I used to be a terrible music snob. Those 80s memes where people talk about 80s music, for instance, are usually difficult for me because I barely listened to popular radio in the 80s — I was into stuff that wasn’t on the radio, so I missed it all pretty completely.

Lately, I have realized that I became far less invested in the relative hipness of what music I listened to when I started becoming more serious about playing music.

Some things I once loved, I became disenchanted with. Some I fell in love with all over again. And I discovered that there were many things I’d turned my nose up at that became far more interesting as I learned about how they were played and constructed.

Take “Hotel California.” I don’t like the Eagles in general, but I found myself LOVING the opening progressions of that one song, and spent time learning it for my own satisfaction and pleasure. I think that’s a gain for me to not limit my tastes based on how hip a given band is.

My tastes are far more eclectic now and I enjoy a much wider variety of music than I used to. I tend now to like individual songs over falling in love with individual artist’s entire repertoire — it still happens, of course, but not as much as it used to.

I figure if Richard Thompson can find a way to cover and redeem (somewhat) “Oops, I Did It Again,” I can open my ears a little to find stuff beyond my confort zone.

Anyone else find this to be true?