How has your musical taste changed over the years?

I've been able to find great music in many different genres except rap. There's a whole world of music that is rarely if ever played on commercial radio.

I feel fortunate that I am not locked into the music of my youth and am able to enjoy/love much contemporary music.

I've recently started listening to a genre called freak-folk and neo-folk. These are incredibly talented young people such as Devendra Banhart, the group Vetiver, the group Espers, and many many more.

Please excuse my gushing below. Music, other than my children and immediate family, is the probably the greatest love of my life.

A very small list of great groups , performers, musicians, and composers: Paolo Conte, Hedningarna, Devendra Banhart, Vetiver, Thievery Corporation, Les Deux Love Orchestra, Das Palast Orchester, Madeleine Peyroux, Zero 7, Tool, Rip Rowan, Kronos Quartet, Ethel, Cafe Tecuba, Air, Gershwin, Damian Rice, Vashti, Juno Reactor, Porter, Berlin, Astaire, Mozart, and so many many more. It almost seems as if there is an unfathomable pool of talent and beauty. We're so very lucky to have it.

I attended my first Burning Man this year and I've never seen or heard a greater variety of eclectic musicians that play for the love of music instead of money. Most will never become well known or wealthy but god their music was glorious.

Music, to me, is a gift that never stops giving. There's always something new or old to discover and fall in love with. I feel closest to the spiritual in its presence. It can make the emotions soar or dive. Truly amazing.

I'd welcome anybody else suggestions or correspondence on music. I'd hope this wouldn't be as argumentative and divisive as politics.

I hear ya, and couldn't agree more. I listen to a plethora of music myself. I'm not really into Rap, Hip-hop, or Country, but have found that it's not all bad.

Nothing will ever be as argumentative as Religion or Politics... I don't even know why I capitalized those two subjects.

I have always tried to avoid being one of those old men on the porch yelling at the kids to "TURN DOWN THAT CRAPPY MUSIC!" ...then mumbling into my warm Ovaltine about youngsters and calculating how quickly the world is going to "Hell in a Handbasket", so I've actually made it a point to listen to "new" stuff, and a lot of it is great.

Most of my peers have gotten stuck in a certain time period, seems to be their late teens/early twenties; when brains were reaching maximum capacity, all other life-changing events were happening (sex, drugs, college, marriage,etc.) and music seems to make more of an impression on us then. I just never got stuck there. I still like Kiss, but I got rid of the ripped jean jacket with Kiss Army patches ages ago... and I no longer run with "Def Leppard RULES" bumper stickers on my vehicle.

Country songs? There are very few I can stand to listen to... but modern country is simply "pop music" with a twang, and I'm not a big "pop" fan.

Hip-hop is okay, rap is good if it has a rock-hard center (like Rage Against The Machine or oddball alternative gods like Beck)

There, I've had my first comment on TeeBeeDee, I can relax and pretend I've contributed.

We used to listen to a lot of Country music, but now I find myself listening to more classical, "oldies" and bluegrass. I guess my music tastes are pretty electic.

I listen to very little County and Bluegrass - maybe due to the fact that I grew up just outside of Philly so I was influenced more by the Philly, Jersey, and NYC sounds than anything else.

My great-grandfather was born in 1878. His all-time favorite song was "Turkey In the Staw," so I do have a soft spot in my heart for that one. Oh, come on. It's not that hard. Just picture Foghorn Leghorn dancing a jig, and you'll enjoy it, too.

A friend and I recently had a discussion about Agricultural Fairs. I enjoy going to them, but would like them better if they'd play something other than Country every once in a while. She said we'd need America for that.

I've seen America in concert, and they were great. It would be so nice to hear Lonely People, A Horse With No Name, Tin Man, and Ventura Highway at the Fair.

I try to be the cool mom, and let the kids listen to whatever they want. Some I actually do enjoy, but I do have to draw a line sometimes.

My daughter listens to the Who, the Beatles, and lots of other music from "our" generation. She and I actually have fairly similar tastes in popular music, so she regularly shares her CDs with me. I have discovered that I like an Icelandic hip hop band called Quarashi and her favorite band, Incubus, as well as Oasis, the Beastie Boys, Fatboy Slim, and a whole bunch of others I can't think of at the moment.

I can't get her to try opera, though.