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AM/FM Characterization
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AM/FM Characterization (trope)
"Maybe the Beach Boys sang about having fun all summer long, but [I'm] spending the best two months of the year sitting in a hot school."
— Cleo Marchand, Slugfest

Sometimes you can figure out everything you need to know about someone as soon as you get into their car. Their taste in music, especially when it's out of the ordinary, can tell you more about a character than a monologue or flashback ever could. A little well-placed Mozart or Chopin lends an outwardly simple-minded individual a bit of mystery and depth. Someone listening to The Beatles, even though it's 2237 and they're on Mars? Safe to say they're a bit old-fashioned. And if they listen to '80s rock, they may become a victim of AC/DC Characterization...

Music can convey a lot more than just what's in the lyrics, so matching this song with that character, while a bit of a cheat, is a fantastic way to convey a lot about a character in not a lot of time. This also does wonders to convey a deeper side to a character that can easily be considered one-dimensional. A mousy librarian suddenly takes on a wilder angle when their iPod is blaring Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Meanwhile, a hardcore metalhead might be hiding a softer side to them if they've got The Temptations on their playlist.

This trope does not refer to a character's theme song, if they have one, but only to diegetic music, often called Source Music, where the other characters can hear it.

Compare Leitmotif, where a specific tune is used to signify a character, Bizarre Taste in Music, when someone has strange music taste, and Music/Age Dissonance, when a character enjoys a song that is clearly outside their demographic group. Compare and contrast Mocking Music, when the song on the radio is a little too relevant to the character's troubles. See also Establishing Character Music.

Example subpages:

Other examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Strips 
  • Garfield: Jon's grandmother doesn't appear very often, but one strip has Jon calling her and, yelling to be heard, says that he'll call her back.
    Garfield: Turning up her hearing aid?
    Jon: Turning down the heavy metal in her car stereo.

    Fan Works 
  • Bait and Switch (STO): Kanril Eleya enjoys alba ra, the same music that Captain Picard forbade Jono to play in "Suddenly Human". This is an early clue that despite commanding a Galaxy-class starship, she's nothing like him.
  • Child of the Storm: Doctor Strange was once a legendary bard, Taliesin, and perhaps the greatest musician of all time — and that was as a hobby. He is also an immensely powerful wizard and an absolute Troll. This means that he will absolutely give a battle an appropriate soundtrack.
  • Doing It Right This Time: After a bit of a stressful morning involving a trip to the bookstore and a non-verbal Bilingual Backfire, Asuka has the apartment to herself for the first time in a while and decides to unwind with some music. Misato comes back from work earlier than expected to find Asuka dancing around the living room singing along to "Boomerang" by Blümchen, a cheery German eurobeat song. The point of this is to prove that despite all the crap she's gone through, Asuka is still a pretty typical teenage girl underneath. It's also an example on a meta-level, being a sign that she is not going to be a Rammstein fan, which happens in countless other Evangelion fanfics because they're the only German band their authors have ever heard of.
  • Dragon Me To Hell: R.J. is obviously a huge Metal Head; His playlist consists almost entirely of heavy metal, especially Metallica and Def Leppard, and he dies in an Iron Maiden shirt. However, he's also surprisingly knowledgeable in classical, able to identify by name several Standard Snippets Striker forces him to play at gunpoint, indicating he's got a bit more culture than the meathead gamer stereotype would imply.
  • Evangelion 303: Asuka hums Rammstein's "Du Hast" when she sorties, reflecting how rebellious and hot-heated she is.
  • Guys Being Dudes:
    • Arlo's taste in music leaning towards the more emo end of Post-Hardcore and being described by Sierra as an "amalgam of angsty boys with squeaky voices whinily describing their exes, distorted guitar riffs that used a maximum of 3 chords, and screaming" demonstrates his Emo personality and that both his evil status and obsession with Candela may be as much performative as anything.
    • Spark listens to Nightcore and girly dance-pop, demonstrating that he's In Touch with His Feminine Side, unabashedly enjoys "uncool" things, and in the case of the Nightcore, tried his best to find common ground with his dark and edgy ex despite their opposing tastes.
    • In Blanche's car, they play inoffensive, lyric-free synth music at a reasonable enough volume that everyone can hear each other and the road, demonstrating their focus on safety and no-nonsense nature.
  • Relapse (Deathbringer374): In chapter 5, Asuka dances joyfully to the beat of Lateralus by tool, showing her as someone energetic, passionate, and above all loud.
    Asuka: "I know, Baka. It's loud. I love my speaker! The way I see it, you either love Tool, or you're wrong!"
  • Infinity Train: Seeker of Crocus:
    • In the Skill Crane Car, Yuri reveals that Augustine is a huge EDM fan, as the synths that usually make up the genre can be associated with the weird and surrealness of the Infinity Train.
    • Chloe's first seen in the story stepping out to Franz Ferdinand' "This Fire", labeling her into Dance-Punk for its rocking riffs and her love of performance. Moreover, Dance-Punk was influenced by EDM, which reflects how Augustine affects Chloe's growth on the Train.

