I simply can’t, Klosterman be damned. I tell you my own internal movie soundtrack- the music I hear in my head without benefit of devices- is deep and broad. If I were asked to grab 10 CDs from my collection- Hell, let’s make it out of all CDs ever recorded- to take with me as we evacuated the planet, never to return, I’d ask to take a guitar instead, so I could play what‘s running on my iBrain. (And write new stuff besides.)So, one of my favorite quotes (and I do have a lot of them!) is this-
Anyone who insists they like "all kinds of music," is, in fact, telling you that they like no kinds of music.
That's a paraphrase of Chuck Klosterman. And yes, he does like a lot of music. He's ... kinda good at the music thing.
Another point Chuck hits on is that talking about your favorite music, identifying your favorite music, is usually not about the music you love, so much as establishing your own bona fides. It's really about signaling. It's not just about saying what type of music you like, it's about saying what kind of person you are.
Anyway, this is a long way of getting around to the main point- the benefit (to the extent there is one) of these types of exercises isn't about the final list, per se, it's about your own internal exercise as to how you arrived at it, and what that means for you. It doesn't mean the list is immutable (my list at 14 would have been very different!), but the exercise in making it is what makes it interesting. For example, I knew that I had to narrow my list to "rock/pop/hip hop" because I've been listening to a LOT of jazz recently and I just didn't have the capacity to compare.
But it's not supposed to be easy! If I made this list two years ago, or maybe two years in the future, I probably wouldn't have Portishead on it. But right now, I can't imagine them not being on it.
Point being- just give us 10 albums Danny. I promise (with 98% certainty) that the albums you don't include will not form together in some type of Voltron-esque critter and murder you in your sleep.
Okay. Maybe 80% certain. Still, good odds!
Or I’d stay on Earth so someone else could take their 10 and be saved.
Please believe me, I do NOT like all kinds of music. I would probably have trouble expanding my list of opera I like to 10 songs, much less 10 whole operas. And that’s with me growing up as the son of a music teacher who loves opera.
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