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Started By
Message
What drives taste in music?
Posted on 1/7/26 at 9:38 am
Posted on 1/7/26 at 9:38 am
What makes me love a song that you hate?
Is it what you were exposed to as a child? Or in your formative years?
It takes most people multiple listens to like a song, so that is part of it: if you are committed to a band, you give them those multiple listens until the song grows on you.
If you are not committed to the music, you judge it off the one listen and move on. I find myself doing that.
This is spurred on by the "favorite albums of 2025" thread. I'm working my way through that thread trying to give all of them a listen. A lot of them, I immediately don't like, which made me think about how our musical tastes are often so drastically different.
Is it what you were exposed to as a child? Or in your formative years?
It takes most people multiple listens to like a song, so that is part of it: if you are committed to a band, you give them those multiple listens until the song grows on you.
If you are not committed to the music, you judge it off the one listen and move on. I find myself doing that.
This is spurred on by the "favorite albums of 2025" thread. I'm working my way through that thread trying to give all of them a listen. A lot of them, I immediately don't like, which made me think about how our musical tastes are often so drastically different.
12
Posted on 1/7/26 at 9:59 am to Bjorn Cyborg
Like most things in life, its probably multiple factors.
What you were exposed to as a child
What your friends listened to
Whether or not you play an instrument
Later in life, I suspect nostalgia plays a big factor.
What you were exposed to as a child
What your friends listened to
Whether or not you play an instrument
Later in life, I suspect nostalgia plays a big factor.
Posted on 1/7/26 at 11:18 am to Bjorn Cyborg
I wonder about this a lot. I've got nothing.
Posted on 1/7/26 at 11:26 am to boxcarbarney
quote:
What you were exposed to as a child
This tracks with my daughter. We have the exact same taste in music. My son, who is 3 years older than my daughter, listened to the same music growing up, but he has completely different preferences. He did play piano almost his whole life, so that appears to have had some type of impact.
Posted on 1/7/26 at 11:32 am to Bjorn Cyborg
Same thing that drives taste in women....or men, food, art, cars, etc. It's a multitude of factors. Nostalgia is a big one, the desire to "fit in" makes people like what their friends like, education is big which often results in more openness to different sounds, being a musician certainly plays into it as you probably hear things non musicians don't and a basic curiosity will lead you down some paths others won't follow.
Posted on 1/7/26 at 1:17 pm to Bjorn Cyborg
Part of it is conditioning, particularly what music was playing in key formative memories in your life: family traditions, your first kiss, sports victories, etc.
Another part is trauma. People tend to bond to music they listened to while going through tough times, when the same song or lyrics might not have triggered any emotional response in them if they weren't going through a similar life stage or source of trauma. For example: Blink 182. I just so happened to be in middle school when Blink's two biggest albums came out. At the time, I was extremely depressed, lonely, my parents were fighting all the time, and seemed to be on the verge of a divorce. So, songs like "Adam's Song" and "Stay Together for the Kids" really resonated with me and helped be a gateway to listening to a lot of punk rock and emo down the line. However, if I hadn't been going through anything like that and heard those songs for the first time as a married guy in my late 20's, they probably wouldn't have resonated. I would have just heard the whiny vocals and moved on.
With music, I am often chasing different feelings depending on my mood. Sometimes, I'm nostalgic for a life I never lived. I want to feel like I'm going on some beautiful adventure. Sometimes, I just want to party. Other times, I want to feel like a 10' tall bulletproof badarse. Sometimes, I just want to vent out my frustrations be that with politics, heartbreak, substance abuse, or what have you. I tend to care a lot about melody, I don't care for "vibey" music, I want the music to command my attention rather than just sit in the background of whatever I'm doing. While I can appreciate technical proficiency, I'm not an edgelord seeking "heaviness", "hardness", or proginess" at the expense of musicality. I want vocals I can understand and lyrics that are meaningful, honest, and poignant.
