What shapes an individuals music taste?

CyberDave

This is something I have always wondered about. What do people think are the factors that contribute to people liking a specific type of music? Parents music growing up? Personality type? Location (Geographical ie. rural/urban)?

For example, why do some people love whatever is played on the radio, while others will seek out new bands (that may not get much airplay) all the time.

What do people think?

Hermy

CyberDave wrote: »

...why do some people love whatever is played on the radio...

Personally, I think people who enjoy whatever the radio spits out don't really care about music that much, but then maybe that's just me and my hatred for certain radio stations playing the same old tired tunes over and over again!

javaboy

Parents' music for me. Well mainly my dad's music. I never really took to the Bay City Rollers and David Essex.

Mulan

Male 34.
Fond memories of singing along to the carpenters in my mums car. Really like their stuff. Play abit of music now. CAn't get eneough of harmonies. I listen to a wide range of stuff. song in my head at the mo is "I will" from the beatles. Heavy metal not my cup of tea. Classical guitar music great. I like opera,been to a nice few " Madam Butterfly" was incredible. Mark Knopfler my hero. I could go on.
To the point, maybe the stuff i listened too when young shaped my taste in some way. Would push towards the softer side of music. The songs with more feeling etc both in the words and music.

Thats my 2 cents
thanks

Xavi6

Neither of my parents were big into music but they did provide me with two Greatest Hits albums when I was about 6 - Queen and David Bowie.

From there I discovered Bon Jovi myself around the time of 'Crossroads'. They may not be the coolest of bands but for an impressionable kid it's a good introduction to rock.

1994/95 (when I was about 9) saw me introduced to Oasis and I haven't looked back since.

Basically it's all down to exposure. I did my fair share of radio listening but back then I don't think that it was a bubblegum as it is now. Kids are listening to all sorts of drivel and are quite happy to do that, especially when they can text in requests to their mates and have their names read out in between the latest chart hits.

It takes a lot to think outside the box and everyone needs a helping hand.

amacachi

Depends what you're exposed to, and whether you like the person/people who introduce you to some music. Mood when first hearing something is a big one for me as well, if I hear something that suits my mood I usually go on to like it.

camel toe

17, like kings of leon, busted(in hindsight) eminem, fiddy, kanye, eyedea, scouting for girls, blink 182, avril lavinge, like some westlife songs, u2, oasis, alecia keyes, traditional irish, dolly parton, mo-town oh god just so much

javaboy

Xavi6 wrote: »

1994/95 (when I was about 9) saw me introduced to Oasis and I haven't looked back since.

Not even in anger?

/gets coat

Karl Hungus

It's an impossible question to answer, as what shapes our very personalities to begin with? Musical taste is such a personal and subjective thing, it's a part of who we are. For some it can simply be peer pressure, whereas for others, new music is something they seek out. Everything we hear during our lives builds up together to form our music taste, what sparks emotions with us when we first hear it, what we are introduced to.

Epic Tissue

What makes people like the food they do? What makes people do the things they do? What makes people make stupid posts?

11811

Its a social thing, we are mainly influenced by both our peers and the media...
Quite often we are told what to like, weather we realize this or not...

11811

Epic Tissue wrote: »

What makes people like the food they do? What makes people do the things they do? What makes people make stupid posts?

oh and in fairness I'd hardly call this a stupid post......

Jesus Wept

Xavi6 wrote: »

Neither of my parents were big into music but they did provide me with two Greatest Hits albums when I was about 6 - Queen and David Bowie.

From there I discovered Bon Jovi myself around the time of 'Crossroads'. They may not be the coolest of bands but for an impressionable kid it's a good introduction to rock.

1994/95 (when I was about 9) saw me introduced to Oasis and I haven't looked back since.

Basically it's all down to exposure. I did my fair share of radio listening but back then I don't think that it was a bubblegum as it is now. Kids are listening to all sorts of drivel and are quite happy to do that, especially when they can text in requests to their mates and have their names read out in between the latest chart hits.

It takes a lot to think outside the box and everyone needs a helping hand.

No mention of Backstreet boys Xavi, bit of a limited bio there.

Xavi6

The-Rigger wrote: »

No mention of Backstreet boys Xavi, bit of a limited bio there.

