A related problem is the idea that making ‘funny’ music somehow excuses you from making good music. I listen to quite a lot of ‘silly’ artists—Weird Al, They Might Be Giants, The Poxy Boggards, Jonathan Coulton, Tenacious D, Tim Minchin—and whenever a service like last.fm notices this, it inevitably ignores the fact that all the acts I’ve named are exceptionally talented musicians in their own right, and plays me lots of ‘silly’ songs by mediocre singers, players, and melodicists.
A related problem is the idea that making ‘funny’ music somehow excuses you from making good music. I listen to quite a lot of ‘silly’ artists—Weird Al, They Might Be Giants, The Poxy Boggards, Jonathan Coulton, Tenacious D, Tim Minchin—and whenever a service like last.fm notices this, it inevitably ignores the fact that all the acts I’ve named are exceptionally talented musicians in their own right, and plays me lots of ‘silly’ songs by mediocre singers, players, and melodicists.
Hmmm—AFAIK, last.fm plays “songs that are played by other people that play the songs you like”.
So it may not be last.fm that’s doing this to you—but other fans of your favourite musicians...