While I was thinking about this post, I read the book pictured above. "Let's Talk About Love" is the title of a Celine Dion album that writer Carl Wilson totally hates, but has sold gazillions, so he resolves to find out where the disconnect is. What is 'taste', and why do you have such terrible taste? How does something I may find totally unlistenable find such a large audience ? It was an eye (ear) opener for me, though the discussion of the sociology of culture towards the end made my brain hurt. But it was helpful as I thought about how to recommend music.
Here's the deal: I was all prepared to offer my suggestions about where to find new music, until I realized, that's where I go -- you may have a totally different agenda. Where to go?
Many people hear new music on TV -- commercials, soundtracks to TV shows. YouTube is good, and so is (trade secret) the library. Physically, my library's CD collection is pretty mainstream; mostly current rap/country/pop (minus the copies that were stolen), new music by established artists that peaked years ago (the 'safe bet'), Jazz? You may have a fighting chance. Classical? Good luck -- like western paperbacks, it's a market that is shrinking as us old farts die off.
Streaming services? So far, Hoopla is a winner. Use your library card, download complete albums, listen for a week, and deep, deep catalog. How deep? "The Return of The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of", a fantastic collection of -- no kidding -- 78's from the 1920's.
Many, many years ago, I first heard Miles Davis on a record borrowed from the library. That's also how I first heard Debussy, and Thomas Tallis, and the complete "Nutcracker". I try to encourage people to take a chance; if you don't like it, just return it. No harm, no foul. And don't just stick with "current" music -- 90% of music from ANY era is junk, so don't be afraid to listen to something 'old'. I figure, we now have literally a thousand years of music available to us. There's lots of exciting things out there to hear.
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