“You listen to that kind of music? Wow.” “Oh, you’ve probably never heard of them.”
Statements like these have come out of our mouths at least once in our lives.
Yes, we have all sounded like the hipster. The definition of ‘hipster’ is someone who follows the latest trends. However, the definitions that we are most familiar with are the Urban Dictionary definitions of the word ‘Hipster,’ all of which have the common theme of stating that hipsters are young and pretentious, and the sure-fire way of spotting one is to ask “Are you a hipster?” If they answer no, they are more than likely a hipster.
There aren’t many people who want to be defined as a hipster, but we all possess some hipster mannerisms. One prime example: My music is better than yours.
It doesn’t matter if you listen to indie-rock, country, mainstream pop, hip-hop, metal, k-pop, etc. We all believe that our music is better than all other genres, and why shouldn’t we? Why listen to music you don’t like?
Except for the fact that putting down other genres of music does not make you cool, it makes you look like a snob. I’m also guilty of this, however, I also know the crushing blows of my peers judging my music taste.
When you are putting down someones music, you are putting down their right to individuality and personality. According to a study done by Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University in 2008, music links to your personality. An example would be that if you listen to blues, you are likely have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease, whereas if you listen to rock/ heavy metal you are unlikely to have the traits that a person who listens to the blues would have.
The type of music we listen to does not define us, but fits with our personality. To be put down for liking a certain type of music is to be put down for who you are, whether you or the person judging your music taste is aware of this or not. Even if listening to blues gives you a higher chance of having high self-esteem, it is still going to be offensive if someone is telling you that you have bad music taste. If listening to rock/ heavy metal links to you having low self-esteem, you are only going to feel more attacked.
On another note, how exactly does the making of an artists’ songs validate their talent? In America, we seem to have a growing expectation that the main deciding factor for whether or not a singer/ band is good or not is if they write their own music.
This is an expectation we seriously need to drop, because most of America’s mainstream musicians do not live up to this standard. Not every great singer is a singer-songwriter, and not every songwriter is a famous singer. That does not make them any less talented.
One thing that Korean pop constantly gets bashed for is that a lot of the bands are made by companies, they do not write their own music, they are nothing more than boy bands and girl bands, and that they are fake.
What is usually skimmed over is the exhausting training period, where they are pushed past their limits and are still expected to do more. They are training for years to build the stamina to sing and dance while not missing a beat or becoming too tired to perform, and are constantly running on small amounts of sleep from schedule to schedule. Even American music artists go through intense training to meet the extremely high expectations of their fans. They’re traveling from country to country, and are losing sleep due to jet lag and stress.
Yet they still manage to dance with more energy than seemingly possible, and sing or rap with an unlimited supply of passion. Most of them do not write their own songs, but have songwriters who write the hits. The fact that most of them do not play a hand in writing the songs they perform does not dismiss their undeniable talents though.
Tell me, have you heard of MFBTY or BTS? Well, what about Be Your Own Pet? Andrew Bird? If not, what have you been listening to? Oh, that’s right. You’ve been listening to your music that’s so much better than mine.
No one enjoys being put down for their music taste. Not even you. Why exactly we do it, I’m not sure. Maybe it makes us feel better, like we’re superior. Even if you give someone a list of reasons why they have horrible music taste, their preference isn’t going to change. They’ll just feel attacked.
One genre of music is not better than the other. This is something we desperately need to drill into our heads, because our music elitism is getting us nowhere.
