*Irked* The Sex Determines Music Choice Factor *irked*

[Jay_Quessir]

Ok...her comes a huge rant....

Have you ever heard the terms: 'girl music' or 'guy music' or 'girl movie' or 'guy movie' ?

Who the hell makes up the decision that its a 'girl song' or a 'guy song?' I listen to artists like Kelly Clarkson, Ashlee Simpson, Christina A., Michelle Branch, Evanescence, Avril Lavigne, and JOan Osborne. Apparently, because I listen to these I am more feminine, picked on, and just plain weird. Excluding a few choice words.

What someone told me in my off period the other day totally ticked me off. "Do you have any rap on there [the computer]? Any guy songs?"

"no" I responded, "I don't really like that kind of music."

"what? Who do you have on there?"

I read off the list of people. And one of my friends walks in (she's a girl).

"Hey Lupe', Should a guy listen to 'girl music'?" He asked.

"No!" She responded.

It just irks me that there is a classification of girl music/guy music! And the whole catagorization just doesn't make sense!

Girls are supposed to listen to:
Girl singers
Guys singing love songs about girls
Iffy: Rap

Guys are supposed to listen to:
Guy singers
No girls what-so-ever
Iffy: Girl Rap||Rock Singers

now what doesn't make sense is why would a girl really want to listen to a girl sing? I mean there are some exceptions such as guy hate songs or just to sing but wouldn't it make more sense for a girl to want to listen to a guy sing. Except for rap? Rap is just kinda wierd....why anyone wants to listen to it beats me but it is popular none the less and therefor I will not touch on the subject of Girls or Guys listening to it.

Guys: Why would guys want to listen to another guy sing? *** is up with that? With men having so much issue about their masculinety, why would they want to further their insecurities by listening to a guy that could sing better and most likely looks better and gets more women? Would it not make more sense for them to listen to girl's sing. I believe it would be more of a turn on...

Maybe this is one of those life things that is just not supposed to make sense? But I have no Idea why I get ridiculed for listening to the stereotypical 'girl' song.
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: Modern society sucks! :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Jax]

I remember when I was a kid and other kids I've seen, "no I don't want the yellow cup that's a girl's colour!!" :roll: now it's music, though I'm sure you'll notice Silverfall, as you grow up it doesn't actually make a fart of difference, you listen to the music you want to and your mates might rag on you if it's rap, or opera, or teeny bopper music (pop I think) or whatever, but it's never serious, teenagers I've found blow /everything/ about a person they don't like out of proportion, if something you like isn't /in/ then you're sunk!
Forget about it, you're obviously more mature and I know it's little comfort, but it's true!
But, that said - that's one of the reasons we're here, for rants etc when people just tick you off, when they're stupid yadda yadda yadda :D

[Rabble]

Girl music? Guy music?

Um, your friends are weird.

I've liked rock since I was very young, I listen to music because I like it, not because I think I should.

As for 'guy music = rap', that's the biggest piece of rubbish i've ever heard. Go to any club, any concert of any type - death-metal, country, classical, hip-hop, pop - and one thing stays the same*. Both males AND females like all types of music.

Tell your friends to get over themselves. :roll:

*Even strip clubs have both male and female customers...

[Jay_Quessir]

I remember when I was a kid and other kids I've seen, "no I don't want the yellow cup that's a girl's colour!!" :roll: now it's music, though I'm sure you'll notice Silverfall, as you grow up it doesn't actually make a fart of difference, you listen to the music you want to and your mates might rag on you if it's rap, or opera, or teeny bopper music (pop I think) or whatever, but it's never serious, teenagers I've found blow /everything/ about a person they don't like out of proportion, if something you like isn't /in/ then you're sunk!
Forget about it, you're obviously more mature and I know it's little comfort, but it's true!
But, that said - that's one of the reasons we're here, for rants etc when people just tick you off, when they're stupid yadda yadda yadda :D


Thanks. It's actually a lot of comfort. I've always listened to the music I like. I just find it so...well, funny and frustrating...that the people my age _do_ blow it out of proportion. *rolls eyes*

[Jay_Quessir]

Girl music? Guy music?