With that said, I am conditioned to like certain sounds and dislike others. For example, I have a raging hatred for most 80's gated reverb snare sounds. To me, it sounds fake, dated, and lame. Any song with that snare sound instantly becomes something I have to endure and look past. I prefer tight, dry, snappy snare tones like those found on early Zeppelin records or those in rock from the 90's and 2000's.
I don't care for synthesizers either for much the same reason, and largely prefer the tone of Hammond organs and grand pianos. As a result, I tend to prefer music that's more guitar focused than music that's more keyboard intensive.
I also really don't like modern punk and metal production, especially the work of (ironically enough) Travis Barker. The guitars feel too compressed so that they lose their punch, even when downtuned like crazy. The vocals have so much processing that they tend to lose all character. The drums are too loud in the mix and often sound incredibly processed as well, including returns to more 80's esque snare tones. There's a certain sweet spot that I like where songs are polished but still have some raw intensity to them, where it feels like the band could run off the rails and crash at any moment, but they don't. A perfect example of that is probably the song "Death of a Salesman" by Yellowcard off of their album Ocean Avenue. The production value is extremely high, but the drums still have some raw sound to them so you can tell that it's not just plugged in samples. You can still hear pick scrapes and some slight tempo imperfections. However, the song is still gridded yet maintains energy.
Another part is trauma. People tend to bond to music they listened to while going through tough times, when the same song or lyrics might not have triggered any emotional response in them if they weren't going through a similar life stage or source of trauma. For example: Blink 182. I just so happened to be in middle school when Blink's two biggest albums came out. At the time, I was extremely depressed, lonely, my parents were fighting all the time, and seemed to be on the verge of a divorce. So, songs like "Adam's Song" and "Stay Together for the Kids" really resonated with me and helped be a gateway to listening to a lot of punk rock and emo down the line. However, if I hadn't been going through anything like that and heard those songs for the first time as a married guy in my late 20's, they probably wouldn't have resonated. I would have just heard the whiny vocals and moved on.
With music, I am often chasing different feelings depending on my mood. Sometimes, I'm nostalgic for a life I never lived. I want to feel like I'm going on some beautiful adventure. Sometimes, I just want to party. Other times, I want to feel like a 10' tall bulletproof badarse. Sometimes, I just want to vent out my frustrations be that with politics, heartbreak, substance abuse, or what have you. I tend to care a lot about melody, I don't care for "vibey" music, I want the music to command my attention rather than just sit in the background of whatever I'm doing. While I can appreciate technical proficiency, I'm not an edgelord seeking "heaviness", "hardness", or proginess" at the expense of musicality. I want vocals I can understand and lyrics that are meaningful, honest, and poignant.
With that said, I am conditioned to like certain sounds and dislike others. For example, I have a raging hatred for most 80's gated reverb snare sounds. To me, it sounds fake, dated, and lame. Any song with that snare sound instantly becomes something I have to endure and look past. I prefer tight, dry, snappy snare tones like those found on early Zeppelin records or those in rock from the 90's and 2000's.
I don't care for synthesizers either for much the same reason, and largely prefer the tone of Hammond organs and grand pianos. As a result, I tend to prefer music that's more guitar focused than music that's more keyboard intensive.
I also really don't like modern punk and metal production, especially the work of (ironically enough) Travis Barker. The guitars feel too compressed so that they lose their punch, even when downtuned like crazy. The vocals have so much processing that they tend to lose all character. The drums are too loud in the mix and often sound incredibly processed as well, including returns to more 80's esque snare tones. There's a certain sweet spot that I like where songs are polished but still have some raw intensity to them, where it feels like the band could run off the rails and crash at any moment, but they don't. A perfect example of that is probably the song "Death of a Salesman" by Yellowcard off of their album Ocean Avenue. The production value is extremely high, but the drums still have some raw sound to them so you can tell that it's not just plugged in samples. You can still hear pick scrapes and some slight tempo imperfections. However, the song is still gridded yet maintains energy.
Posted on 1/7/26 at 3:58 pm to Bjorn Cyborg
Environment has something to do with it. If we were all Jamaicans we would be talking about a lot of reggae albums. The expansion of artists and genres (due largely to technology) and access to more music mean people can have more disparate tastes than when music was more homogenous (90s and before). And then just personal preference. Why is my favorite food pizza and my brother's hamburgers? Who knows.
