Asperger's and weird taste in music.

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Does anyone know where I can link Alan Cross' 4 stages of the alternative music life cycle from his book "Over the edge" in the preface page xiii, I'm looking at the book now but don't feel like/have time typeing a whole page out, it would go along way to explaining my point of how music fanship works and it would be clear why obscure music may appeal to a person with asperger's syndrome from a socialogical perspective.

If I try to paraphrase now I will just make a mess of it, brain not working right at the moment.

I listen to Gothic, Industrial/EBM/Elektro, a bit of NDH and a fair amount of Modern Medieval (Mittelalter-Rock). Most everyone else considers this to be "weird music," though I'm unsure why. Music is music.

Examples of what I'm talking about:

Gothic: Lacrimosa (especially "alleine zu zweit," "der Morgen danach," and Schakal")
E Nomine ("das Omen," "Mitternacht," "E Nomine" and "der Exorzist")
Umbra et Imago ("Memento Mori," "Mea Culpa," and "dunkle Energie")
Mittelalter-Rock: Tanzwut ("Caupona," "ihr wolltet Spaß," and "Meer")
In Extremo ("Wind," "der Rattenfänger" and "Spielmannsfluch")
Industrial(ish): das Ich ("ein Tag vergeht," "der achte Tag," "Erde ruft" and "des Satans neue Kleider")
T3RR0R 3RR0R ("Nox Eterna")
einstürzende Neubauten ("Haus der Lüge," "die Interimsliebenden," "ich gehe jetzt")
(der) Prager Handgriff ("im Westen nicht neues," "Elektrostahl" and "schlagende Wetter")
[f/a/v] ("Arm," "abschalten" and "Freude am Verzweifeln")
Aslan Faction ("Deception," "Widow CHamber," and "Bring on the Dying")
NDH: Rammstein ("Sehnsucht," "spiel mit mir," and "Sonne")
Oomph! ("Labyrinth," "Fieber," "Kontrollverlust")
Knorkator ("Buchstabe")

I'm unsure whether or not AS affects my musical tastes, but one thing I do know is I have noticed many users here listen to Industrial and related subgenres.

I'm sure it factors in to some music that I like. There were always bands who played on words, didn't plug into the successful song formula, or were just plain eccentric or absurd.

I did like the music from the late 1950s such as Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran etc. when I was a teenager when other teenagers were into Tears for Fears, Madness, Duran Duran, ABC, Adam and the Ants etc. I think that it was because my mum liked the teddy boy music of the 1950s and still had them on 45. I only broadened my musical tastes later in life and also music from the 1980s to electronic dance music and Pink Floyd as well. The first album I bought that was not 1950s rock n roll was Legend The Best of Bob Marley. I from the early liked UK old school Hardcore and jungle as well. These are also musical tastes of many allistic people as well. I don't think that Asperger syndrome effects ones music collection much.

Try Hedningarna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma9pQWF7Jb0

I love that band and that song is amazing.

I was a whole summer listening to Trä again and again. It's one of my favourite albums. Though I never found any other viking folk group that I loved that much. This mix of rock using electric early instruments and the way they sing in Finland, just perfect. I was there recently and went to a couple of vocal folk concerts: amazing.

Anyway folk musical scene in your land, Canada, is worderful. Even better than the US one.

I mostly listen to stuff from the 90's, which is pretty normal for someone my age I guess. I do hate pop music.

I listen to mostly classical music, which you wouldn't think would be considered weird, but just about everybody seems to change the subject very quickly as soon as I answer the "what kind of music do you like" question. I guess you need to be in the right kind of social group for that to not be weird.

When I was in my teens and early twenties I listened to Japanese pop/rock music and later symphonic metal, both of which were considered extremely weird and obscure by everybody. My mother even tried to convince me to listen to different music because she said it put people off being friends with me.

I think the theory that ASD people are more likely to wander off and find something personally appealing rather than just listen to what everybody else listens to is probably accurate (not that NT people don't do that, but there is a definite tendency for most to follow the musical herd or not explore beyond what they hear on the radio and TV, and I noticed that even if they don't seem autistic, people who tend to have a strong unusual musical interest are often a bit quirky in other ways).