    Films — Animation 
  • All Dogs Go to Heaven: When Charlie meets up with Carface after escaping from the pound, Charlie turns on the radio so he can listen to some jazz while they talk, while Carface turns it off so they can just talk business. They go back and forth until Carface has enough and pulls out the knob to turn off the radio for good.
  • A Goofy Movie: Early on, Max and Goofy have a "Dueling Banjos" moment over the radio between Goofy's 'High Hopes' and Max's acid rock. Not only does this show a lot about each character, it highlights the generation gap between them, all without saying an actual word.
  • The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: Rex Dangervest has several hard rock songs playing during his introduction, including Mötley Crüe's "Kickstart My Heart", Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", and ZZ Top's "Tush", to establish him as a hardcore tough guy.
  • Megamind: Fitting with how much he loves being a villain, Megamind plays stereotypically badass songs during his fights, including George Thorogood and Guns N' Roses.
  • Monsters University: While Mike takes the guys to Monsters Inc., Squish's mom — a sweet and cheery person — stays in the car to "listen to my tunes", after which the first couple of split seconds of Mastodon's "Island" can be heard.
  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse introduces us to our main character Miles by showing him jamming (and flubbing the lyrics) to "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee, a breezy hip hop/pop tune, while working on some art. Later on in the film Miles tries singing a few bars of the song when Peter B. is teaching him how to use his powers, and it's the accompaniment to the last shot of the movie as well.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • 10 Things I Hate About You: Kat Stratford is introduced blasting Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" in her car, establishing her as a rebel who doesn't "give a damn about [her] bad reputation"
  • Almost Famous: Lester Bangs hates prog rock like Yes and Jethro Tull and calls Jim Morrison a "drunk buffoon who thinks he's a poet" and preferring the Three Chords and the Truth approach of bands like The Guess Who and Iggy Pop. This establishes him as someone disillusioned with the bloated glitz and glamor of The '70s arena rock scene (as well as ahead of the curve on the imminent arrival of Punk Rock), and he serves as a mentor to the protagonist William, warning him against getting too caught up with the rock stars he's going to meet as a journalist.
  • The Big Short: Michael Burry is a tightly wound man with some anti-social tendencies, exemplified by his tendency to play loud heavy metal in his office to help him concentrate while working.
  • Blue Velvet: The eponymous song and "In Dreams" by Roy Orbison are old songs that clearly speak to antagonist Frank Booth emotionally, briefly calming him before he returns to committing acts of pure evil.
  • Boogie Nights:
    • Dirk Diggler believes in The Power of Rock, and even tries his hand — terribly — at recording a single after getting fired by Jack for his erratic, coked up behavior on set.
    • Rollergirl puts on "Brand New Key" by Melanie when she has sex with Dirk as an audition for Jack Horner, showing off her quirky nature as well as lampshading her nickname-inspiring habit of always wearing roller skates.
    Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates
    You got a brand new key
    Rahad Jackson: I love this. I make these little mix tapes together. You know, I put all my favorite songs together. Hey Cosmo, what number is this? Number - number eleven, yeah. I love it. When you buy a tape or something or an album, you know, you put it on and the songs are - the band put the songs in some fuckin' order like they want you to listen to it in that order. You know, I hate that. I fuckin' hate that. I don't like to be told what to listen to, when to listen to it or anything! Fuck.
  • In Christine, the eponymous car talks through her radio by playing 1950s music. For example, if someone she doesn't trust tries to forcefully get into her, her radio blasts "Keep A-Knockin'" by Little Richard.
  • Color Me Perfect: Mitch and Linda, who are rich and somewhat snobby, always have classical music playing during dinner.
  • Deadpool: The titular character's quirky and less-than-serious nature is indicated by his soundtrack, at times brought on-screen by request: he listens to Salt-N-Pepa waiting to ambush a convoy, asks for Dolly Parton during a fight montage... but still knows to request something more badass, such as DMX for a Team Power Walk and AC/DC for a parachuting deployment.
  • In The Debussy Film, Maeterlinck listens to "Ride of the Valkyries." Debussy tells him, "I find this music like you: loud and vulgar."
  • Delta Farce has a shout-out to Three Kings, where just before charging into a town beset by "terrorists", Everett suggests they have some fight music and puts on "Ride Of The Valkyries". Larry immediately disapproves, replacing it with Jerry Reed's "East Bound and Down".
  • Do the Right Thing: Radio Raheem totes a boombox everywhere he goes, blasting Public Enemy's "Fight The Power", a song whose title is self-explanatory.
  • Dope: Malcolm and his friends Jib and Diggy are in a Pop Punk band and are huge fans of 90's hip-hop, though when talking about this with Dom, the older and more musically knowledgeable Dom points out that two of the albums Malcolm cites as examples of the 90's being the golden age were released in the late 1980's (It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back in 1988) and in the early 2000's (The Blueprint in 2001) while The '90s also had Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer.
  • In Everybody Wants Some!!, Wiloughby brings the rest of the team into the living room to listen to "Fearless" by Pink Floyd with him — not only do the music and lyrics suit his Erudite Stoner personality, but the song itself was released almost 10 years before the movie's 1980 setting, Foreshadowing that the character is older than he looks.
  • The family in Funny Games listens to opera music in their car, which establishes them as being cultured and upper class as they drive to their lakeside vacation home.
  • The Getting of Wisdom: Laura would rather play pieces like Beethoven's "Sonata no. 21 in C Major" on the piano than the kind of music that the boarding school staff expect of her. At the final school assembly, she plays that same piece by her own volition, giving an emotional, involved performance that genuinely impresses the staff despite their previous reservations.
  • Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle has "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips playing on a tape in a truck belonging to a group of supposed "extreme" sports enthusiasts, signifying that they're all talk.
  • High Fidelity: "what really matters is what you like, not what you are like... Books, records, films - these things matter."
    • Rob, as well as his Introvert–Extrovert Pairing of employees Dick and barry respectively, are firm believers that music taste is an indication of personality and character. Dick and Barry's difference is shown in the beginning Monday morning scene, where Rob and Dick are quietly stacking shelves at the store listening to Dick's copy of a Belle and Sebastian CD, when Barry bursts in, throws the CD out the player and puts on "Walking On Sunshine".
    • Rob and Laura's former upstairs neighbor Ian is a New-Age Retro Hippie who "listens to whichever flavor of the week world music"
  • The movie I, Robot (2004) starts with Stevie Wonder singing "Superstition" to wake up Detective Spooner. This certifies Spooner as retro, showing at least one reason for him to dislike robots. The song also foreshadows his journey through the movie. In the same vein, the song that plays when the scientist gets incredibly flustered by the retro CD player: 'Somebody Save Me'...
  • Jackie Brown:
