# What music makes you a classy listener?



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Certainly when people see or hear you listening to classical music, they draw conclusions about how classy a person you are! So what music, listened to ostentatiously, brings you the most points for being classy?


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

If i am throwing a party and wish to impress friends, I'd put on Ravel's piano music, sounds that will electrify the room, make the guests feel they are in the presence of the highest art form in piano. 
,,*any others?*, No not really, just the Ravel piano ona 5 cd changer with 5 dif recordings playing the entire party. ,,Maybe Szymanowski's piano as well, mixed in between, for a break,,,everyone would be like *which composer is that on the player?*, No one would guess Szymanowski, the hidden gem. 
Just those 2, really make a esoteric statement.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

When I drive through the hood with my windows down and my subwoofers pumping out those cannon blasts from the 1812 Overture people take notice of what a classy guy I am.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

In my experience admitting to listening to classical music or referencing it in any way only ever makes me look less cool to people---not more.

It is things that could pass as some sort of an achievement that make one seem classy: playing an instrument well, having knowledge of music theory, etc.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Apparently, from another thread I’m already considered to be sophisticated so in order to be classy I make sure that anybody in the vicinity hears me playing the Grosse Fugue. As I walk away, I can see people talking about me and I assume they are saying what a classy guy I am. Friends of mine have suggested these people are saying something else.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Classy? Most people think I'm some kind of freak, I think. A particularly vulgar niece thinks I listen to classical because I'm an elitist snob. Her husband has stated in no uncertain terms that only "****" (his word!) listens to mys music and it's for "sissy men". Guess who's not in the will?

I really don't give a damn what others think. I listen to music I like. In nice weather, when I go out for a drive in the Miata, I love put band marches on - Fillmore, King, Sousa and the gang. It's fun, tuneful, good music with a beat. Yes, I get odd looks, but who cares? They may not think me classy, just a doofuss. Maybe it's the Resistol cowboy hat.


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Definitely my Windham Hill recording of the Pachabel Canon


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Shamelessly stolen from another TC'er (I hope they're okay with it), but I thought of this witty post when I read the OP:

_In the not-so-recent past, one could demonstrate one's cultural superiority very simply by listening to classical music, scorning jazz, rock and other "popular" music. A lot of people here still try that, but their pretensions are sadly out of date.

More recently a few new genres have attained snob-worthiness. Jazz is the most conspicuous example. Classical music listeners who do not also appreciate jazz are in fact consigning themselves to a lower level on the cultural hierarchy. The beats have won; for the contemporary cultural elite, Charlie Parker is as canonical as Schoenberg.

We could argue that the older musicals and even blues musicians have become canonical too.

Another old strategy was aggressive modernism: rejecting Beethoven for Babbitt. This strategy appeared in the very early Renaissance (scorning the ars antiqua on behalf of the ars nova), and had a great run up until its death in 1968. Unfortunately, less insightful minds still pursue this grail, disqualifying them from polite society: scorning Vivaldi is even more passé than Vivaldi's music. After all, nothing has actually been new since 1980. Novelty itself is passé, nauseatingly cloying.

In short, the old strategies - such as striving for highbrow rarity, or rejecting the previous generation's pop music for the new generation of pop music, or passionately advocating a certain tradition of pop or folk music (ie the blues or polka or whatever) - no longer work. They are all too transparent in the meta-post-meta-self-referentially-self-consciously-self-referential age in which we are partially but transcendentally and ironically unironically aware of ourselves living.

Today's culturally ambitious lady or gentleman must be conspicuously but effortlessly cosmopolitan: the broadest range of selectively good taste wins. Yes, it's at least as difficult as it has ever been, for today you must conspicuously appreciate not merely Bach and Beethoven but Biber and Bax and Boccherini and Borodin - but also the Beatles and the Beach Boys, Bird and Babatunde and Bahofundo and Brubeck and the Barefoot Diva and Belafonte and Basie and Benny and Billie and Biggie and Bowie and Buck.

To belabor the point, you've got to cover white southern gospel, fusion jazz and free jazz, gamelan and Tuvan throat singing, noise music and new age music, Indian classical music and tango nuevo, film music and electronica and techno and ambient and yes my friends though I am truly sorry to say so in your esteemed presence, even rap music.

