Ramble on Taste

I sometimes have incredibly random thoughts that I thought I'd share just in case anyone's interested. So this might become a sort of series, if I keep coming up with these random thoughts.

Also the next day topic in the 30-day thing is Your Week in Great Detail, and I'm saving that for the end of this trip.

So taste. I'm currently sitting on the Megabus to Baltimore, and I'm listening to Regina Spektor's new CD on repeat. It's kick-ass. It's funny, because I remember that I was first introduced to Regina Spektor the summer after 9th grade when Pargol sent me a mix CD of Regina's music while I was at camp. Back then I was very much in the throes of my relatively-obscure-music phase. I refused to listen to top 40, opting instead for Ani DiFranco, Ben Folds, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morrisette, and Regina Spektor (okay, and some Kelly Clarkson. But I never would've admitted it.) And that was honestly what I liked. I didn't like top 40, even though just the year before that had been all I'd listened to. But I've always found that my taste shifts towards what my friends like, because we all introduce each other to new things. Before I was friends with the people I became closer to in 8th and 9th grade, I'd never even heard of any of the singers in the above list. But my friends burned me CDs, and my music taste changed, and my life was changing.

Around junior year of high school, I had two friends who listened to a lot of poppy hip hop songs. I had sworn off hip hop because I was picky and pretentious and it wasn't artsy enough. But no matter how much I complained, they kept playing it whenever we drove anywhere, and after awhile I came to really like a lot of it. My taste changed. And I stopped listening to Tori and Joni and Alanis, and I listen to Ani way less, but I still love love love Regina Spektor. And I like a lot of top 40 again, but I still listen to the Indigo Girls all the time because I really like folksy music. I came to like TSwift just because I kept hearing her songs over and over again. I'm not a huge fan of Miley Cyrus, but I'm sure if you played me enough of her stuff I'd like her too. Debatable about the Jonas Brothers though.

So why is that? What makes our taste in music, movies, books, food, art, TV shows, etc. what it is? Certain things bring out certain emotions, which we may or may not want to feel. We can relate to some lyrics or plot lines better than others, and different songs and movies and activities have different energy levels. Horror movies and loud drums and watching sports can give us adrenaline rushes, and some people thrive on that. Plus watching certain sports teams or listening to certain genres of music can show our loyalties and project an image, and we can talk about those things with others. When we listen to things over and over, they become familiar, and maybe that makes us like them more. When our friends like things, we want to like them too so we can relate to our friends, and we trust their taste.

But sometimes after we stop hearing things over and over, or when our friends change, or when our friends' tastes change, we stop liking those things. Does that mean we never really liked them in the first place? Or were we just in a different place then and our taste changes as our lives change? How much of our so-called "taste" depends on the image we want to project? In 9th grade I really, really wanted to be artsy and original, and the music I liked was artsy and original. Now that I've leveled off a little, I listen to a mix of top 40, artsy music, dance music, and super obscure things that I get from friends and around the internet. (First Aid Kit = LOVE.) But I don't watch Red Sox games not because I don't want to be a part of Red Sox Nation and show my love and pride for Boston; it's because I find watching most sports to be boring as hell. (Exceptions include gynmastics, figure skating, volleyball, and synchronized diving.)

Which brings us to the most important question of all: If Neelima tries hard enough, will she ever be able to get me to enjoy watching sports?


So anyway, that's pointless ramble #1. Upcoming rambles may or may not include such topics as love and how we are all reduced to numbers that label us but don't actually quantify anything.