Is there such a thing as good taste?

Re:Is there such a thing as good taste? by jl6 on Monday November 15, 2021 @12:50PM (#29230176)

Part of the answer is that such people aren’t actually listening to the music. They are getting something else out of it, like using it as background noise, or just as a beat to dance to, or as in-group signaling, or maybe access to the culture associated with the music, or perhaps they are self-medicating with it, or maybe they are ogling the performer, or perhaps it reminds them of something positive that happened when they first heard it.

None of these uses require the music to be “good”.

Actively listening to music is a somewhat rare activity.

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Re:Is there such a thing as good taste? by anm89 on Monday November 15, 2021 @01:53PM (#29231061)

I don't really buy this. Take modern American pop country. People LOVE that music and it is some of the worst of the lot.

And again I have nothing against the genre. I listen to non pop country. But people are specifically attracted to the worst of it and they seem to very actively like it.

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Re:Is there such a thing as good taste? by omegaham on Monday November 15, 2021 @07:53PM (#29235150)

I have a vivid memory of this. I got free tickets to a country music concert, and basically treated it as a party with a twangy soundtrack. It was fun, and I enjoyed myself. While waiting for my ride, I got to talking with a woman who got really offended that I saw it that way - she likened it to a religious experience, and how dare I treat it so flippantly.

I apologized while marveling to myself that something that felt so mediocre and forgettable to me was someone else's reason to exist.

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Re:Is there such a thing as good taste? by huge87 on Monday November 15, 2021 @02:04PM (#29231222)

I can readily attest to having no taste in music. So much so that criticism of music (in reviews of albums, etc.) is incomprehensible to me; I tried using good reviews as a way to find music I'd want to listen to but discovered that music only serves one of the above functions (looking for a good beat, or whatever).

I can't tell good music from bad; either I like the way it sounds or I don't.

I suspect a fair number of other people are like this. And more power to people who have good taste in music.

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