Just another false alarm...

Thanks to a bar room conversation this evening, I've been wondering whether, in introducing someone to music one likes oneself, it is better to try to tailor it to the tastes of the person in question, or whether it's better to simply go all out with the passionate 'this is what I like. Screw anyone who doesn't!' sort of approach. I've done both in the past, and found both frustratingly ineffective. The latter approach in particular can be quite painful, because investing so much into a single mix tape and meeting distaste or indifference can be a real blow.

Now I like a broad enough range of music that I'm likely to own at least one CD/tape/record suitable to any given person's taste, and usually much more than that. But in trying to introduce people to music I tend to go too far into the latter type of approach, desperately trying to get people to see why certain bits of music mean a lot to me, when what makes them mean a lot is often circumstance-ridden.

But in general I'm not sure which of these approaches is better, since the more cynical first approach only works if you know someone quite well, and the musical introductions stage of my friendships usually occurs pretty early on and then trails off into mutual indifference ('I like The Clash; you like the Spice Girls. Hmmm...') or standard acceptance ('We both like Janis Joplin, but she's dead, so there's not much more to say really'). There's probably some 'third way' I'm missing, but it's problematic, since I'm not likely to stop making mix tapes for friends any time soon, unless - perish the thought - I move up to a newer form of technology, and I'd like it if I could get my friends to listen to more of my music than they do...