Music is a pretty big part of our lives. It’s what helps us get our morning going, provide as our soundtrack on the way to work, or in the case of most of you, help you get through high school.
I’m a bit of an oddball when it comes to music taste because I like a lot of different genres and artists. One day I’m listening to synthwave, the next day I’m listening to alternative rock, and the day after that I’m listening to rap. Meanwhile most of my friends have maybe one or two genres they stick to. So then that got me thinking about how all over my taste in music is, so what are other people’s music taste like at Bingham? After interviewing eighteen students and two teachers, I have that answer.
Going into this, I already had a pretty good idea of what my results would be like based on what I’ve overheard people listening to or talking about here at Bingham High School. Prior to my interviews, my guess was that a large majority of the genres would consist of rap, pop, rock, and maybe classic rock.
For obvious reasons, the names of those interviewed will not be included. Of the eighteen students I interviewed, fifteen of them all listed rap as one of their favorite genres, and both of the teachers listed rap as one of their favorites. This didn’t come as much of a surprise. The most common artist that the rap enthusiasts named was Kendrick Lamar, which is understandable. Other commonly named rap artists include Tyler, the creator, Future, and Drake. It’s hard to deny just how popular rap is. While it’s not for everyone, the genre does have a lot to offer for the people that like the rhymes, beats, and speedy lyrics that rap music often has.
Next up for one of the most common genres that people listed as their favorite is pop. Rap has a lot to offer, but pop has something for just about everyone. Pop is the music you put on if you want high-energy tunes. I wouldn’t say that pop is my favorite or even in my top genres, but there’s many artists and songs that I love from the genre. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who named Post Malone as a favorite within that genre just because of how many pop artists are taking the industry by storm right now. To hear that Post Malone of all people was a favorite over people like Justin Bieber and Rihanna, was very refreshing. Other common artists were Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, and Ariana Grande, all three of which have a great catalog of songs.
So, at the beginning of this, I said that I predicted that rock or classic rock would be among the top genres listed. Much to my surprise, this wasn’t the case. In fact, only two students listed rock as a favorite. The third biggest genre that took rock’s place was indie. Hindsight being what it is, I should’ve expected that. There’s so many people at Bingham I know that listen to The Neighbourhood and Radiohead. While I wouldn’t say it has the same level of offerings as pop, it comes pretty close because of all of the different groups within indie. Unsurprisingly, the most popular indie artist ended up being Radiohead. It’s pretty hard to find someone who doesn’t listen to them or doesn’t at least know Creep. The Neighborhood isn’t very far behind, which isn’t too surprising. The Neighborhood is one of the best indie artists within the genre. They take elements from many different genres and blend them into one which creates an addictingly unique sound that’s not easily replicated by other artists. One band that did kind of surprise me that was listed was Arctic Monkeys. They’ve been one of the main indie bands that have been continuing to rise in popularity. Much like Radiohead, it’s hard to find someone that doesn’t at least know of a song by Arctic Monkeys, specifically “Do I Wanna Know?”
So, what about the stragglers? Well, R&B was listed by a little under half of the students I interviewed. The main artists from that genre consisted of SZA, H.E.R., and Riannah. Below R&B is country (of course) and dubstep, which I thought would’ve been much higher.
So, what does this say about Bingham’s music taste? Well, our school really likes rhymes, high energy, and indie. If any of these are your favorite, that doesn’t make you boring just because it’s what’s popular. Once again, each of these three main genres have something unique to offer for everyone. I remember back in middle school when almost everyone I knew hated rap, so to see it being such a popular genre nowadays is pretty cool. There’s a lot of reasons to dislike the genre but at the end of the day, it’s art and people enjoy it. That’s how all music should be looked at or rather listened to; art to be enjoyed.
