"Classic Rock" magazine notes the "antihero demeanor" of Patton: the singer regularly makes acerbic criticisms and mockeries of music, but they always seem rooted in his own obsession with it. Patton dislikes the banality and close-mindedness of rock music, in particular the "condescending" attitude of its performers who tend to follow similar formulas, repeat setlists, play , and not improvise. "treat the audience like children. I think that's ridiculous", he said. "The crux of what you're doing is to open someone's eyes and poke them with something - make them think. ... art should provoke you in some way". In order to achieve this, Patton has sometimes performed deliberately transgressive or shocking acts, both on stage and off. Amid the creation of "Angel Dust" in 1992, he told MTV that most grunge and alternative rock music was "rehashed" and later stopped listening to those genres altogether because he considered them "pathetic". By contrast, Patton had a strong affinity to experimental artists that explored the possibilities of new technologies, such as Grotus, as well as orchestral-based ones like Frank Sinatra and Mystic Moods Orchestra, whom he called "timeless". Asked to curate the 2008 All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, Patton only chose world music artists, modernist composers and experimental musicians. The cosmopolitan inclinations of Patton are evident in his hobbies on tour, which include visiting local record stores and immersing himself in the culture of the areas (on occasion, fans have spotted him wandering through populous places in countries like Japan and Chile). Accordingly, Patton has spoken out against Americanization and the high esteem held by other countries for the United States. In the late 2000s, he also showed enthusiasm for the increasing innovations in music softwares and digital instruments, with the hope that they would allow younger generations to break new musical ground. A self-taught producer, Patton mostly scoffs at the hiring of producers, ascribing their need to the inabilities of the own musicians - "If you need to be told what to do, then you don't know what you want."