How Passionate Are You About Music?

[danswift]

Ok, so I was talking to one of the dudes I know from the Northern Soul forums who told me that in his opinion,the unique and fundamental emotional core of soul music(in contrast with other forms of music)and the deeper unspoken 'we are the same down inside' understanding coupled with a mutual intense feeling for the music (rather than just 'really liking it') and how other genres are somehow lesser and different and just a case of 'liking' a kind of music a lot rather than being 'driven by it'.

 

Some of these Northern Soul dudes are fucking hilarious btw..I honestly think loads of them still haven't properly come down yet from the drugs they were taking in the mid 1970s ..

 

Anyway,on hearing this I said that while i respected his opinion i seriously doubted that being extremely passionate about a certain genre of music or possessing a 'them against us' mentality is hardly the singular, exclusive domain of a bunch of Northern Soul fanatics and he was misguided if he truly thought like that and I also pointed out that there's a whole set of people into many different genres, some of whom live music literally 24 hours a day..not just at 'weekends' or 'Soul nighters'..i'm talking every day of the week,year in,year out.

 

I mean,when I was a teenage tearaway I thought Jimi Hendrix was communicating with me directly..imagine my surprise when I found out he wasn't hehe...

 

So, how passionate are you when it comes to the music that you listen to?

[kebzer]

I've been listening to Rap for 26 years straight, without a single day passing by and not doing so.

 

Yet, I haven't checked anything new released after 2006 onwards and frankly, I don't give a shit about it.

 

Whatever. The dude you mention is probably still burning extra lsd calories, lol

[mfsop]

I'm very passionate about music in general but not so much about a single genre. I think you're loosing out on a lot of good stuff if you decide to ignore all other genres. Hip Hop is probably more immune to that due to the samples. Also, you need to keep your ears open to learn from other instruments since there is little formal education when it comes to rapping or scratching.

However, I've met lots of people who only accepted "the real Hip Hop" and nothing else - but I can understand that because rappers were to hideous 2000s pop songs what saxophonists used to be in the 80s: a gimmick.

 

Tell your friend to talk to people who are really into classical music, Jazz or Metal - I guess it's pretty easy to find people who believe that they've found the truth within their prefered genre.

[danswift]

I'm very passionate about music in general but not so much about a single genre. I think you're loosing out on a lot of good stuff if you decide to ignore all other genres.

 

Tell your friend to talk to people who are really into classical music, Jazz or Metal - I guess it's pretty easy to find people who believe that they've found the truth within their prefered genre.

I couldn't agree with you more...it never ceases to amaze me how some people can be so blinkered to other genres and sometImes it's honestly like you're talking to someone with the mindset of a 13 year old kid when I speak with some of these dudes on the Northern Soul forums, their attitudes at times are astonishing when it comes to other forms of music...there's plenty of folks on there who are really cool and open to all manner of stuff and some of these type of sites are an absolute treasure trove of musical knowledge, but jeez...some of em' are like petulant,stubborn children, unfortunately.

[TBearOne8III]

Its something i really enjoy but not a way of life. Music does not pay my bills therefore its not a way of life for me. Which is odd considering i would rather listen to or play with music than watch tv. I guess, if i didnt have a bunch of other shit that gets in the way of music then it would be a way of life for me.

[Jam Burglar]

I'm about in the same boat as TBearOne8III but come to a different conclusion. I don't make a living off of music but I'd definitely say it's a way of life for me. Scratching/DJing/Beatmaking has permeated just about every sphere of my life for over 20 years. When I'm not actively doing it, I'm pretty much always thinking about it so it really is something I've been living day in and day out for decades. At some point you just start to feel like it becomes part of you. In a lot of ways I think that if I was making a living off of it I might have given it up long ago.

[Steve]

The golden era for me was my mid-teens to my early twenties in terms of how much I loved music, even though there was no internet back then and I was living in a bubble in terms of music discovery.

 

I was clearly destined to be a big music head, but once I started getting into hip-hop and electro around 1982/3, that's when things kicked into high gear for me.

