What people really mean when they talk about music.
Overrated
(adj.) A term applied to a given piece of art or media that you do not like, but that other people do like. Usage intended to imply a sense of objectivity and often to hint at some sort of injustice. Most often applied retroactively to one's previous favorite artists, following the traumatic discovery that people outside of one's social demographic are aware of them.
As in: “Banksy is so fucking overrated man, I totally saw like a 35 year old guy in a polo shirt reading that bullshit coffeetable book on the underground. What the fuck man.”
Everything
(noun) A response to the question “what kind of music do you like?” It actually only includes alternative rock from 1990 onwards, pop music that was relevant to the speaker as an adolescent, classic rock, a disc or two's worth of "Pure Eighties," and country and rap. If the speaker has ever played in an orchestra, symphony, or any other traditional ensemble, "everything" may also include standard intermediate repertory. Not to be confused with "everything but country and rap", which is similar to the above with the exception of country and rap.
Get
(verb) To like, or to appreciate. Invariably preceded by "I don't" and followed by a deliberately inaccurate or oversimplified description.
As in: "I don't "get" My Bloody Valentine it just sounds like someone recorded an electric fan running for 40 minutes."
Am I the only one that...
(phrase) A last-resort means of attempting the illusion of holding a unique or challenging opinion in a social situation where said opinion is so common as to be assumed.
As in: "Am I the only one who's sick of seeing Bono everywhere?"
Pretentious
(adjective) Used in lieu of actually having to articulate the artistic merit of any subjective artistic medium. Often attributed to things which don't adhere to the literal definition of pretension such as Pitchfork Media or Radiohead, "pretentious" is used most commonly as a slanderous insult.
Boring
(adj.) A word to describe music that is outside of the genre the person normally listens to, and only tried because other people like it a lot.
As in: "Dude, I tried listening to Joy Division, it was incredibly boring."
Sample
(verb) A process by which a musician, usually a producer, takes a piece of instrumentation or vocals from a prior recording and mixes them with other samples or original instrumentation to make up an element of a new recording. If the band being sampled is one you haven't heard of/don't like, sampling is an acceptable way to make new music. If the band being sampled is one you like, sampling is an abhorrent musical war-crime best punished by the musician's mother's death.
Innovative
(adj.) An artist that records an album with techniques, melodies, structures, sounds, or genre influence that has been done previously, but only by artists with much less commercial appeal.
As in: "Kid A has to be one of the most innovative albums I've ever heard."
(adj.) A term applied to a given piece of art or media that you do not like, but that other people do like. Usage intended to imply a sense of objectivity and often to hint at some sort of injustice. Most often applied retroactively to one's previous favorite artists, following the traumatic discovery that people outside of one's social demographic are aware of them.
As in: “Banksy is so fucking overrated man, I totally saw like a 35 year old guy in a polo shirt reading that bullshit coffeetable book on the underground. What the fuck man.”
Everything
(noun) A response to the question “what kind of music do you like?” It actually only includes alternative rock from 1990 onwards, pop music that was relevant to the speaker as an adolescent, classic rock, a disc or two's worth of "Pure Eighties," and country and rap. If the speaker has ever played in an orchestra, symphony, or any other traditional ensemble, "everything" may also include standard intermediate repertory. Not to be confused with "everything but country and rap", which is similar to the above with the exception of country and rap.
Get
(verb) To like, or to appreciate. Invariably preceded by "I don't" and followed by a deliberately inaccurate or oversimplified description.
As in: "I don't "get" My Bloody Valentine it just sounds like someone recorded an electric fan running for 40 minutes."
Am I the only one that...
(phrase) A last-resort means of attempting the illusion of holding a unique or challenging opinion in a social situation where said opinion is so common as to be assumed.
As in: "Am I the only one who's sick of seeing Bono everywhere?"
Pretentious
(adjective) Used in lieu of actually having to articulate the artistic merit of any subjective artistic medium. Often attributed to things which don't adhere to the literal definition of pretension such as Pitchfork Media or Radiohead, "pretentious" is used most commonly as a slanderous insult.
Boring
(adj.) A word to describe music that is outside of the genre the person normally listens to, and only tried because other people like it a lot.
As in: "Dude, I tried listening to Joy Division, it was incredibly boring."
Sample
(verb) A process by which a musician, usually a producer, takes a piece of instrumentation or vocals from a prior recording and mixes them with other samples or original instrumentation to make up an element of a new recording. If the band being sampled is one you haven't heard of/don't like, sampling is an acceptable way to make new music. If the band being sampled is one you like, sampling is an abhorrent musical war-crime best punished by the musician's mother's death.
Innovative
(adj.) An artist that records an album with techniques, melodies, structures, sounds, or genre influence that has been done previously, but only by artists with much less commercial appeal.
As in: "Kid A has to be one of the most innovative albums I've ever heard."