New Year’s Resolutions

I know I’m a little slow posting this up, more than a month has passed since new years (this year is going by outrageously fast) , but these indistinct thoughts have been floating around in my head for quite some time. My new year’s  resolution this year: I’m going to ignore what other people think of my taste in music. I’m still going to listen to peoples suggestions as to what I might like, but I’m not going to take head of unconstructive criticism of my taste.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much other peoples opinions have shaped what I listen to. How I feel the instinctive need for my taste to be “different”, to not listen to pop and only listen to bands that come from off the beaten track. Every so often I guiltily indulge in popular music, and can’t help but feel a little dirty afterward. I cringe when I scroll through my music library on the computer and see a band I love classified as “pop”. So from now on I’m going to try and listen to whatever music sounds good to me, and try not to take heed of preconceptions I have about what is cool. I’m also going to go out of my way not to judge other people for listening to music that they like either.

I tried to think why I feel such a need for my taste to be different, and I think it is because I want to be leader rather than a follower, to feel like I was the person who decided that a band was worth listening to.  I want to be the person who finds the diamond in the rough and not be guided by the ever changing  fashion of the moment.

Just a little side note: I found this really cool website which makes graphical representations of the music you listen to (using data from last.fm). Also this mainstream-o-meter (which wasn’t working when I tried) which measures how mainstream your taste in music is – which of course I won’t be taking any notice of this year ^_^.