My recommendations that have not been mentioned on this thread yet:
33 1/3 book series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33%E2%85%93
deep cuts youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRYhCg0DHloE9gn-PAiAYNg
Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
101–110 of 133 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#102This must be one of the most 'HN' posts I've ever seen. Aiming to become a "music buff", to me, is missing the point of music. In HN terms, you could say it's 'orthogonal'. Just listen to some different kinds of music, and find out what you like. If you become a 'buff' along the way, that's nice I guess.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#103start with mid-period beatles, probably sgt. peppers. they are without a doubt the greatest band of all time and it's my contention that people who say they don't like them haven't listened to them enough or just don't like music. if you are interested in harder edge lineage of rock music, then start with the american beatles-- the velvet underground. the 8 minute version of 'what goes on' on live 1969 is the single…
I love the Beatles, but your advice really only applies to the last half of the 20th century, since albums didn’t exist before that. Before that music was released as individual pieces or singles.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#104I had a good time listening to music history books. The Great Courses have some great ones by Dr. Robert Greenberg such as "Music as a Mirror of History".
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#105Oddly enough, I really was able to get broad swathes of genres and broaden my horizons through 4chan’s /mu/ essentials lists: https://4chanmusic.fandom.com/wiki/Essential_Charts
I didn’t really consider myself a music buff from the listening perspective until I had worked through several of those. Despite the 4chan moniker, they are really good genre introductions and have excellent selections.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#106There may be something better, but I found something similar to what you are looking for in https://www.allmusic.com years ago. They grouped music by genre (and sub-genres) and noted significant artists and albums by year within each genre. I went through the genres, working from the past to the present and ended up with a much broader experience in music because of it. They still seem to have most of those features.…
AMG is really amazing. I can’t think of a more comprehensive encyclopedia of well curated music-related data and thoughtful criticism in one place. It would be really exciting if this database were available publicly a la MusicBrainz because the rich relationship graph encourages novel interfaces to explore the content.
Before all of this information was readily available on the internet, The Rolling Stone Album Guide was the de facto reference and a used copy can be had for around $5. Like any critical rating of art, ymmv, famously Led Zeppelin.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/117198.The_New_Rollin...
For current artists I usually turn to Pitchfork for news and criticism, RS tends to have a strong boomer bias.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#107The book Range, by David Epstein has a pretty interesting chapter on music and the history of improvisation. I knew that Django, the Python web dev framework, had been named after some obscure dutch musician. But after reading the book I had a wholly new appreciation for Django Reinhardt [1], the artist. Man was truly a great jazz improviser, whose legacy now lives on in the framework. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org…
Django Reinhardt is neither an obscure musician nor Dutch... It's the father of a style called Jazz Manouche. Maybe is not well known in the US.
Fun fact: Django was a big influence on Willie Nelson who is, of course, very well known in the US. It might not be overly obvious because of the genre disparities but listen to Willie's guitar phrasing.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#108>If not, what is? Follow your current taste, and go backwards from there. What are the influences of the musicians and groups you like? What are the influences of their influences? This is how most people I know, including myself discovered music.
This is the approach I'd recommend, too. It's a far lower barrier of entry than the countless tomes people are recommending, too.
Go down the rabbit hole.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#109At a certain point, you realize Bach is all you need.
And then Frank Zappa fills any remaining gaps.
Up to and including finnish tango: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trFs_PDqSv4&t=135
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#110Find what you like and then deep dive into that genre. Learn the history about it, look up the producers, the stories behind the albums, the songwriters, the studios that they were recorded at even.
A lot of historical context can be built from that. And you also find more artists that way. Also if you really want to get into it, look up the instruments that are influential in the process of the albums you find. For example, J Dilla's MPC was one of the most important tools of the 90s Neo-Soul and Hip Hop scene (it's actually in the Smithsonian). But other producers have mastered it and its decedents... like Araab Musik, Pete Rock, or Kanye.
If you want to be a person who respects all different genres of music, look into the history of genres as you explore them and find the most influential albums in that genre (usually this correlates to albums sells for "popular" music, influential is usually tied to the network of artists someone has influenced, worked with, produced for, etc).
Hopefully that helps. I'm a huge music buff, so I'd be happy to discuss.