You're the only other adult I know of who has nursery rhymes on her playlists. I do too! I also like some really old songs like the soundtrack from Singing in the Rain 'Moses supposes his tos-es are roses but Moses supposes erroneously....". I listen to country and old mainstream music from the 90's, some classical music, some Hebrew music and some new stuff. Our tastes seem really similar.

Most of the music I listen to is Nordic. I've been obsessed with the Nordic folk music scene lately. I don't listen to very much Canadian music. What other "viking folk" groups do you like?

I have a tendency to stim whilst listening to the same song over and over again. I also like a good deal of repetition in music (my signature is from The Fall song 'Repetition').

I don't think my music taste is that weird in general, just weird for someone my age. I don't listen to much that was released after the 1990s and tbh, I don't listen to much music made after the early 80s, either. If I do, it's music by artists who started their careers much earlier than that. I only listen to 90s music because it's a nostalgia thing (it was around when I was a child).

I listen to mostly a mixture of 60s protopunk/garage rock, 60s girl group stuff, 60s orchestral pop, krautrock, punk/post punk/new wave, 80s synthpop and stuff made by the former members of the Velvet Underground.

I like a bit of noise, a bit of classical and a bit of 90s British rock (the last one for nostalgia reasons), as well.

There are very few artists who are contemporary that I listen to. Actually, it's just 3: Cate Le Bon, Gossip and Micachu and The Shapes. I like Lady Gaga at times, too. Funny that they're all female-fronted. All the old rockstars I obsess over are male.

I like finding an artist I like and then listening to everything they ever recorded. Demos, B-sides, everything.

So I don't have a weird music taste so much as a weird, obsessive way of listening to music.

What is considered "Weird" is usually defined by Other people...

It is all in the Perspective...

Now for my long post since I have the time, Why having AS may change your music prefrence. Before you read please note that actually having an intrest in music is important to how strong you feel much of this. I'm not a pro at this, just a fan trying to make sense!


Sound sensitivity issues and differences, I have these and so does meny and most people with AS and it greatly effects the types of sounds and types of rythem, treble, tones I can listen to and what I find soothing, its a really fine line. Having a brain that won't filter any unwanted/hurtful sound stimuli out will have a large effect on what I find soothing to listen too. I find though the songs that audio sensory annoy me the most often fail to become "timeless classics" so maybe my messed up ears are on to something.

Sociaty interaction differences , NT's will like bands and types of music becouse their cool friends like it and dislike based on the same princapals, I have seen this myself at school from grade 1 onwards and in my NT 1/2 brothers. An aspie like me anyway will find music they like and befriend those who apprecate it, basicly we work backwards of the NT sociaty in this regard.

You don't have to be aspie to like different music however not feeling sociatys pressure to conform to common standards makes the jump to new music intrests much more effortless and natural. An aspie will not understand or see/feel a need to conform or back down from the strong independance of thinking we often act on. This is one of the strongest positive traits of the aspie brain in my opinion.

Black and white thinking, Meny people will tolarate music or artists they have little intrest in(think eleavator music or soft rock played in stores), not me and I imageine meny with AS, its either great and worthy of our ears or its trash.

Logical thinking, lack of empathy, Most popular artists have nothing but songs about romance and fake emotions and this is a trun off for me, how about you? I actually read the lyrics and I require more then random swear words to like a song, most NT's I went to school with could care less if the song had meaning, made sense or a complex chord system making it more intresting to disect, this may not be the same for all however or me this is true.

So what if you were cured of AS? Since thats the topic where my post was quoted from You may still like the same intrests however you may have a hard time enjoying it when being socialy correct may now be a priority to you by nature, your ears may change and your tastes may change with it.

In essence having AS changes the way you view music and what it means to you and in a good way I might add. And these standards have been with me for life, predateing my special intrest in music.

Last edited by rapidroy on 26 Mar 2013, 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I dont think aspergers affects music preference beyond not being influenced by others as much and obsesssing intensely over a song, music video or artists.

People are really underestmating the power of this in us!