A 12 hour bus ride south from La Paz, Bolivia to Uyuni, Bolivia shouldn´t be that bad, but this gives the adjective “bumpy” a whole new meaning. With the rate at which the driver took the speedbumps – no word of a lie – my entire body was literally lifted off my seat .
Our organs had been tossed around so much that every bloke, when given a five-minute break, ran off the bus in desperation to break a mountain of wind. The plan was to use the 12 hour bus ride to sleep and write a gushing piece on what Perú and Bolivia had to offer besides panpipes. However, since I couldn´t sleep nor write from the infernal bumping, I´m now in a foul mood and so they´ve gone and lost out, haven´t they?
Isn´t it interesting the question “what music are you into?” A big trifle bowl of possibilities opens up when asked that. Even more interesting is the answer “a bit of everything, really.” Really? I think to myself. It must be hard to like anything at all, being that thinly spread across genres. I generally leave it at that but, when in a bad mood, I do enjoy rigorously probing the person until finding that, unsurprisingly, they´re only really into unchallenging rock and pop.
That same question asked to me, I find impossible to answer and so, as of about four years ago, instead choose to give the interviewer a list of artists I´ve been listening to recently. As a human being, I admit to finding it pretty difficult listening to abslutely everything in the world ever and so try not to make any such claims. Hence, I offer anyone willing to listen a rundown of my musical preferences for that week/month/season. This past fornight, for example, has been brought to me by NOFX, The Smiths´The Queen Is Dead, Pulp´s This Is Hardcore and Franz Ferdinand´s first album.
This method of conversing seems a much fairer way to describe one´s music taste since, if they say they like Iron Maiden but then haven´t listened to them for ten years, how do they still know they like them? They might actually, in effect, be lying to their counterpart across the bar and hence giving a false representation of themselves.
What about the bands that were really great back in the day, but have since fallen below the wayside? Can people still claim to be a fan of said artist even if they don´t like their new stuff? Of course they can. People can like what they like. Just because you don´t like a band´s new direction doesn´t mean you automatically can´t stay loyal to their old work. This is an advantage of this new communication theory; when asked about music, one can now refer to Alkaline Trio´s Good Mourning and explain that, in their view, anything after this just isn´t worth listening to. Although they´re welcome to change direction, this music lover won´t be following them.
Of course, with or without a communication system, you can quite happily argue your point over a smooth pint. No, a much more positive note would be that this method gives people an instant idea of who you are. If you meet at Christmas, you may be remembered as the guy who cries to Wham! Met while newly in love, you could come across as a soppy git. In the autumn, when all relationships doth end, you may be fondly recalled as that guy who listened Ryan Adams day in, day out.
For each new person you meet, you´ll have a completely different story to tell. Give a quick summary of this week´s listening and you could be a Monkeys fan to one guy and an Arctic Monkeys fan to another. An Elvis fanatic to one lad and then sick of him to the next. It might seem a little dishonest coming across to two different people as, indeed, two different people, but it´s probably the most honest way you can talk about your likes and dislikes: honesty is a virtue, after all.
You´ll learn a ton about yourself and maybe finally go to the car boot sale with all those Maiden tapes you´ve had sat under the bed gathering dust.
Posted In Midweek Comment, Feb 25 2010.
Words - Publisher 1