BF2S Forums Listening to music not a valid hobby?

If you listen to classics, you're distinguished. If you listen to crap, you're the lowest common denominator. If you visit a well-endowed art museum, you're cultured. If you look at deviantart pr0n, you're a geek.

mcminty wrote:

Defiance wrote:

Edit: To be clear, that's not to say music doesn't have the depth of other arts, just that you don't see the equivelant of this tripe in books or art galleries, besides Twilight, of course.

You ever been to the Tate Modern?

There were some Monet's, and other classics, but a majority of the stuff there was tripe. For example, one of the installations was a room with a projector, showing a black and white film of a guy pouring oil onto his penis.

like.. seriously.

Exceptions to everything. In my opinion, this is experimentation by people who are genuinely interested in the arts (mostly, at least). IE, even professional comics have jokes that flop; not everything will be a hit. The thing is, most people see that most modern art is shit because standards are high and not a lot of it meets the cut. On the other hand, the shit storm of ludicrously bad music is embraced by the masses for reasons already said.

TimmmmaaaaH wrote:

Dilbert_X wrote:

Back in olden times listening to concerts, opera etc was the peak of artistic appreciation.
Its slipped a bit, I'm going to blame rap.

Good thing Lady Gaga is doing her part to bring music back to its artistic peak.

Ah I see. I forgot about that thread.

the 'serious discussion' in this thread baffles me.

of course listening to music is a serious hobby and interest - a serious area of academic study, and a serious area of critical/artistic appreciation, too.

the argument that music is a 'background activity' is like saying fine-art is worthless because you can take a fleeting glance at it and not step-to the portrait for an actual appreciation. it's like saying sculpture is a whimsical interest because you don't have to actually approach the installment or read the commemorative plaque, or even give a shit about it. just because you play certain music as background-filler, it doesn't mean that the song-writing, the musical composition and the aesthetic of the piece is relegated into worthlessness.

what a ridiculously egocentric argument.

make reductio ad absurdum statements and you'll be viewed as a moron.

If you look carefully you'll see that it was you who derailed, and were first with the personal attack.
You weren't retorting to anything, except maybe your own paranoid imaginings.

I would say it is, if you somehow express your experience with the music you are listening to -write reviews/blog etc.
If not, NO.

Why do you have to express your experience of something for it to be valid?

That's the great thing about listening to music, visiting galleries, etc. You can do it on your own, draw your own conclusions, and keep it to yourself. Hobbies don't have to be shared for them to be legitimate.

so is visual art... so are sculptures... so is other forms of mainstream media (e.g. television, blockbuster films). we live in a very media saturated world: everything has a soundtrack, advertising and technology puts images, sounds and art-forms in all aspects of mainstream, commercial, public life. that doesn't mean there isn't a level of appreciation and interest that somehow goes 'further' and is 'more involved', though. music is everywhere but what sort of music is everywhere? mainstream pop? ok. visual art and images are everywhere, too. are you saying because images are plastered all over billboards and advertising spaces in cities that one cannot credibly go into an art-gallery and 'appreciate' the same form of artistic expression? there are varying degrees and qualities to this sort of thing.

Yes, there are varying degrees. I don't count listening to top 40 radio while driving in the car a hobby. But a lot of people assume that that's all there is to listening to music, and discount it as a hobby entirely.

Dilbert_X wrote:

Whatver, its not viewed as a valid hobby.

The mere fact that people argue about what is and what isn't a valid hobby is unabashedly absurd.