This caught me by surprise, I really don't have an out-of-the-ordinary taste in music. I listen to dubstep, hip hop, rap, ambient, electronic, rock, metal, folk, acoustic, pop, and (sometimes) orchestral music. It made me think, "Is there actually such a thing as 'nerdy' music?"
Now I can't speak for the rest of the world but here in the UK there are definitely a couple of stereotypes of the sort of music we nerds listen to, and they're on opposite ends of the scale (if we're not being technical. I know there are a lot of similarities between these genres, but bear with me here, do you want a pony for your birthday or not?), these stereotypically 'adored by nerds' musical styles are those of metal and classical. Why? It's hard to say. It may be because nerds stereotypically exist on the fringes of popular culture and classical music isn't usually listened to by young people. It could be because nerds were cast out socially and metal is a "socially offensive" genre. However, I believe it is safe to say that whether this stereotype is true or not it doesn't make classical or metal music 'nerdy'. There are plenty of people who don't consider themselves part of this social group who listen to it, so maybe it's the content of the music that would make it 'nerdy'.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present the London Invisible Orchestra...except I'm not sure if they're here yet."
Let me give a few examples here, there are some artists that do embrace some elements of nerd culture. The rock band, Coheed and Cambria tell stories from the Amory Wars series of graphic novels written by their lead singer, Claudio Sanchez. Rap group Jurassic 5 often feature lyrics describing the bullying they received at school for being nerds, as do the earlier works of Gym Class Heroes. UK based band, Fightstar pull their inspiration from the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion and Motion City Soundtrack not only dress in a stereotypical nerd fashion, their songs often reference nerd culture topics such as playing Xbox, watching re-runs of Twin Peaks and a startling analysis of slasher horror films. But does this make these bands nerdy?
In short, No. In fact I don't believe there is such a thing as nerdy music. Sure there are types of music that nerds stereotypically listen to and artists that reference nerd culture, but judging a band or artist as 'nerdy' is as ridiculous as labelling a band as producing 'stoner music' or 'hipster music'. As is judging someone by their music, letting your music taste define your way of life or letting your lifestyle dictate what music you should and shouldn't listen to. All in all the message of this (rather short) article is: be who you are, and be proud of yourself for who you are.
I'll see you on Twin Peaks afternoons (Bring expensive wine and Cordon Bleu).
