(fax) What is music?

[David Beardsley]

Dave at FAX Label USA wrote:

> David Beardsley wrote:
>
>> Brian wrote:
>>
>>> I read somewhere once that the music you listen to between 14 and 22 is
>>> essentially what you'll listen to the rest of your life. 
>>
>>
>> At 45 I'd say that's bull shit.
>>
> I was going to say something as well. At 14 I was listening to the 
> Zeppelin, The Who, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, The Beatles, The Stones, 
> Elvis Costello, The Police, and Devo. By 22, it was The Cure, Echo and 
> the Bunnymen, Focus, Kraftwerk, REM, and Skinny Puppy. Techno hadn't 
> been invented, nor had rap for the most part. Although last night 
> listening to U2's "Vertigo" I wondered whether I'd had any idea 
> listening to "I Will Follow" in (which made my brain tingle in 1981) 
> that I'd still be listening to them nearly 25 years later.
>
> I highly doubt there is a "critical period" of music retention, like 
> there is for language learning. More likely we just stagnate at some 
> point if our interest in new music wanes. When I started college in 
> 1981, there were guys who listened to Blue Oyster Cult, Zeppelin, The 
> Who, UFO, and the like, and I'll bet some of those guys are still 
> listening to that. But plenty of folks I knew embraced new music as it 
> appeared on the scene (New Wave, Industrial, Techno, Rap, etc.) I'd 
> say perhaps 14-22 is formative for the stagnaters, sure, but most of 
> us on this list probably don't fall into that category.
>
Indeed. If I was that narrowminded, I'd never be listening to FAX or
a lot of other music. Sheesh, I would have never gone through my Hindustani
Raga phase between 1998 and 2003.

-- 
* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db