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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2198 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 31, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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It's amazing what a 180 I've done on rap. True, there's a lot of artists and genres I listed to in my teens and early 20s that I've nearly dropped in the time since. I'm not without angst, but I can't really vibe along with Trent Reznor screaming about killing himself the way I used to, y'know. But I could still throw on an old NIN or Korn album for a long road trip and 'get into it' for a nostalgic romp with a friend or my brother.

I can't do Rap any more. I want it turned off immediately. I used to give Country a lot of shit for being unlistenable. And while I still think it's mostly shit, I have more tolerance for it now. It's like the polarities reversed.

I'm with you that my favorite Eminem was when he was young and funny. I think I liked the Slim Shady LP because it was so bizarre compared to The Chronic 2000 or whatever old Coolio album I had previously begged for because of 'Gangsta's Paradise'. Everything after that just felt too self-serious to me, like he had to prove something. TBF, I guess he had to. I can't argue with the man's career and success that followed with his maturation.

Weird I find country increasingly feels self referential and unlistenable. My dad was listening to country radio, and Cowboys and Plowboys came on, and it just made me want to gag. A whole song built on a fake distinction between fake identities of people who don't exist. It just felt so manufactured.

I think part of it is exposure. Obviously I had genre preferences I actively sought out when I was younger, but the general media landscape would give you a more balanced diet of different types of music. There were popular Rock songs, Rap songs, Country songs as well as obvious Pop hits. I'm sure Country has also gone downhill, but it was kinda easier for me to turn my nose up at it as a selective kid/teen.

Now that it seems everything is so heavily Rap dominated, I've kinda made a peace with other genres (like Metal, even). Like, please play anything that doesn't have that monotone rhythmic cadence and that fucking repetitive stuttering hi-hat trick! I know that's supposed to be a 'trap' thing, but Lord it seems to show up everywhere in influence. Please stop putting it in so many soundtracks and trailers where literally any other choice of music would be more appropriate.

I asked Google Home to play some 'easy listening' music and it defaulted to some midtempo mumbling rhyming about pussy sweat among other things. I am not a prude, and my own audio catalogue has its share of depravity. But come on. I want George Michael (sexual t-rex that he was), not this.

I listen to very little new music overall, so you're probably right: if I listened to more unfiltered Top-40 I would probably hate most of that much more than I hate a lot of modern country. Music essentially gets added to my library from the local college radio station, from my gym friends, from my wife. The only time I'm listening to unfiltered new music is when my father is listening to country radio while we drive somewhere.

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