I worked at a small record label and distribution company for six years. There everyone was a rock guy so the conversations were fairly standard. The best conversations were had with the delivery drivers.

Random shipping guy delivering 1000 bulk LPs (mind you this was only 3 years ago):
Guy: "What are these, laserdiscs?"
Me: "No, they're vinyl records."
Guy: "They still make those?"

UPS driver
Brown: "Hey, Ryan, let me ask you a serious question?"
Ryan: "Sure."
Brown: "In you honest opinion, Eddie Vedder, gay or straight?"

There were also numerous occasions where we would get a replacement delivery driver that just happened to be in a band and just happened to have a cd of his band for us to check out. And we were asked on more than one occasion if we carried the Bloodhound gang cd.


Jon

Hmmm....I've got the same problem with being a "rock guy" at work as many have expressed here, but I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. My band plays (what I think are) very accessible power-pop songs, basic old-style rock'n'roll. Coworkers (and many others) my age do not get it at all. They ask what the band plays/sounds like, I say "rock'n'roll".....<obligatory clarification> "kinda like Cheap Trick/Raspberries/Kiss. Loud 60s/70s-style rock with catchy songs". Nothing but blank stares.

But the older dudes, the older dudes get it. Some of them anyway. So most co-workers my age do not get it and I usually don't try to make them get it. But my boss loves my band. Which is awesome. Besides that, I'm hardly the only rock guy at work, the majority of folks here are in some respect, from 80s cover bands to alt-country to jam to metal. I'm kinda the "weird rock guy" even though I spend most of my time listening to oldies or AC/DC.

I was a mechanic at a car dealership years ago and one of the car salesmen was trying to make friends with me for whatever reason. He wore gold chain necklaces and had a fake Rolex. One too many buttons unbuttoned on his purple or rose colored dress shirts at all times. He tried talking about music to me once and I gave him the tape that was in my car. It was Pylon. He gave it back to me the next day and it seemed like the music had made him angry. I remember him saying, "That second song on there shouldn't even be a song!"
It was the end of our budding friendship.

I find it nearly impossible to have an honest conversation with my co-workers without sounding like an asshole or a music nerd. Lying your way through is the best way to go, always.

"So, what kind of music do you like"

Safest, quickest way out is to just name a bunch of old bands that everyone knows about like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, whatever.

Potentially dangerous answer: "A little bit of everything."

But the truth is almost always bad.

Giving co-workers rides can be pretty awkward too. I've been asked "what the hell is this?" so very many times.

itchy mcgoo wrote:I was listening to the Buzzcocks one day in my gray cube and a woman in her late forties whom I had never spoken to before leaned over my desk and said, "The Buzzcocks! I booked their first US tour." She was an accoutant for the City of Portland, but had been Patti Smith's manager for nine years.

This reminded me of the time one of my wife's coworkers found out I was the "rock guy" and gave (GAVE) me a crate of 7"s - Gang of Four, Jam, Clash, Buzzcocks, Nick Lowe, etc. that she just never listened to anymore. That is seriously NOT CRAPPY. So rock guy is alright. Thank you nameless co-worker for introducing me to Gang of Four.

Go to my work, close your eyes and throw a baseball. You will hit a musician.

But that is different from naming who is indeed a "rocker". There are many many flavors.

This also means that I have very many music conversations that are akin to looking through a strip mall used CD store.

Not all conversations.

But lots.

Also, five words:

Three

Hour

Holiday

Music

Show.

joelb wrote:

itchy mcgoo wrote:I was listening to the Buzzcocks one day in my gray cube and a woman in her late forties whom I had never spoken to before leaned over my desk and said, "The Buzzcocks! I booked their first US tour." She was an accoutant for the City of Portland, but had been Patti Smith's manager for nine years.

This reminded me of the time one of my wife's coworkers found out I was the "rock guy" and gave (GAVE) me a crate of 7"s - Gang of Four, Jam, Clash, Buzzcocks, Nick Lowe, etc. that she just never listened to anymore. That is seriously NOT CRAPPY. So rock guy is alright. Thank you nameless co-worker for introducing me to Gang of Four.

similar experience here. there were a lot of "rock guys" at one job, but it was shit like Mudvayne and System of a Down. one day i got a turn at the stereo and i think i played Bad Brains or something to everyone's disgust. the next day my ex-goth/kinda punk supervisor burned me about 6 cds worth of the discographies of the Buzzcocks, Melvins, Birthday Party/Boys Next Door, Jesus Lizard, and Gang of Four. that was a nice surprise.

just last week i was on assignment at a downtown bank office and the other guy there brings up the dreaded "so what kind of music do you listen to?" question. "uhh, weird hard rock kinda stuff.." 3 sentences later we're talking about Swell Maps and the Wipers and turns out we attended the same Deerhoof show once. neat.

I wouldn't say I'm the "rock guy," but I've been asked if my computer was broken more than once because of what music was playing on it. I guess that's what I was at the Quizno's I worked at for a few months. Was horrible.

Crap. 60 year old management types call me Dude.