This is not exactly a direct answer, but I've really enjoyed clicking through this expansive guide to electronic music:
Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
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Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#92After I listened to the podcast Conversations with Tyler interview music writer Ted Gioia [0] (one of the topics: "how to cultivate excellent taste in music") I would have to say a good place to start is read books by him, follow him on Twitter. He seems to have the well-roundedness, the breadth and the intelligence to be a good ad-hoc guide to the world of music.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#93Knowing what music you like would be helpful in a discussion like this. (Context: I've spent a lot of my career working in music or music software.) It's difficult to expand your musical horizons just by shooting in the dark at things you should like. But often you can build bridges to new things by exploring their musical ancestors and descendants. Like classic rock? Start listening to some blues, then go from there…
This is a solid answer, but I'd also add - there are very few general music buffs.
Maybe I'd count, with years in pro music performance, degree in Jazz and a lifetime of listing to and performing an insanely wide variety of genres... but not a buff for all styles.
Computer systems are actually not a bad analogy. How many people do you know that have an in-depth knowledge of Assembly in different systems (including the oldest ones), GPUs, ML, Python, JS, Haskell, C++, Rust, ALGOL, Compilers, Hardware development, etc. Then add into the mix having an in-depth knowledge of the creators of those things, what else they did, failures, influences, their mentors.
You always have the choice of breadth versus depth, within your time constraints. I think learning about a single artist or band, looking up the producer, label, members and following up on all those leads to see what else they have done - and see if you like it is a great beginning.
Some genres like jazz might seem difficult to get into, and that's fine. No need to delve in until you find a hook that peaks your interest. And then when you find out about a genre (and jazz is an excellent example) - you'll find sub-genres you like, and don't and maybe you are interested in the evolution - like many people love bebop, but don't listen to "dixieland jazz" or big band swing, or modern fusion.
You will never hear all the music. But depth (in my opinion) breads a lot more passion than breadth just for the sake of it. So rather than listening to all the top 40 singles of the last decades, you'd probably be better off listening to some whole albums, and exploring from there.
Spotify (and similar) make it very easy for breadth, and can help discover new music you like - but you'll need to put work into delving in deep yourself.
As you do have a passion for film I'd suggest this.
For interesting modern music Quentin Tarantino files always deliver.
Danny Elfman has some interesting stuff (like this Simpsons theme which is a great example of the Lydian mode...)
John Williams & Hans Zimmer have made loads of epic soundtracks, and if you like them - look up Holst, Tchaikovsky and Wagner
If you want a weirder launching off point, watch koyaanisqatsi and look up Philip Glass who made the soundtrack - that's an interesting avenue, albeit not very mainstream.
Another epic film score is 28 Days Later, John Murphey - parts of which have been used in loads of other huge features like Kick Ass...
You could also go a different route, and look up how the pre-classical Pachelbel's Canon contains the chord progression that is arguably the most popular of all time and watch this mash up of songs that use it (or the first part) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ
Hahahaha, I could go on forever! I hope you find something you love, and actually want to go deeper into.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#94There 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.
For example, they have a list of genres (https://www.allmusic.com/genres). If you go into a genre, say blues, there are lists of significant albums and artists. You have to click on the "list view", but that exposes the year of the album or artist. At the very bottom of the genre page (almost hidden) are lists of sub genres that you can break out. Each of these has the same highlighted album and artist information. If you go into detail on an individual artist, say Robert Johnson, they have bio, discography, and related artist / influences (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/robert-johnson-mn0000832288/...) information.
All that said, the site does not seem as easy to use as I remember (but that could be my memory). But, hopefully, it is at least a start towards what you are looking for!
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#95Get a reasonable overview of the different genres at everynoise.com
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#96This might be a different kind of route you'll want, but if you want to read from the source, look up "Songwriters On Songwriting: Revised And Expanded" which has personal in-depth interviews, including a variety of pop history stars.
I think it puts artist in some kind of historical context and how they proceed music-making.
Also if you want to check out mostly quite recent popular songs, and some highlights of the tracks with commentary, see Rick Beato's What Makes this Song Great playlist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScRG40_7zb0&list=PLW0NGgv1qn...
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#97I don't think this is something you can force, it just happens when you enjoy music, and a range of music. A couple tips from me though: 1) Use Spotify, and the personal generated playlists that expand out (ie Discover Weekly, and Release Radar), avoid the ones that just play what you listen to a lot, it just reinforces a limited set of songs/albums/artists. And use the 'Fans also like' section of artists. Spotify's…
About number 5. I think that was only true for a short period: From the time the LP was invented until music streaming hit the mainstream. Before the LP, it certainly wasn’t true, and we seem to now be moving away from that format.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#98There are so many radio shows that explore the exponentially growing music-verse out there. Bandcamp is a great place for music artists. Here a huge chunk of the profits go direct to the artists, so it's got every possible kind of music from nobody you've ever heard of. They have a weekly radio show called The Bandcamp Weekly. It's super varied but they're friendly and they often do themes each week. Give it a go
I second this (as a musician and as a voracious listener). It's daunting at times, but once you narrow in on a genre (or region) that interests you, Bandcamp is a wonderful tool to discover new music. Someone else here mentioned that just listening isn't always enough, and i second that too. I liked Miles Davis, but after reading his autobiography, i felt connected to his music in an entirely new way. Same goes for Townes Van Zandt: brilliant songwriter and poet, but reading "A Deeper Blue" (by Robert Hardy) gave me a new appreciation for his music and voice.
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#99This is literally the exact thing you seek. Piero Scaruffi's website.
https://www.scaruffi.com/music.html
Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?
#100> Is there a music buff's roadmap, some sort of a chronologically-ordered list of the best and most influential albums that gives a coherent picture of how music evolved over the 20th century? And is that a right approach to becoming a music buff?
Probably not, because it doesn't start from where you are. For example, my I happen to like the music of the second Viennese school (well, Schoenberg and Webern; I don't much like Berg's work). My parents both regarded it with confusion. So I sat them down and played a whole series of pieces, first going back from common practice into the Renaissance to get outside common practice tonality, and then forward through Puccini to Stravinsky, each stepwise leading their ears so when we got to Schoenberg's 4th string quartet they could hear it and say, "Alright, I see how this isn't a crazy departure and I kind of hear what's going on."
Now, my parents were steeped in Baroque and classical period music, so their starting point is unlikely to help you.
Someone else suggested a music appreciation course, which probably is the right way. You need some kind of framework to explore in and enough sampling of the space to be able to get a hint of what you like.
If you just want to get started right now, I suggest starting with the Beatles, which are the only artists that I think pretty much every western musician of the 20th century is conversant with, from Baroque music specialists to grunge metal players.