What Do We Know?
Written by Ashwin on February 9, 2009
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Seven days ago, I was in New Delhi, crammed in a car three generations deep, belting Slumdog Millionaire’s Jai Ho and shrugging my shoulders to the dhol in way a not so different from how I might bob my head to an old Gang Starr beat. Grandfather, son, grandsons set in synchronous motion.

Yesterday, I took inspiration from the record’s decorated global appeal—a Golden Globe, an Oscar nomination, and a Grammy nomination for Jai Ho—and played it for my roommates. Well, that lasted a whole 12 minutes –- track after harshly-interrupted track -– and the only shrugging I did involved relinquishing control of the iPod.

I felt duped. Some records are cloying. Some records just don’t have the depth to keep you interested for long. But this harsh and humbling realization that I, radio iconoclast and obnoxious music critic, could be so inconsistent in my musical tastes, it was a totally different monster.

Last year, the New York Times Magazine ran an article trying to pin down why we like the music we do, and why executives, producers, artists, even we ourselves are so bad at foretelling what it will be. Researchers at Columbia University created a music downloading website that allowed users to explore 40 artists they’d never heard before free of charge – but with one caveat. Users would be split into two groups: one with access to song and artist names, and the other (labeled the “social influence” group) divided into eight isolated pods and given additional statistics on the track’s popularity amongst their pod. If there existed some rationale behind how we judge our music, these isolated worlds should display similar favorites and consistent likes and dislikes. That is not to say everyone would share the same musical taste, but rather that individuals could objectively listen to a song and hear the same thing as someone in a different world.

Didn’t happen. Not even close. Each group chose different favorites. Those “independent” listeners… well, turns out they wanted to hear what everyone else in their group was listening to.

Why? Were these groups comprised of nothing but spineless lemmings? Was there not among them anyone Obnoxious enough to stand by their tastes?

Of course there were. But consider this: Art, by its very nature is vague and open to interpretation. It grows richer and more vibrant with each successive interpretation. Call it viral, call it contagious, call it Kanye.

Moreover, it has the power to abstract things we’re confined to experience alone –- the paralyzing sensation of pain, the tongue-tangling ire of frustration… the hopelessness of a car crammed fulled with three generations who won’t be shrugging their shoulders together for a very long time.

And for that, there’ll always be a carefully encrypted playlist hiding guiltily in the left sidebar of my iTunes window that faintly, distantly murmurs, “Jai Ho.”

Viewing 8 Comments

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    that was awsome!! it feels like music is going downhill but at the same time there are those pockets of interesting and progressive talent out there...but people do seem to have stepped away from appreciating their own taste. there is a pressure by the rest of mainstream listeners to be almost embarrassed to have your own taste and appreciation for different kinds of music. =(
    you're article was beautifully written
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    Amika, this sort of cognitive dissonance is a strange predicament to be in. Why do we always evaluate music in terms of so many things other than the music itself? I believe I my own musical tastes are impeccable, relative to me, and I feel like that's the healthiest way to look at music objectively. You're right on in saying that when that trust in your own tastes deteriorates, when you start looking to outside factors -- is it mainstream? is it underground? is she hot? -- we're on the road that's taken music to where it is now.
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    awww i just watched dev patel on the daily show. what a great guy and an amazing movie :)
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    You hit the mark on this one Ashwin! I've always felt that you don't need to have any musical talent to make good and/or popular music. To be good, it just has to be good...to you, the listener. I never understood why so many of us (including me) put a stigma on music where the artists are required to have some mystical level of talent or we automatically push that switch in our brains to make ourselves think it's crap. Or when you hear a song that you are really grooving to - then you hear it on your local pop station (i.e. Delaware's WSTW) two days later and all the sudden sub-consciously decide that it sucks...because "they" are playing it! Shouldn't it be okay to allow yourself to be that spineless lemming every once and a while?? (Damn you Kelly Clarkson, get off my 'Top 25 Most Played' before anyone one sees it and thinks I'm uncool)
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    Yes, but I think the point is that quality music will sound good today, next month, and next decade... I'm pretty sure I'll still be rocking out to much of the music covered on this site in 2020 but I doubt you can say the same about Clarkson
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    And how do you define "quality music"? Isn't the in the ear of the beholder? That was my point, you can't define "quality music" for me; nor can I for you.
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    Yes, I understand your point and agree with it mostly. My point, however, is that many pop fans seem to have a new "favorite song of all time" every other month or so, yet several years later these songs seem to be barely played and hardly missed. It's difficult for me to accept something as being quality when it has such a short shelf life. Although on the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm aware of the plethora of "classics" from the 80's which apparently will never die yet I find detestable. So like you said, this scale which some of us wish had areas of black and white is in fact just a huge swath of grey.
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    I dig what both of you are saying, and that's sort of the paradox I was having trouble with. There's a difference between the music I listen to for music's sake -- artists whose compositions are pure gestalt -- and music that takes on new form because of those we share it with. I mean, at least in origin, wasn't music meant to be a shared experience? (Think several stinky cavemen boogie-ing around a fire to the prehistoric equivalent of Sepultura.)
 
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