A Musical Experiment

So, yesterday at Church, the speaker brought up how you can know a lot about someone based on their playlist on their iTunes. In part, I disagree, as I do not listen to the vast majority of the music I own. However, it did inspire me to begin a project.  I am going to go through my library, unchecking any song that has any of the following three qualities:

1. Contains Profanity in the lyrics, title, or band name
2. Denies Biblical Truths such as the authority of God
3. Glorifies Sinful Behavior or drug use

I am working mostly out of curiosity of how much of my library will be left checked at the end.  I've already unchecked a few songs that I know contain one or more of the above.  I'll have to listen to a lot of my songs to be sure about them, though.  As I continue, I may post an update or two.  When I'm done, I'll probably delete some (though not necessarily all) of the

Good Taste/Bad Taste

It bugs me the way people talk about taste in media (particularly music). They act like the rule is you either have good taste, liking good music and hating bad music, or bad taste, where you either don't care about or dislike good music and love bad music. Most people think, or at least talk as if they think, that it's impossible to have both. Well, it's possible.

I have good taste in music: I like the Submarines, the Weepies, Maria Mena, the Beatles, and half a dozen others you're even less likely to have heard of than the first three I named. And there is some music I cannot stand, like Taylor Swift's "Love Story" (addressed briefly here). But there is some genuinely BAD music I like. For example, I think Nickelback is incredibly fun. I'm not saying I "enjoy them ironically," whatever that is supposed to mean. I just like listening to them. I know they lack compositional talent. The song "Nickelback sucks" demonstrates that by pairing "How You Remind Me" with "Someday." They have the exact same chord progression and remarkable similarities between the two videos. That doesn't change the fact that I like them.

In summary, just because someone has bad taste in music, doesn't mean they don't have good taste in music, or vice versa.

Some Things Change, Some Things Make Me Angry

When I was in early high school, I disliked country music—among other things, I disliked how hick-ish my high school was, and felt that country music exemplified this problem. Every semseter, we had a spirit week including a "Dress Like a Farmer" day. Most people didn't have to change that much. But I digress.

My junior year of high school, we moved to a new building which was no longer in walking distance from my house, and though I had a license, I had no car, so I started riding the bus. The driver liked country music, so that's what we listened to. Throughout the year, I learned to deal with it. I accepted, but did not like country music. This continued through much of college.

My junior year of college, however, my roommate talked me into going line dancing with him at a club called "The Dusty Armadillo." Not wanting to be a stick-in-the-mud, I danced. Dancing, I learned to love the music. That isn't to say I loved all country music, or all the time, but when I recognized a song I knew I could dance to, a new thrill shot through me. Thus I began to like country music.

Since graduation, I have moved home, and during my frequent visits to the Chiropractor (another story, for those who do not already know), I typically listen to one of our local country stations. Today was one such day. And now the reason for my writing: "Love Story" by Taylor Swift is a terrible song in every way, shape, and form.

I hate the music, I hate the lyrics, I hate the story the lyrics and music come together to tell. And not just because I feel that Mercutio should have been the hero of the play, because it completely ignores the actual plot of the story! Don't mention Romeo and Juliet if you're going to have a happy ending, Miss Swift! No! I had thought there was no way it was as bad as I thought it was, so I forced myself to listen to the whole thing.

It was worse.