Social Class and Musical tastes

[ernest828]

Very interesting thread and I`m sure you could write a book on this topic. I found some of your observations true for myself and for others I know but as a musician I listen to everything. However I do enjoy the music you mentioned in the lower middle class to upper middle classes the most. Oddly enough I would consider myself that. To be more specific I like music that makes me feel like everythings OK. I also enjoy lyrics that talk about struggle and redemption. Like U2 and Springsteen.

 

Maybe some day we will be able to figure each other out by just whats in our iPods.?

 

Ernest

[Bbach1]

Once you start talking about class and using adjectives like upper, lower, or higher to describe them, the implication is that the upper or higher classes have an upper or higher appreciation of music. So then for example, "blues" would be delegated to the "lower class" until the middle or upper classes do not see the blues as beneath them.

The whole thing is total bogus snobbery. People like what they like in music regardless of their social "class" unless they are simply pretentious snobs. I would guess that most of us, regardless of our social class, have musical tastes that cross every boundary. When I was a struggling music minor in college oh so many years ago, I was a classical lover. Now I prefer rock and country. Go figure. I just burned a CD (yes, I paid for all the downloads) and the CD has everything on it from the Roger Millers' "Dang Me" to Joe Satriani's version of "Sleep Walk". (Off topic - but isn't that just the coolest song? I have the Santo and Johnny version, the Joe Satriani version and the Jeff Beck version. I'm working on the me version).

[YourMotherShouldKnow]

This is my kinda topic!

 

Music is only 1 form of art. Art includes novels, movies, sculpture, dance, painting as well as music.

 

The art that we react to as adolescents and adults is based on our values. Let's say Duddits the cat is a hedonist. He chases pleasure all day and all night. Duddits is going to react to art that support his way of seeing the world, i.e., his hedonism. Rachmaninoff and Beethoven aren't going to do it for him. Schindler's List is not gonna stir him and he's not gonna take the 4 moinths necessary to read Les Miserables. The hedonist doesn't want to spend 4 hours studying the Sistine Chapel...and so on.

 

People who claim to like all kinds of music tend to be, as David Crosby says, "as deep as a bird bath." They fail to make a commitment about how to live and so art for them is a mundane experience. Most people today fall into this category and it's the reason imposters can win a Grammy, e.g., Milli Vanilli.

[revolead]

I don't think you can label anyone to this stuff. My dad is upper middle class and listens to Vivaldi and Bach.

 

My mom likes Gospel/Contemporary Christian.

 

My sister (age 21) likes chick country (Shania Twain and Reba McEntire) and Broadway showstoppers.

 

My younger sister (age 16) likes radio drama programs and some pop.

 

I like prog metal, metal, prog rock, hard rock, classical, country, blues, and some jazz. The only things I don't like are rap, top 40, and I never got into R/B or smooth jazz, but I don't hate those either.

 

So what does that say about my family? We all lived in the same house, but we all like different stuff. According to Dan's chart, I listen to everything from working class 20-30 to snobby rich people music.

[Hanshananigan]

Originally posted by cwfno:

... People like what they like in music regardless of their social "class" unless they are simply pretentious snobs...

But you have to admit- Dan South put up a great list of generalizations!

 

The day a Tower Records-Classical store does well in North Philly (or South Philly for that matter; or for another example, a western outfitter in Manyunk...) is the day I start selling essential oils from Bath&BodyWorks on construction sites!

[theblue1]

Originally posted by hard truth:

Social class influences our status, where we live, how we dress, how we speak and how we decorate our homes. So it seems that it must also influences the music we listen to...

And when you combine your musical taste categorization matrix with phrenology and palm-reading we will have an accurate methodology to approach analysis of every aspect of the subject's mental, spiritual, and cultural life.

 

 

 

 

And speaking of methodology, what was yours in developing your matrix? Just kinda pullin' stuff off the top of your head? Don't get me wrong, I've often used terms like "secretary music" or "shopboy pop" (lot of overlap there, actually), so I'm not without sin in the human drive to categorize and dismiss.

