Musical Personalities Present on Listology
Submitted by darktremor on Sat, 06/07/2008 - 03:55
Tags:
- I've noted that people on the site seem to generally fall (not quite neatly) into one of several categories musically. I'm mainly doing this because I feel that there are certain musical personalities that should never argue with one another, because the discussion will go around and around and around and around and no ground will be covered. Also, anyone who feels that their musical personality isn't represented, or that they have been unfairly categorized, please let me know. It's not my intention to insult anyone, merely to list - I have no contempt whatsoever for any of the categories (excepting number 7). I'd also very much like it if all those who read this list posted what category best fits them. I'm hoping to eventually have every major contributer to listology in one of the musical categories. I may eventually make a test to determine the type. :D
- Scaruffi-ists.
- Personality: Whether intentional or not, these individuals have very close tastes to those on Scaruffi's lists and opinions, and their lists are accordingly similar (a few even go so far as to practically worship the man). Some feel that their favorites slowly came into alignment with Scaruffi's over time, others did indeed directly copy his lists, making themselves like all of the albums (I can't name a precise example of this at the moment, but I've seen a list or two that were uncannily like Scaruffi's, far beyond any possible coincidence of taste). Either way, reading one of their favorites lists is essentially the same as reading Scaruffi's. Musically, the albums are difficult to listen to, intense, complex, emotional, original, and immersive, and they usually take many listens to reveal themselves.
- Genres of choice: Avante-garde, psychedelic rock, "art" rock, krautrock, free-jazz, cool jazz, classic electronica, shoegaze, minimalism, folk-rock, experimental rock.
- Examples of typical favorite albums: Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica, Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom, Faust - Faust 1, Velvet Underground - & Nico, Doors - The Doors, Popul Buh - Hosianna Mantra, Pere Ubu - Modern Dance, Royal Trux - Twin Infinitives
- Sample individuals: Afterhours, Parable, Lukeprog, Seanseansean
- Tranceheads
- Personality: It's largely my fault that this one showed up on listology. It's self-explanatory: individuals who are obsessed with trance (especially epic and anthem) and little else. Generally, it's those who are starting to dislike the mainstream, and aare turning to trance as an out - this is sort of a gateway, and most move on after 1-3 years.
- Genres of choice: Epic trance, anthem trance, progressive trance, hard trance, symphonic trance, progressive house, tech-trance, and a small amount of classic trance, psytrance, and goa trance.
- Examples of typical favorite tracks: DJ Tiesto - Suburban Train, Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar, Sasha - Xpander, William Orbit - Adagio for Strings, LSG - Netherworld, Paul Van Dyk - For an Angel, The Thrillseekers - Synaesthesia, Darude - Sandstorm, three Drives - Greece 2000, Cosmic Gate - Exploration of Space
- Sample Individuals: myself 5 years ago, Tranceaddict
- Rockists (Or Classic Rockists)
- Personality: This is a classic musical personality, well-known across music criticism. Many in this group believe that music hit its stride in the 60s-70s, and has basically been going downhill since. This group prefers mainstream rock (and pop rock) acts from that period, and sees most music outside of that box as greatly inferior. The importance is on musicians that use the medium of rock as one of auteur-like self-expression. Many despise pop and disco (and consider them to be an inauthentic form of self-expression - which is very important for this group - although some like "rockier" pop like The Bare Naked Ladies). This group also usually dislikes what it deems "pretentious" music (such as very electronic Scaruffi selections like Irrlicht and Faust), which is generally music that seems to be original for the sake of originality (to them) - although this is usually better regarded than the inauthentic pop, and some rockists highly respect certain "difficult" albums (such as Trout Mask Replica, and especially The Velvet Underground). This group has some cross-over with Scaruffi-ists, but the two types should never argue, as the two groups look for very different things in music. Note that some in this group do like current music, mainly indie rock. Some rockists, in fact, highly regard indie rock, and consider it a favorite upon rock. Also note that some rockists don't hold any of the opinions I stated above, they just simply happen to like the same music as those who do - I would call this atypical rockism.
- Genres of choice: Classic pop-rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, glam metal, heavy metal, blues-rock, folk rock, acid rock, rock & roll, classic R & B, sometimes grunge and "art-rock," and occasionally indie rock and shoegaze.
- Examples of typical favorite albums: The Beatles - Revolver, The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Doors - The Doors, The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads, Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin, Van Halen - Van Halen, The Velet Underground - & Nico.
