me

[Kim Harrison-Lavoie]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2000 13:39:26 +0000 Gerard Wood 
<gwood@...> wrote:

> From: Gerard Wood <gwood@...>
> 
> At 12:18 20/01/00 GMT, Andy Smith wrote:
> 
> >I'm sure we could have a protracted debate on why it's 
> mostly guitar stuff >that gets in (I reckon it's because 
> dance stuff can date more quickly, or >people go for songs)
> 
> I'd say it's because a majority of listeners are just like 
> you or me, Andy - will happily listen to the various styles 
> of music on offer, but at the end of the day, we started 
> listening to Peel because it was the only radio show that 
> was on offer to the 'indie guitar kid' when we were 14 
> years old, and we're sticking to our roots. Despite the 
> arrival of Lamacq et al, this rule is still by and large 
> true today.  On the other hand, there are 
> many dance-oriented shows on today, and your average 
> dance-minded fan won't list the Peel show as his/her 
> preferred choice of listening, as there are alternatives 
> available where they don't have to listen to the 
> indiekid guitar stuff. And I'm not that sure that radio 
> coverage is all that important in the dance scene anyway, 
> as I'm sure the clubs are doing a better job of promoting 
> the music.

I agree. I think that in general, people do tend to become 
rooted in the kind of music they listen to when they are in 
their teens - early twenties, possibly because during those 
years people are forging their identities and music can 
play an important role in that process. As they grow older, 
many people become less adventurous and prefer to find  
comfort in the familiar. Although I think it is desirable 
and maybe even unavoidable to maintain links with the 
cultural elements that helped to mould your view of the 
world as a young adult, too much of this can lead to the 
kind of stagnation that results in intolerance and yawning 
generation gaps.

I'm sure that most Peel programme listeners welcome the 
variety of music on offer, and even if they don't like 
everything they hear they may discover that over time they 
broaden their tastes overall, and maybe even develop a new 
passion for a different type of music. The observation made 
by Gerard that people who mainly prefer dance music (or 
some of the other non-indie-guitar forms of music) will 
probably listen to specialist programmes more geared to 
their preferences is probably true.

Because polls such as the All-Time Festive Fifty require 
people to list only their top 3, most people of an indie 
bent will select mainly indie tracks, and the consensus 
among those who choose non-indie tracks may be too divided 
to make it into the chart. My guess is that if you were to 
analyse the top 10-20 tracks instead of the top 3 of each 
listener, you would begin to see more diversity in the 
chart, as people would have been able to fulfill their 
obligation to their 'roots' in the first 5 or so and still 
have space to acknowledge some of their more recently 
acquired musical tastes.

How about an 'All-Time Non-Indie-Guitar' Festive Fifty' 
poll?

Kim 
----------------------
Kim Harrison-Lavoie
kimhl@...