EPOCH6

Dissonant, aggressive, sad, or discomforting music may just be a more elaborate and complex example of inherently unsettling sounds, the same way a droning water pump or generator or combination of tones can give you a headache or make you uneasy. One could claim that some people might like the sound of a malfunctioning machine or droning speaker feedback, there are a handful of people here that I know would, implying that it is a matter of nurture and the conditioning you've experienced, a matter of "taste", but at the same time I'd imagine it would be pretty difficult to find a baby that doesn't start crying when you place it near these kinds of sounds, and since a baby has yet to be exposed to much conditioning maybe it's fair to suggest that it's at least partly nature, and evolutionary.

I've never been confident in choosing nature over nurture in the development of human behavior, it has always seemed crystal clear to me that both are at play, so I don't think it's a stretch to claim the same for perception of sounds & music. Of course everybody is conditioned to perceive music differently. Abrasive punk music makes some kids overjoyed and inspired regardless of lyrical content or the musician's emotional intent when it was written, abrasive punk music makes some people scowl and plug their ears like they've had a blender placed next to their dome. But I don't think it's a wild claim to suggest that the default human perception of that kind of music would be negative, it makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Loud, sudden, abrasive noises are automatically perceived as dangerous, or even predatory, at its core it's survival instinct, like prey hearing the roar of an approaching predator. Not until you've been exposed to it for some time and have learned that it's safe to hear will you be ready to enjoy it and perceive it differently.

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