Plus every conceivable combination of the aforesaid.

Now, the challenge is not to appreciate everything within all those categories, for that would be as vulgar as our benighted forbears once considered jazz itself. Instead, we must demonstrate an open-minded selectivity. You might, for example, champion the Louvin Brothers, the Carter Family, and the Stanley Brothers, while turning your nose up at Jeff and Sheri Easter or Sandi Patty or Michael W. Smith. Now that is postmodern class. Hank Williams? Yes. Brooks and Dunn? No. And so on, through just about every conceivable category of music.

If you're confused, a good rule of thumb is that almost anything 50 years past popularity becomes snob gold. But everyone knows that; you want to be on the cutting edge, which requires subtlety.

Hey, suck it up: if being elite were easy, everyone would do it.

Let's do a couple more examples.

Pop music? Like this: "Well, I personally believe a few of Madonna's albums are genuinely great art. Ray of Light, for example, is a marvelous synthesis of the emerging electronic tradition of its time, new age spirituality, and well-crafted pop. Only a genuine artist could make an album like that. Of course I cannot defend most of her music, which is predictable trash, however professionally done. But Ray of Light is a masterpiece."

R-E-S-P-E-C-and flippin'-T.

Rap? "Ok, I'm not going to defend the lifestyle or the misogyny or homophobia, but Common is undeniably a genius with rhyme and delivery, and within the tradition his beats are nothing less than innovative. He transcends rap, getting to the very essence of the funk and soul traditions."

That's how you do it. People will admire and hate you.

Mission accomplished._


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Shamelessly stolen from another TC'er (I hope they're okay with it), but I thought of this witty post when I read the OP:
> 
> _In the not-so-recent past, one could demonstrate one's cultural superiority very simply by listening to classical music, scorning jazz, rock and other "popular" music. A lot of people here still try that, but their pretensions are sadly out of date.
> 
> ...


I think I'll just use headphones and avoid music discussion...


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Sophisticated. Yup. Dats me. I get out of the shower to fart. OT: no music makes you a classy listener.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

Opera, it's like a concert and a theater show at the same time, how is that not classy? Especially Wagner.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

DaveM said:


> Apparently, from another thread I'm already considered to be sophisticated so in order to be classy I make sure that anybody in the vicinity hears me playing the Grosse Fugue. As I walk away, I can see people talking about me and I assume they are saying what a classy guy I am. Friends of mine have suggested these people are saying something else.


I like to whistle the Grosse Fugue.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Does sitting around in a silk brocade smoking jacket with a cigarette in a long holder constitute being classy? If so, then I qualify!:lol:


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> Classy? Most people think I'm some kind of freak, I think. A particularly vulgar niece thinks I listen to classical because I'm an elitist snob. Her husband has stated in no uncertain terms that only "****" (his word!) listens to mys music and it's for "sissy men". Guess who's not in the will?
> 
> I really don't give a damn what others think. I listen to music I like. In nice weather, when I go out for a drive in the Miata, I love put band marches on - Fillmore, King, Sousa and the gang. It's fun, tuneful, good music with a beat. Yes, I get odd looks, but who cares? They may not think me classy, just a doofuss. Maybe it's the Resistol cowboy hat.


it must be fun to have a ******* moron for a nephew-in-law :lol:


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

the weirdest looks from people I get if I listen to opera.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Wonderful replies! I "Liked" some but, reading on, was amazed by how really droll all are; consider them all Liked!!:lol::tiphat:


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I listen to what I like, usually privately -- always have -- but whether others think me classy, or a douchebag, is up to them.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

To the uninitiated, I would say "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" is the epitome of classy. That or the first movement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

I don't know what would signify one's classy tastes to the initiated. Hmm. Something operatic, perhaps, since I'm always seeing people go on about how much better composer X's operas are than his orchestral music.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Walking out of that bloody awful Les Miserables after half an hour or so made me feel classy, does that count? (we had free tickets as I knew the conductor).


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I think classical music stopped being a status signifier a long time ago and is now just something for weirdos.


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## Guest (Aug 19, 2019)

In England and the work area I am/was associated with, one's tastes in classical music, or any music for that matter, are unlikely to feature very highly in others' estimation of how "classy" you are.

