and not even be aware of them is not the same as having a comprehensive knowledge of classical music. I could reference lots of music that you wouldn't know about.

Thank you for reinforcing my point.

What does it mean if I can do the matching but don't actually know any music... ?

lastdecember said:

these days you will find more and more a sepeation of the listener and the artist, we are the "minority" the "Majority" does not care now about album artwork, who plays on a record who sings back up etc...And to be honest that is 100% to blame on the digital format, people just do not care about all that stuff. They have tons of other interests that replace music now. Music is the fries with the meal now, i have been saying that for over a decade or so and its more true everytime. Sales for a "Hot" artist are now what got people threatened of being dropped back in the day. And artist selling 200,000 now of a record is like Triple Platnum, and yet that number back in say 1976 got Billy Joel a warning from Sony, the next album better sell or thats it.

As for knowledge how can you expect there to be some degree of even wanting to dive into it when people have attention spans of about 1 minute, People like Instagram because its just pics and they dont have to read like they do on Facebook and Twitter? And forget picking up a book. Im not really surprised, I dont expect a Lil Wayne fan to know who Hall and Oates is, just like i could care less who or what Lil Waynes new song about bitches is with.

I'm guessing the majority never did know or care about those things. True, the vaguely curious could begin to find out some stuff from glancing at the old artwork and liner notes while they listened to a record (something digital doesn't encourage)--but of the people I knew as a teen I was the only one who did. Music never did mean all that much to most people... it meant a whole lot to others, and, obviously, it meant everything to a few.

Sales are a different issue--people still listen, they just don't buy.

dancerella said:

I used hair metal and new jack swing for just a couple of examples because to me artists like Bobby Brown, New Edition, Motley Crue, GNR, Poison and others should be recognizeable to people between 45-60 years old generally speaking. Of course there are exceptions to the rule as I'm finding out more and more. I have another 30 year old girl who takes one of my classes that has never heard of Madonna, Nirvana and the Beastie Boys, which I was stunned by. I'm just amazed when someone doesn't jave basic knowledge of "popular" genres and artists but I guess some people just aren't really into music that way.

[Edited 4/30/14 13:13pm]

Sorry that shrunk--but, I'm curious. Were they unfamiliar with the actual songs or artists once you started giving examples--or were they just unfamiliar with the genres? Genre names are something that only really matter if you're more into "discussions about" music. I assume that most people listening to Bobby Brown didn't really care much about a label, they were just moving and singing along. I don't know that I ever "heard" anyone say the phrase "New Jack Swing" back when the stuff was around--I mostly read it. I doubt I could say the phrase to many people and get any recognition around here... I might be able to say "grunge" to people and get some vague nod of "yeah... I've heard of that." I wouldn't expect anything beyond maybe a passing familiarity with Nirvana from most folks, though.

Most people couldn't give you a genre for what they're listening to right now--not beyond the most broad "it's rock/r&B/hip-hop/dance/country" type description. And that's good enough for most people, nearly all the time.

MickyDolenz said:

RodeoSchro said:

I'm between 45 - 60 and I know a lot about music, but I couldn't tell you what New Jack Swing is, or name one song that is New Jack Swing.

Have you heard any Bobby Brown music, Knocked Out by Paula Abdul, or Remember The Time by Michael Jackson? That's New Jack

Yes, No, and Probably But I Can't Remember How It Goes.

I checked out the list of "25 Greatest New Jack Swing" songs and knew about four of them. But the ones I knew, I liked. I probably heard others but the player on the site I went to wasn't working, so I didn't listen to any samples.

Genesia said:

Seriously? Someone who doesn't know what Hair Metal is has no knowledge of music?

How about you answer a music question? Match the following composers with their musical periods...

Periods

Classical

Romantic

Baroque

Impressionist

Contemporary

Composers

Copeland

Debussy

Brahms

Mozart

Bach


Aaaaaaaand...go!

[Edited 4/28/14 14:22pm]

Classical-Mozart

Romantic-Brahms

Baroque-Bach

Impressionist-Debussy

Contemporary-Copeland

I think I got it right, right?

