independently musical

starter: it's clear i need to spend more time on this space, especially because i feel this blog, seen by anyone or not, is a part of the musical [and artistic/creative] side of who i am. a dearth of expression and thought here seems indicative of such a lacking more generally...or at least a lack of active focus on said component of life...and that's a terrible sign.

on to the topic:
i sometimes look at and reflect on my musical catalog. a friend once accused me of being pretty mainstream when it came to music, to hip-hop in particular. it definitely was not expected nor was it how i necessarily thought of my musical stylings. i am definitely a fan of much mainstream, popular, whatever u want to label it. i enjoy the radio much of the time. but i tend to think my musical tastes go beyond that subset of music, and i hope substantially so.

it is this very hope, as well as reflection on the musical tastes of many i know that i find so intriguing. why feel this way? why are some people so into the underground, the independent music and anti-pop et al.? i bet there are some obvious answers to that question, some more profound and less clear. we each feel a need to define ourselves and feel a sense of our own uniqueness and individuality: how is this accomplished by being someone who the machine of popular music has taken control of?

some people are just generally anti-establishment...they just can't get down with what is the mainstream. think of hipsters [if i were to head down that road it would be a digression of substantial weight...altho along similar lines]. what bothers me most about those who are so fiercely independent musically is they are often so for the sake of being exactly that [this is also an opinion i hold of hipsters]. i must point out i'm making sweeping generalizations in a way and by no means have any particular individual in mind. it's just that i cannot stand when people are something just for the sake of being that something.

what i do respect is people who appreciate the music [and anything] they do because of what the music is, what it brings to their lives, what it means to them. even if it is something i'd never listen to, i can always respect the true love for the music. and when someone enjoys the music they do for such reasons, they are the truly independently musical...not the dweeb who knows about some emo band or hip-hop artist u don't know about just so he can say he knows about them and u don't.

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an added thought: as i drove home last nite thinking more on this topic, in some ways part of what i was hoping to articulate became clear to me. individuals who listen to "independent" music just so they're not listening to popular music and those who look down upon others who are more mainstream when it comes to musical taste commit the exact musical crime they accuse others of: they align themselves with a certain music for a reason outside of the music itself. to hate on pop music because it is pop muisc, to intentionally steer your tastes to finding the most indie thing u can because it is indie is the same thing as being into pop music because it is "cool" and popular.

but when the individual enjoys the music for the music, be it some small indie band or NYSNC, that individual is the one who has the independent taste in music, which is a much more meaningful label to me any day.