    • Played for Drama at one point. When Ordell Robbie gets into Max Cherry's car, he's greeted by the sound of the Delfonics on the stereo — Jackie's favorite band. Fortunately for Max, he doesn't put two and two together.
    • Jackie has a collection of '70s funk and soul on tape, 8-track, and vinyl and doesn't listen to any music after those times.
  • James Bond:
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Iron Man (2008): Tony's Establishing Character Moment involves rolling in a Humvee as part of a military convoy, listening to "Back in Black" by AC/DC.
    • Iron Man 2:
      • After Tony Stark's birthday party is ruined by an Iron Man suit-wearing James Rhodes, Tony requests for the DJ to play Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" as a way to show he doesn't take Rhodes' threat even remotely seriously.
        Tony Stark: Give me a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to.
      • By way of contrast, Justin Hammer opens his presentation at the Stark Expo doing a shuffle to "Pick Up the Pieces" by Average White Band.
      • Earlier in the film, he dives into the Stark Expo playing "Shoot to Thrill" by AC/DC, which will be repeated in...
    • In The Avengers (2012), Tony hacks the Quinjet's PA System before flying in to confront Loki in Germany. No matter where he goes, he has to create a spectacle. In a more subtle example, he wears a Black Sabbath shirt for the rest of the film.
    • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): At the beginning of the movie, Peter Quill's on a dead world and enters a ruin that wouldn't seem out of place for an Adventurer Archaeologist...and then he turns on an old Walkman and starts dancing through the place to "Come and Get Your Love" without a care in the world, even kicking away some of the local vermin. Peter's Walkman and mixtape of classic pop songs are reminders of Earth, and specifically his mother, who had died from cancer the night he was abducted. The sequence is also used to demonstrate Peter's (and by proxy, the movie's) irreverence, and the movie's trailer used Blue Swede's version of "Hooked on a Feeling" to set the same tone.
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues it, turning "Brandy" by Looking Glass into an Expository Theme Tune for Meredith Quill's affair with Ego the Living Planet. Ego, of course, misses the point that the song's about Brandy, not the sailor. Rocket has also mellowed out a bit since the first film, represented by how he's developed a taste for Peter's music; he's shown listening to it occasionally and when he, Yondu, and Groot decide to ruin some mutineers, Rocket arranges to do it to the tune of "Come a Little Bit Closer" by Jay and the Americans.
    • Glimpsed in Thor: Ragnarok, when Bruce Banner temporarily borrows a T-shirt belonging to Tony Stark that has the cover of Duran Duran's Rio printed on it.
    • Captain Marvel (2019) shows in a flashback Carol Danvers wearing a Guns N' Roses T-shirt, making it clear she was always a maverick (and not always an Emotionless Girl). Nick Fury singing The Marvelettes also indicates slightly old-fashioned manners.
    • In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker builds a suit to AC/DC's "Back in Black" (picked by Happy) signifying how he's taking on Tony Stark's mantle. Of course, Peter incorrectly identifies it as belonging to Led Zeppelin.
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is, unsurprisingly, full of this:
      • Over the opening credits, Rocket puts on a stripped-down acoustic version of Radiohead's "Creep" and sings along to part of it, emphasizing his self-loathing (and the film's Darker and Edgier tone).
      • The High Evolutionary enjoys classical operas, emphasizing his interest in the technical aspects of composition and cultured persona in contrast to the Guardians, who are by this point thoroughly associated with rock and pop from the '60s through the '80s.
      • The final song of the film prior to the credits is "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + the Machine. The song is far more modern than anything else on the soundtrack, being from the late 2000s, which dovetails well with Peter deciding to finally return home and live in the present.
      • In the mid-credits scene, the new Guardians discuss their favorite Earth music before going on a mission. Phyla name-drops pop diva Britney Spears and Nu Metal group Korn — while the former is someone that a girl her age would be expected to enjoy, the latter shows that she has an edge to her. Kraglin favors Garth Brooks, which gels perfectly with his typical rough-hewn masculinity. Cosmo shows off her sentimental side by revealing that she is a huge Carpenters fan. Adam Warlock reveals that he's an admirer of Adrian Belew, specifically noting his work with prog-rock innovators King Crimson, showing that he is cultured with somewhat alternative tastes but not a snob. Finally, Rocket, who replaces Quill as the captain of the new lineup, emphasizes the passing of the torch by putting on "Come and Get Your Love", which was used in the first film's iconic opening scene.
  • Played with in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) when Mr. Smith, a badass up to this point, sings along with Air Supply (an Australian soft rock duo) in the car, much to Mrs. Smith's chagrin.
  • Office Space: Michael is a a nerdy programmer who loves gangsta rap but gets scared by a black panhandler while he's rapping along in his car. He's also named Michael Bolton which he hates when people point out ("Why don't you go by Mike?" "Why should I change? He's the one that sucks.") but also has to pretend when The Bobs turn out to be huge fans (which in turn is used to paint them as tasteless Yuppies).
  • Reservoir Dogs: The pairing of Mr. Blonde's Torture Porn with "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel helps to showcase how seriously he doesn't take the situation.
  • Rush Hour: Detectives Lee and Carter get off on the wrong foot when Lee changes Carter's radio to "Surfin' USA" by The Beach Boys, to show that Lee is corny and out-of-touch (but not ignorant) of American culture. After Carter admonishes Lee for changing a black man's stereo he switches it over to "Can I Get a..." by Jay-Z to show Carter is more with it, Lee is not impressed. Later the two dance and bond over a shared appreciation for "War" by The Temptations. Meanwhile Soo Yung is shown singing to "Fantasy" by Mariah Carey because she's an adolescent girl.
  • Shaun of the Dead:
    • Shaun used to be an electro DJ and still has his turntable. When he and Ed try to dispatch the two zombies in their back garden, they go through his record collection and debate which vinyls are fit to use as projectiles.
    • Shaun's strict step father doesn't like loud music. This part of his personality persists after death as he crawls from the back seat of the Jaguar to turn off the radio. This also serves as foreshadowing for the reveal at the end that Zombies retain a part of their old personality.
  • The Silence of the Lambs: While in the prison cell in Tennessee, Hannibal Lecter listens to classical music (specifically Bach's Goldberg Variations) just before his prison break. This tells the audience that even though he's a psychopathic cannibal, he's still Wicked Cultured.
  • Star Trek:
    • Star Trek (2009): In the J. J. Abrams reboot, our first encounter with a young James T. Kirk is him hanging up on his step-father in favor of blasting Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" (a song that In-Universe is a hundred-plus years old) over the radio, establishing his disregard for authority (and a certain degree of love for Good Old Ways, even if they clash with Federation standards) even before the character says a single word. The detail about "Sabotage" being so old it's considered "classic" (and Kirk loving it) gets a Call-Back gag on Star Trek Beyond.
    • Star Trek: First Contact
      • Early in the film Picard listens to "Vallon sonore" from Les Troyens to self soothe his Borg trauma.
      • Later we hear Roy Orbison's "Ooby Dooby" on the jukebox and Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" during the first flight to convey Zefram Cochrane's old-fashioned personality.
