‘What’s a song you like even though you think you probably shouldn’t?’ – 22 people whose musical tastes surprise even themselves
It’s that magical time of year when Spotify Wrapped comes out, and we all wonder whether we really need to know that our listening age is 83. Thanks, data collection.
However, it is interesting to know what we listen to a lot, and which songs are different from our usual (old person) tastes. They’ve been chatting about this over on the AskUK subreddit after ProfPMJ-123 posed this question:
What’s a song you like even though you think you probably shouldn’t? As a 48 year old man, I’m reasonably sure I’m not the target market for Sabrina Carpenter, but I’ve found my foot tapping when she comes on the radio, and having just read the lyrics to ‘Manchild’, I think it’s tremendous.
What examples do you have of liking a song that you probably shouldn’t? Are you 17 and love Leonard Cohen? Are you 62 and just can’t stop listening to Avril Lavigne?
And it turns out lots of people have some leftfield favourites, like these…
1.
‘I would like to share that last summer when I was sitting at some lights I heard before I saw the middle-aged tradie pull up next to me in a van absolutely belting out Espresso. You do you and enjoy what you like.’
–PhoebeH98
2.
‘I’m a 42-year-old, alternative/goth lady who secretly likes Steps. Not all their songs, but A LOT. Only my children and partner know about this, so please don’t tell anyone.’
–CuteyLovva83
3.
‘The Vengaboys played Download last year and the tent was rammed, like they could have played the main stage and still filled the field. Seems a lot of metalhead/goth types have a secret or often not so secret love of cheesy 90s pop.’
–RecentTwo544
4.
‘I was once at an alternative club and the Macarena came on, no idea why, but I’ve never seen a dance floor get into orderly lines so quickly!’
–Bizzle_B
5.
‘K-pop Demon Hunters. Tbh I do like anime but I wasn’t expecting to adore that movie. All the songs are great and I cried. I’m 55.’
–flamingochills
6.
‘I can’t stand anything about the cult of Taylor Swift and her terminally online, socially dysfunctional fans but ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ is an absolute banger.’
–LewisMileyCyrus
7.
‘As someone in their mid-30s who is pretty much solely into dance music and who works in the industry, a hill I will die on is that Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen is the most well written pop song of the 21st century so far.
I don’t even mean lyrically, I don’t know what most of the lyrics even are and the chorus is lyrically awful. It’s just incredibly catchy.’
–RecentTwo544
8.
‘Don’t Look Back In Anger – Oasis. I hate Oasis and 99.9% of their music. Can’t stand the brothers, can’t stand their attitudes/personalities, can’t stand their music.
But by god I will die on the hill that Don’t Look Back In Anger is one of the greatest songs to have ever come out of Britain.’
–Don_Tommasino_5687
9.
‘As a 62-year-old woman, probably songs like WAP (nothing to do with office software) and 212. But they’ve both got a cracking vibe, so I find myself humming along.
That said, I’m going to own it, including my love for shitty pop music. I’ll pretend to the world that I only listen to Queen and Pink Floyd!’
–ChoppingOnionsForYou
10.
‘NWA’s Straight Outta Compton is a favourite album of mine. I’m a white middle class man from the south east. I primarily listen to rock, folk and indie. But for some reason that album just really hits me.’
–Otherwise_Koala4289
11.
’18 and love anything by James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Labi Siffre, etc… Spotify said I have the music taste of a 78-year-old.’
–Altruistic-Mix6066
12.
‘Crazy Frog is a straight up banger. BING BING.’
–littleduckcake