 

I would listen to the John Peel show every night, with a tape queued up on record/pause, ready for when he played a hip-hop track. Some nights I would listen to 3 hours of music I didn't like at all, just to catch the 1 hip-hop tune he played, but it was always worth it. People have it so easy these days in terms of music discovery and sharing. Back then you taped shit off the radio, if you had a hook-up to get a dubbed tape off someone then you were blessed, and you bought whatever was in your local record shop if you could afford it, which, when you were getting £1 a week pocket money or whatever was not that often, haha.

 

I used to regularly get goosebumps from listening to music. Even hearing good scratching in a hip-hop track would do it. I'd buy music magazines to find out what records were coming out, and I'd actually get really excited about certain albums, like a kid counting down the days to Christmas.

 

As I got older, my horizons broadened in terms of the music I listen to, but I don't get excited about it anymore. Not in the same way, anyway. Obviously I still discover tunes that are either new or old, but are new to me, that become favourites, but I just don't get the same buzz about them that I used to. I can't remember the last time I heard a song that gave me goosebumps, but I reckon that's just part of getting older.

 

I do think that the ease of getting music affects that, cos it's kinda like music overload where nothing really feels that special now, but I definitely wouldn't want to go back to the "dark ages" in that respect.

[Jam Burglar]

Obviously I still discover tunes that are either new or old, but are new to me, that become favourites, but I just don't get the same buzz about them that I used to. I can't remember the last time I heard a song that gave me goosebumps, but I reckon that's just part of getting older.

 

 

Well then get ready to have your dick blown off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsxwwhJ6GrY

[TBearOne8III]

oh shit!! is that attack of the killer tomatoes???

[TBearOne8III]

i think im changing my vote. Jam and steve really cleared up how i feel about music. to loosely quote jam, when im not doing music im usually thinking about it. there is usually a beat or song that is playing in my head while doing whatever. when we first got together, my wife used to fuss at me for tapping and drumming on random objects. i've gotten better about it, but i see it in my kids sometimes. i remember writing out lists of potential mixes years before i bought my first pair of turntables. i still find it hard to listen to a song without thinking about what could blend into it. so yea, i got a problem. im a music junkie.

[joeClockwork]

When my Mum used to drive me to school, she’d catch me nodding my head to some beats that only I could hear and say, “Joe, you’re doing it again.” 25+ years later and I’m getting the same off my wife. I’ve either got beats in my head or freestyle scratching.

If I have to do anything other than music, I have to really focus to make sure I don’t fuck it up. I didn’t go to university, which is just as well because I probably wouldn’t have learnt much.

So, yeah. I don’t do music for a living but I definitely live it. Would be nice if I had the time to myself to actually DO some music but I try not to complain!

[medinah_nitro]

I love my beats

 

I listen to music in the car

 

I hate music snobbery I used to be a very big snob on music but now I listen to any old shit lol

 

I only fuck with vinyl though

 

I like northern soul very much but that scene is weird Ive been to a few nights

 

A lot of the old djs on the uk Hiphop scene r a bit like it

 

Theres a sense of entitlement and misery

 

Im like cheer up u stone head cunts

 

I do hate peoples that say they have an eclectic music taste and dont know shit about most genres though Im still a snob on that

 

The only genres I dont like r dnb and classical really

[danswift]

I like northern soul very much but that scene is weird Ive been to a few nights

 

Theres a sense of entitlement and misery

 

Yeah,I couldn't agree more with you tbh..the strange world of Northern Soul has always attracted its fair share of weirdos and folks who take the OVO (original vinyl only) thing way too far.

 

I get tired of these morons very quickly nowadays..I used to waste too much time arguing the case for the need for reissues, compilations etcetera of the music which deserves to be heard by as many people as possible, imo...i have no desire whatsoever to spend £400 on a rare 45 when I can pick up a legitimate repressing for £5 or find it on a compilation cd irrespective of how much I like the track or the particular genre of music.

