I was driving around the other day listening to something by John Denver on the radio when I realized that if someone had been in the car with me, I would have apologized for “making them listen to it”. I have spent 30 years apologizing for and justifying to others my musical taste. Music is the most important thing in my life and while my main preference is (and has been for about 25 years of the 30) post-punk/new wave/alternative/lo-fi, I also listen to a lot of country music, some top 40 pop, some hip hop and easy listening music as well. I realized very early on that I had to defend to my punk and new wave friends why I listened to country music, and to my pop music friends why I listened to all the rest.

Why do I do this? I usually don’t care too much about what other people think of me. It must just be a habit left over from school. Why is it that everyone seems to think that there is such a wall between these genres of music and feel so strongly about all of them, whether good or bad? I have also realized that a few of my close friends are just plain music snobs and that I’ve been trying to play down my taste when I’m with them—ostensibly so that they would respect me more.

But what if I just unashamedly played John Denver or The Carpenters or Ke$ha or Hank Williams Jr. just as loudly as I play the Jesus & Mary Chain or Joy Division? What would happen? Why don’t I?

Fear is a really stupid and lame motivator—-especially if it’s regarding what others think of us.