Since most of my classmates at school are not old enough to drink, their fascination with the unshaven guy pushing 30 (that's me) is a little off-putting. I do get one question from these young upstarts a lot when I'm engaged in conversation: "What kind of music do you like?" There's often an emphasis on the word "you," as if I'm being asked, "When you were growing up, had primitive man yet started generating rhythms by beating the bones of recent prey against the still-cooling igneous rocks remaining from the genesis of our planet?"

What about that question? "What kind of music do you like?" There's a lot to it.

Hip-hop brings to mind a certain persona, as does punk, house, and Celine Dion. And to a certain degree, this is true. Certain markets are sold certain styles of dress, certain entertainment activities. Asking "What kind of music do you like?" is asking what target market you belong to.

It's also a question we can't entirely quantify. We enjoy music from all genres. Many of us will have Willie Nelson, Outkast, Dead Kennedys, and Miles Davis on the same hard drive.

Furthermore, fairly universally, we respect people with wide ranging tastes in music, people who have a CD shelf full of names we've never heard of. How does the music enthusiast answer this question?

The question is a shortcut to see if you'll fit a particular clique. Yet, it's impossible to truly address the wide-ranging genres of music we all enjoy. Plus, the question reaffirms the corporate forcefeeding of social behavior and interaction used to sell sub-par records.

Bear this in mind. The next time you ask, "What kind of music do you like?" what you're really asking is, "What genre of insipid pop music do you most tolerate?" And when asked, answer accordingly.