MickyDolenz said:

RodeoSchro said:

I'm between 45 - 60 and I know a lot about music, but I couldn't tell you what New Jack Swing is, or name one song that is New Jack Swing.

Have you heard any Bobby Brown music, Knocked Out by Paula Abdul, or Remember The Time by Michael Jackson? That's New Jack

.

Additionally, there's this ditty by a feller called Prince. Talented kid. I think he'll go far.

.

.

EddieC said:

dancerella said:

I used hair metal and new jack swing for just a couple of examples because to me artists like Bobby Brown, New Edition, Motley Crue, GNR, Poison and others should be recognizeable to people between 45-60 years old generally speaking. Of course there are exceptions to the rule as I'm finding out more and more. I have another 30 year old girl who takes one of my classes that has never heard of Madonna, Nirvana and the Beastie Boys, which I was stunned by. I'm just amazed when someone doesn't jave basic knowledge of "popular" genres and artists but I guess some people just aren't really into music that way.

[Edited 4/30/14 13:13pm]

Sorry that shrunk--but, I'm curious. Were they unfamiliar with the actual songs or artists once you started giving examples--or were they just unfamiliar with the genres? Genre names are something that only really matter if you're more into "discussions about" music. I assume that most people listening to Bobby Brown didn't really care much about a label, they were just moving and singing along. I don't know that I ever "heard" anyone say the phrase "New Jack Swing" back when the stuff was around--I mostly read it. I doubt I could say the phrase to many people and get any recognition around here... I might be able to say "grunge" to people and get some vague nod of "yeah... I've heard of that." I wouldn't expect anything beyond maybe a passing familiarity with Nirvana from most folks, though.

Most people couldn't give you a genre for what they're listening to right now--not beyond the most broad "it's rock/r&B/hip-hop/dance/country" type description. And that's good enough for most people, nearly all the time.

Well New jack Swing is esentially a sub genre of R&B so I think they were familiar with a couple of the songs but didn't know who the artist was or that is was called New Jack Swing. I guess music is just such a huge part of my life, it's hard to imagine not knowing who certain artists are or what the genre is.

Sorry man, but this is nonsense. It's like blaming people who don't know music, same goes for film, television, art and such.... then. I'd ask what are the most important film directors in history and you wouldn't have an idea (I don't know about you but I'm just saying) or asking you to name me a bunch of neo noir, mystery concept films and you wouldn't know what I'm talking about. It's not somebody's fault if he's not digging into something you like, even the least of it, like, knowing who Michael Jackson is or what does Elvis look like... that doesn't matter... There are A LOT of people in this world, and music listeners make only the 50% of it.

There's a lesson here for the original poster of this thread.

It's easy to become a musical elitist but everyone knows one thing that you do not.

When you think you know it all, you actually know nothing.

Never forget this.

Gunsnhalen said:

The comments in here reeeeek of music snobbery. I hate to break this to some of y'all. But there's more than 100 kids in America, and more than 1,000 in the world (What a concept!) Have any of you been to a fucking high school? you'll see dozens of kids wearing The Beatles, Iron Maiden, Run DMC, Motley Crue, Metallica, The Smiths, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix etc. Just to name a few... there's dozens of kids into older music. And dozens only into newer... it's this thing called ''having different tastes'' yet another shocking concept to you older orgers. I'm 23 and have listened to Prince religiously since i was 14. And does that make me special? NO

Can y'all snobs name classic Cantonese artists? Vietnamese artists? Haitian artists? if y'all are so knowledgeable...you would know the answer right?

You're not special because you know a lot about a genre. There's thousands of different kinds of people. And people like lastdecember doing the same old tired ''no good modern music is good, no artwork, no label, no music video blah blah blah'' Been saying the same shit for years and years and years. Yet when me or someone else makes threads about good modern music, genres, artwork, and up and comers. Your ass runs away or never comments. Maybe cause you don't have a vast a music knowledge as you think? maybe none of us here do. So stop being uptight fuck nuts about what other people like or don't like

Well said. I'm 43 and my best mate at work is 26, he's opened my eyes to a lot of new and old music alike. I thought i had quite broad and eclectic taste anyway, but he's something else. I remember caring about music that much and funnily enough, i was probably about in my mid-twenties.