 

But I have to tell you that this lifelong classical fan (season tix to the symphony for most of the last 15 years) has worked in gas stations and warehouses. And I got turned on to country by a ridiculously rich ex-girlfriend (she tried to get me to listen to southern rock, too... She also loved the O'Jays. And [ugh] Jimmy Buffet. That always went over good at the Bel-Air Bay Club private beach...

[whitefang]

And to further beat this dead horse, the same sort of thing always happened to my brother.

 

My brother was a truck driver for many years. And everytime he went somewhere, someone would then eventually ask what he did for a living. When he told them, they would go to the stereo or juke box and put on some country music. "Thought I'd do something nice for you" they'd say.

 

To which my brother would reply, "You wanna do something nice for me? Get that shit off the box!"

 

He HATES country music. Rather, he's an old Black Sabbath freak. But the nationwide belief is that ALL truck drivers are country music fans.

 

He hates Burt Reynolds movies for what he claims is their spreading that bullshit.

 

Whitefang

[G. Ratte]

Hey, I think these generalizations are totally valid. And as someone (sorry) pointed out, this is the crowd you'd expect to be the exceptions.

 

I live in a black slum (Harlem) and all you'll hear is the prescribed big radio hit hip-hop & R&B. (None of that "conscious" stuff either, "that's for crackers & oreos.") 'cept for the gay white guy downstairs, who plays gay white guy music (Euro synth-pop).

 

Then there's a strip of Dominicans by the park who sit and play merengue out their apt. windows really freakin' loud.

[hard truth]

As I previously mentioned, many factors besides class influence our musical tastes. I am talking about generalizations, and they never apply to everyone. One of the most significant factors in musical taste may be the individual's degree of involvement with music. Being a musician's forum most of us have a high level of interest in music and that is probably a major factor in our tastes.

 

However, I think many of us are in denial. especially in America we don't like to think that we have social classes that determine how we act as individuals. We like to think that we act as individuals and not as members of a class. And many of us do have the freedom to determine our own lifestyle choices (to the limit we can afford).

 

Some people go through stages where they try on different class life-styles. An example would be upper-middle class suburban teenagers affecting the clothing styles and music of lower class African Americans (baggy clothes, rap/hip hop). But I suspect that by the time they settle down in their thirties they'll return to the lifestyle and culture they were raised with.

 

These days with the crummy economy many people with upper-middle backgrounds and education levels are forced to work in occupations traditionally considered proletatrian. Some people choose such occupations out of personal preference. However, I still consider these people upper-middle due to their family's background and education level. I would expect that their musical tastes and other aspects of their lifestyle and culture would still be upper-middle class.

 

Can those of you who deny that your social class influences your musical tastes honestly say that you never rejected or ignored music because it was "too trashy" or "too intellectual and obscure?"

 

I have often observed people reject musicians they have never actually heard for these reasons, even on this forum. (see the Kid Rock thread and notice how many people attacked him without having much familiarity with his music)

 

And if I am wrong why is the music played on college radio so different from the music played on commercial rock radio? Why do they advertise different products on the classical radio station compared to the country station? Are advertisers foolishly assuming a correlation between musical tastes and income/lifestyle?

[Billster]

Originally posted by hard truth:

Can those of you who deny that your social class influences your musical tastes honestly say that you never rejected or ignored music because it was "too trashy" or "too intellectual and obscure?"

I can.

 

I have often observed people reject musicians they have never actually heard for these reasons, even on this forum. (see the Kid Rock thread and notice how many people attacked him without having much familiarity with his music)

That has more to do with politics than musical taste. It gets back to the Zappa quote: People don't know what they like, they like what they know.

 

Why do they advertise different products on the classical radio station compared to the country station? Are advertisers foolishly assuming a correlation between musical tastes and income/lifestyle?

Advertisers are pursuing demographic statistics, but the fact is 95% or more of the people exposed to advertising have no use for the product or service offered, and the other 5% are unlikely to have a relationship between the product or service offered and their musical taste. That's why advertising campaigns are so broad - they just want EVERYBODY to see the ad.