- Sample individuals: Revolver, Rank1, Grandpa_chum, AAA (perhaps atypical)
- Robots
- Personality: This is where tranceaddicts when epic trance no longer exites. This group is into electronic music of all kinds, or at least many kinds, and has usually developed a fascination with sound in general. Most still have ties to their dance roots, enjoying styles as disperate as jungle and house, but some move on further to enjoy electronic listening styles such as ambient. "Minimal" is currently a huge favorite in this group. Many move on from this group to another personality, it's often a gateway genre to either eclecticism or Scaruffi-ism (mainly due to Scaruffi's love of classic electronica and the very electronica-like Krautrock such as Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht and Faust - faust.)
- Genres of choice: Trance, house, techno, minimal, psytrance, trip-hop, acid jazz, jungle, acid, microhouse, ambient dance, IDM, minimalism, classic electronica, glitch, ambient, and downtempo.
- Examples of typical favorite albums: Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children, James Holden - Balance 005, Sasha - Northern Exposure, Akufen - My Way, DJ Tiesto - In Search of Sunrise, Leftfield - Leftism, DJ Shadow - Endtroducing, The Orb - Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman
- Sample individuals: Myself 2 years ago, Blind 1 year ago, AlacritMusic, sljiva
- ADHD (eclecticists)
- Personality: These people either actively strive to like every genre of music, or like such a wide variety of music that it's essentially the same thing. Usually those in this category have progressively travelled through a series of other musical personalities before reaching this. Most who fall into this category despise the current mainstream, but some enjoy a number of rockist selections. No one in this type actually likes literally every style, but it's generally a very large number of types. Also note that this type has likes in dislikes in even their favorite genres (it isn't simply "I like everything" - a phrase I find really silly, and is really just used by 14 year old girls who like "both kinds of music, rock AND hip-hop"). I might call this category the indecisive one.
- Genres of choice: Indie rock, electronica (both dance and listening), jazz, avante-garde, classical, Scaruffi selections, rockist selections, blues, folk, etc..
- Sample favorite albums: Any
- Sample individuals: lbangs, myself (today), jim, blind, khriz, AJDaGreat, AsColdAsIce (leans towards "robot")
- Popheads
- Personality: This group not only loves the mainstream, they love pop music PERIOD, from every era. 1950s? 60s? Today? Doesn't matter, these people love it all. From The Beatles to the Backstreet Boys to Buddy Holly, it's all game. Anyone in this group would be absolutely perfect as a wedding DJ.
- Genres of choice: Doo-wop, rock & roll, neo-grunge, modern R & B, teen pop, synthpop, disco, pop rock - basically pop.
- Sample favorite songs: The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever, Buddy Holly - That'll be the day, Rihanna - Umbrella, Pet Shop Boys - Heart, ABBA - Waterloo, T Rex - Hot Love, Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual, Michael Jackson - Billy Jean, The KLF - 3 AM Eternal, Culture beat - Mr. Vain, Nena - 99 Red Balloons, T.A.T.U. - All the Things She Said (any top 40 hit, ever, really).
- Sample individuals: Martin1983, Nick Vane, Wezzo
- Sheep
- Personality: This group simply follows whatever is currently popular. It's not very common here: in fact, I've never seen it on listology. I suppose it's because coming here and talking about music already implies that one is thinking about music, which is something that those who only follow trends aren't doing. Music isn't art for this group, it's fashion.
- Genres of choice: the genre du jour of FM radio. Currently, post-grunge, pop hip-hop, new swing jack ("R & B"), crunk, MOR singer-songwriter, and electro-pop.
- Sample favorite songs: just check the current top 40.
- Sample individuals: Myself 9 years ago, most people in North America.
- Metalheads
- Personality: This is a very self-explanatory type: basically, it's people who like metal and little else. There is a wide range of metalhead types: some only like the side closer to (and poking into) the mainstream (like Metallica and System of a Down), while others have particular underground styles that they enjoy (Dream Theatre and Pantera seem pretty popular with many in this set). Some metalheads enjoy a few other dark genres outside the rock roots of metal.
- Genres of choice: The most popular among this group seem to be doom metal, avante-garde metal, glam metal, gothic metal, groove metal, power metal, speed metal, stoner metal, symphonic metal, thrash metal, traditional heavy metal, and viking metal, and some also (or exclusively) like rap metal, nu-metal, gabber, grunge, industrial metal, power electronics, industrial, industrial rock, futurepop, and industrial techno.
- Sample favorite albums: System of a Down - toxicity, Dream Theatre - Awake, Metallica - Master of Puppets, Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral.
- Sample individuals: hinterland & socialretard
I did write quite a lot, but AJDaGreat just summed up what I said a second ago in a much better way, so I won't comment further. By the way, that is the way I meant 'in common', not necessarily that you must be friendly with people who are very similar as it would be extremely boring and conversation would be extremely limited, just that they are open-minded and can relate in some way to you. Difference in people is what provokes discussion and debate, which is a great thing for all people and we can learn a lot from meeting and talking to a variety of different people.
