A lot of you know a lot about music.  Do some of you work in music business, or do you just listen to a lot of stuff and read stuff like SPIN and SOURCE?

Compared to real musical experts, I know next to nothing about music. I'm terrible at most music quizes. I seldom read music mags like 'Rolling Stone, 'Q', 'MelodyMaker,' 'Spin'...usually in my spare time. I don't often read pop-culture mags.etc either. I do, however, enjoy reading actual books about past and recent artists, biographies about famous artists and past cultural movements. I recently read an interesting book on the L.A. Music scene in the 60s. It was decadent, man!

A lot of you know a lot about music.  Do some of you work in music business, or do you just listen to a lot of stuff and read stuff like SPIN and SOURCE?


I tend not to read any music magazines. They're usually full of trash and reviews promoting the reviewers own causes.

I don't claim to know a vast amount.. I know in depth about specific things though and then a broad range over the rest. Just picked up over time.

Listen to lots of it.  From decades you don't remember.  From decades whose music you hate.  In genres you never understood.  Listen to stuff that's off the top 40.  Listen to stuff that's off the top 100.  Listen to megamixes/yearmixes/DJ-only dance service subscriptions (umm, you may have to *bend* a few intellectual property laws to do that last one if you're not a DJ). 

If you like even one track on an album for reasons you can't identify (i.e. you've never heard of the artist before, and they're not a one-hit wonder), get the album.  By the way, eBay can be a really good friend when it comes to finding hard-to-find tracks that you used to only own by virtue of bending copyright law. Odds are good that you'll like whatever else is on the CDs or LPs you acquire that way. 

After about 5-10 years (sorry, there are no shortcuts), you'll be able to pull stunts like putting (as I did, last month, for a work-related social event) industrial-rock KMFDM in the same playlist as classic 80s retro-synthpoppers Cabaret Voltaire, and super-cheesy-disco-dinosaurs ABBA, in the same playlist, and somehow have the whole series of tracks (both lyrically and musically) make sense. 

If you do this sort of stuff in private often enough, you'll end up with a few hours of playsets that just flow so doggone well that you'll no longer be afraid of going public with 'em.  When you do (private party, podcast, etc), there'll be a few tracks that *nobody* listening will have ever heard of, and that *everyone* who does listen to, will instantly love.  When someone comes up to you and asks what the *HELL* you just played and where the hell can they find it, that's when you know you've done good.

When you can do that, consistently, once a week, and you can do it with *anything* the music industry has to offer, you can go professional, and you won't need my advice (I never went *that* far, although I knew a few who did), nor anyone else's, as to where to go next.

I don't think it's so much of how much we know of music, just of how much we love it. Thanks to music, I think that's what has brought most of us together on this board.  8)

I've been listening to music all my life.  I never read Music Magazines or Music Books.  I know what I know from the Internet, TV and the CD's liner notes, etc ...

A lot of you know a lot about music.  Do some of you work in music business, or do you just listen to a lot of stuff and read stuff like SPIN and SOURCE?



I read Rolling Stone, I pay attention to the news, and I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock/oldies music, so that's what I know the best and the most.

[quote author=wһіѕ

well who the hell said you know anything about music, anyway?


don't be so harsh.  you're a newbie.  you'll get used to his know-it-all posts and pretty soon they won't even phase you.

don't be so harsh.  you're a newbie.  you'll get used to his know-it-all posts and pretty soon they won't even phase you.


then again, sometimes you'll want to  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/mgwhore.gif

well who the hell said you know anything about music, anyway?


don't be so harsh.  you're a newbie.  you'll get used to his know-it-all posts and pretty soon they won't even phase you.



then again, sometimes you'll want to  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/mgwhore.gif


;D ;D ;D  Are these the same poster one wonders?

Everyone i know has spent their lives following music biz, shows, recording info, musicuans....just talking to people with the same interests...
I don't do that so much anymore.

but it's the only subject that every really held my attention.
KK

^ HAHAHAHA  Kitty needs a little hat on.  ;D

I read Rolling Stone, I pay attention to the news, and I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock/oldies music, so that's what I know the best and the most.


