cardboard adolescent

you're saying a lot of conflicting things. you want to claim that you like the music that appeals to you, which has not been shaped by the opinions of others. so you're basically saying that taste is subjective, but then you're saying that some music is considered good that shouldn't be, so now all of a sudden taste is objective and there are certain principles which everyone should agree on. now if that's true, then what's popular is probably what's good since those are the sounds most people are agreeing on. but you're saying that most of the time what's popular is actually that which doesn't sound good. if you refine this to say that what's popular usually doesn't sound good to you, but is not necessarily bad in an objective sense, then you have to start questioning all the principles you use to judge good music, even your "intuition," which can be seen as a form of cultural conditioning. if, on the other hand, taste is something objective and there are certain qualities which define "good" music, why would "bad" music be so popular? and how can you possibly know that your taste is superior to anyone elses? maybe in that case you really have bad taste and should re-align yourself with the mainstream.