Asperger's and weird taste in music.
If you're an aspie you get conditioned by your peers to think of yourself as a 'wierdo' as you grow up so often you capitalize on it and run with it as your idenity- so you collect weird music to express your identity. So in that indirect sense it can effect your taste in music. No one lives in a vacuum. People respond to the external social surroundings ( even if they socially inept).
I went through a ravi shankar sitar listening phase.
But unless you have sensory issues it doesnt effect your taste in music directly via neurology.
There are NT's who like obscure progressive rock, and there are aspies Ive meet online who "listen to country music all of the way-nothing else", or listen to bubblegum pop.
Weird music lover here. I go through periods of liking really specific kinds of music and artists, and my overall musical taste spans across multiple genres. I tend to go for artists that are innovative and highly individualistic.
I know many other people on the spectrum that have either unusual or highly specific music tastes, given what their same-age peers listen to. I do believe that AS can affect musical taste and can make those with it crave very specific experiences with all forms of media (not just music, but with things like favorite TV shows and movies).
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Given a “tentative” diagnosis as a child as I needed services at school for what was later correctly discovered to be a major anxiety disorder.
This misdiagnosis caused me significant stress, which lessened upon finding out the truth about myself from my current and past long-term psychiatrists - that I am a highly sensitive person but do not have an autism spectrum disorder
My diagnoses - anxiety disorder, depression and traits of obsessive-compulsive disorder (all in remission).
I’m no longer involved with the ASD world.
CyborgUprising
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I had my nordic folk obsessed years ago . Now I'm more into medieval folk scene, specially the german one (last 5-10 years, it has grown exponentially).
Hedningarna was my favourite group by far. I used to listen a lot to Värttinä (I love the Kalevala, have you ever listen to it live? it's sounds far better than recorded), that was the first group I discovered, Gjallarhorn and Garmarna. As you can see, not exactly the more actual ones. From more modern times I like Valravn.
Nice to see someone who shares some of my musical tastes. Garmarna makes a rather nice version of Vänner och Fränder" and "Herr Mannelig," though In Extremo's Mittelalterrock version is great, save for their utter inability to accurately pronounce words (the music is great, though). Fortíð makes one dark folk version of the classic Icelandic ballad "Krummavísur" as well.
Its hard to define odd. Odd depends on the person and if he had listened to it before.
But as an Aspie I only know ONE person that knows some of the stuff that I listen to, and he is a music teacher. So..
And that also make me a lonely person, cuz where I live there is no club,bar or whichever place that plays what I listen to.
You know any of these?
Philip Glass
Aphex Twin
Autechre
Godspeed you! Black emperor
Labirinto
and lots more
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The more I know the less I know.
I cannot speak for other austistics but I have a very unusual musical taste. It is not very different, but its very broad.
A former group home staff member told me that autistics are often attracted to synthesizer music. I don't know if that is true. I especially liked synth music when I was younger, but I still like it, but I am heavily influenced by The Beatles, Queen and Eastern European music.
When I was a child or a young adolescent, I was heavily attracted to synth music, and I always wished to have a music workstation that can do the same as the synth in the music can. My brother was a Beatles fanatic. In the beginning I wasn't interested in the Beatles, but later on I started listening to their music, and then I thought: "Their music is actually very good! No wonder my NT brother was a fanatic!" I did everything to learn the music so that I can play lots of Beatles music on my musical instruments.
My taste for italo music is not gone. I listened to "Shoot Your Shot" by Divine, "Happy Station" and "Colour My Love" by Fun Fun. Later on I became interested in music by Jean-Michel Jarre. But I also added classical music to my taste: Tchaikovski, Prokofiev, Mozart, Bach, etc.
I was trying to compose my own music. Mainly ambient or dance music but I was experimenting with strange measures. Most favorite is 7/8 music. I was heavily influenced by Eastern European Slavic music. I combined synth sounds with acoustic sounds such as flute, clarinette, oboe, strings, etc. I was also experimenting with mixing styles: combining italo with rock and roll or tango. I am also experimenting with jazzy harmonic effects by using unusual chors in a song like "It's A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.
And my experiments on music are not over yet. Oh no, they aren't!
I like very mainstream music, but almost none of my friends listen to it, so it's not a social thing. I think I just like hyper, energetic, and upbeat stuff that makes me feel good about myself.
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Leading a double life and loving it (but exhausted).
