Anyway, I really dislike the common question "what kind of music are you into?"
Talking about musical tastes is great, but the question presumes that preference can be reduced to like, a handful of genre categories.
What's much more interesting to me is what abstract aspects of a musical style someone finds most compelling.
Killer grooves? Lyrical inventiveness and complexity? Reminds you of the sensations of being fifteen and infatuated, or makes you feel a sense of timeless eternity? Creates a background soundscape, or demands full attention? Those kinds of questions.
@starkatt Perhaps another good music question, that most people could probably answer with little thought (a bit better for small talk, I imagine) would be to ask what music they've been listening to lately. That is, expecting specific pieces, rather than some analysis of preferences many people likely don't analyze.
-R