Um, your friends are weird.

I've liked rock since I was very young, I listen to music because I like it, not because I think I should.

As for 'guy music = rap', that's the biggest piece of rubbish i've ever heard. Go to any club, any concert of any type - death-metal, country, classical, hip-hop, pop - and one thing stays the same*. Both males AND females like all types of music.

Tell your friends to get over themselves. :roll:

*Even strip clubs have both male and female customers...

Woah...din't notice that last comment until I quoted :p Yeah. But that is the adult world...in School, you really are either going to be an outcast (which is obviously what I chose...proud of it too!) or you are going to conform and listen to the music everyone is 'supposed' to.

:roll: Oh well! :roll:

Thanks for the help, y'all

[Kugai]

It doesn't matter a pair of feotid Dingos kidneys what type of music it is Silverfall, so long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters in the end.

[Bertrand]

I belive the Oldies are the best songs.

Why you ask?

Well, during the OLD days, singers had to actually SING well in order to sell songs. NOWADAYS, singers just flash their pretty faces and half dress bodies on music video and rake in the cash.

Guy song/girl song.....rubbish
Rap, even more rubbish.




These are my own opinions based on my own research

[Priscilla]

I think the main point here is that people, for as much as they pretend to be individuals, when someone goes against the stereotype, that person is immediately an outsider. This is especially true in school situations up through high school because you're stuck seeing those same people every day, like it or not. When you get to college/university and out at a job, it's a bit better. Personally, I prefer to listen to male voices. If you looked at a list of some of my favorites you'd find - James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Jim Croce, John Denver . . .; and basically no females at all. I just happen to like the sound of a male voice singing better than a female's. Listen to whoever you want to, silver! :ok:

[NeouofPern]

If this girl/guy music thing was true, then my friends and I have been listening to guy music....

[C_ris]

I have never come across that distinction before!!! There are types of music which tend to have focuses amongst particular areas of the populace, but to term any type of music or even song 'girl' or 'guy' music is ridiculous!!!

I listen to most types of music, but little rap, as i find it rubbish. I listen to the music which I want to listen to.

I prefer 70s, 80s and 90s music to much of today's. Those i do like some of todays, and dislike some old ones. :D

< currently listening to Culture Club - Karma Chameleon! :ok:

[Rabble]

The main problem I can see with the concept of 'girl/guy music' is... when your in a group with both famles and females in it... what do you listen to?

[cewp]

I find the same thing in movies...a couple of stations we get have "Guys Night In" or something like that where they play two "guy" movies back to back.

I'm a woman (I'd love to be able to say girl) but I prefer the "guy" movies to "chick flicks"...Gawd that's a horrible term.

:2cent: :2cent: :2cent:

[Elianth]

Yeah, that's irritating.

I don't have a problem with girl music/guy music because people don't classify my music by gender. They say, "Country and oldies suck!" And that's the end of the conversation.

BUT, I do have a problem with girl books vs. guy books. I read books where the main character is a male, but for some reason guys reading books with the main character as a female is unacceptable. I suppose I could understand this if a girl is running around...being girly throughout the whole novel, but that isn't what I'm talking about here.

I put down a book in which the main character was female the other day. It was an excellent book. Ethan, standing there, asks, "Was it good?" I respond, "Yeah, you should read it. You're into vampires and stuff." Then Ethan says, "No, it's a girl book." ?!?!?!?!

More recently, I turned in The Rainy Season by James Blaylock. The main character was a man named Phil, though it did jump around a lot. Ethan, again, asks, "How was it?" "Great, you should read it." "Is it a girl book?" "No." So he picks it up, and reads the back. Then he sets it down. "No, it's a girl book." :banghead: And this whole thing is odd, seeing how Ethan reads just as much as I do, almost compulsively as if all the books will disappear by next month. So, this makes me wonder, what constitutes a girl/guy book?

