In defense of my induviduality

This is not the first time someone's telling me that my taste for things are ancient. Yesterday, my boss was commenting on my taste for music. I was playing 'Carpenters' at the office and he walks in to feel transported to an age he long forgot. He stands there mesmerised by the voice of Karen and taps his heels to the tunes of Richard's piano. He stands there lost in a musical reverie only to shrug himself out of it and say, "My God, this guy... I can't believe someone still listens to Carpenters!"

I felt very happy at his words as I don't find too many people who shares my taste for music. But my joy was short lived.

"Why do you keep listening to such old stuff? You should be listening to 'Black Eyed Peas' and the kind", he says.

I don't understand this. Why should my age be a criteria to decide what kind of music I listen to? I've always loved soft rock, pop and blues and the kind. Heavy metals and rap music makes no impression in me. Born to a father who was a great singer himself and a lover of good music, I grew up listening to the many classics in the world of music. My ears are not tuned to the hard strumming of a guitar or the cacophony of heavy instruments. Besides, I listen to music with the ears of my soul open. And maybe 'coz my soul is something very tender and mellow, the supposedly popular music bands of this age does nothing more than leave scratch marks on my soul. Do I sound like I'm exaggerating. Trust me, I'm not. There have been occasions when I had to run out of places where they played loud and heavy music. To me, anything other than melody sounds anything but musical. Now, I'm not making any statements here. I'm just trying to say, "This is what I'm".

Also, I really don't understand when someone says they love 'songs' of 'Aerosmith', 'Metallica' and the likes. Worse even, when someone says, they love the voice of some of the singers in those bands. Excuse me, when have you ever heard a human voice singing in those bands? The whole music piece is a cacophony of different instruments and yes, someone does utter some lines in between all that. But I've never heard anyone 'singing'. Neither would I identify the voice if I hear it without all those instruments playing around him/her. But anyone can identify the voice of Karen Carpenter, Kenny Rogers, Jim Reeves, Lionel Richie and the likes. They're the true singers, in my opinion. They are singers with a voice that is distinctive and has an individuality and of course some musical quality to it. And if they were singers of yesteryears, how am I to be blamed? I sure will listen to a singer (not a band), who is of this age if he/she can boast of the qualities that I mentioned before.


The same is applicable when it comes to my taste for movies - I can watch 'Schindler's List' or 'Casablanca' over and over again and wouldn't care to take a second look at the 'MI' series or the 'XXX' series. I believe a good piece of art should be judged for it's own worth and not for the age in which it is created. I wouldn't deny the relationship that the age has with the art of that time. But it's not just the age that makes it great or acceptable. It's the worth that it has in itself. Am I not right?

I'm comfortable wearing my jeans and corduroys and a comfy cotton shirt to go with it. I find my 125cc Yamaha Gladiator very comfortable and something that suits my attitude.  I don't see why I should own a 150cc bike with the oil prices going high every other day, or wear a branded trouser for which I'll have to pay through my nose and so on and so forth? No. I've no prejudice against the world of brands and labels. After all, it's those brands that help me win my bread (I'm a copy writer in an ad agency). But the whole point of my argument is whether it is a crime, or is it something so shameful to have your personal choices which may not match the tastes of the contemporary age? Why should anyone look down up on me and think that I'm someone who walked down from some pre-historic era just 'coz I listen to, enjoy and prefer the 70's pop and blues to the hard metal of the 21st centuary?

Come-on... Please! Give me a break. If you think I was born in the wrong era of civilisation, I'm the last one to be ridiculed or blamed for it. Honestly, it wasn't my choice.

I know there are people out there who can counter all my arguments and say I'm just an ancient creature born at a wrong period of time. My answer to all their arguments is nothing but a smile.