  • Superman (2025): James Gunn created a number of playlists for the main cast, and noted that each was meant to express the songs the characters would like: Clark Kent's playlist is mostly older pop music with a consistently upbeat tone, reflecting his nature as a Hope Bringer who's a bit square, Lois is an eclectic blend of punk songs with a few oddly sentimental tunes, showing her rebelliousness and idealism, Mr. Terrific, The Smart Guy, gets a lot of complex and downbeat Math Rock, the dimwitted and brash Green Lantern gets simplistic but fun "guilty pleasure" songs, and so on.
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day: John Connor listens to Guns N' Roses and wears a Public Enemy T-shirt, showing his rebellious nature, as fitting his future role as leader of the human resistance during the war against the machines.
  • Three Kings: One of the soldiers wants to listen to heavy metal music while going into battle. Another soldier criticizes his musical choice and suggest they go into battle with something soothing to calm their nerves and plays an easy-listening song, showing a definite personality clash.
  • Transformers (Film Series):
    • Transformers where Bumblebee, the first Transformer our protagonist meets, actually has no real voice capabilities and instead does all of his vocalizations through playing songs on his stereo.
    • Bumblebee explores how Bumblebee came to love earth music and make use of this trope so much. The human protagonist, Charlie Watson, is introduced waking up and playing The Smiths' "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and rocking out to it, which immediately establishes her as both an angsty rocker chick. Bumblebee learns earth music from her, and while he uses a variety of songs to communicate, he seems to favour upbeat songs personally.
  • Whip It: Razor drives up playing "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips in his Dune Buggy, wearing clothes that mark him as a refugee from The '80s.
  • The Wizard of Oz (1939):
    • Played straight in an early draft. MGM planned to highlight Dorothy's Fish Out of Water status by contrasting her jazzy vocals with an Oz princess who sings operatically. The whole gimmick, including the Oz princess, was scrapped long before filming.
    • Even so, there's still a vestige of it at the beginning of the movie. Notice how "Over the Rainbow," sung by Dorothy in Kansas, is a great example of a straightforward 1930s jazz standard... and then we get to Oz and the whole Munchkinland sequence is a big, intricate, free-flowing Massive Multiplayer Ensemble Number in old-fashioned Gilbert and Sullivan style.
  • The World's End: Gary King is a Manchild forever stuck in The '90s when he was the coolest guy in his small town, still wearing the same Badass Longcoat with a The Sisters of Mercy t-shirt, his piece of junk car still has the same mix tape in the tape deck from back in the day starting with "I'm Free" by The Soup Dragons, and at the end, he ends up Waxing Lyrical to the alien invaders
    The Network: Just what is it that you want to do?
    Gary: We wanna be free! We wanna be free to do what we wanna do! We wanna get loaded! And we wanna have a good time! And that's what we're gonna do!
  • In The Wrecking Crew (2026), part of Jonny Hale's Establishing Character Moment has him listening to Making Love Out of Nothing at All after a breakup.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Atlanta: Darius X is The Stoic with lot of weird things going on inside his head. After he and Earn discuss Darius' beliefs about the Florida Man, Earn decides it's best if they just put the music back on instead of continuing the awkward conversation, and Darius turns on Death Grips, and keeps driving.
  • Breaking Bad does this a lot. Oftentimes doubles as foreshadowing, as the lyrics or titles of the songs tend to somehow be relevant to events later in the episode.
    • A few examples: Pretty Fly for a White Guy Jesse Pinkman likes club-banger Hip-Hop. Psychopathic Manchild Todd has a fondness for cheesy yacht rock, underscoring how eerily calm and chipper he is while committing heinous acts. Smart-but-eccentric Gale Boetticher can be spotted singing along to Italian jazz and show tunes (memorably, he also has a karaoke video of himself singing "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by Peter Schilling). And Walt enjoys Soft Rock such as America and Boz Scaggs, demonstrating that for all his attempts to remake himself into a hardened criminal, he's still a conventional, suburban middle-aged man at heart.
    • In prequel series Better Call Saul, Chuck McGill loves classical and jazz music, showing his intellectual, snobbish personality.
  • The Brittas Empire: Gordon Brittas' preferred kinds of music are marching and classical music, reflecting his old-fashioned, by-the-books personality.
  • Buffyverse:
    • Giles is a fan of Classic Rock like Cream, The Who, Lynyrd Skynyrd, David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, and The Bay City Rollers. While he seems like the prim and proper school librarian, he is also a Former Teen Rebel.
    • Buffy is a fan of Techno, which she and Giles argue about during a training session.
    • Angel is a huge Barry Manilow fan and has been known to sing "Mandy" marking him as a softy.
    • Spike loves Punk Rock, in particular Sid Vicious and The Ramones. He also claims he gave Billy Idol his look.
    • Oz is in an indie band and while driving to Los Angeles, he listens to an alternative rock radio station. He also shares Giles' interest in classic rock.
    • Being a Texas native, Fred is a fan of the Dixie Chicks. She has a poster in her lab and invites Harmony to catch a show.
    • Dawn is a fan of pop music. She likes Britney Spears' early work ("before she sold out") and once forced Giles to endure people hired more for their dancing than their singing ability.
  • Dead to Me: Especially when she's feeling frustrated, angry, or particularly emotional, Jen Harding listens to heavy metal as her self-described "meditation technique," which reflects her cantankerous and short-tempered nature.
  • Defiance: Our first encounter with Nolan and Irisa, the two main characters of the show, has an awkward silence broken with Nolan turning on the radio, only to hear Johnny Cash and June Carter singing 'Jackson', which, in the year 2046, is more than a bit country and old-fashioned.
  • Doctor Who:
    • Ian underscores his status as a comparatively young, with-it kind of teacher by being in tune with the kind of music the kids were listening to when he was introduced in 1963, such as The Beatles or the fictional "John Smith and the Common Men".
    • Roger Delgado's version of the Master is seen at one point listening to "The Devil's Triangle" by King Crimson on a transistor radio during "The Mind of Evil", and it's a perfect fit for him. The song being inspired by Gustav Holst's "The Planets" emphasises that he's Wicked Cultured; it being based on "Mars, the Bringer of War" specifically fits with not only his general evil but his specific plan in that serial (namely, stealing a nuclear missile in order to undermine a peace conference); and it being an eleven minute Progressive Rock extravaganza by a band who would deliberately make their music harder to play just to show off underscores his debilitating Complexity Addiction.
    • John Simm's incarnation of The Master is fond of blasting pop music, showing both how much fun he finds his evil deeds and how, despite his vocal hatred of humans, he does like some parts of their culture, which is reinforced by his interest in Teletubbies. The lyrics of the songs he chooses also reflect his state as a villain, with Rogue Traders' "Voodoo Child" repeating the Arc Words "Here come the drums!" and Scissor Sisters' "I Can't Decide" having lyrics very pertinent to the Master and the Doctor's relationship.
  • Frasier: As befits a snobby intellectual, Frasier is a huge classical and opera fan. One episode combined this trope with Not So Above It All when he switched from playing elegant classical music on the piano to "Great Balls of Fire" once he made sure nobody else was around.
