I myself am into hardrock and trance, though classical music and march songs are great aswell. Speaking of which, I'm listening to "Der heimliche aufmarch" right now
Wow, you're a connaisseur! I loved "Der heimliche Aufmarsch" when I was in the final classes of grammar school, often sang it with a friend when we were
drunk going out!
It's good to have some room here to talk about this question, because when asked that question in a talk, I usually would have to give a careful "well, a lot of things" first.
Well, lets see.
First, I love "classical" music (and operas), i.e. especially baroque, classical and romantic (no, no soft rock, I mean the era of musical romanticism, early/middle 19th century till beginning of 20th century). Sad enough, my momentarily classical playlist lacks a lot of songs I once had, but it's still about 28 hours long.
I like works of a great many of composers, here are the ones I like most:
Richard Wagner
Johannes Brahms
Johann Sebastian Bach
Franz Schubert
Carl Maria von Weber
Gustav Mahler
Georg Friedrich Händel
Antonio Vivaldi
and of course a lot of others, like Johann Strauß (both father [Radetzky Marsch!
] and son), Beethoven / Mozart, Dvorak, Grieg, Prokofiev. Sure forget some important ones.
Then, I basically like music of the rock sector. Most prominent styles are
- Deutschrock = German (Hard) Rock and similar (Rammstein, Böhse Onkelz, sometimes a few things of Westernhagen, Grönemeyer, a few titles of Die Ärzte, and a lot of separate songs of different bands (Spider Murphy Gang etc.
)
- Medieval Rock and similar, mostly "In Extremo" as they hit my taste most which a combination of heavy rock elements, a big variety of medieval instruments and interesting lyrics in a lot of languages of different people and ages. Also things like "Subway to Sally", Hexentanz etc.
- International/U.S. bands mostly in the punkrock/alternative sector (Nirvana, [especially early] Offspring) and some bands with a distinct style (like System of a Down, for example). I used to hear Metallica, but not quite often anymore. I never was a typical Metallica-fan though, I first got into it during the last summer holidays our whole family spend, i.e. with my elder halfbrother, who heard them at that time, about eleven years ago. Hence I first learned the albums in between the Black Album and Garage Inc., and that more melodic, rhythmic style (in comparison to the early albums) just always gave me more than the albums in the 80s.
Right, where was I.
Oh, a very special field. I do actually like traditional songs, "Volkslieder", but
not that what is usually made out of it today (Volksmusik, Musikantenstadl etc.), which is imho what kills this old, very noble kind of music. And I do like german military music. I have a 42 hours playlist with that, which I plan to expand in the future, but never really get to sort it in anyway, it's just too much. I usually don't include that in suchlike listings, because this might be enough to entitle me suspicious or at least strange. However, I really love to hear those songs from 18th century - 1945, except for those which a distinct nationalsocialist lyric content. They sometimes have a good melody, but if they do, those are often "stolen" from older songs, usually german Volkslieder (e.g. the melody of the Horst-Wessel-Lied) or german or international hits of the early 20th century (like that one american song, IIRC the title is "Blue bell"). However, if anyone needs advice on putting such songs in maps, map loading screens etc...
Of course, there are some nice OSTs, like for the movie on the german novel "Perfume". Etc.
Last but not least, though I always used to complain about that electronic music would be for people who ain't good enough to make real music, I have grown up and found that it can be very interesting. I don't enjoy techno etc. though, only House Music, especially the Funky House sector. I used to hear some Feindflug back in school time at some occasions, but it wore off sometime.
Oh, and for those who know it, the slovenian group "Laibach" has made some nice and interesting songs. I don't like industrial, but I really liked their album "Volk", e.g.
Now that's all for now, I'll add something if I have forgotten something.
It's quite interesting to read what you guys listen to, and maybe I find some stimuli, as I always seek to widen up my horizon.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot some euro swing like Django Reinhard, or 50s blues/swing etc., the Fallout 3 Soundtrack was great. I love to hear that from time to time, and stuff like Buena Vista Social Club.