Posted on 1/7/26 at 4:21 pm to Bjorn Cyborg
There’s stuff that I loved in my early years that I don’t like now and vice versa. My tastes are always evolving. Hell there’s stuff I loved 10 years ago that I don’t care for now.
This post was edited on 1/7/26 at 4:22 pm
Posted on 1/7/26 at 10:32 pm to Bjorn Cyborg
That I have good taste and you don’t.
Just kidding
Great thing is we have music for everyone.
Cheers.
Just kidding
Great thing is we have music for everyone.
Cheers.
Posted on 1/7/26 at 10:57 pm to rebelrouser
quote:is this really accurate? is pop music really more diverse than 60 yrs ago? Top 40 charts had British Invasion, garage bands, Motown, soul, MOR pop, country.... You were exposed to it whether you liked it or not
The expansion of artists and genres (due largely to technology) and access to more music mean people can have more disparate tastes than when music was more homogenous (90s and before).
Today's tech simply means people listen to more of what they already like
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:44 am to Bjorn Cyborg
Mine was formed from the music my Dad exposed me to when I was a kid. It was set in stone by the copious amounts of pot smoked from age 19-25. 
Posted on 1/8/26 at 1:04 pm to boxcarbarney
quote:
What you were exposed to as a child What your friends listened to Whether or not you play an instrument Later in life, I suspect nostalgia plays a big factor.
This. I’d add a specific time frame too. 15-24 years old. Whoever you hung out with and what you listened to at that time sticks. Or pick another age range. Basically whatever age you felt everything was stress and worry free. Or as close to it as you ever got. Every memory I have from those years are just more vivid. So the music I listened to is as well.
After that new music I discovered had to be AMAZING to make it register. Or just finding occasional things that slipped past me at those ages.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 1:22 pm to Bjorn Cyborg
It's good question, but I agree many factors...
example.. I'm not a musician, so I'm never hung up on musicianship... virtuosity of an instrument has never been impressive in and of itself, as long as it serves the song... Maybe that's what I have gravitated to a lot of lo-fi/noise stuff over the year... That's not to say I can appreciate it in the right context...
another big one to me is... it has to have a hook... im a sucker for that, in the context of the other things I like in music...
for instance some of that black metal (prob using the wrong term) where its just unintelligible singing, with no hook... I just can't do it...
so many other factors that I can go all day on...
example.. I'm not a musician, so I'm never hung up on musicianship... virtuosity of an instrument has never been impressive in and of itself, as long as it serves the song... Maybe that's what I have gravitated to a lot of lo-fi/noise stuff over the year... That's not to say I can appreciate it in the right context...
another big one to me is... it has to have a hook... im a sucker for that, in the context of the other things I like in music...
for instance some of that black metal (prob using the wrong term) where its just unintelligible singing, with no hook... I just can't do it...
so many other factors that I can go all day on...
Posted on 1/8/26 at 1:26 pm to TFTC
It's also funny to me how "grunge" music is lumped together and people will say I love Alice In Chains and Nirvana (for example)... and IMO, I love one and dislike the other... to me they are so very different.. I know people can't wrap their head around that sometimes and it amazes me..
Posted on 1/8/26 at 1:28 pm to geauxbrown
quote:
That I have good taste and you don’t.
I still say my litmus test for most peoples music taste is the Ramones... if someone doesn't like them, I dont have a lot of time for them..
Posted on 1/9/26 at 1:41 am to Bjorn Cyborg
That’s like asking why are you attracted to a certain type woman… wether it’s breast, hair color, kink, height, or weight. It’s personal unless you happen to be too damn flaky to have not figured it out on your own.
Vice-versa if your into males.
Vice-versa if your into males.
