why do we socialize based on the music we listen to?

i was thinking about this last night.
i dont think it applies when we are adults so i am mostly talking about junior high and high school kids.

when i was in school all the kids branched off into their own little social groups based on the music they liked.
i mean kids talked to each other in class but when it was recess hour, lunch, or before and after school all the kids that were grouped up were all grouped based on their musical tastes.

of course you had the rap fans....baggy pants and yo mtv raps shirts
the alt rock type which is the 'group' i was in....we had our flannel shirts and combat boots.
the small group of kids that were into phish. they hung out together with their hemp clothes and played hackie sack.
the metal heads hung together with their studded faux leather and iron maiden patches

why is it like this?
if you were standing back looking around that is what you would see.

you did not see the rap kids playing hackie with the phish fans.

why did we not branch off based on the types of movies we watched?
you know, the comedy fans over there and the fans of thrillers on the other side?

not important really. just something that popped into my head last night

a reply to: Mugly
Maybe the type of music reflects the person's outlook on life. People seeking similar people. Maybe I'm full of crap.

Usually talking about music is not controvercial, I never saw anyone arguing about the type of music that was the best.

Talk politics, abortion, gay rights, etc....even sports, and you can wind up in a fight.

It is a safe thing to talk about. Many guys talk about cars so they do not have to start discussing things that can effect their friendship. The sports seem to usually be a neutral territory, everyone expects a person to have a favorite team and it is not really personal if you cut down a team.....most times. Same thing with music, someone listening to rock does not like country sometimes but it usually does not start a fight because they travel in different circles and people kind of understand that everyone's likes in music are different.

originally posted by: rickymouse
Usually talking about music is not controvercial, I never saw anyone arguing about the type of music that was the best.

Talk politics, abortion, gay rights, etc....even sports, and you can wind up in a fight.

It is a safe thing to talk about. Many guys talk about cars so they do not have to start discussing things that can effect their friendship. The sports seem to usually be a neutral territory, everyone expects a person to have a favorite team and it is not really personal if you cut down a team.....most times. Same thing with music, someone listening to rock does not like country sometimes but it usually does not start a fight because they travel in different circles and people kind of understand that everyone's likes in music are different.

serious?
dude i saw kids arguing all the time about how metal sucks and rap is awesome or vice versa.

i have never seen school kid branch off based on what type of sport they like.

maybe it was just my school

movies is as safe a topic as music but kids dont pick their social circle based on film genre

a reply to: Mugly

Adults can be just as bad. I've been in and out of local bands for the past 11 - 12 years and there are just as many cliques as high school. There are indie circles, punk circles, etc. etc. I've mingled between them all since my tastes are all over the place. But they all exist in their own little worlds, very seldomly mixing. People can get very elitist and stuck up about it too. But they aren't the ones who are in it for the music. They're in it to belong and play popularity contests.

a reply to: Mugly

That's an excellent question! Although I would disagree that it doesn't apply to adults. Some people like jazz clubs, some like country and western bars, some like discos, etc.

I guess if art is how we decorate space, and music is how we decorate time, then people just gravitate towards what they find aesthetically pleasing. If you like camping, you're going to run into other campers, so who else are you going to socialize with?

I guess it's just natural, but I'm interested in hearing other opinions on this.

Music was never a factor when I was younger. It is now. Those that I am closer too in friendship tend to share my taste in music. We seem to relate better.

a reply to: Mugly

Music is a form of communication between people. It's one that isn't necessarily tied down by regional and cultural boundaries.

It is the only language in the world that can be understood regardless of how you are raised and what language you were born into. It's more of a "feeling" than a description of a feeling.

A song can automatically make us feel sad or happy. There are also genres of music that are normally associated with different cultures but they don't have to be.

So why do people group themselves based on music tastes?

Because it's a form of communication and we are tribal and petty in nature.

Hope that helps.

For the most part, school age children wear the clothes of a certain culture they attribute their self to. You could say that about adults too, but there is an important distinction here... school age children don't know how to act like they want to w/o having the clothes to make them feel they are actually that thing - this is something that people learn about through the process of life.

There is also peer pressure to fit in with your kind. And so you put on the costume of your interests and you know who is like you.

A higher functioning adult has learned that you can be into something and not necessary have to have the clothes to match (but it helps for authenticity in the eye of the beholder).

Could it also be by genetics? Like what if some apes were hairless and others hairy. Or schlongs vs schmeat? Then they branched off and life became more complex?

a reply to: Mugly

To add to what sachax hinted at: music is expressionism, and because kids don't know how to express themselves, that is, they don't know who they are, they, especially pubescent kids, will use music to express their identities/themselves (because music is an accepted medium of expression in today's culture.)

So that's why they dress up in others' expression.

And the reason they group together is because they recognize, byway of the others' dress/image, the spirit/will they find pleasing / comfortable. That is, a similar spirit wills similarly desirable images. e.g. If you're thirsty, you go to water. If you desire something sweet and cold, you go towards ice cream. If you see a group of people wearing what pleased your desire, you go hang with them because they have a similar spirit and they will likely produce other images or words that you like/that fulfill your desire.

Like sentient duck decoys landing near other duck decoys.

a reply to: Mugly

Music is discriminatory by its nature. In a room where a certain type of music is being played, one is either immersed in a pleasant atmosphere, or in a torture chamber, depending on their tastes. I cannot stand club music, dance, techno, trance, triphop, hip hop, that odd duck incorrectly known these days as R'n'B, and most, although not all chart music makes me want to plunge my fist deep into a ribcage, and remove something important from it.

However, metal music, blues, jazz, old soul, seventies disco stuff, classical, ethnic percussive music from all over the world, including Celtic, African and Japanese styles as well as many others, folk music, baroque, and many other styles and types of music, really appeal to me. Therefore, I am likely to spend my time, where music is being played which is either entirely inoffensive to my ear, or pleasing to it, and unlikely to hang around if doing so forces me into contact with music which makes me angry by simply existing.

It is an environmental effect, rather than a purely sociological one.

Many musical styles are associated with certain youth sub cultures. Punks, mods, Rockers, teddy boys, soul boys,ravers et etc. you tend to be part of these sub cultures as you grow up, people want to belong to a group that identifies the same norms and values. I was taken to my first club when I was 16 by my older brother. It was a house music club, I fell in love with it from that night on and my friends and I would drive all over the midlands trying to catch the best Djs.

We would all wear outlandish clothing and we were all obsessed with house music. This was the early mid 90s, not the original rave era, but it was still a special time for us all. The music changed my life and made me who I am today. All my friends are the same as that period in the early mid 90s. Most still like house music of one variant or another. Mainly "dad" house these days. Slower beats for older legs.

Because human beings have a subconscious desire to fit in with some sort of group.
What you witnessed was simple human psychology.