I barely knew who Jim Morrison was two years ago (he was just a vague name), nor much else about music or music history until three years ago. So pretty much everything I've learnt has been in the past three years.

I have a Billboard #1 Songs book I about ten years ago. It's become like my pop music bible. It is SO informative and chock full of great stories about each hit song. That edition only went up to 1992, but newer editions I believe go up to the early 2000's now.

A lot of you know a lot about music.  Do some of you work in music business, or do you just listen to a lot of stuff and read stuff like SPIN and SOURCE?


I don't work in music business and I don't read any music magazines. I just happen to like listening to music. My musical knowledge has grown with the years. Most of it is completely useless, but every now and then I can use it to my advantage. I also keep a book on Dutch Top 40 close at hand.


And no matter how much I know, there's always more I don't know. That's where Google comes in handy (mind you, not on the quizzes!). ;)

I just do my homework.. I have roughly 10,500 songs, and I look up a lot about all these artists.... I read liner notes, go on the internet, and.. well... that's it.. I don't like these magazines, they just praise mainstream, and put down everything else.

Hi KKay .....

Are you related to this guy .....................

http://scramgravy.tripod.com/blog/danny.k.1.jpg

Tripodded.

I guess Tripod don't allow remotew linking to images?  ::)

I just do my homework.. I have roughly 10,500 songs, and I look up a lot about all these artists.... I read liner notes, go on the internet, and.. well... that's it.. I don't like these magazines, they just praise mainstream, and put down everything else.


We could start a whole new thread on the validity and quality of current music press...but I'm not enough an expert on it.

I too agree some music mags - Rolling *cough* Stone, are nothing but advertisements for already famous bands. If you read it today, you'll find the words 'Franz Ferdinand' , 'Arctic Monkeys', 'Coldplay', and every new flavour of the month on almost every page. But there are still some good sections in RS and other mags.

I listen to the radio and CDs, read Top of the Pops and TV Hits magazines, read music news online and watch music videos on TV.

I listen to the radio, browse the itunes today's top 100 list, look at the billboard charts.

I guess I know a lot about music beacuse I've constantly listened to all different genres ever since I was little. Then in my early teens I began buying music magazines and books, and through the net and documentaries my knowledge has grown.

I rarely listen to the radio anymore, but I occasionally put on MTV2 or VH2 to search for some good new bands. I'm quite up-to-date in the world of indie-rock music, but don't even ask me whats happening in the hip-hop world cause I wouldn't have a clue!!

Tripodded.

I guess Tripod don't allow remotew linking to images?  ::)

Tripod is nothing but trouble. If I open a Tripod-hosted page, I click out of there ASAP! Pop-up city!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/spider.gif

To answer the question--

I work for a university radio station with a very diverse library, and spent years hosting a radio program and exploring any kind of music interesting to me.
However, I was always interested in music, especially electronic music, and that's what attracted me to the radio station in the first place.
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/08/rainote.gif

Well, I know a reasonable amount about music because I've been listening to many different genres since I was very young. I know virtually nothing about what's happening in the music world today, and I could care less. I basically just know what I like.

I listen to all kinds of music.

I just love music. I grew up with music of all kinds, and even now I try to keep an open mind about music and I am still pretty diverse in my musical tastes. I enjoy certain bands from today such as P.O.D., 90's stuff like Live, TLC, Pearl Jam, RHCP, En Vogue and No Doubt, 80's bands like Duran Duran,The Cult, Motley Crue, Information Society, Twisted Sister, old Metallica, just as much as I love bands like Deep Purple, Humble Pie, and 60's stuff like The Doors, Vanilla Fudge, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Stones, the Who, and the Beatles....