Ah we all have our guilty pleasures Rig

Jesus Wept

Mars Bar

For me, it would be the area I am from. I'm from Tuam so the Saw Doctors are my favourite band and have been since I was 9 (19 now)...from them I discovered the Waterboys, Bruce Springsteen etc...

Rigsby

Hermy wrote: »

Personally, I think people who enjoy whatever the radio spits out don't really care about music that much,

I agree. A true music lover will seek out new music.

I put my own music tastes down to a few things, 1. radio at the early stages, 2. what my older friends were listening to when I was between say 12 to 17 years old. 3. coming from this, I would seek out albums by artists that were on my friends albums, then artists from that album. This has set me on a pleasant journey that is ongoing.


To Epic Tissue : I think it's quite an interesting thread actually.

insinkerator

i think when we are young we are influenced by the radio, as we know no better, then as we get older, we are drawn to music that is accepted by our social group. For example, if you are the kind of person that hangs around in a village like a knacker all night, etc you will inevtiably end up liking dance music. then when we reach around 18ish(i think) we realise that music is a personla thing and you can listen to whatever the hell you like.

But then as well, you have people that make themselves like certain bands becasue of their status. As in someone who will tell you that they love all the new bands playing around cork, becasue they think it makes them cool etc

CyberDave

Yeah if you really like one artist, it usually leads to many others. I was never really that into music until I was 18/19 and started listening to the Johnny Cash American Recordings albums. Lots of the songs on those albums were covers which made it even easier to find new artists associated with those albums. Agree with the fact that real music lovers will seek out new music, rather than go with the flow of some of the s**t that's on the radio.

HalloweenJack

When I was a really young lad, say 7 or 8, I liked a lot of the Britpop stuff. Nowadays, I wouldn't even have the albums in my CD collection. Also, back then I loved the Motown sound and dance music which I still do.

When I was about 13/14, I really got into hip hop music and from the sampling in most acts I got into funk and soul. From Funkadelic, I got into rock music like Jimi Hendrix, Prince and David Bowie and from there I've started listening to other acts.

Every once in a while, I do hear some artists that are heavily rotated on radio and TV and I like them. Most of the time, I just pick my own music based on intuition.

nyarlothothep

Some of its innate too I think. For example I've always gravitate towards more minor key songs. Also when I was a kid I hated syncopated bouncy rhythms, for this reason I have never liked Irish music.

Latchy

CyberDave wrote: »

This is something I have always wondered about. What do people think are the factors that contribute to people liking a specific type of music? Parents music growing up? Personality type? Location (Geographical ie. rural/urban)?

For example, why do some people love whatever is played on the radio, while others will seek out new bands (that may not get much airplay) all the time.

What do people think?

I definitely think it's what you pick up from a very early age that will have a strong influence on all future music tastes.In my case it was having an old wireless constantly tuned to radio luxembourg,bbc world service ,rte radio and later the british and irish pirate radio stations . Their was so much diversity of music that it took me till i was much older to be able to identfy the artist and bands which varied from rock n roll to pop to classical ,all of which i still like today .For iinstance hearing the beatles ' she loves you ' for the first time (i was about 4 ) was mind blowing

idPlease

I think parents, friends and radio all play a huge role and nowadays unfortunately so do the music channels.

As a kid was accustomed to Queen, THin Lizzy, Dire Straits, Michael Jackson, some Status Quo and the radio was always on too.

Started liking rock, moved into hip-hop, then nu-metal (briefly though i sometimes revisit the albums for fun) and now i'm pretty much a mixed bag!!

I love looking for new music, its an exciting process.

KnifeWRENCH

It's a difficult question to answer. It guess a lot of it depends on your age, your peer group and the social climate at the time. My taste in music has changed many times throughout my life.

As a kid, I pretty much liked whoever was big at the time. I mainly liked pop music - from the somewhat respectable (Spice Girls, All Saints) to the ridiculous (Aqua, B*Witchd, Vengaboys ) At that age I didn't care about lyrics or cheesiness, all I cared about was the upbeat tunes and the fact that I could listen to it on the radio.
Naturally, I outgrew most of that stuff but I do have All Saints second album on my Zen because it does have some great tunes (I love "Black Coffee").
I also copied the Spice Girls best of (but I only borrowed it! )

At about age 10 or 11, I went through a bit of an R'n'B phase, although it was only female singers I liked - Destiny's Child, TLC, J.Lo, Aaliyah etc. I still listen to TLC and I have one Aaliyah song on my Zen but other than that I have no time for R'n'B.

