sharke
 
Here in New York I sometimes work with my window open, and every 30 seconds or so an SUV drives by slowly with modern rap blaring, and from the lyrics I manage to make out there is invariably the n-word and the b-word and references to one of the following themes: violence, intimidation, jealousy, disrespect, wealth. 

This brings back livid memories of living on 42nd... :)
 
I guess it goes hand in hand with violence, intimidation and disrespect that people who listen to that stuff often listen to it as loud as possible. 
 
I don't remember hearing much Jimi Hendrix or Gloria Gaynor coming from cars on 42nd nor do I remember feeling my rib cage shaking from the excess of bass because someone was listening to Mozart or Nick Cave too loud in East Village... 

I honestly think the old cliche' of 'I like anything if it's good' applies to me.
 
Love a good, well-written pop song - Squeeze, Justin Currie, Ben's Brother, The Feeling etc, still like prog, Gentle Giant, Tull, Van Der Graf, Marillion..love Motown, even some disco (Chic were brilliant). I like a lot of folk, but not the 'finger-in-the ear Arran sweater' type, the edgier stuff like Richard Thompson, Seth Lakeman, Wolfstone. I kind of skirt around country music, but people like Alison Krauss and Mary Chapin-Carpenter are gradually pulling me in
 
Rap and hip-hop..well, I'm a middle-aged Englishman, so that music doesn't speak to me, and I don't expect it to.
 
If I had to pick one artist who manages to straddle all the genres and comes up with very 'satisfying' material that I can listen to over and over again, it would be Mark Knopfler. Since Dire Straits split his solo stuff encompasses rock, folk, country, blues and pop, and his lyrics are always 'about something', never just a throwaway lyric for the sake of a rhyme.
 

Rain

sharke
 
Here in New York I sometimes work with my window open, and every 30 seconds or so an SUV drives by slowly with modern rap blaring, and from the lyrics I manage to make out there is invariably the n-word and the b-word and references to one of the following themes: violence, intimidation, jealousy, disrespect, wealth. 

This brings back livid memories of living on 42nd... :)
 
I guess it goes hand in hand with violence, intimidation and disrespect that people who listen to that stuff often listen to it as loud as possible. 
 
I don't remember hearing much Jimi Hendrix or Gloria Gaynor coming from cars on 42nd nor do I remember feeling my rib cage shaking from the excess of bass because someone was listening to Mozart or Nick Cave too loud in East Village... 

There's some old guys who hang on the corner opposite my apartment, they've been out there virtually every day of the year for the 7 years I've lived in this apartment. The kind of guys who have nothing better to do than yell and bicker all day (#1 topics include basketball and alcohol from what I've heard). When it's nice out, however, they'll have a little ghettoblaster blaring music all day. And usually it's the soul and Motown greats of yesteryear. I mean technically I could complain about this, but it just sounds so damn nice 
 
What bothers me the most about the rap blaring SUV's is that half the time, they're playing it so loud that their speakers are distorting. Some people are just so cloth eared they don't even care. And the thing about bass is, those frequencies come across as aggressive when you impose them on people who don't want to listen to them. 

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jamesg1213
If I had to pick one artist who manages to straddle all the genres and comes up with very 'satisfying' material that I can listen to over and over again, it would be Mark Knopfler. Since Dire Straits split his solo stuff encompasses rock, folk, country, blues and pop, and his lyrics are always 'about something', never just a throwaway lyric for the sake of a rhyme.
 

 
I was listening to Spotify radio in the gym the other day and the song Brothers In Arms came on. What a NICE sound that is! The guitar tone is to die for. And the notes he plays are beautiful. Me and him went to the same school too (not at the same time though, obviously) 
 

sharke
 
What bothers me the most about the rap blaring SUV's is that half the time, they're playing it so loud that their speakers are distorting. Some people are just so cloth eared they don't even care. And the thing about bass is, those frequencies come across as aggressive when you impose them on people who don't want to listen to them. 

Larry Garner sums it up pretty well. "Keep on Singing The Blues"  when i saw him live he added the line "Your bass is jumping right into my car and disrespecting Mr Lightning Hopkins." Hilarious.

sharke

jamesg1213
If I had to pick one artist who manages to straddle all the genres and comes up with very 'satisfying' material that I can listen to over and over again, it would be Mark Knopfler. Since Dire Straits split his solo stuff encompasses rock, folk, country, blues and pop, and his lyrics are always 'about something', never just a throwaway lyric for the sake of a rhyme.
 

 
I was listening to Spotify radio in the gym the other day and the song Brothers In Arms came on. What a NICE sound that is! The guitar tone is to die for. And the notes he plays are beautiful. Me and him went to the same school too (not at the same time though, obviously) 
 

I love those little yearning, chromatic phrases he tosses in. Gilmour does that too, and Steve Rothery from Marillion.
 