  • Kamen Rider:
  • Mad Men: Don Draper does not like The Beatles. He takes his daughter Sally to their concert at Shea Stadium to score points with her but wears earplugs. Later in the series, as well as later in the '60s, his second wife Megan recommends he listen to their groundbreaking album Revolver, specifically the track "Tomorrow Never Knows", and he turns it off before it ends, signifying his unchanging nature despite the turbulent decade.
  • In an episode of The Mentalist, Jane inducts that the victim did not drive himself out into the woods and commit suicide but rather someone killed him and drove him out to dump the body because the radio in the vic's pickup truck was tuned to a Hard Rock station and the victim was only interested in the classics.
  • In the Miami Vice pilot, Tubbs looks through Crockett's music collection and finds George Jones, Jimmy Buffett, Dickey Betts, and Waylon Jennings.
    Tubbs: Where does Crockett get his music? Sears and Roebuck catalog?
  • In Ms. Marvel, Kamala's mom Muneeba is primarily portrayed as loving but overprotective and stifling. She's also unapologetically a massive fan of Bon Jovi, showing that she's Not So Above It All.
  • My Name Is Earl: Most of the music that Earl enjoys (and most of the music on its soundtrack) is classic rock from the '70s and '80s. It fits in with Camden being something of a Retro Universe, and Earl himself being more than a little bit behind the times.
  • Night Court:
  • Odd Squad: Most agents (except for Olive) are huge fans of the popular Boyband Soundcheck, but Otto especially, reflecting his fun-loving heart. Otis introduced in season 2 is implied to like ragtime piano, an unusual taste for a kid his age, and isn't as loud or upbeat as Soundcheck. This shows him to be very different from his coworkers, and generally a bit antisocial.
  • The Office (US) has Dwight's classic rock fixation, especially the way he hypes himself up before a challenging situation. "Kickstart My Heart" seems to be a favourite.
  • Only Murders in the Building: In the first episode, the songs that play over each of the main characters' introductory monologues give some insight into who they are before their first proper scene:
    • Charles has "Manhattan" by Jan and Dean, fitting his old-school personality and outlook as well as his lifelong connection to the city.
    • Mabel's is "Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa, an appropriate choice given that she's the youngest of the trio, as well as her Never Be Hurt Again attitude.
    • Oliver gets "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" from Annie, showing his upbeat showman personality and his background in the theatre.
  • Parks and Recreation: Harris, a recurring character who works for Pawnee's animal control department, is a huge fan of the jam band Phish, and boasts about seeing 300 of their concerts. He's also a huge stoner, which is stereotypical of Phish's fanbase. Harris' love of Phish was based on that of his actor, Harris Wittels, who was a devoted fan who had really seen that many concerts.
  • The Punisher (2017): Frank Castle is a fan of Earth, Wind & Fire, Bruce Springsteen, Wu-Tang Clan, and Shooter Jennings. In the flashback of one episode to his time in Afghanistan, Castle is ecstatic at discovering that his wife purchased tickets for a Springsteen concert for when he finishes his tour and he psyches himself up for his One-Man Army act to get his team out of an ambush by saying "I've got a date with the Boss!".
  • Saturday Night Live lampshaded the contrast with Dan Aykroyd as a The '70s radio deejay doing an AMnote  and an FM show simultaneously, switching back and forth between mics and changing his voice from an excited high-pitched jabber on AM to a laid-back low-pitched murmur on FM.
  • Silicon Valley:
    • Whenever Russ Hanneman drives up in a brightly colored supercar, he's always blasting a Nu Metal track from the late 90s, establishing him as a Manchild with more money than taste.
    • When protagonist Richard needs to get some serious coding done, he puts on some bulky headphones that play house music, full of heavily synthetic and computer-generated sounds. A recurring theme is how Richard works best when surrounded by computers, but he can only control his creations when surrounded by people.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation:
    • Commander Will Riker's love of jazz shows a softer, easier-going side than his military bearing suggests.
    • At one point in "Suddenly Human", Picard walks past the guest quarters where the Talarian-raised human teenager Jono is staying and hears this blasting in the room. Jono's enjoyment of "alba ra" seems to signify he's a typical teenager; Picard hating it and ordering Jono to turn it off shows that Picard is not good with children.
    • Picard's own musical tastes mainly run to classical, in keeping with his characterization and background as an old-school, well-educated man.
    • Picard's and Riker's tastes in music receive a Call-Back in season 3 of Star Trek: Picard, courtesy of Captain Liam Shaw. He listens to similar classical music to what Picard likes while expressing disdain for Riker's be-bop, as it speaks to his "freewheeling, loosey-goosey, Kentucky mash kind of style".
  • Stranger Things:
    • Jonathan Byers is a fan of The Clash, Joy Division, and The Smiths: all bands that are far from Top 40 and not common for Hawkins; showcasing how he stands out.
    • Billy Hargrove is a fan of early Heavy Metal: his room has posters of Metallica and Mötley Crüe's early works and he listens to music videos while he works out.
    • Eddie Munson is a full-blown metal head, having tapes of Iron Maiden and Metallica. His greatest moment involves him playing "Master of Puppets" — which, having released shortly before Season Four started (March 3, 1986; the season takes place between March 16 and March 29) means he is playing it by ear.
    • Even Benny Hammond, a middle-aged diner owner and minor character who only appears in Season 1 Episode 1, gets some musical characterization: while the series is set in the '80s and most characters listen to contemporary music of the era, Benny is apparently still big on Jefferson Airplane — he has Surrealistic Pillow playing in the diner when he first meets Eleven.
  • Supernatural:
    • This show is a bit of a running example. Given that Sam and Dean drive state to state and coast to coast with nothing but a stack of classic rock tapes (Tapes!) to listen to, it provides both a soundtrack for the show and an insight into the characters.
    • In an episode where Dean is dead, we get insight into Sam's choice of music when Dean isn't around to exercise his veto power. In "Lazarus Rising", Dean discovers that the tapes have been replaced by an iPod and the classic rock by Jason Manns. When Dean comes back, he's not pleased.
      Dean: I told you to take care of her, not douche her up.
  • Too Old to Die Young: In the middle of a Car Chase, Little Billy and Rob wordlessly squabble over the radio station. Rob wants a fast beat to psyche himself up, while Little Billy prefers ballads to calm his nerves. They settle on "Mandy" by Barry Manilow.
  • The Wire:
    • Detective Jimmy McNulty is a fan of Punk Rock and his favorite band is The Pogues as is fitting for his "negligible Irish Ancestry" . He's something of a Cowboy Cop, but not in the Rabid Cop way, but Reasonable, where he doesn't really care about the department mission to combat drug more than he cares about catching murderers, but is also a Defective Detective in his private life, veering in and out of chronic alcoholism.
    • Chris and Snoop, the two enforcers of Westside gang boss Marlo Stanfield seem like a very matching Psycho for Hire pair, but when discussing a way to suss out New York drug dealers, Chris suggests asking questions about Baltimore Club, a local electronic music micro-genre that he's a fan of but to his shock, Snoop says she doesn't even listen to music, all she lives for is murder.

