Natasha Dardashti staff writer
Here’s a concept: The sense of superiority you feel when someone tells you they adore Katy Perry, while you listen to Pink Floyd, is just an addition to the ridiculous “hipster” concept of hating trends.
Here’s another concept: Music shaming is an absurd excuse for people to feel better about themselves.
Whether it’s a 25-year-old man listening to One Direction or a 14-year-old girl listening to Rolling Stones, there is no point of viewing anyone as greater than another individual for listening to a certain type of music. If someone wants to sing along to Katy Perry, let them. They aren’t brainwashed for preferring “mindless” pop music over something more “deep” and alternative; it is simply the type of art they appreciate, which is an art too. It’s also okay to listen and appreciate all types of music. No one should feel ashamed for liking what they like.
If everyone listened to the same music, there would be no variety. If everyone somehow liked the same music, no new music would be created because everyone would already be content with what they had. Music is created experimentally as a form of expression, and to degrade any form of it is silly.
Everybody has multiple tastes in their music choice, and once an artist decides to try to combine two forms or tweak one form a bit, a whole new genre or subgenre is created. Remember the History of Rock flow chart from “School of Rock”? In a complex way, without country music there would be no heavy metal music. Music ranges from calm and classical to loud and bouncy, and no two genres sound the same. It’s impossible to compare them.
It is also nonsensical for one to feel better about himself or herself because they feel that they have a “superior” music taste. There is no such thing as one genre being “better” than another, because music itself is just so diverse. You can’t compare someone like Drake to someone like Bach in the same way you can’t compare apples to oranges.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that music was created for everyone. In fact, your brain actually begins to crave music after a certain amount of time as a result of the dopamine (also known as “happy chemical”) released when jamming out to your favorite tune. So why feel guilty about the fact you belted “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked” last night? Your brain really seemed to enjoyed it.
So go ahead, play game with the Top 40, but also stick to the indie sidelines. Whatever makes you happy is all that matters, and not what others expect from you.