Why do we hate music we hate?
 

Or in other words, why does it annoy us so much that certain music we hate happens to exist? I'm asking this after reading the excellent and funny http://www.musicbanter.com/general-m...out-music.html from our late friend Urban, and I of course realise that much of what he wrote is to be taken tongue-in-cheek, but it did set me to thinking.

Why does it annoy us that say bands like Dragonforce or Tool or [insert hated band here] exist? Or that a certain genre or subgenre we hate is liked by others ? Obviously, nobody is ever going to like ALL music, but why put down that which we don't like? Nobody here - no individual, and no group - can be the ultimate arbiter of taste, so while I might hate hip-hop or jazz, and you might hate prog rock, why does its existence offend so?

It's not the same in other arenas. Sport, to some extent, yes, but that's more a case of rivalries between teams, states or counties. But if you hate horror movies, you don't watch them. If you like science-fiction books but hate trashy romance, you don't read the latter. If medical dramas get up your nose you don't look at them. But we don't complain about the existence of any of these things: we accept they're there, but don't try to put them down. They simply don't matter to us. We have no interest in them. If others like them, fine, but we don't. And that's the end of it.

So why do we tend to froth at the mouth about music we hate? Why is it so important? Radio? Well nobody's forcing us to listen, and there are surely thousands of stations we can choose from. Fans of these bands or genres? Quite possibly. But if we don't like certain music, why do we feel the need to put it down? Why can't we just accept it's not for us and move on? What is it about music that polarises opinion in a way few if any other subjects do?

Didn't give me credit, bish
v v v

I hate it because it's terrible.

The music I hate is the worst.

RIP Urban

The only kind of music I have a more-or-less blanket "hatred" of is rap, and the reason I dislike it is because it has more-or-less eliminated melody. I find that to be obnoxious to listen to. The rhythms themselves can be interesting, and a lot of non-rap in the past 15-20 seems to have adopted those kinds of rhythms successfully while still maintaining a melody. But once you eliminate the actual melody from the singing it sounds like somebody yakking away at me which really turns me off. I don't find somebody yakking away at me to be very entertaining.

Most rap music does actually have melody though.

A LOT of people like peas. I don't like peas.
A LOT of people like baked beans. I don't like baked beans.
A LOT of people like going to baseball games. I don't.
A number of people like Coprophagy. I don't like Coprophagy.

A LOT of people like The Grateful Dead. I hate The Grateful Dead.

It is what it is. It either gets you off, or it doesn't.

ftfy :)

How the **** are you from Boston and you don't like baked beans?