Is there such thing as "bad taste in music"?
 

Music is subjective and strictly based on opinion. To say somebody has bad taste really just means that their taste in music doesn't match your preference in music.

If you take into consideration their point of view, they have a good taste in music depending on their preferences.

I believe that any type of music deserves a chance, and if you don't like it, it doesn't match your preference, however someone else likes it, that doesn't necessarily mean they have bad taste.

So again I ask, is there really such thing as bad taste in music?

I think a bad taste in music is one that is very limited.

Initially I want to agree 100% but on 2nd thought, not quite all the way.

While I agree that listening without limits is a great thing, at the same time everyone needs to be able to recognize and respect their individual internal tastes. One thing I've noticed (and been guilty of in the past) is that the shift towards learning about new music online and being exposed to so many immediate possibilities resulted in a lot of people adopting a very politically correct (and ultimately ineffectual) stance of 'I like evVVverRRRrything'

I don't buy it.

Everyone has personal tastes and preferences and if they're ignoring those to present a 'correct' answer then that answer is ultimately hollow and without merit. I also wonder if that attitude has anything to do with schools eschewing any sort of competitive game or sport where the rules dictate that a clear winner and loser are established by the end of the competition.

I wasn't implying that you have to "like evVVverRRRrything" in order to have a good taste in music, I was saying that a very narrow taste is a bad taste in music. I'm referring here to people who, say, only listen to metal or only listen to hip hop or only listen to (*gag*) showtunes. Not having very narrow taste doesn't mean you have to love everything from Earl Scruggs to Merzbow, it just means you are willing to approach music with even the smallest sliver of an open mind.

It's only bad taste when you decide to bother other people with it.

Yes. My neighbor who listens to super-bland R&B so loud the whole block can hear it definitely qualifies for your definition.

of course there is "bad taste"

i have very good tastes, everybody who disagrees that what I listen to is "good" have exceedingly bad taste in music

I don't agree with that line.

I am not super into Jazz and Avant-Garde music, but I wouldn't say anyone who listens to those genres has a bad taste in music. I think intelligent people can spot if you are generally listening to what is considered "good" and "bad".

Also, this depends on who is saying "You have a bad taste in music..." to be honest. I was told I had a bad taste in music yesterday from somebody who mainly listens to Snow Patrol, Creed and Coldplay.

Absolutely. But I'm sure that you've seen what I described just as much as I have. :p:

I also definitely agree that it can cut both ways like the example your provide above. Ultimately, what I was getting with my first comment is that there are some people who seem more concerned with limits (or lack thereof) than what their personal tastes and preferences are telling them.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that bad taste in music develops when a person starts ignoring their own tastes to fit in to whatever peer group they've decided they want to belong with. Whether that's hardcore metalheads, or country purists, or all encompassing political correctness of liking evVVverRRRrything, when the limit is based on social pressure rather than individual preference the taste has gone bad.

This reminds me of getting called a F-bomb in high school for listening to RHCP discs like Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik by people with Bon Jovi shirts.

I agree with some of the stuff you guys have been saying. I'll just add to it by saying someone with bad taste is someone who listens to music for the wrong reasons. For examples... Take two people who both love the hell out of Limp Bizkit. One of them listens to them because they legitimately find their music enjoyable and they helped them through some rough times... The other listens to them because the popular kids do so it must be pretty badass. The latter has bad taste in music. I may be able to say Limp Bizkit is horrible personally, but if you can give me a real reason why you like them I think it would be wrong of me to say you have bad taste in music. Ill informed, maybe.

Edit: yeah, also what Dave just said.

I think that whether or not one has bad taste in music depends more on how you address the things you don't like rather than the things you like. As pretty much everyone has agreed on so far, taste in music is subjective - it's all about what appeals to you. There isn't really even a definition of music that holds for all cases, so it's not like there's a "standard" to compare to.

