On stereotypes and generalisations
Without making generalisations it would be impossible to state much of anything, either inside of outside of academia. And stereotypes can be both amusing to make fun of and interesting. That being said however, I am sometimes more than a little sick of being judged on the basis of stereotypical ideas.
Some examples, slightly exaggerated for effect but still things I've heard said:
You like ABBA?? But -- they're pop, and aren't you a metal fan?
If you're a woman and don't have a driver's license, you're nothing but a helpless and unliberated female.
Do you actually enjoy studying? How nerd are you?!
You're anti-social, stuck-up and friendless if you don't drink yourself senseless every Friday and Saturday night.
Nightwish, Within Temptation and Evanescence isn't proper metal, but pompous, teenage-angsty emo shit.
And so on and so forth.
With this in mind, it is quite a relief to read the September installment of Nightmail (where the band members of Nightwish answer questions from the fans on the official Nightwish page). Marco provided the answers in September, and one of the questions he got concerns his favourite "guilty pleasure" song, i.e. whether he has a song that he only listens to when no one else is around because he is embarrassed by it. I can't resist quoting from his reply (my emphasis):
I can probably raise the backhairs of the purists of metal by saying that Backstreet Boys have a nice tune in "Incomplete" for example. And I'm not ashamed. It doesn't belong to being a rocker.
His answer speaks for itself, really. And additionally it illustrates why I'm so impressed by that man, and not only for his wonderful singing abilities.
Nightwish as a whole seem to follow the same philosophy of doing their own thing without considering what other people think, as evidenced for instance by the song The Islander, one of the best songs on their newest album and yet a very untypical song for a metal band:
Some examples, slightly exaggerated for effect but still things I've heard said:
You like ABBA?? But -- they're pop, and aren't you a metal fan?
If you're a woman and don't have a driver's license, you're nothing but a helpless and unliberated female.
Do you actually enjoy studying? How nerd are you?!
You're anti-social, stuck-up and friendless if you don't drink yourself senseless every Friday and Saturday night.
Nightwish, Within Temptation and Evanescence isn't proper metal, but pompous, teenage-angsty emo shit.
And so on and so forth.
With this in mind, it is quite a relief to read the September installment of Nightmail (where the band members of Nightwish answer questions from the fans on the official Nightwish page). Marco provided the answers in September, and one of the questions he got concerns his favourite "guilty pleasure" song, i.e. whether he has a song that he only listens to when no one else is around because he is embarrassed by it. I can't resist quoting from his reply (my emphasis):
I can probably raise the backhairs of the purists of metal by saying that Backstreet Boys have a nice tune in "Incomplete" for example. And I'm not ashamed. It doesn't belong to being a rocker.
His answer speaks for itself, really. And additionally it illustrates why I'm so impressed by that man, and not only for his wonderful singing abilities.
Nightwish as a whole seem to follow the same philosophy of doing their own thing without considering what other people think, as evidenced for instance by the song The Islander, one of the best songs on their newest album and yet a very untypical song for a metal band:
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