Word: musically
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...love '80s music. Like Madonna and that song about 'Eileen...
...little version of me--a project toward which she is somewhat ambivalent, but generally very accommodating, in that her hair is the same color as mine, she lives in the same town as I do, etc. There is no better or more significant subject for indoctrination than the music that is such a profound part of my history and identity. Nowadays, music is a great source of happiness and interest for me. In high school it was also part of my group identity, a defining characteristic of the subculture or community of which my friends and I declared ourselves...
Back then, a friend pointed out to me that there are few questions more loaded than the casual, "So, what kind of music do you like?" Similar questions ("What are your favorite movies?"), more basic ones ("Where are you from?") or even more personal ones ("Do you get along with your parents?") do not carry as many connotations, accurate or otherwise, as the most average answer to the question of musical taste. Consider the associations evoked by the following possible replies...
...most part, we have left these straightforward categories behind, but in high school, when we were less sure of ourselves and our identities, you could learn a lot from this question. Certain music provided very helpful associations, some more far-reaching than others. Liking Ani DiFranco was code for liberal politics and perhaps long flowery skirts or overalls. Liking Marilyn Manson meant you wanted to scare people. Liking Dave Matthews meant very little, perhaps on purpose. Bands no one ever heard of had their prestige, and if they had scary names, you were one step ahead of the game...
...these associations still ring true, but nowadays people don't need the crutch of group identity quite so much, and those of us who are very much into our music have mostly expanded beyond our initial categories. There are plenty of people who like Phish just because the music is good, and whose collections also include Miles Davis and the Go-Go's (well, maybe not the Go-Go's). The day I walked into my town's music store and bought both the new Indigo Girls album and the Beastie Boys' "Ill Communications," the clerk told...