The book I'd read about vampires (I forget the title. :blush: ) Had a female vampire as the main character, but she wasn't "girly" throughout the whole thing. She was bloodthirsty and deceiving. And in The Rainy Season, Phil gets mixed up in death and spirits and secrets and has to run around saving everything. What about those are girly?

[Rabble]

I find the same thing in movies...a couple of stations we get have "Guys Night In" or something like that where they play two "guy" movies back to back.

I'm a woman (I'd love to be able to say girl) but I prefer the "guy" movies to "chick flicks"...Gawd that's a horrible term.

:2cent: :2cent: :2cent:
Now, 'chick flick' is a term i've heard of.

They tend to horrible, IMO.
The last one I saw ended with the woman, who had thought Guy A didn't love her, accepting the marriage proposal of the rich Guy B even though she didn't love him.

While getting ready on the morning of the wedding, she realises her mistake, leaves a note and takes off in her wedding dress to find Guy A and confess that she loves him, while poor Guy B is standing at the alter wondering why the woman HE loves is taking so long.

Does anyone else find this the very opposite of a romantic ending? :banghead:

Can't wait for the sequel - Guy B finds his true love at last, but his insane and bitter about the divorce from Guy A ex-fiance is stalking him... :roll:

Give me Vin Disel driving cars off bridges any day, it's much better. :good:

[C_ris]

Apart from the Vin Diesel part, I agree! :ok:

[Dux]

I've never heard of "guy music" or "girl music". That does sound pretty stupid to me. Either you like a song or you don't. Guy and girl movies I have heard of. love stories=chick flicks. Movies that involves lots of blood and gut = guy movies.

Not always true though.

[NeouofPern]

I like guy movies then. LoL.

[Madrigal]

Now, 'chick flick' is a term i've heard of.

They tend to horrible, IMO.
The last one I saw ended with the woman, who had thought Guy A didn't love her, accepting the marriage proposal of the rich Guy B even though she didn't love him.

While getting ready on the morning of the wedding, she realises her mistake, leaves a note and takes off in her wedding dress to find Guy A and confess that she loves him, while poor Guy B is standing at the alter wondering why the woman HE loves is taking so long.

Does anyone else find this the very opposite of a romantic ending? :banghead:

Can't wait for the sequel - Guy B finds his true love at last, but his insane and bitter about the divorce from Guy A ex-fiance is stalking him... :roll:

Give me Vin Disel driving cars off bridges any day, it's much better. :good:

Let me guess: Spiderman 2. A good movie, but I agree about that...

[Jay_Quessir]

The main problem I can see with the concept of 'girl/guy music' is... when your in a group with both famles and females in it... what do you listen to?

Depends on how "whipped" the guys are and how dominant the girls are. IN a high school situation. If you are in a classroom and are a male in control of the stereo, a few things determine it.

How many girls compared to guys are in the room.
Are you a nice guy who would rather please the women than your guy friends.
Are you "whipped" by the girls or a girl.
Do you like the song secretly?

At a dance, you play a mix. Requests are given. YOu just play music. _Dance_ and Slow Dance music.

[Jay_Quessir]

Oy! Movies...The Notebook. Possibly the biggest "chick flick" of this time. I watched it, my burly and hick step dad watched it (with my mom). We cried. The dog cried...(we think...may have been that she was hacking up hair from sitting in the cat's chair???:shrug:)

I really don't care about movies...not many people do. I don't think. Never been an issue for me???

Books...about 1% of High Schoolers at my school read...you can't classify...I think I am about the only male that reads in High School....(my school mind you). So I determine the stereotype and that stereotype is that you read what Elf Princess reads or something in fantasy. :) lol. *Looks across room at mile high stack of books Elf has suggested I Read*

Though I do agree that they have been classified as well.

