Is electronic/dance music an acquired taste?
 

I was wondering this, because I notice that most people (on this forum, and in real life =P) do not like electronic dance music. On one end of the spectrum, you have rock and metal fans that dismiss it as "gay" music for "homos", and on the other end of the spectrum you have hip hop and pop fans that see it as repetative noise, paticulary the pop rap fans that I have to deal with whenever I go to my one friend's frat house parties.

Knowing this, I'm starting to see this whole genre as something that you have to acquire a taste for, at least in America anyway. I know it's very popular and hip in Europe and Canada, but seeing as how I live in America, it doesn't really effect me. Discuss.

Uhhh...I have loved it from the moment I first heard any of this music.

I don't know many people who call it g.ay music for h.omos...but if I did I probably wouldn't be friends with them anymore.

Yeah I don't blame you. Yet again, I love heavy metal and classic rock, so naturally, I'm gonna be friends with people who are fans of the music. I just hate how most people don't like dance music. I had an ex-girlfriend that listened to pretty much nothing but emo and hardcore, and she hated dance music, and got annoyed everytime I played it in the car. She was cute though, which is why I dated her. =P However, I'm going a little off topic here, so I'll leave it at that.

I think any style of music can be an acquired taste, depending on what you're exposed to early on. It just so happens that most people are exposed to pop/rock and hip-hop above all else.

growing up in Canada electronic music was most definitely an acquired taste. especially coming of age in the 90s. C&C Music Factory and DJ Chris Sheppard were and still are absolute garbage. not sure where you got the impression that it was very popular up here (it's not). there would be compilations that came out a few times a year like the MuchDance discs but for the most part it was always a niche thing.

unless you lived in one of the major cities 'electronic' music really WAS trash. it's not that i think the musicians or producers involved are bad at what they do but they choose to make thoroughly disposable releases. my sister is a perfect example of the average dance music listener, she'll have a bunch of store bought compilation discs and a few homemade mix albums of the most recent club favourites and won't know more than maybe 3 tracks names, has no clue on who produced or performed anything, and has absolutely no interest in finding any depth in what she's hearing.

I don't think Electronic music is so much an acquired taste as much as it is a genre that most people are completely ignorant about.
Most of these people you speak of, IWP, are people who think of Electronic music (for which they just call "techno") as 4-to-the-floor boom boom boom with high pitched squeal noises and a dude repeating a vocal over and over. They only know what mass media shows them, and it's usually the crappiest, most stereotypical Electronic music there is.
Those people rarely know about the diversity and skill and creativity available below the surface of the garbage they're exposed to. They probably couldn't name more than 4 sub-genres of Electronic. And unfortunately, these people are the ones you'll run into most.

I've been listening to Electronic for over 14 years and the stuff available under this genre is so vast and different and unexpected in all its different forms that I really can't believe that it's all an acquired taste just because it's created electronically.
I think people should do a little more research and spend a little more time and effort getting beyond this readily available crap that's shat out into visibility by default and they'll probably realize that the only thing that was an acquired taste was the garbage they've been force-fed all these years.

Well said, you two. You make me proud and keep me from having to type much. :beer:

For me it was an acquired taste, too. I was exposed to rock music first so that's what I liked. I would hear pop music in the 80s (much of it electronic) and consider it trash because it wasn't using "real instruments". :laughing:

Industrial really paved the way for me to access electronic music.

All music is an acquired taste, except Merzbow.

I don't think it's an acquired taste so much as a genre that people just don't know that much about (like Freebase mentioned). Most people who hear "Electronica" think of just the repetitive booming stuff and don't know how varied it really is. I used to be one of those people.

Basically, Freebase hit the nail on the head. Except I think he was being generous in saying most people could name 4 sub-genres of electronica. 2 maybe?? lol

Haha... oh it's not generous considering how many there actually are.