So, although it may be a bit oversimplified, is this the summary of what you're saying -
There are certain rituals and practices to follow when one wants to develop a romantic relation with someone from the opposite sex and not doing so leads to a platonic relation.
?
Pretty much (to simplify it a lot). However, note that we can (and do) follow these unconsciously. When things work out in dating, usually it's because we followed these biological scripts unconsciously.
Yes. And here's another thought.
If you consciously develop dating skills, you can use either a skilled approach or a natural approach. If you do not develop skills, you have to leave it up to chance.
This is a common reaction. I suspect extroverts don't need much practice and introverts do. I love to apply critical thinking and disciplined practice to fields that are usually left to chance and disappointment.
Hey, you should study psychology.
.. Or probably he should be in marketing. He'll be the next big Jobs.
Hey luke can you point me to some online resources on critical thinking? And some books you'd recommend?
To Feif Umgoten at the top: How I listen to so much music:
I have a job as a research assistant at a lab, and most of it is work done at a computer. About 80% of it is simple repetitive labour like data entry (hence why I'm an assistant, and not a researcher) - only 20% is actually scientific and/or technical. Since I work 35 hours per week, and it takes me over an hour to get to work each day, AND I work the night shift, this leaves me with about 28 hours at work alone to listen to music and 10 hours on the bus. Because I'm also a student in a fairly difficult field, I spend about 10 hours per week studying, during which I play music in the background. I also listen to ambient when I go to sleep (which is about 30 minutes per night before I pass out) - it helps a lot. During a lot of the time I'm not working, studying, or sleeping, I'm hanging out with Lisa (girlfriend) or friends or at parties, and when at friends houses or parties, there's always music playing, and a lot of them actually have good taste. So between the 28 hours of work listening, 10 hours busing, 3.5 hours going to sleep, 10 hours studying, and about 5 hours at friends' houses who play good music (or parties where good music is played), that's about 56.5 hours, on average. If I include going to good (good is a keyword) clubs, shows, bars, or venues, it's more like 59 hours on average that I listen to music. Since I can also listen download music at work, and there's time while the computer processes files, this only compounds my excessive listening problem.
I recommend having an iPod to just about everyone :D :D :D
..iPods with a decent set of earphones, maybe. You wouldn't realize how the pre-bundled earphones suck until you check out some really decent ones. Sadly you wouldn't have much of a cost effective choice if you want sturdy earphones with a lower frequency limit of around 6 kHz or something.
I highly recommend these.
Not quite to your specifications, but I'm not sure most people rip files with a high enough bps to really matter. Deep bass is one of the first elements most compression schemes shave off.
Even if people used a lossless codec, I'm not sure the iPod's built-in DAC would go that distance, though I could be wrong.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Thanks-o! I'll keep an eye out for them, although I lean towards the in-ear earphones.
I currently listen to all my music on the Nokia 5700 with Panasonic HJ50E earphones. The result is simply amazing. If you do get your hands on the earphones, they're worth a shot.
Cool.
I rarely use in-ears unless I'm out and about, and then I use the earbuds that came with my player. They aren't supreme, but they're pretty good.
I'm kinda silly. I have three sets of earphones! The earbuds on the go, a pair of closed over-the-ears for when nobody should be hearing my music (usually these come out for my treadmill time at my apartment complex's workout room), and the Grados for any time I can be a little loud. The latter are easily the best but not always practical.
In my experience, only open over-the-ears really allow bass to roll realistically, but my experience is only just that and certainly not the final word! Other types can still be quite good, however.
Hello, my name is L. Bangs, and I'm an audio addict...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Probably. But over the ear phones are really bulky! I had a pair of chinese headphones that had the frequency range of 1 kHz to 26000 kHz at just around $10! Needless to say the bass pulsated right through into my heartbeats. And they made me look like... I'll settle at 'a Martian". Really big and curved they were. But chinese build quality being chinese, I rue it's demise as of now.
I am really lucky I got my ears on my current Panasonic earphones. They cost me around $22 only as compared to the current tag of 49! And the bass reproduction is supreme, even with the crappy NeroAAC conversion codec for m4a format. I suggest them to almost anyone now. =)
49 dollars isn't too bad - my in-the-earphones (not earbuds - they make a little canal into your ear) were over 70 dollars! It was worth it though: I found the bass to be about 90% preserved with them. If you have a 49 dollar pair that does the same, that's great!
I may get the pair you recommend since I need a (good) new pair, and I'm pretty strapped for cash right now. Which Panasonic ones did you get? Do you have a link to it, or a brand, or anything like that?
