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Name your tunes

Reuters

Latest comment posted at 5:46 AM EST 25/09/08

What you like may define your personality ...Read the full article

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  1. Addie Bundren from Canada writes: Shouldn't the astrology column be a little less prominently placed?
  2. Another Opinion from Canada writes: "Those who choose to listen to exciting, punchy music are more likely to be in a higher income bracket, he said, while those who go for relaxing sounds tend to be lower down the pay scale."

    Uh-huh.

    So the next time I stop at a light next to some loser in his beat up Honda Civic blaring rap music on a custom stereo system worth more than his car, I should ask him for a job?
  3. Keystone Provincial from NOT Winnipeg, Canada writes: "The monkey stands for honesty,
    Giraffes are insincere
    And the elephants are kindly, but they're dumb.
    Orangatans are skeptical of changes in their cages
    And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.

    Zebras are reactionary,
    Antelopes are missionaries,
    Pigeons plot in secrecy
    And hamsters turn on secretly..."

    Paul Simon - 'At the Zoo'
  4. Chad Noor from Montreal, Canada writes: If gentleness is reserved for heavy metal listeners, then you can bet I am going to stay away from those aggressive Classical lovers. Now I understand why Beethoven put cannons into his symphonies!
  5. Hardeep Gill from Canada writes: Another Opinion: Maybe ask his mom or dad for one instead.
  6. Kim Philby from Ottawa, Canada writes: Well, let's see - the music I write and play is generally on the soft side, played on acoustic guitar. I like to relax with the headphones on listening to trance music (Armin van Buuren CD's). Waking up to the sound of Gustav Holtz's "Jupiter" on the radio makes my day.

    Oh no! I have multiple personalites!
  7. Stephen Dedalus from Canada writes: Kim Philby, you may not have multiple personalities. It could be that you're simply one personality contained in the mind of a greater being. The best way to find out is to smash somebody else's guitar when they're not looking.

    Are country and western fans really shy? Maybe the correct word is "ashamed." (Thanks, I'll be here all week . . .)
  8. Kim Philby from Ottawa, Canada writes: Stephen: I'll get back to you on your post as soon as the cryptographers at the Communications Security Establishment decipher it.

    This research is really suspect. I don't think most people like just one kind of music (which was the point of my first post), and some people like certain kinds of music at certain phases in their lives; I generally no longer listen to what I did as a teen, and some music I'm into now I never listened to before. Claiming a personality-musical taste correlation sounds wonky.
  9. Gudrun Dekker from Vernon, Canada writes: I enjoy listening to all types of music so what does that make me- Charlie Brown? I thought "sterotyping" went out in the seventies!
  10. Richard Picard from Canada writes: I like Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, Glenn Miller and Hank Williams...what does that mean about me? Yikes!!!
  11. Rob M from Canada writes: Many different genres of music can carry similar tones and sounds.

    for example, I will listen to hip hop, but only certain kinds just as I will only listen to certain kinds of rock and jazz.

    Grouping music into categories is not so easily done when comparing to it to personalities, because different personalities will like different aspects of the same thing.

    study was a waste of time in my opinion.
  12. Winston Churchill from London, Canada writes: How come listeners of all sorts of music can be described in positive terms only? Where's the finding that those who like reggae and ska actually are losers and pot-heads, or that those who like hip hop are wastes of flesh (and probably pretty young)?

    When I was growing up, across the river from the Motor City, if it didn't involve a guitar solo at least 30 seconds long, and if the song wasn't about getting drunk and banging groupies, then it wasn't really music at all. It was well known that only the gender-challenged listened to that sort of noise. I still have a sneaking regard for Uncle Ted, and can remember most of the words to 'Cat Scratch Fever'. I guess that makes me and Gandhi too of a kind, eh?
  13. Chris Edwards from Greater Sudbury, Canada writes: Glad it was Scottish taxpayers on the hook for this $hit! Anytime someone starts trying to paint with a broad brush, they step in a pile without fail. I don't know how any so-called academic would stake his career on such easily dismissed piffle.

    I listen to good music, whatever the genre. What does that make me?

    Open minded, pragmatic, discerning, logical, kind, intelligent, charming, and great in bed - if I do say so myself. And I DO mean by myself.

    Did I mention funny?
  14. M Poland from Calgary, Canada writes: Oh Lord, what would this study make of me? I like and listen to pretty much everything except rap and the kind of jazz where you cannot tell of those 5 musicians are in the same band or not. Oh, and that 20th century New Age atonal dreck.
  15. Supreme Ruler Of The Universe from Toronto, Canada writes: Nothing I love more than blasting Iron Maiden out of my Lexus RX-350 and watching people look to see where it's coming from - after all, who drives a Lexus and listens to Iron Maiden?
  16. Badges? We don't need no stinking badges from Canada writes: I like 'Dick Dale's' music
  17. Tor Sandberg from Toronto, Canada writes: yeah, seriously. what happens when you like them all?
  18. Jonny Quest from Canada writes: story states Indie lovers lack self esteem and tend to be aggressive - the only negative portrait of all those examined
  19. E. S. from Canada writes: Maybe I'm confused, but I thought the study identified the primary personality characteristics of most of the people who claimed they liked certain types of music.

