Even when it comes to enjoying something as simple as music, people's wish to compete kicks in and we try to make a contest out of it. But in this contest, there are no good sportsmanship, only angry and annoyed feelings to be had by everyone involved.

Music, the art form where different sounds and silence come together to form something meaningful, something we can relate to or even something we might be able to love. Maybe one could even describe how good it is without using lame pseudo-poetic phrases. The point is, it's a great and stimulating thing, but as always, human nature seems intent on having one of the finest things we have in the world destroyed for everyone else except themselves. You see, instead of just appreciating music for what it is, art, we start comparing the superiority of musical pieces as if it were a contest. Where the goal is to see who is the best and also at the same time who has the best taste in music. It's almost like a big football league where every genre/band/artist/song/etc. is a different team competing to be the world's very best and the hooligans, or in this case; the fans of the music, are violently fighting every other person who doesn't like the same team as they do. The difference here would be that that no one ever wins the league.

Freddy Wolfram, a master of very hard, heavy, steel-gray to white Transition Metal

A popular discussion on the subject is ”Rap Vs. Rock, which is the best”, that has never ever contributed to anything. See the fans of either genre will just baselessly bash the other fans using their personal opinion. But these sports fans don't even stop there, no, they even start comparing different musicians in their preferred genre as well, the metal heads for one, arguing whose favourite guitarist can play the most notes per minute and the people who love rap will compare what rapper can rap the most several million words at once. The beaten side will often just retaliate saying something such as ”Well, he only plays with technique and with no emotion! That's horrible!” or with the rapper ”Oh yeah? He also sounds like a mickey mouse!”. This comparing of abilities. Isn't it very similar to how people compare the abilities of different sportsmen to see who is the best?

Is there really anything that can be won or earned by doing this?

Well, there isn't any trophy or actual contest to win. Maybe there is just a problem accepting that there are people who don't like the same things as themselves. Perhaps this makes some people feel insecure about their interest that maybe they are the ones who are ”wrong” and thus proceed to defend their interest even though there really isn't any need to do so.

I might be wrong though, perhaps sports is an exquisite art form just like music is, and that art is really just about beating the rest? Perhaps the singer/guitarist is just like the forward in a football team while the drummer is the goalie that makes sure that the competing team doesn't get any shots in. Perhaps the snobby music critique is that damn referee who's always right about everything (even when he's wrong!) and will do whatever he can to hinder both teams.

Well, it's all too bad that I'm no big fan of sports.