Putting my 5 bucks worth ...

[Greg Earle <smeagol!earle@elroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>]

>Is there anybody out there that likes music that is a bit more mainstream?

Yah, sure, they're all over in wank.music.missedout bleating to their
beloved ELP albums ...

>I've noticed a general tendency of people to talk about groups that I
>would guess are "punk" or "new wave" (labels used very hesitantly).

There's your first mistake; labels are for weenies who like to pigeonhole
music so they can denounce it easier.  It's all Music (loosely, Rock Music),
why Genre-fy yourself?

>I'm not saying that I don't like "that kind" of music,

Yeah you are, else you wouldn't categorize it as such ...

>... just that there's other stuff I'm at least more familiar with, and
>definately more comfortable with.

The stuff *I* blab on about *I'm* `more familiar with' and `more
comfortable with', yet it fits your little pigeonhole above.  Hypocracy,
anyone?  Everything is relative, son ...

>Note though, that I can say I've gone from Billie Holiday
>to Velvet Underground without any troubles...

Then what's the problem?  If you can make that leap, there isn't really any
other barrier that you can't breach - it's all in your mind.  Remove the
unnecessary pigeonholes, buy something different for a change, and just 
sit down and *listen* to the damn thing without thinking `Gee, is it OK
for me to like this?  What if my roommates see this album ... Gosh, this
looks like some of that punk rock shit I'm uncomfortable with and am supposed
to hate ... better put it back' ...  Evaluate it on it's OWN merits, and
don't FILTER your opinions through societal conditioning and expectations ...

Good grief, part of the reason (presumably) this mailing list/newsgroup exists
is so that people can disseminate information about music which is not as
widely known or appreciated because of various reasons (lack of distribution
and information being high on the list, as I see things).  Hopefully, imbedded
in postings from people like me, Jim Hoffman, John Hogge, Bill Hsu, Grady Toss
and many others is an implicit plea for the rest to make use of their 
information, to allow yourself to be exposed to something which might make
your (musical) life richer.  You have only your own shackles to remove ...

An example; for instance Bill Hsu mentioned the (semi) new Lustmord record a
short while back.  Since I am a Fan, and wasn't aware of there being a new
release, armed with this information from him I was able to actively seek it
out in succeeding record store expeditions. A short time later I found it
(though not in L.A., naturally - nah).  It has since become one of my most
favorite albums of this fledgeling year.  So, here's a case where this
information dissemination was put to good use.  In return, I let him know 
of the existence of Factory and Drowning Pool (letter's in the mail, Bill),
which may or may not do the same thing for him.  Symbiosis, mate!