I think it's fine to only like one type of music, hell, even just one band, provided you say that it's not that the music you don't like is bad, it's just not your thing. You may have a narrow taste in music, you might not be willing to experiment, but provided you say "hey man, that music you listen to is cool, but it just doesn't appeal to me", that's good taste. To turn around and say that everything you don't like is ****, to me, is Bad Taste, because you won't even entertain the concept that anything other than your opinion is valid.

I do agree with this. Especially people who will make a judgement about a band without listening to them because they are in a genre that they don't like.

I'm sorry. I can't take this post seriously. And I was asking a legitimate question.

I didn't mean that in a way that there is an excuse to say someone has bad taste. I was saying that when people generally think someone has bad taste, they just aren't listening to what you prefer to listen to. Looking back, I realize how confusing that wording would be.

Like....if they were listening to jazz as you noted, and you don't listen to jazz that much, you wouldn't find the music too appealing at first. The more popular judgement is to go toward assuming they have bad taste, though they just don't listen to what you like.

Are bad taste people?

I would very much like to keep this to a serious discussion and not let it stray from the question or discussion. Too many of the debate threads and such around here go off topic for no reason at all.

Taste isn't objective. I don't think anyone here would argue against that, however, you have to admit that subjectivity is boring.

So I look at music as being relative. For instance, while my taste may not be objectively better than a 15 year old Linkin Park fan's, I have had more experience as a whole with music, and thus have a better idea of what I like in music than the 15 year old pop punk fan. This does not "prove" any of my opinions, but it does give them weight.

So, going in the other direction, does that mean my musical opinions hold more weight than yours? :)

I would generally agree with that, and definitely agree when it comes to genres or movements that I have little knowledge of, and you have a great deal more experience in.

I'm kind of a musical pushover though.

I agree that the experience can weigh more, but that's probably the only thing that would have any sort of weight in this type of thing. Because there are people who are in their 20's and 30's who have the taste of a teenager nowadays i.e. dubstep etc. But then there are the people that are the same age but with more experience with music that will not listen to dubstep because they have other artists that they like far more. More for the fact that they have the knowledge of other genres and subgenres that a typical 15 or 16 year old knows nothing about.

Experience if anything will weigh more than age no matter what.

I never meant to bring age into the argument as a factor. Certainly an 18 year old with 6000 albums rated on RYM is going to have a better idea of what he likes than I do, even if I've had a few more years on the earth to poke around and find out.

No worries. I probably pin pointed at your post a little bit and brought age into the equation without realizing. I do agree with you 100% on experience though, as you have also pointed out in this post as well, even if you weren't aware. Especially with this line:

Certainly an 18 year old with 6000 albums rated on RYM is going to have a better idea of what he likes than I do

:)

I think that "bad" as an adjective only works if we define it as "narrow minded". Just like Jansz said.

Definitely. Narrow mindedness and neglecting artists based on genre are two very important factors that would lead one to believe that someone has bad taste.

I tend to try out everything regardless of genre.

There is no such thing as bad taste. In fact who says that is a person who a full moron.

The funny thing about me is that actually I am a very open minded. I primiarily a Urban and African (very Congolese) music fan. But I listen to others too. For example, late Colombian star Joe Arroyo. I did not think he was valuable. But after he passed and then I decided to hear him and now I can say I made the right decision. Joe Arroyo is one of the masters of music in general. His voice always remained just tight. I now want others to hear about Joe Arroyo.

I actually like some rock bands. I like Nirvana, Ac/Dc, Green Day, Grace Potter, and Metalicca.

I try to keep a open mind.

Of course I am a big fan of Franco (check him out, I mean Franco Luambo) and Pepe Kalle (check him out too). That is why I name myself Franco Pepe Kalle.

I wouldn't say so. I do wish I could enjoy music for what it accomplishes or does musically, as opposed to it just affecting me in one way or another. For example, progressive house. It is complex? No. Does it take a good deal of musical knowledge to create it or understand it? No. It sounds... nice. It reminds me of the beach and of warm weather. It's positive and upbeat. Now say I check out a new album which gets a lot of praise, and I like it. It's never for the reasons it's positively reviewed. I just... like it. It bothers me.