I own a pair of the Panasonic RP HJE50. Go here - http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Panasonic%20RP-HJE50%20Headphones:1991639070 - for more details. I definitely suggest them for anyone looking for faithful bass and treble reproduction.
Nice! I'll keep this in mind when I go shopping for a replacement pair. Thanks!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Yes, thank you! I may order them online, actually.
Where do I fit into all this?
I feel unrepresented!
Or maybe I'm a rockist by yr definition.
Though I find myself disagreeing with rockists more than agreeing.
I don't know, from looking at your music lists, rockist doesn't seem to be a bad fit. It's not perfect, but your taste mostly matches.
Yeah, it's not a bad fit. But my old AAA lists are somewhat outdated.
Of course, I haven't made very many music lists under my new account.
Let me know if you make any, and I can update you.
I have no idea where I am.
I guess a mix of Scaruffist/Robot, or if only one will do, ADHD.
I'll put you under ADHD, with "Robot" leanings.
Cheerio sire.
Just noticed a minor typo while passing by...
Under Scaruffists, you have "Popul Buh, instead of "Popol Vuh".
Miraculous album by the way...
Thanks, I'll fix that.
Indeed, very good album. Judging by your agreement, I'd say I placed you fairly well. (Note that Scaruffi loves classical)
Most definitely. Clearly the most accurate category I could be put in on here, short of having my very own one, which I still hold out hopes for of course ( :
Haha, if I were to be truly accurate, I would have to give everyone their own category. The point of this list is broad generalization. :D
Although I could probably make it fairly accurate if I made it similar to the "OCEAN" personality test, where everyone has different degrees of musical personality out of 100. IE:
Darktremor:
Scaruffi-ist: 59
Robot: 92
Rockist: 55
Trancehead: 51
Popist: 29
Sheep: 12
Metalhead: 21
ADHD: 96
Surely the best example of a robot would be sljiva? His lists demonstrate he has a detailed knowledge of techno, italo-disco, classic trance, classic house, prog house, and all modern EDM.
Excellent, thank you.
God, I have to have, like, three different personalities on here. I have schizophrenia XD!!! I definitely started as a sheep until about 3 years ago, then moved to robots about 2 years ago and mixed it along with metalhead throughout my life, and I am definitely now an ADHD LOL! Though I personally loathe 3/4 of the albums you put down for metalheads, how much more mainstream can you get for metal than those albums? I mean, Metallica is nice, but the others....ehhh - no. Dream Theatre, PANTERA (wait...WHEN did they become underground?!?!?!). If they sell shirts of those bands at Hot Topic I would not consider them "underground" ^_^!
But beside that, very helpful, intuitive, interesting list :). Are you still an ADHD?
And what would you consider me to be (I always enjoy hearing second opinions)?
I'd call you ADHD.
Metal-wise, it's a style I've never gotten into at all. An album or track here or there, but it's never been something I listened to any substantial amount at all. So I'm not surprised the albums are relatively mainstream.
I'm certainly still an ADHD. I'll always be.
Hah! Great fun. I am a ADHD and the opposite of a sheep!
Heehee, nobody wants to fall under "sheep".
This was very interesting to read and you made a lot of good points and observations.
I would say at heart im a rockist because i absoloutely love anything rock and anything with a guitar in makes me happy - in particular 80s rock, glam, hard rock and soft rock, classic rock in fact anything rock (:
However i also relate to the 'indecisive' list as i have gone through periods of being absorbed in different genres and i do like the odd pop, blues, classical and indie artists.
But i also related to the metalheads section as i vere into the mainstream metal bands, i love metallica and pantera and the darker bands deftones and nine inch nails.
My main music loves are rock, country and metal and im very choosey about straying away from those genres...i hate RnB, rap, dance n most mainstream music in the charts although i dont mind trance...
The more i think about this, the more confused i get about which category i fall into haha, I have managed to eliminate Tranceheads, scaruffi-ists and sheep.
Im certain i will always return to my rockist roots but these days i think im more of an ADHD, Id be very interested to heard which catagory you would put me in ???
It sounds like you fit ADHD.
Hmm. Well, this list was made quite a deal after I had stopped posting lists on here for a period of time. But, for the most part, I'd still have to agree with the "Robot" title, I guess. I do make an effort to like everything, and, in truth, I listen to a lot of indie rock, local rock, alternative and experimental genres; an amount that's actually comparable to the electronic genres I listen to. I really can't prove it by my Listology profile, though, since the music section is mainly electronic. So Robot is where I shall reside. -beep- -boop- -over-
Yep, robot works for you - for now. You're probably heading towards ADHD though - I think most people eventually end up there once they move out of the "sheep" category.
Hmm, I think I might be in the category of "ADHD (eclecticists)"