    Theatre 
  • Every Brilliant Thing: The Narrator's father is a fan of jazz music. The man is stoic and unsentimental, and he becomes withdrawn in the wake of his wife's suicide attempt. The jazz records that their father plays are the Narrator's only real insight into his emotional state — as a young child they were very attuned to what the musical selection said about their father's state of mind:
    Narrator: I waited to see what music he put on. I knew the rules. If it was this woman singing I could go into the room.
    'Gloomy Sunday' by Billie Holiday plays, beginning with her vocal.
    If it was the sort of music you could sing and dance to, it was okay to go in but I ran the risk of being hugged and spun around in his chair.
    Some upbeat vocal jazz plays — Cab Calloway perhaps.
    If no one was singing it meant Dad was working so I should be quiet.
    Some melodic instrumental jazz plays, John Coltrane or Bill Evans perhaps.
    And if it sounded like all the instruments were just falling down the stairs, it meant I should leave him alone.
    'Free Jazz' by Ornette Coleman plays — loud and chaotic.

    Video Games 
  • Disco Elysium:
    • The protagonist's love of disco seems at first to be there to signal that he's pathetic and behind the times, and his narcissistic self-loathing is displayed by how he's so into "sadstyle" (sad, slow postrock music) that he knows the number for the sadstyle radio station, Sad FM, by heart and sings it at karaoke. But his taste in music is more eclectic than it first appears, with him getting so into the new emerging genre of rave music that the kids are into that he ends up codifying their genre and inventing in the in-universe version of rave dancing — emphasising his youthful spirit and interest in the future. Also, if you pass the karaoke check, his performance of the song is considered moving, even by Garte, who hates him.
    • Kim seems like a straight-laced binoclard, but he listens to aggressive punk rock music on "Speedfreak FM", hinting at his repressed rebellious and thrillseeking streak — made funnier by how he denies it whenever asked as part of his projection of extreme professionalism. Your Relationship Values with him will go down if you tell other people about his taste. The Final Cut adds a sidequest in which you can call in to the show and get the DJ to give Kim a shoutout on the air, and they will even send Kim some "Speedfreak donks" (which Kim clearly wants, but which his self-image will not allow him to accept).
    • Klaasje is also into disco, and views herself as being a disco burnout, despite only being 28. (Disco, in-universe, reached its peak about twenty years ago.) In combination with her having won a beauty pageant when she was 14, it adds up to the image of a woman who was forced to grow up very young and already sees herself as old.
    • A significant part of Roy's characterisation is that he hates music, and instead only listens to found sounds, field recordings, and musique concrete. It shows off how personally odd he is, but also the sincere delight he finds in the esoteric and mundane.
    • An interesting meta version takes place with the Deserter, who righteously denounces 'reactionary rock & roll music' while himself Waxing Lyrical using lyrics from an in-universe revolutionary anthem that happen to coincide with those from Manic Street Preachers's "If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next", helping characterise as analogous to a moaning old rocker disgusted by the modern world.
  • Grand Theft Auto games sometimes use this by having cars preset to a particular music station depending on the type of car you get in. For example, in III cars driven by mob members are usually set to a station that plays a lot of Italian operas, while in San Andreas cars driven by black Gangbangers are usually set to Radio Los Santos, which is the in-game Gangsta Rap station.
    • A special mention to Grand Theft Auto V, as the big three playable protagonists have radio preferences that reflect themselves. Franklin is tuned to Radio Los Santos, with contemporary rap reflecting how he's still young and ambitious. Michael prefers Los Santos Rock Radio, with classic rock songs reflective of his nostalgia for the good old days. Trevor always tunes to Channel X, with hardcore punk that embodies his Hair-Trigger Temper.
  • Halo: Combat Evolved: The Apocalyptic Log that Master Chief finds indicates that Sergeant Johnson has a love of classic rock (in-universe known as "flip music") not shared by most of his troops.
  • Hypnospace Outlaw: The first thing the player hears upon reaching the Jerkass teen Zane's page is very loud nu-metal music.
  • Medal of Honor: An early scene in the 2010 game start with the POV character riding shotgun in a truck through an Afghan village, the driver a tanned bearded fellow in local attire... who immediately reveals himself as an American soldier by complaining about your character's preference for local music as he shuts off the stereo.
  • Metal Gear Solid V's Quiet is unable to speak, but hums an eerie little tune, and spends her downtime listening to various pieces of 1980s pop music which often seem very appropriate to her personality, like "Maneater", "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Too Shy". Paz is also themed around music, constantly humming her song from the previous game.
  • In Small Saga, Anton asks the party members if they have any requests. Siobhan wants to hear a classical piece by an esteemed composer, Gwen wants to hear "Raise Your Bloody Claws to the Dying Sky" by Pestilent Rage, and Verm just wants to hear "Needle Knight", a song about the heroic exploits of Sir Leo, despite Leo having beaten him up and caused him a Heroic BSoD by this point. Disgusted, Anton says they all have terrible taste and he and Bruce agree to just play "Rat-Tailed Rover" again.

