How wide or narrow is your musical taste?

[LeMartinPecheur]

My focus is 95%-plus on 'Classical/serious' music very widely defined (Anglo-Saxon chant up to today) with some significant gaps, mainly in the baroque period. My sister was a devotee of Top of the Pops but as a teenager I tended to take my father's vew that 'it'll never replace music' (his classical-music taste didn't get much past 1900 - he liked Mahler 1 but found 9, even 3, irredeemably dissonant ).

Perhaps a widening of my teenage taste occurred through travelling on a school railway soc. coach trip and being forced to listen to The Beatles - decided they were real musicians and song-writers. Pop music tastes still don't get much past 1980. Bought every Joni Mitchell LP album but have lost track with her on CD. I can listen to and enjoy Jazz Record Requests while cooking Saturday dinner, but have bought few jazz discs (except Chris Barber, one of my dad's enthusiasms). One of my odder enthusiasms cropped up recently: there were 2 TV programmes about Karen Carpenter - such a heartbreaking voice, and life story. Something my wife and I could enjoy together too.

UK and world folk music takes up a decent slice of the far end of my record collection - everything from Northumberland small-pipes, gamelan to Mongolian throat-singing. But when I sit down of an evening my hand generally goes towsrds the classical/serious shelves, or - even more labour-saving - the serendipity of R3's evening output.

[pilamenon]

Good thread, Chris. I've gained enormous pleasure from most genres of music at some stage in my life, including 70s rock, soul, disco, and punk, 80s pop and 90s dance. I've even been persuaded to go and see Scissor Sisters next month (but not sure if that was wise ). At the moment, opera, especially baroque opera, is my main interest, but there's hardly any singer or group mentioned so far I couldn't appreciate at some level. Most non-classical music is mood music for me, I don't sit down and consciously listen to it, but I really enjoy having it on and it lifting my spirits as I'm doing something else. Joni Mitchell is my favourite non-classical singer, her best songs do reward concentration. And the only type of music I really dislike is classical crossover - the sort of stuff sung by Katherine Jenkins, Russell Watson, The Priests et al - because it sounds as if it has no integrity. But I know it gives pleasure to many.

[JoeG]

I love most genres of music - the main exceptions are opera (though I am less averse than I used to be and rather like Puccini and have a soft spot for G&S as my school did a Savoy opera every year), hip hop, some styles of modern dance music (which styles I am not sure though I rather like trance), 40's & 50's popular music, manufactured bands, squeaky jazz and the type of contemporary music that has no apparent melody, rhythm or direction.

I love late romantic, post romantic and Russian orchestral music (particularly Sibelius, RVW, Shostakovich, Prokofiev) I also enjoy some contemporary composers (McMillan, Adams, Part, Rautavarra, Glass). My great love is English Folk Music (John Tams, Jez Lowe, Tickled Pink, Robb Johnson to name but a tiny few). I also enjoy most other forms of folk/world music - particularly Scottish, Eastern European, African and Middle Eastern.

I have to also admit to adoring the better prog rock bands - Pink Floyd, Genesis, Renaissance - who I believed kept serious music alive in the dark days of the 70s. Oh and 'Winner Takes It All' by Abba is perfect!

[EdgeleyRob]

nothing to be ashamed of in Liking a bit of Blondie ER.
They made some great pop records, and anyone who come up with as many good tunes as they did on Parallel Lines is doing ok !!

Yes it's a great album that