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music

Diversity of culture

In the history of recorded music, given the choice, there are few tunes I would be less inclined to listen to than “Careless Whisper” (perhaps better known by the lyric “Never gonna dance again”) by George Michael.

Yet a lady on the train on Wednesday morning was listening to it on her iPod. All the sappy saxophone, every moaning lyric, loudly enough for me to hear it nearby — and for it to subsequently burrow its way into my brain.

Perhaps she had been prepping herself for Wednesday night’s concert.

One could take the piss out of her for having such a taste in music, but perhaps it just underscores the diversity of culture in the human race.

It reminds me of the time I was at the station reading Brian Bagnall’s “On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore”. I was utterly rivetted to it — it’s excellent (though sloppily written) for geeks who had a Commodore computer back in the day.

The station host lady asked me what it was, and upon telling her, paused, and then remarked “We really are all different, aren’t we.”

Yep.

Meanwhile, I’m off to place something off my Loud list. Some Spiderbait might get rid of Mr Michael.

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.

8 replies on “Diversity of culture”

yes, each to their own. A young woman I work with flew to Sydney last weekend to see George. She loved the concert (she is Greek!)
Quite annoying having to “listen” to others’ music on the train/tram. Not good for their hearing if it’s that loud.

Always turn the music down when on the Train or tram. Nothing annoys me more even if I like the song they are listening to, so I figure I need to lead by example.

Interesting Geek related transport Music Trivia: If you step off a train at Platform 6 at Flinders Street and the train doors line up with the stairs down into Degraves, and press play on “The Asteroid Field” from The Empire Strikes Back Soundtrack, it’s simply awesome music to walk through the maddening crowd. And it always finishs exactly as you are crossing the Pedestrian Walk at Australia on Collins :)

So I wake up this morning and decide to check the internets and see if anything happened overnight. Inevitably I check my RSS feeds and decide to read a few posts.

10 minutes later I’m cycling along and realise I have ‘I’m never gunna dance again, guilty feet have got no rythym’ lyric stuck in my head. On repeat ad nauseum.

…thanks mate.

MacArthur Park is the song that I never want to hear again. Such stupid lyrics with a pointless outcome and I don’t care if it is laden with analogies! It is just annoying.

Soft green icing flowing down……UUURRRGGGHHHH.

Have a Commodore back in the day!? Hell, I’ve still got mine! Granted, it’s in the shed, but it’s been packed away, and it still works, at least it did when I hooked it back up about 2 years ago! Still fun to play- loved Microprose Soccer! What were your favourite games Daniel?

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