Could somebody please explain


I know what the dictionary says that it means, but here's the problem....every so often - increasingly frequently because people are starting to know that I am into audio and even more into music - some aquaintance (ie., colleague, co-worker, friend of a friend, etc.) will hand me a CD and say something like: You have to listen to this disk, it's got heavy jazz/classical/latin/blues (pick one..or two) influences but it's hard to pin down just what it really is. It's very eclectic."

Invariably the disk is crap.

The disk is usually generously given to me by an individual who wouldn't know a pianissimo from a pinada, and I am left to wonder just what is meant by the "eclectic" designation. Here are some of the possible meanings under consideration:

1. I don't understand even a fragment of what is going on here musically, so this disk must be really good.

2. I paid good money for this thing and I hate it, so I'll try and pass it off on someone else and call it eclectic.

3. It sounds like world music, and world music is eclectic (the "peace, love, dope" approach).

4. It's eclectic and I like it, so if you don't, you're an idiot.

5. Since I listen to eclectic music you have to think that I am intelligent.

I often wonder what response I would recieive if I merely returned the disk and said" It's not eclectic, it's sh**. Stop worrying about it and go listen to some music you like."

Any thoughts?
esoxhntr
Say thank you, and give him one of your "eclectic" disc's, proclaim its greatness, and send him on his way telling him he may not understand it now, but with repeated hearing he will ultimately come to understand it, as you do. Then smile a whole lot as you enjoy your joke and as you wait for him to feed back to you someday about how great he has found it. When that occurs you will have arrived!
I suggest Victoria Jackson: Ukelele Lady as the first title to try out Newbee's suggestion with. ;-)
Maybe it sounds different from genres they can easily identify, and seems to incorporate more than one of them, so they hang the "eclectic" label on it.

Maybe it's music they genuinely like.

Maybe you're an awful snob.
I agree with Dubin...on the labeling part, not the snob. I think it just gets grouped in a genre unknowingly. To me I have always felt that eclectic was another word for "new age" without any further implications, I guess to keep from association with some religious cult. I think the genre labeling today is gotten more confusing with radio stations playing C&W and claiming to be a "rock" station and so on.
But it sounds like you and your friend have different tastes in music and he compliments you by seeking your opinion. Maybe he wants to bolster his opinion with someones opinion that he values. AKA flattery