The key factors are school, university, accent, occupation, social circles, address, holiday venues, sporting activites, type of car. One's preferred music hardly gets a look-in. It would count a lot more if one dropped the name "Glyndebourne" and Royal Opera House occasionally, as these places are snob-proof. It doesn't whether or you like the kind of music performed there. You could stand at the the bar and knock back G&T's all day for all anyone cares.

If you dared mention a particular preferred composer like say, Beethoven, you'd probably get a polite grin and then they'd say something like _"how quaint, I rather prefer Bach"._ That is, unless your were lucky and happened to catch them off guard. Normally, you'd never win, as it's a constant game of one-upmanship.

I learned to play the "game" long ago, so I rarely discuss classical music, which quite frankly very seldom comes up in the normal course of events. It's far safer to talk about things like one's next holiday, type of car you like, some fancy restaurant you've heard about, etc.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

^^ I share that sentiment... I once, carelessly, let the word "Beethoven" slipped out of my mouth in a conversation. The response was, "Beethoven is a dog. It drools all the time."

I once put on some anime music at a dinner with some old friends, and I was criticized for putting on low-grade music, so I switched to Messiaen’s Turangalîla, then everybody fell silent. That made me feel really good. Didn’t make me feel classy though.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)




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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Considering I only listen to mid to late 20th century, and contemporary classical, I never get accused of being "classy".

I do get "elitist, pseudo intellectual, snob" from time to time. Not explicitly, but you know the tone of voice, and the looks, yes, the looks.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

Not even Classical music can give me class.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

I feel pretty classy when listening to Liszt's transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies.


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## R3PL4Y (Jan 21, 2016)

Anybody who likes anything different than me lacks class, obviously


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Ignore this post if you are a classy minor.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Partita said:


> In England and the work area I am/was associated with, one's tastes in classical music, or any music for that matter, are unlikely to feature very highly in others' estimation of how "classy" you are.
> 
> The key factors are school, university, accent, occupation, social circles, address, holiday venues, sporting activites, type of car. One's preferred music hardly gets a look-in. It would count a lot more if one dropped the name "Glyndebourne" and Royal Opera House occasionally, as these places are snob-proof. It doesn't whether or you like the kind of music performed there. You could stand at the the bar and knock back G&T's all day for all anyone cares.
> 
> ...


You must work in an awful environment! Having great colleagues is important to me so you (genuinely) have my sympathy.


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## Guest (Aug 23, 2019)

KenOC said:


> *Certainly when people see or hear you listening to classical music, they draw conclusions about how classy a person you are!* So what music, listened to ostentatiously, brings you the most points for being classy?


No, not in my entourage. Is your consumption of classical music a vehicle for something else other than the music? Most unhealthy, if this is the case.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Right now, thrash metal makes me classy, especially with a beer \m/ oh, supposed to be classical...Lassus does it!


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

TalkingHead said:


> No, not in my entourage. Is your consumption of classical music a vehicle for something else other than the music? Most unhealthy, if this is the case.


I agree, Yet lets say you are at a party and want to find out who's who. 
I take off the Bach cd playing,,and slyly place in a Pettersson sym, say the horrific , yet gorgeous at the same time, 13th, which offers perhaps my fav opening in all Pettersson syms. 
Here we shall see who is who. 
from *turn that crap off,,,put back Bach..* 
To ,,*who is this composer*. 
Or wow, all right lets get this party rolling, with Pettersson, oy yeah, lets rock this place....
Jesus said i ain't come to bring peace but a sword,,,to separate them from us.....


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Even the most deadbeat punks will perk up to a good fugue. And then there is Liszt.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

TalkingHead said:


> No, not in my entourage. Is your consumption of classical music a vehicle for something else other than the music? Most unhealthy, if this is the case.


30,000 odd posts and you still don't know Ken?  It's parody.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Razumovskymas said:


> I feel pretty classy when listening to Liszt's transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies.


