No one has a better musical taste than anyone else
 

Irrespective of how unpalatable that statement is to a lot of the posters on here, it is invariably true. It is impossible to state that your taste in music is better than anyone else’s.
There are a number of reasons for this, the main being that, music is in the ear of the beholder. Music is meant to bring pleasure and if it does that for only one person, then it’s done its job. All kinds of music from all kinds of genres can make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. If I only restricted myself to 1 or 2 genres I’d be denying myself those pleasures.

If there’s one trend I hate it is the trend of liking bands (or genres) because the type of people you hang around with say you should.
For those reasons I never tell anyone that their musical taste stinks even if I don’t like it.
So in summary, keep listening to what you like, and don’t give a toss as to what others think.

I don't know about you, but my taste is clearly better than everyone elses.

yeah, i'd have to agree with cumus.

Thank you very much for writing this. I am a music journalist and I write about all different genres of music for a living. I have spent the last few days simply reading through as many threads as possible here.

It surprises me how individuals can insulate themselves with a thinly applied knowledge of genre-specific bands and use it as a platform to stand on and pontificate off of to the selected few denizens of any forum in Cyberia.

Also, there seems to be a degree of xenophobia here; it's not as bad as places like The Velvet Rope where I have been a member for many years...but while I expect a degree of attitude from any Roper on any given day, I thought there would be more respect here for the newcomers especially and a more palpable air of welcoming. What worries me is that since I listen to so many different types of music I won't be accepted into any genre-specific threads here. I am very reticent in my MB postings so far for the simple reason that I feel the need to be guarded about my own personal tastes.

I always tell my 4 year old "If you don't have anything nice to say, then you shouldn't say it." That may simply sound like a mom talking...but it is the same thing my own mother always told me. And it always seems to help me get through the day.

Did you really come to a music forum to say this? Really?

You'll never hear someone say, "I have a really bad taste in music".
Quality of taste is relative to person asking.

?????? You dont TASTE music! You HEAR music. And I, my friend, have the best HEAR in music!!!! For example I listen to Mars Complex.

He should probably try to read some more threads. That is what I did. There are some very good posts as well as the trolls. The moderators are very good in the fact that they always steer a bad thread back on track if possible. One can see the erudition in the moderators and a lush musical diversity. That impressed me from the very beginning. It is simply some of the members that can ruin it sometimes. But I stay here simply because it intrigues me what people say in general about the music that shapes their lives. Some of my favorite threads are in the thread graveyard.

So, going by the logic that music is a COMPLETELY subjective thing without an ounce of reason behind it: if somebody waltzes up to me at my local Starbucks and tells me Duffy is superior to King Crimson in every way with a straight face, I'm supposed to just nod and smile without saying anything?

Give me a break and spare me the "ear of the beholder" tripe which supposedly characterizes your higher level thinking. If history has taught us anything, its that there's more to music than emotional appeal and lifestyle/appearance/performance of a vocalist. There's more to music than what my generationally minded friends tell me is the hottest thing on MySpace. There's more to music than what a corporate agenda shoves onto radio and television and Rolling Stone, NME etc. for the masses to gobble up like the swine they are. Subjective taste? Lol. Most people don't listen to enough of the available material out there to form an opinion of any merit in the first place, so why do they have the right to tell me anything?

Sheep will only know grass until someone introduces tastier plant life into their diet, and the purpose of this forum is to do such and foster new development in people who knew nothing else before. But if people want to think of that as elitism...then so be it.

Scots ML says yes.