Then at about age 12, I went through the notorious "difficult" phase. I borrowed my sister's friends' Korn albums and loved them. I was never a goth and I never really liked metal, but for some reason I really liked them. I never listen to Korn anymore because it's just not my thing. I suppose at the time I thought I was being cool, but now that I'm older and wiser I can tell that I was just kidding myself.
(I'm not saying Korn are a bad band, it's just not to my taste.)

It was after this, at about 14, that I finally discovered music for myself, being able to listen to music and judge it for myself, not caring what genre it was or whether or not it was popular or "cool". I suppose I really have to thank my sister for helping me - she leant me her Smashing Pumpkins Best Of and after one listen I absolutely loved it. It made me wanna investigate other music that I wasn't too familiar with and I haven't looked back since.
4 years later, the Pumpkins are still my favourite band. I've seen them live and I have about 200 tracks on my Zen (and looking for more.)

Now at 18 (19 soon) I want to investigate as much music and as many different genres as I can. At the moment I tend to investigate older,acclaimed artists rather than search for new bands, but I wanna get myself into new music aswell.

I apologise if this waffle is of no interest to anyone, but my keyboard has lovely buttons that I like to keep pushing for ages!

arid

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Some of its innate too I think. For example I've always gravitate towards more minor key songs. Also when I was a kid I hated syncopated bouncy rhythms, for this reason I have never liked Irish music.

Yeah I'd say that a significant part of it is based on your own temperament.

I don't know if it'd be the same for most people but it wasn't until my teenage years that I really got into music rather than just liking any old ****e on the radio.

Tastes probably develop from the environment and your exposure to certain artists, especially if you're in a certain social group (even just what your friends listen to). And from there some people like to play it fairly safe while others keep moving across lots of different genres.

Of course it is a very personal thing.

coillcam

Lol my Music story is kind of weird. I grew up listening to everything really. My dad played the guitar so he has played English, Irish and American Folk, Irish Ballads and a huge amount of Blues. He played everything really. I was saturated with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Doors, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles some of which he played himself. These then in turn became some of my favourite artists much later on.

I have to laugh as the first CD I ever bought was when I was 12/13 and it turned out to be The Offspring's "Pretty Fly For a White Guy". Not long after I went mad into a Trance/Techno/Dance phase due to my older and much cooler cousins were into it and told me to give up listening to all that shíte, so I bought the Euphoria II with the classic God is a DJ and Good Shot. About a year or so later one of my even cooler mates who was a Metaller got me out of the Dance scene and into the grow your hair long and listen to Metallica, Sepultura, Tool, System of A Down and Fear Factory scene. Which was pretty funny as at the time as every song/artist was either heavy or not :rolleyes:

So later in my teens about 17ish I shaved the high maintenance mop and started to listen to everything really, charty crap, Oasis, Blur, Coldplay etc.... So I was listening to pretty much anything and everything at this stage. So in the last 5 years well I've started to listen to a lot of the Music my Dad played and I love it. Other mates from school, college and online introduced to everything else. On my last.fm profile some of my top artists are The Pixies, Led Zeppelin, RATM, The Stone Roses, Kasabian, Sigur Ros, Belle and Sebastian, Editors. Last.fm now is opening my ears to a unbelievable amount of music I'd never ever have heard of. Seriously if you don't use it, get onto it fairly lively, it's the nuts.

Sometimes too a gig can just grab you and transport you to a different place and give you a greater appreciation for someone you may never have even liked at all. Point an example in Damien Dempsey whom I loathed til' I see him give an impromptu performance in O'Connors, Salthill. I respect him a lot now. As far as gigs went, the best I ever attended was Rodrigo y Gabriella in NUIG a few years ago, it just blew my mind.

So family, friends, gigs and last.fm would be what's brought me this far.

Epic Tissue

Cuddleworthy wrote: »

oh and in fairness I'd hardly call this a stupid post......

