A lot of people use the word "eclectic" to describe their taste in music. What this usually means, is that they like rock and/or pop music. Is it really eclectic to listen to Metallica and Jack Johnson? They're both expressions of popular music and both have been played on Top 40 radio. They might not sound the same, but they are both influenced to some degree by blues music, and I don't think they're that far apart, in terms of their genre. Surely, for a music collection to be truly labelled "eclectic", it would need to contain music as broad as classical baroque, jazz, Peking opera, traditional Celtic folk songs, Indigenous Australian music, and Western contemporary music.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with listening to a limited area of music; I have a very limited taste, and nearly all the CDs I have would fall comfortably within the "alternative rock/pop" pigeon hole. I'm just pointing out that it's not eclectic.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
I love Peking Opera. But only their early stuff not the over-produced autotune stuff they're doing nowadays with Timbaland.
... and a fair point too.
I was having similar thoughts yesterday when the Mercury, in their story about ABC Hobart Tim Cox, noted that "Cox especially enjoys positive remarks about his eclectic taste in music".
Now I quite like his taste in music (I loved his all-Stones morning a few years ago... although he and I will have to agree to disagree on all that Xavier Rudd, Jack Johnston bizzo). He has much better and more diverse taste in music than most other local ABC presenters. But eclectic... no.
Eclectic can sometimes also mean "I have no sense of aesthetic discrimination".
I more often hear "eclectic" used to describe people who like only incredibly obscure indie bands. Really they should say "eccentric" or "bizarre."
I have all those things except Peking opera (which I think sounds like slightly-tonal murder) and indigenous Australian music which, you must admit, would be bizarre for me to possess.
I own some indigenous Australian music - maybe I'm 'eclectic'?
Never really thought about the term although it sounds cool. I spent 3 years in the NT - indigenous is not that 'eclectic' if you live up there.
Amber
mmm
Post a Comment