Likely ADHD instead of what I've been diagnosed with before.
atom84
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Joined: 21 May 2013
Age: 39
Gender: Female
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Location: Where the winds come sweeping down the plains
I've been told repeatedly that my music taste is strange, I tend to stick to only one or two genres (progressive rock and alternative mainly, some metal) but I am very particular about a singer's voice, it has to have some kind of melody to it, I can't deal with nonstop screaming or almost speaking instead of singing (Beck, for example or Cake). I also cannot get into music that is about love and emotions, and I will develop sudden "obsessions" with particular bands that can last years. For the past two years it has been Coheed and Cambria because the lyrics are sci-fi adventure and any songs they play that do regard emotion are very subtle in using emotional words. It also probably has to do with the fact also that their songs are soundtracks to the science fiction comics that the lead singer also writes, The Amory Wars, of which I have two graphic novels with the comic compilations so far, so it fits my need to research information by listening to one of their songs and seeing how it relates to that particular storyline in the comics. I also hate it if I'm having to drive someone somewhere and they want to listen to mainstream music instead of mine (please protect yourself from my wrath if you want to listen to something like Taylor Swift in my car, I cannot deal with love songs like that at all )
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Truth-seeker
I've been into a lot of different genres. I write articles for Perfect Sound Forever about them as they arise. The main "AS" element in my taste is the depth in which I pursue whatever it is I get attracted to. Total research. So being a music critic is a natural fit. But the connection between 101 Strings, Stryper and Linda Ronstadt remains unknown to me. All I know, once in, all the way in.
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ASQ: 45. RAADS-R: 229.
BAP: 132 aloof, 132 rigid, 104 pragmatic.
Aspie score: 173 / 200; NT score: 33 / 200.
EQ: 6.
I really don't think so. But a good 1/4 of my music came from the 1980s and it's mostly synthpop. So it's not weird, just dated.
I do know somebody who has Green Day and Lil Wayne songs on the same Mp3 player. Don't think she's "off" though.
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JupiterSpace
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Sweetleaf
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I don't know, to some people it probably is...a large majority of people have never even heard of most of what I listen to it seems. Though I like so much music its likely I will like at least one band any person I interact with likes as well, unless they only listen specifically to music I dislike. I do avoid todays mainstream music not even sure what all is popular since I try to avoid the radio since its likely crap, but there is still lots of good music.
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Eustace
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It's an interesting thought, but I am inclined to say that Aspergers does affect what music I listen to.
I listen to two types of music really, and only three artists, Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert (and all his aliases), and Venetian Snares. The two types of music I listen to are Ambient and IDM. On the ambient side of things, I adore the layering of various synthesizers and the shifting of tones. On the IDM side of things, I adore the fast-paced, conflicting, harsh, seemingly-random arrangement of various (and numerous) sounds, including complex drums. I listen intently to both types, in different - but comparable - ways.
I think with the ambient music, my subconscious understands the floating nature and evolution of the tracks, and its as if I can feel the music - feelings which I generally miss out on or don't experience in my life. The IDM is a workout for my head, it's like trying to figure out a complex mathematics equation by de-constructing each variable, except with IDM its separating each kick, each snare, each hi-hat and crash, each clap and other percussive instrument, while understanding the story being told by the background notes.
I think my Aspergers mind allows me to analyse these songs to such a high extent, and this I love. I don't miss any of the sounds - just as each sound in real life is always present. I also love ASMR, of which is highly relaxing to me.
I think my hypersensitive hearing really allows me to explore each and every sounds that comes through the music. One of my favourite past times is to listen to Venetian Snare's track entitled "Frictional Nevada" and clap every time one goes off in the song, it only took me a few times to master it. Great stuff.
Eustace.
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"If an artist of any of the arts does not experiment, play, nor venture beyond their own capacities, then they may as well put down their instrument of creation, for if one does not search for new frontiers of expansion, they run the risk of mindlessly creating works of generic monotonousness. One must satire their own works to stay unique, and to create pieces that inspire the next generation to push their own creativity even further, and within creativity lies an undiscovered genius."
nerdygirl
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AS has affected my taste in music, but has not determined it.
This is how:
1. I am generally oblivious to popular culture unless it is specifically pointed out to me.
2. I don't care if what I like is not the same as everyone else. I like what I like, and I feel comfortable exploring territory that others aren't exploring.
3. I like things more intense, so the music I like tends to be more intense than what is digestible on a popular level.
Though I like having people to talk to about music I like, I won't adapt my musical tastes just to fit in. Instead, I will try to find people who share unusual musical tastes.
I do like a little bit of popular music that I find to be excellent (very little is, IMO.) But, generally, I like classical music (broad definition), indie artists, jazz (not lite), and music from a generation or two older than mine (stuff that was more fringe than popular even then.)
I have an interest in most kinds of music.
I particularly like early blues, early jazz, early rock-n-roll, doo-wopp, and psychedelia.
I also like classical--because of its infinite variety; whereas popular music tends to be somewhat formulaic as far as the actual "music" is concerned. The lyrics in popular music range from total inanity to total sublimity.
I don't like "gangsta" rap and "New Age" music.
I don't think my ASD affects my tastes in music.
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