Circe

I think the issue is when those discussions and debates quickly escalate into something ugly. Music is a subject that's deeply rooted in cultures and subcultures, which makes it very easy to latch on to as a fan that's eager to defend his/her interests. If, say, you have major love for Placebo that's influenced by you following an indie or androgynous subculture then see someone write them off as a bunch of angsty nonsense then you could easily take that criticism of the band as a criticism of yourself or your life choices. The point I'm basically trying to get across is that criticising someone's music tastes can easily be taken as a criticism of that person as a whole which is obviously not an easy thing to brush off and react to moderately. Plus it's easy to form one-way personal attachments to the people making the music (celebrity worship at its most extreme but it can easily just be as simple as a respect for the artist) and seeing others insult their production can be taken as if one of your real-life friends or family had just had their work insulted.