    Visual Novels 
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice: At first, Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin sings his testimony while peacefully strumming a Far Eastern tune on his dahmalan, fitting for a Head Monk of a temple. But when you get closer to exposing him as a murderer, he plugs it into some loudspeakers and switches to heavy metal, getting much more aggressive in the process.
  • The title character in Melody (2019) states at one point that she prefers older music, as well as listening to music on vinyl records. And she is attracted to the significantly older protagonist of the game.

    Webcomics 
  • In Dumbing of Age, when Joyce is trying to expand her musical tastes, Jennifer — who's become an Armored Closet Bi and is also uncomfortable with her geekdom — lists a whole bunch of LGBTQ artists, then hastily backtracks on Chrysanthe Tan with "Don't look them up! It's not Star Wars music!"
  • In Joe vs. Elan School, Joe mentions a variation in that his parents never listened to the radio in the car, always choosing to ride in dead silence. Joe's sister, on the other hand, seems to be a fan of The Grateful Dead and gives Joe a box set as a present.

    Web Original 
  • In the Alice Isn't Dead episode "Alice", the long haul trucker narrator briefly sings along with Weezer's "Say it Ain't So," a story of Parental Abandonment and following in their footsteps by replicating their addictive behaviors. The narrator proceeds to explain, via audio diaries, how she struggled to admit that her wife Alice had suddenly left her, and upon discovering that Alice was secretly caught up in some sort of cross-country spanning Conspiracy, abruptly quit her job and started investigating, by travelling cross-country as an employee of one of the companies involved.
  • Evelyn from Less is Morgue is a huge fan of Nickelback, as well as a number of other "corny" late-nineties/early-2000s bands. Initially, it just seems like a goofy joke, but as time goes on, it becomes a symbol of Evelyn's willingness to love what she loves, regardless of what other people think.