I don't know if I'm right but a girl book includes one or more of the following:

Love and lots of it
Someone dies in a non-violent way
A female lead
Girls talking about girl stuff
Anything that has anything to do with emotions besides hate


did I leave anything out?

[Keita]

Oy! Movies...The Notebook. Possibly the biggest "chick flick" of this time. I watched it, my burly and hick step dad watched it (with my mom). We cried. The dog cried...(we think...may have been that she was hacking up hair from sitting in the cat's chair???:shrug:)

I really don't care about movies...not many people do. I don't think. Never been an issue for me???

Books...about 1% of High Schoolers at my school read...you can't classify...I think I am about the only male that reads in High School....(my school mind you). So I determine the stereotype and that stereotype is that you read what Elf Princess reads or something in fantasy. :) lol. *Looks across room at mile high stack of books Elf has suggested I Read*

Though I do agree that they have been classified as well.

I don't know if I'm right but a girl book includes one or more of the following:

Love and lots of it
Someone dies in a non-violent way
A female lead
Girls talking about girl stuff
Anything that has anything to do with emotions besides hate


did I leave anything out?

Not that I'm aware of, but that doesn't mean anything! :D

I was the only one at school...male OR female...who read. People were just not interested in books, of whatever kind so it wasn't categorised guy or gal. The fact that I read lumped me immediately into the "gay" category. :roll:

As for music, we don't have the distinction between guy and girl here, but we do have Cool and Suck. ;) Or straight and gay.

My music "sucks"! :D I like it, though even if there is nobody to share it with! :)

[NeouofPern]

Hmm... Does that mean the Pern books are male books then?

[Jay_Quessir]

Good question!

[Maira]

From everything I've heard Pern books are glorified Romance novels aka girl books. I personally don't hold with that opinion because my fiance and I read the same books for the most part. He hasn't read the Pern books but that isn't because they are girl books it is because he favors the Talent series... Anyway thats what I've heard.

[T'ley]

It doesn't matter a pair of feotid Dingos kidneys what type of music it is Silverfall, so long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters in the end.
Couldn't agree more. (that which drew my eye to this post... see siggy!!)

[I.L.Y.]

I belive the Oldies are the best songs.

Why you ask?

Well, during the OLD days, singers had to actually SING well in order to sell songs. NOWADAYS, singers just flash their pretty faces and half dress bodies on music video and rake in the cash.

Guy song/girl song.....rubbish
Rap, even more rubbish.




These are my own opinions based on my own research

There are actually quite a few current artists who are quite the opposite of that stereotype. BarlowGirl (http://www.christianrocklyrics.com/barlowgirl/clothes.php) is a Christian Rock/Pop band that put forth the messages about how they live their lives morally. The song that link leads to is a song called "Clothes" in which they ask why they need to wear what the models wear to be worth anything and stuff like that. The whole CD is that way. There's a song called "Pedestal" where they say that you shouldn't ever put anyone up on a pedestal, because they're just human and you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

As for singing quality... Have you ever heard Amy Lee of Evanescence sing with no background instruments? Just her voice. It'll stun you. She has one of the most amazing natural voices in the industry right now. The lead singer of BarlowGirl is the same. Amazing natural voice.

So, there're some good 'uns out there these days. Just gotta look a little. :p

As for the subject of the thread, I've never cared if I was girly or guy.......ey(however you say that. :roll: ). I'm an (almost) 20 year old guy who takes good care of himself, but I'm not metrosexual by any means. I just like hygiene. :D

I write poetry by the bookload, and everybody who sees me knows so since I carry my books *everywhere*. I read whatever the heck I feel like reading(which right now is the Lioness quartet from Tamora Pierce. Great writer, although she keeps me up late too much. :roll: ), and movies are the same. Went and saw The Notebook in the theaters with some of my girl friends. We loved it and would have cried at the end if someone's dang phone hadn't gone off *right* when it shouldn't have.