I never understood the idea of enjoying a piece music based on its complexity. Sure, complexity can bring in enough interest to keep you listening to a piece but If it's not saying anything to me it really won't matter how long I pay attention to it, I'm still not going to think much of it.

I think like you said Ki it's subjective so it's hard to say whether someone has "bad" taste in music because to them, or to others, their taste in music might be perceives as "good."

However I would describe someone with "bad" taste in music not so much as someone who is narrow-minded in their tastes (who says it's "bad" if someone only likes one particular genre?) but someone who can't appreciate other types of music outside of their comfort zone. For example, my tastes in music might only be limited to a bunch of different genres. BUT, I can appreciate music outside of these genres even though I don't necessarily like it - I can appreciate it for what it is.

It's a hard topic to discuss though because it's totally subject to personal preference...

^ I definitely agree on being able to appreciate the different genres. And I know it's a pretty tough topic to discuss, but it's always a good one to bring up because you start to understand how people go about listening / enjoying the music they listen to, mostly because we all approach the music we like differently.

Oh, that is funny.

Yeah that's how I am too. I'll like anything, no matter how complex or simple, as long as it does something for me. I almost never know what that something is, but complexity is rarely a factor. As far as I know, it's simply enjoyment from listening to it. Every now and then I'll listen to the local Classical/Jazz station (Classical in the day time, Jazz at night) and I enjoy most of it, it's just a matter of liking it enough to seek it out. That's very, very rare.

Actually I am. You will be surprised to find that I enjoy Janis Joplin too. I also like some hispanic music too.

Is Paloma GIF's?

i'm gonna bring back the old argument from a few pages back about liking everything

i think i'm one of the few who actually listens to almost everything, except maybe avant-garde

but of course, i still have my own standards and judgment of what i perceive as "good" or "bad"

i don't think i will use this as a yardstick to judge other people's tastes, only maybe misinformation and lack of exposure

other than people who like Pearl Jam, i find that indefensible

I think it's fine if you don't like everything, as long as you give what you don't like an honest try instead of putting it in a box based on very little exposure to it.

Either this, or basing an opinion on somebody else's opinion for it. I generally will listen to anything if somebody recommends it or if I feel like I may like it. If it doesn't really impress me based on the recommendation, I listen to it again as an album or a band on it's own to try and find something I like about it.

I really like to try and like everything I listen to. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't.

It's good to have an open mind when approaching music. I'm hesitant to say anyone who's closed off immediately has bad taste, but I like that definition.

The other music forum I frequent (though less and less every day) is very homogenous and oppressive in its tastes, and the most prominent member have very narrow tastes and often scoff at and belittle anyone who differs from their own incredibly rigid preferences. And don't you dare call them out on it, or they'll act victimized and get the mods involved. It's pretty disappointing, but...I guess I'm veering off from the point.

I think accepting your limitations amicably rather than "hurr durr, your favorite bands don't fit my painfully specific and ignorant definition of good music. FAIL" is the better way to go about it. But I guess that has to do with attitude, as opposed to music taste.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that anyone who likes music I don't like has awful taste.

I'm going to make an addendum to Janzsoon's initial definition by saying that a bad taste in music is one that is very limited but also very uninterested in broadening its limits.

I know many people who have a specific, narrow taste in one genre, but are pretty open to suggestions outside of that genre. I like that. But I also know plenty of people who listen exclusively to one or two genres and champion them like the greatest thing ever while putting down all other types of music. That's the worst.

I can understand if someone said that a wide range of music is a good thing but I can't find myself agreeing with Janzsoon's definition - "that a bad taste in music is one that is very limited." Partly because it doesn't define what is good/bad music is to have good/bad taste in...

Does a general practitioner have good taste and a specialist have bad taste for a career in health care? Being limited to specific field or subject is not bad thing, and so too in art - it's not bad taste. For me it's to each his own if someone finds himself or herself only listening to one type of music that is their personal choice. There are probably several reason why they only like one type of music.

It's sound like it's not their range of music taste but their attitude.

You've been on the Atease music forum haven't you?