In re: hip-hop, and I'm sure others will have alternative (if not far better) suggestions, you might read Jeff Chang's book, Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (http://cantstopwontstop.com/) while tracking down the people, music and scenes he accounts for.
On a related but different note, does anyone have or has anyone read: "Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing** of Robert Palmer"? Palmer's reviews in the NYT altered my taste forever, and for the better (even if he loved Adrian Belew and I didn't).*
*
On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 12:13 PM, Matthias Wasser <matthias.wasser at gmail.com
> wrote:
> I mean that in its operational sense: you've acquired a taste for things I
> myself haven't yet.
>
> A while ago someone on this list said he didn't "get" shoegaze, and my
> immediate (unpublished) reaction was "what's to 'get?' You just listen to
> it; it's fun, unless the band sucks." There's obviously some sort of class
> aspect to how this is determined: otherwise the classic phillistine opinion
> of our time wouldn't be "I like everything, except country and rap."
>
> As it happens, I don't currently get hip-hop or the big orchestral sort of
> classical, but I'd like to. For all the classical music snobs on the list,
> how might one go about acquiring an ear for it? As an added bonus, this
> might allow me to reread Mann's Faustus and actually understand what was
> going on.
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>
-- ********************************************************* Alan P. Rudy Dept. Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work Central Michigan University 124 Anspach Hall Mt Pleasant, MI 48858 517-881-6319