To be fair, I had been rockin’ the suburbs earlier that day
At a bar last night, a new acquaintance asked me if I was a "Ben Folds Five kind of guy." He said his friends had hypothesized this from observing me from across the room, but he claimed he never believed it for a moment.
I think this is worse than when a Japanese girl compared Hannah and Kate to Urban Outfitters models in an attempt to compliment their personal style. At least UO isn't entirely anachronistic. I don't go around accusing people in bars of being "Dashboard kind of girls," do I?
Tags: bars, ben folds five
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Not quite sure whether you're objecting to something about Ben Folds Five or whether labeling generally gets your back up.
Just reading your blog, I'd guess that Ben Folds Five might appeal to you just because his songs are sometimes like little movies. Folds is bright, southern urbane, talented. I'd take it as a compliment, myself.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I don't have a specific beef with Ben Folds, though I can't say I've ever been a fan. I think the album he recorded with William Shatner is pretty great.
There are very few "kinds of guys" I can think of that I'd be comfortable with being identified as based solely on appearance by strangers. I may love Wilco, but I don't know how I'd feel about someone calling me a Wilco kind of guy. Or a "Dark Shadows" kind of guy. Or an RC Cola kind of guy.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Well, I'm sure I'll irritate you by suggesting this, but it's been my experience that people younger than I am (46) really dislike being labeled in any kind of way. I absolutely believe this is a generational difference and I'm not completely sure why it happened, although I have some theories.
Folks over 46 tend to be more concerned with getting the right label IMO.
There, I've just stereotyped two entire generations, one of which hates being stereotyped. But, you know, there are two kinds of people in this world-- those who separate people into two groups and those who don't.