Courtesy of Fitting It All In.

This week, I‰’ve decided not to do any lyrical analysis but just write about a few feelings I‰’ve had about music for a while. Mainly in the way people judge others for their musical tastes. A day does not go by that I‰’m listening to music out loud either in my dorm room or in the shower and I‰’m afraid that I will be judged either silently or, God forbid, out loud for listening to the things that I do. Stuff ranging from Kill Lincoln to Jukebox the Ghost; from The Shins to Larry and His Flask. And then not a day goes by where I wonder why I care so much about what people think of MY musical tastes. Sure it may not be in line with what others think is good or enjoyable, but why should I care if somebody doesn‰’t enjoy what I do?

I‰’m sure it comes from our human nature to fit in and feel accepted and as much as I‰’d like to tell myself, and actually have attempted to tell myself “Fuck what others think,‰” we as humans are social animals and we all need some type of acceptance to feel good in life. Trust me, I was missing it throughout most of high school and it shows in the music I listened to. I was feeling oddly nice the other night and was looking for some music to supplement my mood but, as I was scrolling through my library, I noticed that most of my music was rather angsty. My musically formative years have altered my tastes to like music that has lyrical content that matches in tone and mood. And what did this stem from? Not having a strong sense of belonging with anyone in high school. Sure, I had my friends—actually multiple friend groups at that. But save for my group of best friends, I always kind of felt like an addition to the group that didn‰’t really fit. I only was with my band/indoor drumline friends at rehearsals and competitions. I was only with the theater kids during musical season. I was somewhat of a misfit. However, since coming to college, I feel like I‰’ve found people that I have a strong sense of belonging with—something that I‰’ve been missing from my life—and I‰’m actually kind of happy.

I am nowhere insinuating that I‰’m going to suddenly be able to change my tastes in music. I‰’m still going to somewhat unironically listen to pop-punk; Titus Andronicus will always be one of my favorites if only for how well-written all their stuff is, even if I no longer identify as strongly with the narrators of these songs.

So, what am I getting at? I feel like I‰’m trying to say a few things here. Essentially, don‰’t judge people on their musical tastes—I like a wide variety of music with some bands that surprise people when I play them. You don‰’t know what people were going through when they discovered this band and even if they seem to have different opinions and styles from the music, they could still enjoy the band or artist, even if for different reasons than when they first discovered them. People mature and opinions change. However, I‰’d argue that music taste does not really change. We still, even secretly, like the same stuff we did in high school or, (shuddering at the thought) middle school. Especially if we would take the time to reminisce about why we thought we liked it. Was there a love interest that liked that music so you gave it a listen? Were you having a rough patch in your life? Was it simply a chance buy from a record store that turned out to be great? Our external lives shape our music tastes, arguably more than the other way around.