Well, what sort of music do I look like I listen to?

[annavere]

"You like this kind of music?" Says a grizzled older man who walks into my work today.

Music in question: Pearl Jam's 'Even Flow.'

I smile and say it's on my playlist.

"No offense, but you don't look like you like this kind of music."

Presumably because I wear skirts and aprons? Not sure how to take this, I say yes, I do like this kind of music.

He says he likes it too and leaves.

Normally, when I get positive reactions to my playlist, I end up chatting away about the band in question, but this guy really stymied my usual friendly response. It's not even like that song is unknown. It plays on the local classic rock radio, for crying out loud.

In the time it took to type this up, my shuffle has turned up:

Cream - Strange Brew
Morphine - Rope on Fire
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Black Keys - Oceans and Streams

*Shrugs*

Comments

[senmut]

My playlist sometimes looks like me: tee shirts and lounge pants. Sometimes it very much does not.

[annavere]

I guess I just never tried to match people to music. Took me by surprise.

[havocthecat]

That guy seems. Weird. Skirts and aprons do not betoken liking or disliking a certain type of music. Um. PEOPLE.

[annavere]

The best spin I could put on it is that he thinks of music as part of a scene - like goths, hippies or punks having a complete aesthetic that the music is only part of. But I still found it weird and vaguely reductionist.

Luckily, most other reactions to my playlist have been very enthusiastic.

[havocthecat]

Because it's a fucking awesome playlist, or at least what you have posted up there is awesome.

Even when I was deeper in the goth scene (waaaaay back when), I never hit a complete goth aesthetic with unvarying music or clothes or tv tastes. Because for real, I can't live 100% of the time in a single aesthetic.

[annavere]

Thank you! ♥ ♥