Guiltless Pleasures
making a case for embarrassing music
PrintThe first time I heard the Backstreet Boys blasting from somewhere down the hall my freshman year, I assumed an ironic, nostalgic dance party must be in session. By the fourth time I heard “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely,” it became clear that whoever was playing this music actually liked it—no winks or knowing nudges implied.
For all first-year students, college is a time of transition, exploration, and growth—especially when it comes to their taste in music. What you liked in high school can often be a source of humiliation and discomfort in college. Listening to the wrong music can be be social suicide, and no one I interview will admit to liking something they find embarrassing. Instead, many attest to the poor tastes of others, and to second-hand embarrassment on their part. No matter what we listen to, I found, everyone is a critic.
“I don’t want to sound like a snob,” starts Samuel Segal, CC ’13, when asked if he ever judges his classmates by the music they listen to. “A lot of people listen to catchy, loud—what I find obnoxious—rap and pop-rock,” he says. Segal’s own tastes run toward folk music, especially Bob Dylan. But much to his surprise, he’s found that many of his fellow freshmen have never heard of Dylan. “I pity them, and I envy them,” he says. “It must be cool for them to hear it for the first time, but everyone where I come from knows Bob Dylan.”
Like Segal, Zoe Harris, BC ’13, shyly admits that she can sometimes “judge people way too harshly on the music they listen to”—even as she attempts not to sound condescending. But she expects that people are judging her as well, assuming that she’s “some strange freak-out indie kid.” Though Harris, a New York City native, listens to mostly local rock bands, she says she has “gained a little more appreciation for Jack Johnson,” thanks to her roommates. She describes their taste as “much more mainstream” than her own. “Mainstream,” like “interesting” is one of those words which, when said the right way, can be surprisingly cutting.
Segal and Harris speak to the twin blessing and curse of music geekery. Though they might look down on their classmates for listening to “Now! 86” on repeat, they’re still nervous about being judged themselves and also afraid of coming off as snobs.
For many first-years on the other side of the musical obscurity fence, the humiliation brought on by musical ignorance or frowned-upon inclinations can come coupled with a desire to grow and expand their sonic horizons. Soya Seo, CC ’13, came to Columbia with a proclivity for “whatever comes out that’s good and popular,” like Justin Timberlake. Seo is not alone—for every vinyl-collecting music nerd on campus, there are probably 20 people who don’t know what vinyl is.
Though Seo says she’s not ashamed of her tastes, she also admits that her musical knowledge is rapidly expanding at Columbia. “My roommate is actually, like, a mega music zealot, and she listens to old New York punk music. And those are songs I’d never really listened to before coming here, but she puts it on 24/7 and I love it,” she says.
For Jessica Ruby, BC ’11, coming to college also meant coming into her own, musically speaking. Though she “only listened to the radio until 10th grade,” she began scouring the Internet for new music toward the end of high school. In college, her tastes, which were unusual and unpopular at her high school in Richmond, VA, suddenly became cool. When Ruby joined WKCR as a programmer, she was was introduced to old soul and blues music, radically transforming her taste. Looking back at her freshman year, Ruby cringes. “Indie rock—I hate the word,” she says. Though Ruby believes that Columbia’s music culture is slightly more sophisticated than colleges outside New York City, she also grants that lots of people here really do like Dave Matthews, if only secretly. But even when pressed, she refused to disclose the names of any DMB-lovers she knows.
Ruby also emphasizes that the changes in her music taste since coming to Columbia were not the result of a desire to feel cool or accepted by a music-snob roommate. She believes that everyone should listen to the music that makes them happy, regardless of whether people judge them for it. “People like what they like, and if you actually like it, then great.”
Still, Ruby’s accepting optimism does not truly characterize Columbia’s stance on what is okay to listen to. Columbians are simultaneously judgmental and afraid of being judged when it comes to our music taste. Ideally, this leads us to try new things and open our minds to whatever weirdness is coming out of our roommate’s speakers. Too often, though, it causes us to laugh at that kid who’s wearing a Guster t-shirt while furiously rocking out to Shakira—completely unironically. Maybe, then, it’s not worth all the CD hiding, the faked sarcasm, and the failed attempts to really like noise music. Try just hanging up your Hanson poster and letting your uncool flag fly. Who knows—you might just enjoy yourself, for a change.
DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS
We did the searching so you don’t have to. Here’s when your favorite embarrassing artists are coming to the city:
Sept. 22 at 7:00 pm: Plain White T’s at Beacon Theatre from $34.50
Oct. 4 at 7:00 pm: Fall Out Boy, All-American Rejects, and Blink 182 at Madison Square Garden from $12
Oct. 5 at 8:00 pm: Pink at Madison Square Garden from $49.50
Oct. 6 at 8:00 pm: Kelly Clarkson at Hammerstein Ballroom from $49.50
Oct. 15 at 6:00 pm: Hanson and Hellogoodbye at Nokia Theatre $29.50
Nov. 12-14 at 7:00 pm: Rob Thomas with OneRepublic and Carolina Liar at Beacon Theatre from $45.50
17 September 2009
vol. 7, issue 1
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