Written by Jess Coleman
You know the kid – the one who, no matter what song you play, he or she can recite the band, the year it was released, and some quirky fact about the artist you never knew. “Yea, Tricky actually used the same lyrics on Massive Attack’s Karmacoma that he did on next year’s Overcome – he was too lazy to made up new lyrics for the song they say.”
My response is that its’ great for that guy to know all his music. It’s great that he knows the words to De La Soul’s catalogue by heart. It’s great that he was listening to De La Soul and Massive Attack when he was 12 and now only listens to bands that folks like you and I have never heard of. I’m not being sarcastic. Whoever that person is, they really care about music. Way more than you or I do. We think we are ‘cool’ listening to our nifty little band that they don’t play on the radio, while this guy has heard every song from 1950 until now that has ever been released.
However, my advice, is do not be intimidated by that kid.
Honestly, at the end of the day, he’s the one who is selling him or herself short. When your friend is 30 years old, what good will music be for them? They will have already heard everything, and will be stuck waiting on new albums to be released by the “real” artists only to see them be disappointments in comparison to their last album, which was a “masterpiece.” Don’t let that kid get in your head. Honestly, it seems like his or her only priority is listening to music. Be happy that you don’t know everything about music. That means you have something of a life. You socialize and go outside and keep up in school, do well in your job yada yada. Music is great and all, but should it be the number one factor in your life? No. And, and, if this friend of yours ever gets on your back for having such lame taste, then tell him or her that you are saving the best bands to be discovered later in life. When their music pump has been run dry, and are stuck listening to the same on songs on repeat, you will still have a limitless supply of new songs and artists to discover. The point of music is for enjoyment, snobby music collectors shouldn’t get in the way of that. Enjoy your music taste, enjoy discovering new songs and artists, and, if you don’t want to discover anything new, that’s cool too. It is only music after all…
