By Jonah Ruddock
Music is an important part of all of our lives, but what kind of music? In the past week, a number of students answered questions about their favorite bands, albums, and genres. The survey yielded many interesting results, such as East’s avid hatred of bluegrass, and the responses truly opened my eyes to just how incorrectly the name Metallica can be spelled.
To be honest, I’m probably the worst possible person to be writing this article, considering I have no clue who most of these people are and was slightly devastated when I saw the genre pie chart. But alas, I have brewed my beer and now I must drink it. Let’s dive in.
If you were stranded on a desert island and could have only one album with you, what album would you pick?
There was a great variety of replies for this question. Several people mentioned Frank Ocean, Taylor Swift, and Lil Uzi Vert, but other than that there was little overlap. Responses included Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold, Take Care by Drake, Crybaby by Lil Peep, Blue by Jonas Blue, What Could Possibly Go Wrong by Dominic Fike, Astroworld by Travis Scott, The Search by NF, Free Spirit by Khalid, and CTRL by SZA. There were also some deeply troubling answers, such as “I don’t know any albums,” which is a blasphemy I will try not to linger on. Thank you to the aggressive Harry Styles fan who wrote me a paragraph about his brilliance and unquestionable superiority to any other musician, all without actually providing me with an album name. And, of course, there was my favorite answer, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Ah, yes. Queen’s best nonexistent LP.
How do you listen to music?
86% responded that streaming was their preferred method. (This includes the people who did not select streaming but wrote the specific name of their streaming network in the Other column, which happened so frequently that I eventually eradicated the Other column altogether. Thanks a lot for that, guys.) 17% prefer to listen via radio, and a meager 9.4% selected CDs as their choice. 3.8% picked records, 5.7% chose an MP3 player, and not a single respondent picked cassette tapes, which I will try not to be personally offended by.
So far, what has been your favorite album released this year?
Several people answered with Folklore by Taylor Swift or Legends Never Die by Juice WRLD. Other answers included After Hours by The Weeknd, Goat by Polo G, Razzmatazz by I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, Power Up by AC/DC, Fine Line by Harry Styles, Gigaton by Pearl Jam (an album that the Erie County Central Library System seems determined to keep out of the hands of me or any of my family members), Where The Light Is by Surfaces, and Savage Mode II by 21 Savages.
What are some of your favorite bands/ musicians?
The most popular answer by far was Juice WRLD, although none of the respondents could seem to agree on how to spell it. Other favorites were Kanye West, Drake, Billie Eilish, Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, Taylor Swift, One Direction, Lana Del Ray, Ed Sheeran, Lil Baby, and The Beatles. There were also some pop punk artists mentioned, such as The Story So Far, Pup, My Chemical Romance, and Green Day. My favorite answers were DaBaby and Yung Gravy, not on the basis of their musical merit but because of their excellent names. Unnecessarily omitting the o from young is smething I can definitely get behind. It’s a chice I want t see made mre ften in ur sciety.
What genres do you enjoy?
71.9% of respondents said they liked pop, which put it in the lead by a large margin. Rap placed second, followed by rock, hip-hop, alternative, and holiday. In a disheartening turn, metal was outranked by both jazz and classical. At least it beat bluegrass, which was voted for by a whopping two (2) people. We also learned here that East has absolutely no respect for soul or Latin, but has a sizable minority of musical theatre enthusiasts.
Which genre do you think is most popular among East students?
54.4% of respondents believed that rap would be the most popular genre and only 30% selected pop, although in reality pop beat rap by 16% of the vote. 7% predicted it would be hip-hop. Shoutout to the one disillusioned sap who picked R&B.
Well, there you have it. I am not responsible for any physical altercations that break out regarding these results.
