Is it rude to tell someone their music sucks?

Wow Varuna, you must be one of those academic types! Thank you for explaining aesthetics to me, as well as reminding me about the power of positive reinforcement... I'm going to go use it on someone right now!

Oh yeah, and I only listen to the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Kinks... everything else sucks.

 

You say that like it's a bad thing. Anti-antellectualism is stupid.

Any time. I am always surprised by what people do and do not know. It is impossible to guess with any accuracy.

Yeah, well, I am just as capable as anyone of being a dick about it. I thought about it. There's enough of that already.

Good Luck!

Lola Vibrations Forever . . .

 

What about anti-faux-intellectualism? I mean, if someone is just pretending to be an intellectual but really really isn't, then it's okay to be a bit critical of them, right?

 

Yes, but only if you can outsmart them at whatever it is they're being faux-intellectual about.

I worry far more about faux-anti-intellectuallism, where, for one reason or another, one just pretends to be less intelligent. It assumes dumb and smart are competing with one another, and dumber is better.

Intelligence isn't everything, but it's better to have more of it than less of it.

 

Some people don't care much for music
Mainstream stuff is for the most part garbage, but so is a bunch of non mainstream shit

It is only rude if you word it rudely

 

life's too short not to be rude when it's called for.

"excuse me, i'm sorry, i don't mean to bother you, but i just wanted to let you know that i do not like your music and i think it is highly unenjoyable."

or

"HEY YOUR SHIT SUCKS!"

 

nOT IF IT'S WIMPY!

 

^^^EXACTLY.

I kind of knew it was rude when I started this topic... really, my argument was that sometimes someone's music sucks so much that being polite would just be dishonest. On the other hand, telling them in the first place would probably depend on how much I cared about the person... ie: if I didn't care, I wouldn't care what kind of music they like, because their crappy tastes won't effect me, because I don't care. But if it's someone I like, then it's going to be a major barrier to my respecting that person, because I am a fantastic snob.

 

the best way to deal with these situations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsYwUG7K8Lw

 

Someone here on another thread told me my taste in music was just as bad as my politics. Hey, I dont care, I just laughed. But we all have our own tastes, and I think the reason some people get worked up over someone else telling them "Hey that sucks" is probably because they take it as a personal insult, and in a way it is. People who belittle others for the music they listen to are insulting the other person for their personal taste, and yeah, that is very rude. So some get worked up over it, and others just laugh at the small minded person who tried to belittle them in the first place because they realise that that person has an inferiorty complex that they need to deal with.

 

^^^If you ask me, the people with the small minds are the ones who listen to terrible music because it is predictable, not too weird, and easy to understand.

Believe it or not, there are people in this world who despise 'music' that is willingly created as only a product for mass-consumption-- targeting the largest demographic possible by being catchy, stupid, violent or sexual... and does so only because some rich people want money.

This has nothing to do with an inferiority complex, just a basic contempt for insincerity, superficiality and, oh yeah, SHIT music.

 

people that just listen to the radio/mtv/lame shit and like it don't have any identity.

 

There ya go, small minds who have no concept that some people actually like "whatever". Who are you to say the music is terrible. That is your opinion, and just like assholes, everyone has one. Your opinion is just that, yours. Music is a joy for everyone. The type of music is an opinion for everyone. Same with food. We all need food, but some like things others despise. Are they wrong for liking some foods that you dont like? Who made you God that you can decide what is good and what is not? See? It is small minded people such as yourselves who will judge others on their tastes. My only thought on this is that I hope by you feeling superior to what you listen to, and by judging others on what they listen to, I hope this gives you the superiorty feeling that you crave.

 

it's only true. they are still people...they laugh, they cry, they bleed. but i certainly don't have many interesting or intellectual conversations with people who think the latest akon song is wonderful and stimulating. some people just get down like that, good for them. some people are easily entertained.

people don't know what to like because they don't know it's ok to like something other than what everyone else is listening to because the majority says it is weird. the individual sees that the one who tends to think for themselves gets ridiculed. clinging to the popular choice and the masses gives you the identity as one of them, therefore you don't have to deal with ridicule, being called "weird", or feeling left out. this starts at a very early age; it decides whether you're going to be like everyone else, or if you're going to be different. this doesn't just concern music.

i like some music on the radio. but that's not all i like. ya'dig?

ps - people that oppose popular music for no apparent reason tend to cling to others that think this way. maybe that's their reason. what they don't realize is that they are conforming to another group, although it may not be the majority, it's conformity...*cough* scenesters *cough*

 

^^I agree.

I can tell zillagod is really happy with himself for suggesting that somehow being critical about one's tastes and not just consuming based on instinct is small-minded, but I do have one suggestion. I don't know what kind of pop psychology has filtered into his brain through various TV shows and FM radio 'on the way to work'-type programs, but such simplistic accusations of 'inferiority complex' really doesn't make him sound as bright as he thinks it does.

I'm all too happy when something that is actually intelligent and sincere is brought into the popular consciousness... I still love early Radiohead, Weezer, some Beck, The White Stripes, some U2, all of that stuff... my main objection is to music that is so obviously formulaic and base-level that it can't help but conjure images of cokeheads in expensive cars and designer sunglasses yakking obnoxiously on their cellphones about some 'hot new act', cha-ching.

Without standards, a person will never achieve anything great. That is a universal truth. I'm not suggesting that somehow listening to a certain kind of music will make you a better person, just... well... chances are, you'll be more interesting than someone who doesn't think about it or challenge themselves. That goes for the rest of life as well.

 

For example, here's how to make Britney Spears:

1. Find some young blonde chick who doesn't know any better.
2. Dress her up in slightly suggestive clothing so that guys will want to have sex with her, and girls will KNOW that guys want to have sex with her.
3. Use your team of industry songwriters to create catchy yet shallow songs.
4. Bolster the songs with all kinds of production tricks and sophisticated equipment until it is slick, polished and radio-friendly.
5. Design an expensive live act that incorporates a lot of dancing and lights so that people won't think about how shit the music is.
6. Watch the money roll in.

Tell me how that is better than someone who picks up a guitar, teaches themselves how to sing, writes and plays from their heart, and isn't afraid to do a stripped-down live show that actually emphasizes the music???

 

That someone should know better NEVER to mix music = art with politics = S**T!!!:cheers2::hat:

 

It could be rude but really
boy bands... I dis them all day long and the people who like em
pound em into the ground
well not really ;p

Either way some people need to be criticized for playing into that bullshit and fueling the corporation that has become music

 

great thread

It's rude and pointless but some people don't give you any choice.

if someone tells me they love "all kinds of music" and the only bands they can come up with are Linkin Park,Evanecence,Nickleback and the like then I won't feel bad about being rude.

 

I give people shit for bad taste in music all the time. But everyone's favorite music is shit to someone, so I dont get that into it. Ive always despised music-elitists, who think their tastes give them superiority over lesser fans. I have this one friend who literally has opposite tastes to me, everything I like he hates, and vice versa. When I go through hes CDs, and I give him shit for his music, he always makes excuses for it, like "oh thats not my CD", or "someone else put that on my ipod, seriously." Which makes it worse, its like if you have bad taste, at least own up to it, ya know?