I dunno, I’m not a fan of this sentiment. Music tastes are personal, it’s okay to think, “nah, music of this country isn’t really for me,” because music of a given country will often have certain elements that won’t appeal to everyone. It’s not like you’re uncultured or being unfair for it. And you don’t necessarily have to give it a good try first because you’re probably exposed to it anyways. Any stranger on the street can probably think of an example (though not necessarily a whole song) if you bring up Spanish music, Indian music, K-pop, etc…
The language bit I get, but some people prefer songs where they can understand the lyrics, and that’s also okay. I’m sort of one of those people, though in my case it’s more “I want to have a general idea what’s being said because if it’s a good song I’ll want to sing along and I don’t want to unknowingly say something obscene,” so it doesn’t stop me from listening to foreign songs as long as I can screen the lyrics.
Plus countries generally make more than one kind of music. Like I don’t like j pop but there are plenty of Japanese people doing rock or metal or ska or whatever.
For me, the issue tends to be that while I don’t mind listening to music where I don’t understand the lyrics, I do mind listening to music that might be outright anti-LGBT, misogynist etc.; I mostly stopped listening to Jamaican music because of that - not saying that it’s all like that, but the chance of a given song being like that is higher than I’m comfortable with. Also, Rastafarian is whack.
Yeah, some of them are banned here like Sizzla’s “Fire Bun”. Reggae is less explicit about it than dancehall, but they like women’s rights and and the existence of queer people about as much as any conservative christian.
(though not every reggae musican is rastafari, but the chance is pretty high and for the jamaican-born ones the distinction doesn’t matter that much - Jamaica is pretty much just like that in general).
I dunno, I’m not a fan of this sentiment. Music tastes are personal, it’s okay to think, “nah, music of this country isn’t really for me,” because music of a given country will often have certain elements that won’t appeal to everyone. It’s not like you’re uncultured or being unfair for it. And you don’t necessarily have to give it a good try first because you’re probably exposed to it anyways. Any stranger on the street can probably think of an example (though not necessarily a whole song) if you bring up Spanish music, Indian music, K-pop, etc…
The language bit I get, but some people prefer songs where they can understand the lyrics, and that’s also okay. I’m sort of one of those people, though in my case it’s more “I want to have a general idea what’s being said because if it’s a good song I’ll want to sing along and I don’t want to unknowingly say something obscene,” so it doesn’t stop me from listening to foreign songs as long as I can screen the lyrics.
It’s very unlikely that you dislike ALL other countries’ music. One is fine. Five is understandable. But 200??
Plus countries generally make more than one kind of music. Like I don’t like j pop but there are plenty of Japanese people doing rock or metal or ska or whatever.
Listened to the Beatles and they sucked. Now I hate all British music. /s
For me, the issue tends to be that while I don’t mind listening to music where I don’t understand the lyrics, I do mind listening to music that might be outright anti-LGBT, misogynist etc.; I mostly stopped listening to Jamaican music because of that - not saying that it’s all like that, but the chance of a given song being like that is higher than I’m comfortable with. Also, Rastafarian is whack.
What??
Could you elaborate on what you’re shocked/outraged about?
Anti-LGBT and mysoginist songs?!
Yeah, some of them are banned here like Sizzla’s “Fire Bun”. Reggae is less explicit about it than dancehall, but they like women’s rights and and the existence of queer people about as much as any conservative christian.
Some reading on dancehall: https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/jamaicas-anti-gay-murder-music-carries-violent-message/
Some reading on rastafari: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari#Sexuality
(though not every reggae musican is rastafari, but the chance is pretty high and for the jamaican-born ones the distinction doesn’t matter that much - Jamaica is pretty much just like that in general).