Heck, I even call myself a girly guy. Half male and half female emotionally. I've made some great friends anyway. So don't worry about it. If you feel like listening to "girl music", go ahead. I do.

[Jay_Quessir]

Oh...meant ot comment on the natural voices part...Christina Aguilera can sing naturally and so can Alicia Keys. Neither of them are synthesized. Christina has such a pretty voice and can go anywhere from rather low to extremely high (not Mariah Carey high....*shudders* but high). Amy Lee does have such a wonderful voice. I love her songs because of that voice. It sends chills down my spine for someone to be able to sing that well! Kelly Clarkson was really good, no where near Amy or Christina but up with Alicia. Diana DeGarmo from last year's American Idol was pretty much like Christina...just listen to Christina in Lady Marmalade. She is the one that defines the song and tops the others in voice talents. She dominates the song and makes it what it is. Diana did the same on her final performance with Kelly, Ruben, and Fantasia. She was the one you could hear and the one that really stood out as an outstanding singer. She should have won that competition but...sometimes age does matter...

[Master Harper Andrea]

All I can say is gender roles or ideas are a bunch of crap. Listen to what you want to, and who cares what anyone thinks???? It doesn't matter!!!!

[Lady Legira]

I love reading but hate Chick-lit, it's usually romantic trash. Don't get me wrong I like romances but I prefer something that isn't............. (drat, can't think of the right word).

[Master Harper Andrea]

I agree LL, I hate the pap that some authors think women want to read....the same plot for a million books.

[Lady Arwyn]

Do you really think they would continue writing and marketing these books if they didn't sell? Nope. ROmance books (yeah, they are all the same formula) are nearly 1/3 of all fiction books sold. They outsell any two genres combined. So yeah, most women (who enjoy reading) want to read them.

It's all in the marketing. Nearly everything, from books to movies to TV shows to, well whatever, are marketed towards a specific group. Men age 25-40. Women age 30-55. Whatever.

We had one guest speaker in class whose marketing research company gets requests like the following real marketing research: Men age 30-45 who make over $100K/year who are married but don't have kids yet but are planning on having kids in the next 5 years. That (specifically) was the marketing research for a car! If you're a single woman with no kids and don't want any they aren't going to market for you no matter how much you like the car.

Usually extensive market research determines what the bulk of these people are looking for, and the company produces for these people.

Yes, those who don't fit in with the majority are left out., usually some 35%. But getting 65% of the market correct is worth huge profits. HUGE.

There is a reason for a sterotype. A stereotype is a collection of the attributes found to be most common in any given group (stright from my Youth and Mass Media textbook) .

As a 35 year old I both fit the stereotype and don't.

I am stereotypical in that I buy clothes and other stuff for the kids more often than for myself. So they market clothes and kids stuff to my age/gender group.

As a reader I am stereotypicial in that I read both Anne McCaffery and Mercedes Lackey. Both writers appeal more to women than to men, both because most of the main characters are females and because of the storytelling style that *staticitically* is preferred by women.

I am not stereotypical in my movie preference. *Most* (back to statistical market researc here) 34-55 YO women prefer character driven movies that revolve around relationships. But I prefer shoot-em-up, big war-machine action movies with a hint of humor in them. I really love natural disaster movies like Armageddon, Core, etc. In that my preferences align with the 14-34 year old male market.

What to do? Figure out which markets your preferences align with and watch for what is marketed for them. That's what Yahoo does. It takes a look at what you buy and how you rate books/movies/whatever, and thy market directly to YOUR preferences. They can't do that in your typical mall bookstore. THey have to go with market research.

But they will NEVER market to you because there is no $$$$ in it for them. They are quite happy with their profits from that 65% that they got right. And some 65% of the time, they will be marketing correctly to you. You don't get annoyed because you don't notice what works. It's that 35% that is marketed to us incorrectly that annoys us.

