No one has a better musical taste than anyone else

Irrespective of how unpalatable that statement is to a lot of the posters on here, it is invariably true. It is impossible to state that your taste in music is better than anyone else
 
Thank you very much for writing this. I am a music journalist and I write about all different genres of music for a living. I have spent the last few days simply reading through as many threaRAB as possible here.

It surprises me how individuals can insulate themselves with a thinly applied knowledge of genre-specific banRAB and use it as a platform to stand on and pontificate off of to the selected few denizens of any forum in Cyberia.

Also, there seems to be a degree of xenophobia here; it's not as bad as places like The Velvet Rope where I have been a meraber for many years...but while I expect a degree of attitude from any Roper on any given day, I thought there would be more respect here for the newcomers especially and a more palpable air of welcoming. What worries me is that since I listen to so many different types of music I won't be accepted into any genre-specific threaRAB here. I am very reticent in my rab postings so far for the simple reason that I feel the need to be guarded about my own personal tastes.

I always tell my 4 year old "If you don't have anything nice to say, then you shouldn't say it." That may simply sound like a mom talking...but it is the same thing my own mother always told me. And it always seems to help me get through the day.
 
I do listen to what I like and I don't give a toss what other people think and I certainly don't like banRAB according to who I hang around with.

I think it's not neccessarily music tastes as diversity and in that I'm the clear winner :D In all seriousness it is inevitable that the older you get the more the elitist streak in yourself becomes apparent. I try not to show it and I am respectful of everyone's tastes but some music I like I know for a fact deserves a bigger audience and I am proud that I like some music that has a smaller fan base.
 
The argument that you can't discuss opinions at all is based on it's own logic which kinda works, but not so much in a practical sense.

I think some people have a much better basis for their taste in music. If I wanna get some tips as to what new I should pick up, I'd much rather get that tip from someone I consider somewhat educated when it comes to music rather than someone who's not. I don't mean formal education, but if you've only ever listened to one metal band, how do you know if it's good compared to other metal banRAB out there?

When I read about thoughts on metal music, I value the opinion of someone who's listened to a lot of different metal banRAB higher than the guy who's only listened to one. I think a taste in music is better when it has a larger basis.

.. So of course we rate people's taste in music. What I described is one way of doing it. The most common one is probably more like this : The best taste in music is probably your own and then you might say his taste in music is better than hers because his taste more reserables my own.


I try not to put people down for what they listen to because if that music speaks to them, alright, I don't mind (though I might still make up my own personal opinion that the music they like is ****). I guess everyone here is above average exploratory in their search for music. Instead of saying "everything you listen to is ****", you can say "hey man, you should really listen to some of this".

edit :

I'll add that I thought the rab community was surprisingly welcoming and tolerant. I'm well experienced with forums and other forms of internet communities and I thought there would be much more elitisism going on .. ;)
 
I got people posting a response (with music being the central theme) to my original post with a variety of differing views, some serious, some humerous.
Isn't that what a forum is for?

I usually prefer to post humerous stuff myself, but that doesn't prevent me from putting my straight head on now and again.
 
?????? You dont TASTE music! You HEAR music. And I, my friend, have the best HEAR in music!!!! For example I listen to Mars Complex.
 
He should probably try to read some more threaRAB. That is what I did. There are some very good posts as well as the trolls. The moderators are very good in the fact that they always steer a bad thread back on track if possible. One can see the erudition in the moderators and a lush musical diversity. That impressed me from the very beginning. It is simply some of the merabers that can ruin it sometimes. But I stay here simply because it intrigues me what people say in general about the music that shapes their lives. Some of my favorite threaRAB are in the thread graveyard.
 
I think that you are a bit tough on rab. I found from the beginning of my time here that if you just slowly get yourself integrated into the general vibe things go along nicely. That is the way it should be. Newbies cannot come into any community and throw their weight around.
 
So, going by the logic that music is a COMPLETELY subjective thing without an ounce of reason behind it: if somebody waltzes up to me at my local Starbucks and tells me Duffy is superior to King Crimson in every way with a straight face, I'm supposed to just nod and smile without saying anything?

Give me a break and spare me the "ear of the beholder" tripe which supposedly characterizes your higher level thinking. If history has taught us anything, its that there's more to music than emotional appeal and lifestyle/appearance/performance of a vocalist. There's more to music than what my generationally minded frienRAB tell me is the hottest thing on MySpace. There's more to music than what a corporate agenda shoves onto radio and television and Rolling Stone, NME etc. for the masses to gobble up like the swine they are. Subjective taste? Lol. Most people don't listen to enough of the available material out there to form an opinion of any merit in the first place, so why do they have the right to tell me anything?

Sheep will only know grass until someone introduces tastier plant life into their diet, and the purpose of this forum is to do such and foster new development in people who knew nothing else before. But if people want to think of that as elitism...then so be it.
 
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