Posted on 1/9/26 at 8:19 am to Kafka
quote:
is this really accurate? is pop music really more diverse than 60 yrs ago? Top 40 charts had British Invasion, garage bands, Motown, soul, MOR pop, country
Yes. Here is a list of heavy metal subgenres:
quote:
Heavy Metal
Speed Metal
Thrash Metal
Power Metal
Death Metal
Melodic Death Metal
Technical Death Metal
Brutal Death Metal
Slam Death Metal
Black Metal
First Wave of Black Metal (Blackened Thrash Metal)
True Norwegian Black Metal
Depressive Suicidal Black Metal
Symphonic Black Metal
Post Black Metal
Atmospheric Black Metal
Pagan Metal
Viking Metal
Folk Metal
Symphonic Metal
Gothic Metal
Glam Metal
Hair Metal
Doom Metal
Funeral Doom Metal
Stoner Doom Metal
Groove Metal
Industrial Metal
Modern Metal
Neoclassical Metal
New Wave Of British Heavy Metal
Post Metal
Progressive Metal
Avantgarde Metal
Sludge
Djent
Drone
Kawaii Metal
Pirate Metal
Nu Metal
Neue Deutsche Härte
Math Metal
Crossover
Grindcore
Goregrind
Porngrind/Shitgrind (Yes, those are a thing)
Deathgrind
Powerviolence
Hardcore
Metalcore
Deathcore
Post Hardcore
Mathcore
Metal genres.
When I was a kid, we had heavy metal (Sabbath, Priest, Iron Maiden) and hard rock (ACDC, Van Halen, ZZ Top). That all began to change in the late 80s. Country has also been splintered into many genres:
quote:
Country
Alternative Country
Americana
Australian Country
Bakersfield Sound
Bluegrass
Progressive Bluegrass
Reactionary Bluegrass
Blues Country
Cajun Fiddle Tunes
Christian Country
Classic Country
Close Harmony
Contemporary Bluegrass
Contemporary Country
Country Gospel
Country Pop
Country Rap
Country Rock
Country Soul
Cowboy / Western
Cowpunk
Dansband
Honky Tonk
Franco-Country
Gulf and Western
Hellbilly Music
Honky Tonk
Instrumental Country
Lubbock Sound
Nashville Sound
Neotraditional Country
Outlaw Country
Progressive
Psychobilly / Punkabilly
Red Dirt
Sertanejo
Texas County
Traditional Bluegrass
Traditional Country
Truck-Driving Country
Urban Cowboy
Western Swing
Zydeco
Posted on 1/9/26 at 9:15 am to Bjorn Cyborg
Local public radio station playing Radiohead this morning after drying my kid off at school and for the 6,735,000th time I tried to enjoy it but I got nothing. I will never get that band's fanatics.
Posted on 1/9/26 at 10:51 am to CAD703X
quote:It's truly puzzling to me. I mean, Creep was pretty good. Then York started that 33 1/3 when it should have been 45 thing and I just want to harm puppies.
I will never get that band's fanatics.
Posted on 1/9/26 at 8:51 pm to Bjorn Cyborg
I think what you were exposed to in your formative years is important. My Dad loves music so regular exposure is also important.
I think what is most important is context. Grew up in music town (New Orleans) and lived in culture where it was central feature of life. Had family who were musicians. Further lived in some great music towns like Chicago, NYC and London.
I use music to index my life. When certain Led Zeppelin tunes show up, takes me right to a past place/time. When Creed plays, hyper space to 1998 in certain beautiful state I lived in back then. ELO, Supertramp, Styx…bam…Veterans Hwy in Metairie 1979-81. On and on.
Exposure in formative years, DNA / regular part of life, and context…for me.
I think what is most important is context. Grew up in music town (New Orleans) and lived in culture where it was central feature of life. Had family who were musicians. Further lived in some great music towns like Chicago, NYC and London.
I use music to index my life. When certain Led Zeppelin tunes show up, takes me right to a past place/time. When Creed plays, hyper space to 1998 in certain beautiful state I lived in back then. ELO, Supertramp, Styx…bam…Veterans Hwy in Metairie 1979-81. On and on.
Exposure in formative years, DNA / regular part of life, and context…for me.
This post was edited on 1/9/26 at 8:52 pm
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