I once had a friend who was, shall we say, a music enthusiast. If anyone had any differences in opinions on music, you were automatically wrong. For example, I was giving him a ride home from class and my cd of My Chemical Romance’s “The Black Parade” came on and he looked at me and said, “Don’t worry, Drew, one day you’ll listen to grown up music too.” I’d be lying if the thought of driving him right back to school and kicking him out didn’t occur to me, but I just shrugged it off and let him get back to his existence of single genre of music.

Here’s the thing: you can like any kind of music no matter what. It is your preference. If you like punk, ska, bluegrass, country, or metal, that is OK. If it is what you want to listen to, then by all means go for it! Do not let anyone let you feel bad for the music you like to listen to. I’m unfortunately in the wrong for this, I’ve teased some of my friends for enjoying country music, which personally I cannot stand, but I needed to understand that the music that they listen to is in no way affecting me. I’ll even let my friends play it in my car now and I’ve been surprised by some of the guitarists playing blues licks and sentimental lyrics. People may not like certain music, but that doesn’t mean that other people shouldn’t listen to it.

I can still listen to Fall Out Boy, Paramore, My Chemical Romance and even my parent’s generation of music, which I was raised on, but if you tell me that my music sucks or that my music isn’t up to your standards, then that is ok! We are different people that like different things, but I’m not going out of my way to insult your musical preference and you shouldn’t either. It also goes for bands that you’ve never heard of. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called a hipster simply because the other person had never heard of the band or heard that the band was under an “indie” label. It’s my preference to listen to whatever I want to listen to and I’ll listen to new things, old things, bizarre things, and five second songs that call themselves art. In addition, if all I listened to was one genre of music, I would get incredibly bored with it after a while. Sometimes I have to stop listening to the new Panic! at the Disco album and listen to something else (crazy, I know).

It is good sometimes to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. Listen to that band that your friend is listening to on Spotify at three in the morning, pick a random playlist that your friend has saved, or even just try to listen to new genres that may interest you. You’ll never know if you’ll be surprised and actually enjoy it. In the words of the singer from the band “The Homeless Gospel Choir”, “Everyone likes different kinds of music. Some people like country, some people like punk, some people like hip hop and rap. And that’s ok. But if you don’t like Queen, I can’t trust you.”