    Web Videos 
  • Homestar Runner:
    • Strong Bad's favorite genre is metal, particularly Hair Metal as typified by the fictional band Limozeen. Since the series ran well after hair metal fell out of fashion, this is used to underline the fact that Strong Bad is a Disco Dan who's never really moved on from what he thought was cool when he was a kid. His other favorite variety, Death Metal, fits with Strong Bad's love of the stereotypically badass and edgy.
    • Strong Sad's love of alt-rock, emo, and that particular subgenre of '80s New Wave that Strong Bad calls "Brit-pout" (i.e. The Cure, Depeche Mode, etc.) is one of the most significant facets of his personality. And the other is being exactly the kind of person you'd expect to be into that sort of music. It clashes (sometimes to the point of being a source of conflict in itself) with his brother's love of metal.
  • Lovely Little Losers: In the interviews for the cereal challenge, Ben asks Balth and Peter each what their favorite song of the moment is. Balth mentions (or, rather, Ben mentions for him) "Lay and Love" by Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Peter singles out "Glare" by Sheep, Dog & Wolf. At a time when Balthazar is being uncommunicative about his feelings, and Peter is outright lying, the songs give an idea of what's actually going on in their heads. (Peter's headspace is, apparently, terrifying.)

    Western Animation 
  • DC Super Hero Girls (2019) demonstrates aspects of a majority of its main characters by establishing their music listening preferences, particularly in the short "#TheSlowAndTheFurious":
    • Diana Prince prefers to listen to classical music, befitting her intellectual and disciplined nature.
    • Kara Danvers listens to heavy metal, which is perfectly in line with her rebellious personality.
    • Karen Beecher regularly listens to boy bands, which showcases her Girly Girl nature and her romantic personality.
    • Zee Zatara has a preference for jazz music, which suits her sophisticated and theatrical sensibilities.
  • King of the Hill:
    • John Redcorn loves '80s rock and metal music, early seasons would often show him picking up Nancy in his Jeep with the radio loudly blaring a rock song, usually something about love or sex.
    • Kahn Souphanousinphone is a huge fan of 70s and 80s pop music. One episode, "Pour Some Sugar On Kahn", is all about this as he gets involved in karaoke, and he'll occasionally burst out into awful song when drunk, bored, or tuning out of whatever conversation he's part of.
  • The Simpsons:
  • Storm Hawks: Finn is a fan of rock, reflecting his unserious attitude, while the responsible Piper, in contrast to him, enjoys much lighter fare. It is a point of conflict between them in "Absolute Power" when Finn keeps changing Piper's music.
  • In The Venture Bros., Brock's favorite band is consistently suggested to be Led Zeppelin. Brock is a very classical "man's man" who likes muscle cars, big knives, and James Bond, so him being a fan of one of the biggest names in hard rock fits very well. At one point, he gets defensive about it.
    Brock: Jock rock, my ass! Listen to those lyrics, man! It's all about love, and longing!
    HELPeR: *beeps*
    Brock: Yes, and... and hobbits too.
    HELPeR: *beeps*
    Brock: Look, it's a metaphor, they... they wrote about a lot of other stuff.

 
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Moneypenny

In The Living Daylights, Moneypenny tries to have Bond come to her home by telling him she loves Barry Manilow's music and has a whole collection of it.

Alternative Title(s): AMFM Characterisation

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Moneypenny

In The Living Daylights, Moneypenny tries to have Bond come to her home by telling him she loves Barry Manilow's music and has a whole collection of it.

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