An Eclectic Music Enthusiast, Contemplating...

{dedicated to my former officemate Joseph Vitug, one of the most eclectic music enthusiasts I've ever known}

I thought of writing another list of favorite songs and artists, as a continuation of the music survey I recently posted; but then, I felt that writing something different yet still related would be much better and more interesting.

For this post I decided, instead, to discuss about *eclecticism* and the factors which, I think, influenced my having become an eclectic music enthusiast. I am not anymore my previous seLf who listened only to Alternative / New Wave Music, which of course remains my favorite genre; but I have evolved into a music lover who's open to almost any kind of musical genres and styles. Although, of course, my discriminating taste remains intact.

Who I've turned into is someone who can now listen blissfully to almost any genre of music, depending on my mood or on which part of my life I like to reminisce.

But before anything else, let me discuss the major factors that influenced the eclectic person who I now am.

So Baduy?
I think that derogatory words such as baduy, bakya, or korni (or in English, "uncool," "cheesy," or "corny"), which many people use to describe music, should no longer apply today. The most cool course in this world right now, I believe, is rather towards eclecticism than exclusivity—to become more embracing than more excluding, broadminded than narrow-visioned, universal than microcosmic, updated and upgraded than obsolete and irrelevant...

...or else, you might find yourself clueless until now when asked what CD stands for, when many others are already burning MP3 and wma files onto CD-Rs.

I may not generally like the music of Andrew E., Side A, Christina Aguilera, or Backstreet Boys, but I remain open to their kind of music; a song or three from these artists, I admit, still catch my fancy ears. For instance, I somehow enjoy listening once in a while to these songs:

"Humanap Ka ng Panget" by Andrew E. ('Humanap Ka ng Panget,' 1990)
"Hold On" by Side A ('White album,' 1991)
"Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera (Stripped, 2002)
"I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys (Millennium, 1999)

I may not like Hip hop, Country, or Jazz, in general; but the following songs are on my playlist:

"Who Let the Dogs Out?" by Baha Men (Who Let the Dogs Out?, 2000)
"You're My Better Half" by Keith Urban (Be Here, 2004)
"Feels So Good" by Chuck Mangione (Feels So Good, 1977)

Free Music
I would like to attribute the expansion of my musical taste to my age and experiences; but after a deeper analysis, I realize that the chief catalyst to this eclecticism is the advent of the Internet technology, which has and continues to "free" music (in all its guises) from the vaults of recording companies and music collectors. Because of the various peer-sharing/music-downloading sites like Kazaa and Limewire, one can now have a copy of almost any song s/he likes without buying CDs.

Is this good? Of course! It enables people to have free access to music which, without such technology, would have been lost in oblivion, would have remained unheard of.

Besides, many people usually like to listen only to the "hits" so, buying an artist's album for just a few songs is really impractical to them—a waste of precious money. Like myself, I wanted to have a copy of Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca" or, perhaps, Clay Aiken's "Invisible" or Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" and "Since U [You've] Been Gone," but I will never spend C$36 to buy their albums just to be able to listen to these particular songs.

Wouldn't you do the same? Wouldn't you rather have copies of only the songs you like from artists you don't really like than buy their entire discographies?

Back in the pre-Internet era, we really had no choice but to buy the entire album [this is impractical], to tape-record the song as we chanced upon it being played on a radio station [this is exhausting; besides, rarely does a DJ plays a song from beginning to end without voicing-over a comment], or to forget the song afterwards.

So, with the availability of music-downloading sites, I can now listen to any song I like. All I need to do is know the name of the artist or the song, search for it on Limewire, and, with a little patience...

Voila!

But don't get me wrong, as I said, I still buy original CDs but only of artists which I truly adore, like The Cure....