:banghead: No more media textbook. No more media textbook No more media textbook...

My teacher might even accept this as my next essay... :faint:

[Milo]

We-ell. I guess I like "guy" music. Classic rock, light metal, and whatnot. But I dont have anything against guys listening to "girl" music. It's not the gender, its the style. (I do have something against Ashlee Simpson though ;) :roll: ). After all, I listen to musicals, so if THAT doesn't make me a herm or a shim, what does? Lol.

[NeouofPern]

We-ell. I guess I like "guy" music. Classic rock, light metal, and whatnot. But I dont have anything against guys listening to "girl" music. It's not the gender, its the style. (I do have something against Ashlee Simpson though ;) :roll: ). After all, I listen to musicals, so if THAT doesn't make me a herm or a shim, what does? Lol.
Classic rock is guy music? Darn, I am transgender. LoL. I personally suppose I listen to guy music, liking Nirvana, most forms of rock, etc. Then again... I also like Celtic. Not sure what that makes me. Just about right?

[lisap]

I belive the Oldies are the best songs.

Why you ask?

Well, during the OLD days, singers had to actually SING well in order to sell songs. NOWADAYS, singers just flash their pretty faces and half dress bodies on music video and rake in the cash.

Rap, even more rubbish.


Amen! Although Oldies aren't my favorite, I listen to country. Nice, modest, well-dressed singers. :applause: I love my hill-billy songs, y'all!

But yeah, the guy song girl song is stupid. I'm a girl, and I don't female voices very much. I think the lower voices sound better. That doesn't mean I'm more masculine. *snorts in laughter* :roll:

[Jesserli]

Yeah, that's irritating.
So, this makes me wonder, what constitutes a girl/guy book?


I don't think there's really any such thing, with one notable exception. My girl friends and I always tell other girls to read The Black Jewels Trilogy, but we pointedly tell guys NOT to, because those are definitely girl books - the type that aren't really all that good, but you read them as fluff entertainment when you're depressed or PMSing or something.

Other than that one example, I've never come across another book that I thought was specifically for guys or specifically for girls.

As for music, I can't tell you. I don't listen to any pop or rap. The only things I listen to are classic rock, classical music, and show tunes.

[Danae]

People who think there is "guy" music and "girl" music are, to be frank, just plain dumb.* You need to listen to the music you like, not the music people think you should listen to.







*replaces stronger language not suitable for this forum.

[Lady Arwyn]

Classic rock is guy music? Darn, I am transgender. LoL. I personally suppose I listen to guy music, liking Nirvana, most forms of rock, etc. Then again... I also like Celtic. Not sure what that makes me. Just about right?

Excuseme. Classic Rock is NOT Nirvana. Nirvana is New Wave or Grunge or something. That's not what we Classic Rock people called it when groups like Nirvana started making waves among the "freaks" and "punks" in the 80s.

Then there's acid rock, hard rock, punk rock, heavy metal, etc. Aerosmith and Pink Floyd. Kiss and Ozzy Osbourne. Screaming guitars and psychedelic keyboards.

"Classic Rock" is Nat King Cole, Fats Domino, Haley and the Comets, Elvis, Huey Lewis and the News, Bruce Springsteen, etc. It's doo-wop, you lost your job and you love your wife/girlfriend and your taxes are due and you're in danger of losing your little middle class picket-fence house. It's the white middle class child of the Blues.

[Arwenth]

Guess I listen to guy music then. *snorts* I live on rap. :D :redfruit:

EDIT: And love songs. Any type, except for oldbies

[Milo]

Excuseme. Classic Rock is NOT Nirvana. Nirvana is New Wave or Grunge or something. That's not what we Classic Rock people called it when groups like Nirvana started making waves among the "freaks" and "punks" in the 80s.

Then there's acid rock, hard rock, punk rock, heavy metal, etc. Aerosmith and Pink Floyd. Kiss and Ozzy Osbourne. Screaming guitars and psychedelic keyboards.