Was just listening to 'Hill Farmer's Blues' in the van, got that same creamy LP tone.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvEWq01cg6g

Sharke and rain. Not once did I mention anything about thugs or anything related. I said that conversations on such tend to bring out statements with racist elements. Not once did I say not liking rap or liking rap by white rappers made one racist.

Craigb. One of the sad things about what you said about most of the popular "thuggish" type rap coming from uneducated, etc is that many of these so called thugs DO know better. Many are educated and choose that path because it is financially lucrative. When rap was confined mostly to poorly educated people it was not "gangster" at all. It was mostly spontaneous party chants and variations of Jamaican toasting. The next phase saw a rise of "concscious" rappers. The likes of public enemy, krs-one, tribe called qwest were big for a bit. It was when rap became pop product for mass consumption by people of all social and economic backgrounds that it became so negative. There are Juliard graduates making songs about hos. Like you said..we are not the demographic for the music. Just like our parents were not tbe demographic for Sid Vicious or many other acts deemed highly offensive in their day. I recall how appalled my grandmother used tobe at acts now reverred today. She hates rap too.

I remember in the early days of "rap" that the humorist Roy Blount Jr. referred to it as "self-cheering" which was apt. Most of it was "me...me...me..." and did I mention me?? Now it seems to have evolved to much more "profound" topics like misogyny ( it's for it), bling (it's for it), explicit sadomasochistic sexual instruction (it's for it) and dignity and self respect ( it's against it). And still, as with every other musical genre, there are truffles to be found...and you don't even have to be a swine.

...That said, it's still easy for me to say how repulsive Rap music is to me personally, yet Trance is one of many styles/genres that I love and I know it's a complete turn-off for many others.

 
Depends. Rap as you know it in America, is not as creative and inventive as it is in Europe. The mixes and way it is used over there is more musical, than here. My neighbor, has been playing some new rap album, and I can not even tell who it is, but from a distance, you hear the bass drum and its changes ... that's it. There is absolutely nothing musical about it, or creative for that matter, and yet it sells.
 
So I blew out my neighbor one night at 3AM with Hawkwind (Electric Tepee, of course!!!!!) and the next day, I was asked what I was playing? I told him, something to shut up that music'less rap. He asked why I thought it wasn't good? I showed him my collection, and he went ... wow!
 
These youngsters simply have no idea. Few of them have heard anything else, so it's very easy for them to think that is it in music, because it is all they know.
 
So I played some rap from 1968 ... Gil Scott Heron ... and now, if you don't get it ... you are not listening! It made sense then, specially when it was used in the film "Performance", but all in all it has become nothing but a bunch of musicless money for the most part. Not to say that the folks doing are not good, or creative, but there is a lot more they could do that they are not doing, and that's their concern, not yours or mine!
 

1)  Are you one of those that pretty much stay in a small, focused area of music?  Or do you like a wide range of genres and styles?

 
If you are focused on one area, then you are not into music! You are into your favorites. This is a very important distinction ... you can not say that you love music, and then Mosh plays some god-forsaken guitarist from Norway, and you will NEVER ... EVER ... listen to it, because you have no idea what "music" really means ... all you have is a selective taste and understanding, and if someone else uses it differently, all of a sudden it is not music for you! That's screwed up to the max, dude!
 
I say this a lot to all the folks here, who are musicians, and it scares them when their center is an idea, not a reality. I can see where some of the folks here have to keep their tastes in line with their friends, and band because they are playing the Red Lion circuit or whatever. I'm ok with that, but don't go around defending that you know "music" because you know the notes and the scales! That, by itself, is not quite what music is about, or you would be out dating Emily and having some sex if you could with a machine!
  

2)  What are your favorite types/genres/styles? ...

 
NONE.
 
ALL.
 
You either appreciate the flow and the beauty that music does for you, or you are not into music, you are into an idea that supposedly inspires you, and one day you will drop it, because it doesn't. It's boring. It's repetitive.
 
I specially find it pretentious when someone says that they are putting together something "progressive", when in effect all they are doing is bending their likes and dislikes to conform with something that is an idea, and not a reality. Same with "rock'n'roll", which is more about an attitude than it is about the notes and the music design itself, but people that don't have it inside, will always follow a book, or an idea.
 
You have to decide, if you are empty inside or not. Are you afraid to learn what that guitar can do when you meet that other inside you? And the answer is that most folks ARE AFRAID, because it could hurt this or that, or their band or their whatever situation. The problem is, that person is not aware that it could just as easily be the opposite, except that you do not have the ability, desire, or courage to take that step.
 
The word "music" is not just notes and scales and staff. The minute you start on that, you have forgotten why you love it so much, and are no longer listening to it!
 
Simple!
 
And the style doesn't matter. Your attitude and selective process is the problem!