Those are unbelievable.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Those are unbelievable.


especially because probably no one ever listens to them ;-)


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

If my music leaks out from my car or even my front room my fantasy is not that someone will look at me with respect - that is a most unlikely outcome - or even surprise. But it would be nice if someone recognised what I was listening to, especially if it wasn't one of the warhorses that many people know. I imagine a conversation ensuing ... "is that the Minkowski recording?" or "wasn't that a rather slow rendition?" ... but I do know it is not going to happen. Come to think of it I don't think I have ever heard classical music coming from someone else's car but I do know some houses near where I walk with my dog where chamber music can be heard. I'm not about to knock on their door, though.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Enthusiast said:


> If my music leaks out from my car or even my front room my fantasy is not that someone will look at me with respect - that is a most unlikely outcome - or even surprise. But it would be nice if someone recognised what I was listening to, especially if it wasn't one of the warhorses that many people know. I imagine a conversation ensuing ... "is that the Minkowski recording?" or "wasn't that a rather slow rendition?" ... but I do know it is not going to happen. Come to think of it I don't think I have ever heard classical music coming from someone else's car but I do know some houses near where I walk with my dog where chamber music can be heard. I'm not about to knock on their door, though.


The 
Im just imagining the doorstep conversation........

Enthusiast: I believe that's Beethoven's Early String quartets and possibly the Vermeer Quartet. Have you tried the Alexander Quartet's 2nd cycle on Foghorn.
Homeowner: F#ck off you weirdo. Im watching Inspector Morse.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

KenOC said:


> Certainly when people see or hear you listening to classical music, they draw conclusions about how classy a person you are! So what music, listened to ostentatiously, brings you the most points for being classy?


One has to define what "classy" is. Raised in the Northeast USA, I believe I was exposed to some old school classy people. Having class is the ability to bestow dignity on another person. It's not what you own, or what you studied, or how you dress, especially not the kind of car you drive.

A classy person can bring up another person who has little dignity by a type of loving kindness. A person with no class brings down a person based on just an accusatory personality (Satan, after all is the Accuser).

Sadly, we do not have much of this class today. I am grateful I grew up in the NE USA. Moving to Seattle in 1982, I saw little of that old world class here.

You do see it in silent movies quite a bit. Look at the director Lois Weber or watch The Shock with Lon Chaney on YouTube.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

One of these in the listening room definitely makes 
for classy listening and elevates one's social status.









I may be forced to buy one myself.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Larkenfield said:


> One of these in the listening room definitely makes
> for classy listening and elevates one's social status:
> 
> View attachment 122987
> ...


I have one of those! It goes nicely with my black velvet painting of Elvis.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

KenOC said:


> I have one of those! It goes nicely with my black velvet painting of Elvis.


What about the stuffed bear? I think it might clash...


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## Gallus (Feb 8, 2018)

Any idiot can listen to a symphony, but an appreciation for Haydn's quartets mark out the classy listener.


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## Guest (Aug 25, 2019)

EdwardBast said:


> 30,000 odd posts and you still don't know Ken?  It's parody.


Oops, missed that.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Bach, Brahms, Haydn, Schubert (Lieder only) and Josquin. End of list.


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## rice (Mar 23, 2017)

I think for the older ladies and gentlemen there's still a chance to be seen as classy.
A younger chap listen to classical music --> weirdo
Also an audiophile --> double weirdo
Also buys CDs --> alien/caveman


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

rice said:


> I think for the older ladies and gentlemen there's still a chance to be seen as classy.
> A younger chap listen to classical music --> weirdo
> Also an audiophile --> double weirdo
> Also buys CDs --> alien/caveman


Oh dear, I fit all three...


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## rice (Mar 23, 2017)

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> Oh dear, I fit all three...


Haha me too.
Just be a secret caveman and don't mention any of the three to people you just met.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Schumann's piano works are classy, as are his lieder.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

chu42 said:


> Schumann's piano works are classy, as are his lieder.


Yes, but what makes _you _classy?


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## Euler (Dec 3, 2017)

I feel classy singing along to Monteverdi's late madrigals, mouth full of McTriple burger, eyes glued to reddit goat porn as the acrid smoke of our anthropocene hellscape curls in through a cracked window


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Euler said:


> I feel classy singing along to Monteverdi's late madrigals, mouth full of McTriple burger, eyes glued to reddit goat porn as the acrid smoke of our anthropocene hellscape curls in through a cracked window


That sounds terrible. Monteverdi's early madrigals were so much better.


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