Worst Music Poll

[Diletante]

None of the above. Cumbia styles such as Techno Cumbia and Cumbia Villera are the worst for me. All the songs have the SAME FRIGGIN' RHYTHM and the singing is AWFUL.

Followed closely by reggeatón, whose lyrics are almost always the "I'll put my ding-dong in your hoo-ha" type.

[71 dB]

You could have posted a link or two to what you consider great "New Age" music for everyone to listen and form an opinion, instead of hurling insults at people who disagree with you.

One new age pianist I like a lot is Wayne Gratz. Listen to his track "By the Sea" from his album "A Gift of the Sea":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6JNhOvLfzY

Harold Budd & Brian Eno makes good ambient new age. Here is a ramdom sample of Harold Budd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez_ULa7PI8s

My third example is the wonderful Sheila Chandra:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiet0WgPNfo

Beautiful, calming, relaxing and soothing music, isn't it? Hearing real quality new age can be a eye opening experience.  0:)

[Bulldog]

One new age pianist I like a lot is Wayne Gratz. Listen to his track "By the Sea" from his album "A Gift of the Sea":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6JNhOvLfzY

Harold Budd & Brian Eno makes good ambient new age. Here is a ramdom sample of Harold Budd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez_ULa7PI8s

My third example is the wonderful Sheila Chandra:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiet0WgPNfo

Beautiful, calming, relaxing and soothing music, isn't it?

Not to me - I find it mind-numbing and monotonous.  Even some Dittersdorf would be a major improvement.

[ChamberNut]

I voted "Other"

Other = MN Dave, or Banana or Rap & Hip Hop

[Wanderer]

With so much competition, mentioned and unmentioned, surely not polka.

[Dana]

Sure, new age is background music but that's what it is for... Such music can't be bad.

Daniel Barenboim would disagree with you.

[Brian]

rap

[71 dB]

Daniel Barenboim would disagree with you.

It's amazing how important it is to people to prove me wrong, no matter what I say. How about Karajan, Minkowski and Klemperer? Surely they all disagree with me too? I mean, nothing is more important!

GIVE me a break! New age is supposed to make us feel better/relaxed/calm. There are other kinds of music for other purposes. I called people narrow-minded assholes. Surely you understand I have a good reason for that, unfortunately.

[Franco]

It's amazing how important it is to people to prove me wrong, no matter what I say. How about Karajan, Minkowski and Klemperer? Surely they all disagree with me too? I mean, nothing is more important!

GIVE me a break! New age is supposed to make us feel better/relaxed/calm. There are other kinds of music for other purposes. I called people narrow-minded assholes. Surely you understand I have a good reason for that, unfortunately.

Maybe you should listen to some right now.

[karlhenning]

I called people narrow-minded assholes. Surely you understand I have a good reason for that, unfortunately.

Oh, mercy, but you just keep getting funnier & funnier!

[Dr. Dread]

I don't mind new age if my goal is a total veg state.

[Brünnhilde ewig]

Maybe you should listen to some right now.

It wasn't too many years ago when NPR had an entire Saturday evening and night of New Age Music. Now they fill two evenings and nights with Jazz. Tastes of NPR listeners evidently changed. 

[ChamberNut]

I don't mind new age if my goal is a total veg state.

Will you stop...Dave.

....my mind is going.....I can feel it........I can feel it.

[karlhenning]

I don't mind new age if my goal is a total veg state.

When you get there, you know (and I hate to be the one to tell you this) . . . your favorite composer . . . way above all others . . . will be Elgar.

[Bulldog]

Maybe you should listen to some right now.

That's a great line and an excellent piece of advice as well.   

[Bulldog]

It's amazing how important it is to people to prove me wrong, no matter what I say. How about Karajan, Minkowski and Klemperer? Surely they all disagree with me too? I mean, nothing is more important!

I hope nobody is trying to prove you wrong, since there's nothing here that can be proven one way or another. 

Right from your initial post, you came across as in "battle mode".  It's not a good way to simply relate why you enjoy a particular type of music.

[DavidW]

It wasn't too many years ago when NPR had an entire Saturday evening and night of New Age Music. Now they fill two evenings and nights with Jazz. Tastes of NPR listeners evidently changed. 

I remember that, sometimes I would listen to it.  And so sue me, 71 dB's links don't sound that bad, I listened to the first one and thought it was pretty nice.  I'm sure if he left off the insults it would have been received more warmly.

[KevinP]

I like some Kitaro....or rather I like one of his albums and can otherwise tolerate him in small doses, so I can't bring myself to vote for new age although it is, by and large, a genre I would avoid.

Smooth jazz may be different than new age, but in the same way that stalagmites and stalactites are. And it's just as worthy of my attention.

'County pop' implies that some country is more acceptable than other, a concept I've never needed to consider before.

Unlike those genres, polka has one redeeming feature, which is that nobody actually buys the stuff. I've not heard any since my last grandparent died.

[Elgarian]

When you get there, you know (and I hate to be the one to tell you this) . . . your favorite composer . . . way above all others . . . will be Elgar.

There may be some truth in this.  

But moving on:
There's a chap called Nigel Shaw who lives on Dartmoor, and he potters about the moor finding interesting pieces of wood and making flutes out of them. Then he plays the flutes (rather hauntingly, actually) to make recordings like this one:



There are a couple of samples here:
http://www.seventhwavemusic.co.uk/albumthelonetree.html

Now, I'm not going to suggest that this is, or could ever be, 'great music'; its purpose, like that of all new age music, is not to draw attention to itself, but to generate a certain relaxed state of mind; and I find it very attractive in certain moods. The problem only arises, surely, when exaggerated claims are made about its qualities as music. It can't sustain the kind of attention that Beethoven, or even (dare I say?) Elgar, requires; but the best of the new age stuff fulfills its purpose as a kind of vaguely spiritual audible wallpaper quite well, I think; that's the context in which it needs to be judged (if we're going to try to judge it at all). And I like the idea of making music evocative of ancient moorland using instruments made from natural materials found there. I wish more people felt inspired to do things like that. Maybe I even wish I did.

[71 dB]

There are a couple of samples here:
http://www.seventhwavemusic.co.uk/albumthelonetree.html

Ah, flute new age. The samples are too short to say anything.

Now, I'm not going to suggest that this is, or could ever be, 'great music'; its purpose, like that of all new age music, is not to draw attention to itself, but to generate a certain relaxed state of mind; and I find it very attractive in certain moods. The problem only arises, surely, when exaggerated claims are made about its qualities as music. It can't sustain the kind of attention that Beethoven, or even (dare I say?) Elgar, requires; but the best of the new age stuff fulfills its purpose as a kind of vaguely spiritual audible wallpaper quite well, I think; that's the context in which it needs to be judged (if we're going to try to judge it at all). And I like the idea of making music evocative of ancient moorland using instruments made from natural materials found there. I wish more people felt inspired to do things like that. Maybe I even wish I did.

That's what I mean Elgarian! You found the words. Thanks! 

It happens so often that I get pissed of about something (this time about the irrational, prejudiced  negativity toward new age). I am so angry I can't express myself in a constructive way. I wish the world was much better place and there was much less need to get mad.  I apologize if I hurt anyones feeling. I don't really mean that. I am only so frustrated.