 

Trying to convince some of these idiots that it doesn't devalue the music iin any way if it's not the original source material that's being heard or my argument that music belongs to everyone,not just a select few is something they just don't seem willing to accept or understand, basically.

[DJ Rock Well]

Erm.. I spend 5+ days a week selling it, my free time playing it for my own pleasure or the pleasure of others or making it (for the pleasure of precisely nobody). I also am part of a music (well, sort of) based collective who socialise around it and until recently I had second job teaching playing and making it... and yet I still chose option 3 as i know my audience

[danswift]

I still chose option 3 as i know my audience

Ahh yes,that particular option in the poll was included for you specifically Matt, although I see some other scallywag member of this forum has gone and placed a vote there too which is absolutely disgusting behaviour,quite frankly. .

[Mista_Ed]

definitely used to be all i gave a fuck about.....but these days, im not as single minded....

 

i still love music very, very much - and i still love hip hop the most tbh, but as far as "practicing the artform" - not so much at all anymore...

 

having ran a studio for a decade, practiced DJing religiously since the early nineties til about 2007, and produced material for donkeys.... its kinda something ive done to death and lost the love for a bit......i guess ive lost the inspiration... and / or need to?

 

looking back - it was always something cathartic for me and was definitely a means of combating depression and down times over the years, as well as something i was good at and enjoyed (one and the same thing, i guess).

 

having moved to the other side of the world 7 years ago, by default, it changed pretty much everything - it definitely put my production to a complete standstill, as i had to sell most of the studios equipment at the time, and put a lot of my personal stuff into storage in the UK...which is where its stayed.....but making that move also reinvigorated my days DJing out again, which was cool and kept my head in the game somewhat.

 

i haven't played anywhere out for a couple of years now though, and i'm not really that bothered if i don't unless something appropriate comes along.

 

id love to get back into production again in the future - ive got a lot more ideas now and have been exposed to loads of different influences since ive been in NZ, so im fairly sure id be able to go back to it with a totally fresh mindset and goal if i was ever to manage to kick it off again.

 

im so fucking busy these days with my business its hard to get the brain space to think about much else?! that said, im making some decent money for once in my life, so i think the sacrifice of creativity for the dollars is worth it - for the time being, at least!

[Tbtf]

 

I like northern soul very much but that scene is weird Ive been to a few nights

 

Theres a sense of entitlement and misery

 

Yeah,I couldn't agree more with you tbh..the strange world of Northern Soul has always attracted its fair share of weirdos and folks who take the OVO (original vinyl only) thing way too far.

 

I get tired of these morons very quickly nowadays..I used to waste too much time arguing the case for the need for reissues, compilations etcetera of the music which deserves to be heard by as many people as possible, imo...i have no desire whatsoever to spend £400 on a rare 45 when I can pick up a legitimate repressing for £5 or find it on a compilation cd irrespective of how much I like the track or the particular genre of music.

 

Trying to convince some of these idiots that it doesn't devalue the music iin any way if it's not the original source material that's being heard or my argument that music belongs to everyone,not just a select few is something they just don't seem willing to accept or understand, basically.

 

 

 

I completely agree with you on that Dan I can't understand how people hate on reissues makes no sense to me. I honestly think the dudes value how rare / expensive the record is over the actual music which is a shame.

It completely reminds me of clothing and shoes where the harder to obtain more scarce product drives up demand, instead of the actual look of the clothing IMO. The Yeezy shoes are a perfect example once they started producing more pairs where they were accessible to everyone sneakerheads started shitting on em.

[Jon]

Music is 100% my life and my full time job for the last 8 years. I've def shifted my focus/interests with some aspects and that's def kept it fresh for me (e.g. I spend way much more time producing rather than scratching now but rewind to when I was a teenager and I'd have been scratching during every moment of my free time).

[Guest Symatic]

i'd say a solid thirteen and 3/4.

[Hammon]

Can you be a bit more specific, Symatic? 13 and 3/4 out of what? haha

Edited February 8 by Hammon