Ok, thank you everybody for your answers.  You've given me great tips.  But the next questoin is: HOW DO YOU REMEMBER IT ALL?  Do you keep notes or a journal about the things you hear?  Or do you make flashcards or make up little games to test yourself?  I must have heard a lot of music over the years, but I have trouble remembering the names of them and when they came out.  Like someone will say have you ever heard such and such by such and such?  And I have no idea.  But then they hum it and maybe I remember.  Or someone will say I know that song, it was recorded in 19whatever and was on the whatever album.  And I think: how can they remember that?  I just hear songs, and I like them or I don't.  But I don't study them, so I don't remember anything about them except to be able to remember the tune and maybe some words.

If you have suggestions for making me smarter about remembering music that would help.  Thank you.

I guess I don't know how I remember it all!

People always text me for pub quiz music questions - and 90% of the time I know the answers - it's just all in my head and beacuse I'm so interested in it, I guess it just remains there! I don't sit there studying my music books i gotta say!!

I just love music. I grew up with music of all kinds, and even now I try to keep an open mind about music and I am still pretty diverse in my musical tastes. I enjoy certain bands from today such as P.O.D., 90's stuff like Live, TLC, Pearl Jam, RHCP, En Vogue and No Doubt, 80's bands like Duran Duran,The Cult, Motley Crue, Information Society, Twisted Sister, old Metallica, just as much as I love bands like Deep Purple, Humble Pie, and 60's stuff like The Doors, Vanilla Fudge, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Stones, the Who, and the Beatles....


are you fat.

are you fat.


wtf?  :-\\

By listening to a wide variety of music types. When I was a very young, I would often listen to what my mother had on the radio station, material that is now referred to as golden oldies. I still love a lot of this kind of music.

My uncle also had fairly bizzare tastes in music. Groups like Newcleus, the Art of Noise, etc. were my first introduction to anything outside of mainstream. I'll never forget listening to 2 Live Crew uncensored for the first time.  :o

My grandfather introduced me to big band era music.

Along came MTV - when MTV used to be good. I'm afraid many a homework lesson was skipped in favor of watching the newest video....

My first job was in a bar that was rather 'country'. I grew to love country music quickly, though the next time I hear "Black Velvet" (not really a country song) or "Born To Boogie" on the jukebox I may go postal.  ;D

Next was hard rock and hair metal. I, at one point, had over 300 cassettes of hair metal bands alone. I don't know what happened to all of these, but I miss them.

Along came grunge. This is by far my favorite general class of music, and I know more about the bands than the average person. Hearing countless little factoids over the years on radio stations, show like VH-1 Pop Up video (later on of course), and reading as much as I could about them helped me acquire enough useless trivia to fill a book.

After grunge kind of slipped under the radar I listened to post grunge and newer artists coming out at the time, like Alannis Morrissette. I still liked the less than mainstream stuff (Detachable Penis by King Missile anyone?).

My friend Rick introduced me to some more classics and also some very weird stuff. Bands that were overseas and completely out of the American mainstream (but still rocked), bands that played in odd time signatures, whole tone scales, used unlikely instruments (Chapman sticks, etc.), funky instrumentals, old jazz, etc.

Next came rap, IOW Eminem. This was unlike early rap or gangsta rap, which I knew fairly well. While I still don't like much rap as a whole, I do appreciate some of it.

Fast foward 5 yearsof listening to a variety of radio stations and I found AmIRight. Many of the songs parodied there I hadn't heard before. I started d/l songs, buying greatist hits compilations, etc. I also picked up a wealth of knowledge there.

Despite all of this, I do terribly on most lyrics quizzes, even though I rarely forget lyrics, the song name or who did them. I think I might have read a total of 3 magazines ( other than Guitar ones) like Spin, Blender, Kerang (sp?), Rolling Stone, etc.

I still have 3 what I consider major gaps in music - pre-1960 songs, disco (not that I want to know much about disco - as a genre it kinda sucks), and post 2000 songs. But I suppose my music knowledge is good enough for now.

are you fat.
just what do you mean by that?

Okay.  Thank you all.  I guess my brain just doesn't work like that.  I can't remember details like that.  That's why I would of sucked at Law School.

are you fat.


Are you Ugly?  You sure act it...

are you fat.


Bill, you forgot the question mark..  ::)