Tiers

Typically, I think in a very organised manner. Yesterday, I realised how this applies even to how I view my music; subconsciously, I tend to divide the bands I listen to into groups. However, these groups are not in terms of genres, overall popularity, or the amount of songs I own by them, but in terms of how much I like them. While this might spawn a "duh" reaction from most readers, I was surprised to realise how they form an almost hierarchical structure with "tiers." While studying for a math test, I took a short break to jot them down on paper. It went something like this:

Tier 1: Only one in this slot, the ultimate favourite, and it will forever be Iron Maiden. Unless I suffer irreparable brain damage in an accident and stop being a metalhead, of course.

Tier 2: These four are the ones below Maiden, which I listen to regularly and very often. They form the absolute core of my musical taste, along with Maiden of course. They are Megadeth, Dark Tranquillity, Helloween, and Iced Earth. There is no strict order to them and they vary with time; at the moment, DT would probably be number 1 in this group. A few months ago it was Megadeth, before that Helloween, and before that Iced Earth. Interestingly, I have seen all of them live except Iced Earth. I think that this group is also affected by past concerts.

Tier 3: This could also be called tier 2.5, as they are all ones which could not quite make it to Tier 2. Bands in this group fluctuate between tiers 2, 3, and 4. Some are growing favourites, others are dropping out of intense listening. At the moment, I would say the bands in this tier are Judas Priest, Gamma Ray, and Metallica. I would guess that Priest will get a promotion to tier 2 in two weeks once I see them live.

Tier 4: Other good bands which I listen to fairly often and which I enjoy, but usually the case is that I don't own a large discography from them. Children of Bodom, In Flames, Amon Amarth, and Bruce Dickinson are in this group. Note that this group consists mainly of melodic death metal, though there is no particular reason for this.

Tier 5: Other bands which I have songs from but which are not being listened to actively. All were in higher tiers before and have dropped here, or are new additions which I have not listened to enough to make my mind. In this group are Opeth, Nightwish, Kalmah, AC/DC, and Ensiferum.

Quite understandably, this order does not cohere to how well the band is known in general. Nightwish and AC/DC are very popular but their ranking has dropped for me, whereas Dark Tranquillity, Bruce Dickinson, and Helloween are quite obscure to the general public. Though, to be fair, I was quite surprised today when a girl in my class actually happened to know Bruce Dickinson when we were talking about music whereas she didn't know such a well-established band as Megadeth. But I guess there are always exceptions.

So, what was the point of this post? Nothing really. Just food for thought. Or food for my thought, more accurately. And it'll be interesting to read this in a year's time, as I haven't previously gone to the details of my music taste in one post in such a manner before.