"Classic Rock" is Nat King Cole, Fats Domino, Haley and the Comets, Elvis, Huey Lewis and the News, Bruce Springsteen, etc. It's doo-wop, you lost your job and you love your wife/girlfriend and your taxes are due and you're in danger of losing your little middle class picket-fence house. It's the white middle class child of the Blues.
But the classic rock stations play all of that... Plus Queen, ACDC, Lynard Skynnard, Led Zeplin, Jimi Hendrix etc.

I dont think i've heard any Nirvana on my favorite Classic Rock station though.

[Lady Arwyn]

And pop stations play country, and country stations play rock. Every genre crosses with other genres or a song in a certain genre is so popular that a station not in that genre will play it just because it is so popular.

Each of the groups you described has in the past made a song or two outside of it's genre, in the rock or pop genres. It was common, that's where the money was. Their "true fans" called them sellouts when they made such songs,but while it seemed that they had plenty of fans, it was still minority of the buying public, not enough to keep the bands in the money. And there are enough forms of rock (acid rock, hard rock,etc) that a "classic rock" station will take them all.

When I was in school in the 80s," Queen, ACDC, Lynard Skynnard, Led Zeplin, Jimi Hendrix etc" were considered "alternative." Well, maybe not Jimi Hendrix, but he was only popular among a certain crowd, classic something, I wouldn't know what to call it. Those folks also liked Pink Floyd. :erm: My crowd wouldn't be caught dead listening to most of those bands.

The 80s were really conservative. The Reagan Era. Guys wore ties to school (and they weren't expected or required to, it was *fashion*. And girls wore blouses (not shirts) over too-tight jeans with jeweled belts. Cyndi Lauper meets 9-5. We looked like junior office workers or something.

Rap was simply unacceptable, it was the music of inner city gangs and drugs,of violenceand poor people. And it was very definately black. Whites didn't listen to it because it was black music, and there was a feeling that a white listening to it was, well, trying to be black. Which was cool. White kids couldn't be cool, we lacked the cool gene or something. This was before white rap artists came around. Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract" was revolutionary in that it was the first song with rap/hip-hop overtones that appealed to mainstream audiences. Soon MC Hammerand others followed with more "mainstreamed" rap and hip-hop. I nevereven heard the term "hip-hop" until the 90s, I don't even know if it existed in the 80s. And I worked fora radio station!

This was a time when those outside of "mainstream" music were biting the heads off of bats in concert. Anyone who listened to that stuff was considered a freak. If you didn't listen to mainstream music you got a reputation as a rocker or a punker. Which was synonymous with druggie, high school dropout and LOSER. Of course, the boy(?)bands of the time (Duran Duran, Culture Club) were considered freaks too (men wearing make-up :roll: ) but their music was acceptable.

As time passes, what was once "fringe" stuff becomes mainstream. The young fans of alternative music grow up to have kids, go into business and eventually it becomes acceptable,almost mainstream. So other forms of music are invented to take the "fringe" that was abandoned by the now mainstream acid, metal, headbanger, grunge, etc.

Sorry, I'm a journalism major, I spent a year studying radio, including music programing. I still find myself writing essays on the subject rather than just a discussion...

[Ian]

Classic Rock as a genre (at least over here) is stuff like Queen, Deep Purple, Cream, Hendrix, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Heart, etc. Rock with its roots in the period from the late 60s to the early-mid 80s I guess, even if the bands themselves may be newer. Just because something is classic rock doesn't make it Classic Rock (confusing I know). ;)

[Milo]

Classic Rock as a genre (at least over here) is stuff like Queen, Deep Purple, Cream, Hendrix, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Heart, etc. Rock with its roots in the period from the late 60s to the early-mid 80s I guess, even if the bands themselves may be newer. Just because something is classic rock doesn't make it Classic Rock (confusing I know). ;)
Not THAT confusing. :p I get it.