Like What You Like....Ignore Pretentious People

I have forever been a proponent of liking what you like and not caring for the opinions of others. The truth is, I don't apply this to film. Sorry, I'm too jaded and too pretentious on that front. I will tell you that your favorite movie sucked...and sleep like a baby. But when it comes to music, I simply can't be the annoying indie hipster kid who has a natural distaste for all things major label. I can't stand those little pricks. You know the kid that asks you what you like and then proceeds to tell you that you are a brainless cretin, a victim of too much TV and too little coffee and poetry? That kid can die.

I'm here to tell you, I have been alive for twenty four years. I have a degree in English and Communications, have read everything from Hemingway to Steinbeck, have written and and dissected poems, studied primary and secondary orality....and I listen to a good quantity of the so called shallow music that these jerkoffs find insulting and vapid and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, sue me. I also listen to the stuff that intellectual, selective people listen to....Dylan, Springsteen, Newman, Zevon, The Pixies...you get the point. But I really don't mind generic radio rock. Who cares if its music without irony? Why the $%#^ does it all have to be ironic? I'm not always in an artistic, ironic mood. Sometimes I just wanna sing "Heat Of The Moment" in my car and feel like a human being.

I also don't mind good pop music....stuff that interesting figures in that genre (Duran Duran, Madonna, Hall And Oates, etc) have pumped out over the years. It doesn't matter. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I like synths and overwrought, double entendre laden lyrics. It's all in fun and its usually pretty clever. The beat is nice and the best part is I don't have to turn my brain on to enjoy it. It's just comfort food for the brain. To think some doofus who dropped out of art school and works at the Coffee Bean has some God given right to judge that...it doesn't add up.

I put music into three categories....stuff that makes me think (Dylan, Kristofferson, REM), stuff that's catchy and has no purpose other than to make me hum along ( most generic radio rock and pop) and the waste basket....The Beibers, the Britneys....people I just can't find any redeeming quality in and that I honestly can't enjoy on any front. That's it. There's no gray area.

I don't care about corporate sell outs, about indie street cred or studio polish this or that. I care about "does it make me think", "is it catchy", "do I enjoy how dumb this is", "would this make my Mom angry if she heard it"....things like that. If the answer to any of those questions is yes....I'll shell out ten bucks for your record. Who cares? Like what you like....unless its a lame movie. Then you suck and we can't be friends.....just kidding. No really, like what you like, my opinion excluded. It's important not to let other people drive your opinions. Be yourself, do your thing and pour coffee on the hipsters head. He won't fight you....he's a pacifist.