Musical commonalities and personalities

I can have a decent bonding with some friends or close buddy or even just anyone without saying a word for hours on end with just good music on the background, music that we both like. Enjoying good company with the same taste in music as I have is like having a good conversation over a bottle of ice cold beer or a glass of sweet tasting red wine, only a few words exchanged with the occasional "let's listen to this one" remarks or "shit, this one is so nice..." or something like that. I have found a few rare individuals who have the same taste in music as I have, namely Mugen (the blogger), the Drummer Boy (my photographer friend), Hardcore BoyPep (another photographer friend/band vocalist), Yoyo (artist friend), Mr. Thick Lashes (an officemate), Rockista-Bokalista (a single served photographer acquaintance), the Goth Chick (a friend), Direk (a single served friend), The Bohemian (one of my greatest influences and a dear friend). I can't remember anymore names or faces that I can say shares the same interests in music that I have aside from the ones I mentioned. It is not that my taste in music is so distinct, it is just that they are the few people who also appreciates the same music I listen to.

Inspired by Mugen's entries regarding the music genres he likes as well as his music library and music files. I then create this post regarding the music I listen to and how it is essential to my life and to some of the relationships I keep with other people. It is true that one can tell a person's character or personality by the music he listens to, I do that. I can be mean sometimes by categorizing such characters as "a commoner", "the indie junkie", "the popper", "the variety show", "the global citizen", and "the underground lurker", "the lounge-clubber", "leave me alone".

The Commoner:
Listens to basically mainstream, or most of the time purely mainstream; music that everybody knows and is loved by the general population. They listen to what is "in" and what is the latest craze in the music charts. They listen to no particular genre as long as everyone likes it and feels good to listen at and it is popular.

The Indie Junkie:
Hates mainstream music, hates anything popular, hates pop, hates kpop, and does not like music that most people listen to. Once an indie band has gone mainstream, he dismisses them from one of his playlist, but not entirely delete them from his music library. Loves the unpopular but talented. Beware of pretentious people trying to be "indie", who think appreciating indie music is cool. Listening to indie music is more than appreciating it, it is listening, feeling and understanding what the artist wants to say, just like in any other genre out there. They are called indie because they are not signed to any record label out there, in short they are independent, so stay away poser1

The Popper:
No, this is not the drug, instead, these are the types of people in my dictionary who loves the colorful, the "in", the kpop, the jpop, who are or think that they are fashionistas and adores Lady Gaga so much they themselves are becoming as crazy as her and looking ridiculously annoying I just want to vomit. People who fall under this category are mostly gay men and kikay girls.

The Variety Show:
Er... Need I say more? Listen to what's hot in the noontime and the primetime variety show playlist and these people don't just sing it but dance it. Listens to the masa radio stations, which I find very amusing and annoyingly funny at the same time. Hey, I did say funny, I do laugh at their jokes and the witty commentaries of most DJs in the popular masa stations. If I need a good laugh, I pop in my earphones and tune in to one of the many.

The Global Citizen:
Yes, as the word global is, this is the most diverse, and the music they listen to breaks the language they are familiar with. They don't just listen to kpop, jpop, or whatever pop it may be; but they listen to any song of any language as long as it is music to their ears. There are some singers who can sing in not just one language but many. Some of theme are... Liso Ono, who has albums in French, Portugese, English, and Japanese. Boa, who can sing in both Japanese and Korean; Utada Hikaru (now retired) has albums in both English and Japanese; as well as a lot of American superstars who can both sing in English and Latin.

The Underground Lurker:
Hardcore is the way to go for this type. Anything that screams, and is insanely loud is his cup of tea.

The Lounge-Clubber:
Oh yeah, you know this type. A lot of us went through this phase and some who still are. Hed Kandi, World Music Room, as well as Buddha Bar, are some of the regulars in our music playlist.

Leave Me Alone:
Oh I am very familiar with this well loved personal category. This is anyone who wants to be left alone at times and loves to hangout with either his favorite pen and paper, camera, headphones, and a playlist full of tracks from Death Cab by Cutie, Radiohead, Skin, Skunk Anansie, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Secondhand Serenade, Dashboard Confessional, Sarah Mclachlan, James Blunt, Typecast and all the other makers of songs that will make you want to stay away from sharp objects and depressants, else you will be in a very messy and hurting situation afterwards.

How about you? If you can categorize some people's characters by their taste in music? What will the categories be?

Anyway, as for me; you will know in which category I will fall in, in my next blog entry.