When I first started engaging in music sometime in the early part of secondary school, I leaned decisively towards what can loosely be called the 'Alternative' part of the then musical spectrum. Bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Deftones etc... were foremost in my tastes. Why was this? Part of the reason was my nauseous aversion to 'Pop' music. Very much wearied by prancing boy/girl bands, bored senseless by ballads and inane lyrics about relationship troubles, I would rather give myself a nasty Chinese Burn than listen to Five, or Blue, or Steps, or S Club bloody 7. Keep your dancing troupes and expensive videos and give me a power chord!
However justified this loathing may have been, it engendered a prejudice towards all musical genres other than my own - which I suppose was 'Metal'. Prejudice is a frankly stupid thing to perpetuate, but it did do one thing for many in my generation - it saved us time. Instead of investigating each band on its merits, most of them could be rejected out of hand because they belonged to a category you had decided to dislike. Being so young we had no time for anything other what we had chosen to adore.
But time is exactly what we do have. As you get older you start confessing that there are many songs that you like, but which don't fall into your 'usual' category. What you find is that you don't have time to be prejudiced. It's a total waste. If you like something, so be it, and who cares what your youthful arrogance thought? The nirvana you are closing in on is 'Musical Honesty' - a place where it matters not what others think or what you thought. It's a place where you aren't afraid to make a musical u-turn and like something you had previously hated. So go forth, and let the only filter be this: enjoyment, or not.
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