    That doesn't necessarily mean the corollary is true as suggested by the article e.g. "Rap fans are outgoing, and indie lovers lack self-esteem and are not very gentle". Being a rap fan doesn't mean you're outgoing any more than being outgoing necessarily means you like rap music.

    It also doesn't mean that a person can't like more than one type of music and if they do that they have more than on personality.

    Just goes to show how quickly a study can be misinterpreted, its results misapplied, and conclusions incorrectly drawn.

    So Tor Sandberg....so what happens when you like them all? You have a lot more fun than people who only like one type of music, and you continue to be who you are before you read this article.
  20. blue sea from United States writes: I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that as a lifelong classical fan, the study's findings fit me to a T. And to Chad Noor, sorry to set the record straight, but Beethoven never wrote cannons into his symphonies. Maybe you're thinking of his Wellingtons Seig, Op. 91, also known sometimes as the "Battle Symphony", but it lies outside of the canon and was just a paycheck piece anyhow (not "real" work). Or maybe you have in mind Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

    I bet the study shows that classical lovers are also annoyingly pedantic : )
  21. Winston Churchill from London, Canada writes: You know, now that I think about it, Uncle Ted and the Mahatma do have alot in common --

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXUI5hAxFYI

    Personally, I think that McCain should have tagged him as running mate, but that's just me. Anyway, McCain's got 'rockabilly' written all over him, so perhaps he wouldn't appreciate the Motor City Madman's sensitive side.
  22. Oakville Curmudgeon from Canada writes: M Poland from Calgary, Canada.

    You have slagged off my two favourite kinds of music. The kind of jazz where you cannot tell of those 5 musicians are in the same band or not, and that 20th century New Age atonal dreck.

    It is demeaning to have someone dismiss two genres that bring much joy to so many.

    Sheesh.
  23. David any from Loon-a-Tick, Canada writes: I like Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.


    Couldn't say where she's commin from
    But I just met a lady named Dina Mo Hum
    Strolled all over said lookit Bub
    Got a Forty Dollar bill says you caint make me come
    Ya just caint do it
    Made a bet with her sister whos a little bit dumb
    I could prove at any time
    All men was scum
    Well I poked and stroked till my wrist got numb
    But you know I never heard no Dina Mo Hum
    Dina Mo.....

    My character is ...well Irreverent....and well....I'm sorry for involving you.
    Namaste !............ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
  24. David any from Loon-a-Tick, Canada writes: That was inappropriate and I apologize.
    Lets talk about Steven Harper and his hidden agenda./Or/
    Lets talk about Stephan Dion and his agenda to save all of our lives ...only against our will.....Ha Ha ha! Life just get weirder and weirder. I think I'll vote for the Block. We need Block Reps in Ontario......Crap ....I want to separate too if they will build the Space Center here.
  25. Luke Powell from Vancouver, Canada writes: Chris Edwards from Greater Sudbury, Canada writes: Glad it was Scottish taxpayers on the hook for this $hit! Anytime someone starts trying to paint with a broad brush, they step in a pile without fail. I don't know how any so-called academic would stake his career on such easily dismissed piffle.

    Except that it can't easily be dismissed. With such a large sample size, the conclusions he draws are probably statistically significant, and therefore meaningful. The researcher isn't painting with a broad brush - he's painting with statistics, one of the finest brushes we've yet developed.

    The fact that you dismiss the conclusions so quickly without actually looking at his numbers tells me you have no concept of scientific and statistical procedure or theory.
  26. jan mcausland from saskatoon, Canada writes: How do you know the participants in the survey told the truth? How much would that skew the results? Would you confess if you listened to hip hop in your old age? or classical if you were a cool pup? Hmmm...
  27. Emma Hawthorne from Canada writes: Music tastes also correlate to politics, ethics, & social relationships.
  28. Orest Zarowsky from Toronto, Canada writes: I miss the days when radio stations weren't niche market "product". One was exposed to the entire spectrum of music then. Today, it's all "specialized" and with extremely limited play lists.

    What I have observed is that the more limited a style of music someone prefers, the more rigid and limited their thinking is. Especially if they are not willing to listen to something different even once.

    The compartmentalization and fragmentation of the radio station market is not a good thing. It coincides with the compartmentalization and fragmentation of society. Otherwise known as the silo effect.

    I wonder what my personality would be defined as - I like all sorts of music. My collectrion has been described as eclectic.

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