Your last paragraph amplifies my point. In other words, if Bieber doesn't figure into someone's world—no kids, younger siblings, no regular access to kids, not piped into their work area—why would they complain about him? It's like me bitching about Mexican soap operas—no one watches 'em at home, I'm not dating…

Hey, if you enjoy his stuff, cool. I just don't wanna hear grown ass men and women complaining about him, unless they have kids who are fans and they take issue with that. Otherwise…

I was one of those people you describe, watching Fox News in a "what is the other side saying/thinking?" kinda way. But I got tired of yelling at the TV like a crazy old man. So I stopped.

I hear ya. But at least those sports guys knew their stuff. I've come across plenty of music critics whose lack of knowledge would be laughable if it weren't for the fact people read their crap and base opinions on it.

Please, avoid the Cop Rock clips on YouTube as if they were concentrated cancer.

Yeah, liking "everything" is bullshit. Being into a lot of different types of music is closer to the truth.

Nothing. As long as you don't think sports fans are beneath you, it's all good.

It's mostly arts people who have a disdain for sports and it's very much an American thing: unlike most of their US equivalents, British indie rockers and punks LOVE their football; even the most rabid anti-American Cubans on the island are baseball fiends, etc. etc. etc.

Every single time someone has said "Oh, you should give this one a chance. You'll like it, I promise," I have been burned. Every. Single. Time. (I almost choked the chick who sold me on Rent.) Even Passing Strange, which I really wanted to like disappointed me. Pass.

Generally speaking, people who don't put too much emphasis on music in their daily lives tend to have small collections. I understand your complaints about being mischaracterized but if I walk into someone's house and they have 20 albums on CD and/or vinyl, chances are they didn't take a year to get into each album,…

I'd rather hear any of those comments then have the dude next to me, w/o warning and no prior mention of politics whatsoever, extoll the virtues of the Tea Party, 2 seconds after discussing our team's chances in the AL East. WTF?! (Had a shot and left.)

"But I thought you loved baseball, too? So why don't you want to know all the things about it? Am I missing something here?"

Yeah, well, on their first US tour in '68 Bonham and Plant were 20; Jones was 22 and Page was 24. And dudes in their 20s were a lot more mature than their current equivalents, so Grant was just covering up for their fucked up shit.

You could also ask the young, middle class, British dudes who came of age in the '60s why they identified with the old, black, American bluesmen who inspired them.

No childless person over 30 should have an opinion on Bieber: it's not for you. It's for teens and tweens. So if your not a teen or tween or have children of that age group, zip it.

But you might have meaningful convos about eras and/or types of film where your tastes overlap, right? An old co-worker of mine does not listen to anything from the last 25 years, with a few exceptions. Not out of snobbery but b/c he feels there's too much '60s and '70s music he has yet to explore. So, we talk classic…

It's pretty cool that you are turning your girlfriend onto stuff she might enjoy and would not have experienced otherwise. I just think some people just do not have it in them to love any aspect of pop culture. It's all just wallpaper to them: they can appreciate it but it's just something to acknowledge and even…

Was the "young African-American man" a celebrity then or now?

Will do.

God Loves Uganda for Dessert is an awesome title, heh heh.