I was talking about mine

starflake

For some inate reason I love the sound of bass.. So ANYTHING with a good bass line will catch my attention. My Dad is quite an influence he gave me my first tape back in the day... Harvest by Neil Young and it still remains my favourite album to this day.

I also think that music is definately correlated with your mood also.. If I'm energetic and full of beans all I want to listen to is Metal.. If Im in a chilled out mood I love a bit of Zeppo or Deep Purple... Music is so important to me.. I'd die without it but I really dont know where the basis for my love of music came from

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Despite myself I do to a certain degree equate musical taste with intelligence/worth as a human being. One of my best friends is unaware that I adjust my opinion of her temporarily downwards every time she starts going mental to Rihanna or Britney
But, I think my parents did have a huge impact on what I like. My mam said she thought she was going into premature labour when she went to see (ahem) Leonard Cohen when she was seven months pregnant with me...I went bananas for it apparently and she nearly had to leave. Then growing up there was Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley, Nirvana, Nina Simone, The Pale, Bowie, always on in the house like. So I always loved those songs, and always had a slightly different taste to my friends. I still find it really frustrating when someone is narrow-minded about music (ie "if it's not on the radio I won't listen to it") but really I'm just as bad (ie "If it is on the radio I'm not very likely to listen to it").
I think class and education do have an impact though, just based on anecdotal evidence-the more intelligent a person is, the more likely it seems to be that they'll be more into their music.

rowlandbrowner

steve albini (i think) once said "music is not a spectator's sport" and I think that sentence is fundamental to how music taste is developed. I think that there are two main types of music fan, the sort who listens to the radio and will inevitably like x amount of what they hear, or those who devote a large part of their life obsessively digging through every genre, decade and record store always thinking that some holy grail is out there alluding them, slowing going mad to a soundtrack of great music.

Bren_M.Records

Dunno whether its because of my age or my circumstances at the time but for me when I was growing up music was something I used to identify meself in the crowd, if that makes any sense!

Ireland was a very different place back in the 80's and me and my mates all kinda fell in to being mods.
Not in the traditional sense of being in to 60's band and rare ska music from jamaican etc. but more as a kind of f**k you to society.
Twas all about the look, the scooters, hanging out in a gang and generally just being a nuisance to everyone we/I encountered.
On the music end of it we all were listening to The Jam, The Specials, The Blades etc.
Not sure for a lot of us it was because we were actually in to the music or it was just a case of "thats what mods listen to".

In the late 80's acid house changed everything for me in terms of how I felt about music.
Again a lot of my mates jump on the bandwagon with "house music", I dunno whether they were actually in to the music or just the drugs/party lifestyle.
Scarily enough for me it was about the music!
I heard tracks like 808 State's - Pacific State and Stakker Humanoid's - Humanoid and that was it, I was sold.

No moral in any of the above just a list of things that shaped how I viewed music when I was a young fella.

Latchy

I grew up as a kid in late 60s , to young for the hippe generation ,dylan , byrds , beatles ,stones etc but just in time for the glitter pop era ,bowie ,sweet ,t - rex ... then onto the new wave /synth/ me generation of 80s ,human leauge ,jam , ultravox , clash . 4 decades later i am still enjoying The wonderful soundtrack of our lifes from each decade since .

JæKæ

I started off on my Dad's stuff-Leonard Cohen, Kris kristofferson, Bob Dylan.
From there I moved on to the 90s Britpop like Oasis, Supergrass and Grunge like Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins in secondary school .
I moved on to heavier stuff like Metallica and Deftones in college.
Then I mellowed out after college, when non-one really liked the heavier stuff, moved on to Mogwai and Wilco. Now I listen to all the above, and I try to listen to all kinds like reggae, ambient, electronic, post rock, funk etc.

The people you hang around with has a big effect. If they don't like heavy stuff, you need to tone it down in their company.

Nolanger

Hot Press:P

GLaDOS

Mine was mainly influenced by friends, who were mainly into metal (mainly thrash) Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera - the usual stuff. I found this to be alright, but never really got into it. Fast forward to the day a friend recomended a band I'd never heard of before, Blind Guardian. This was my introduction to power metal and i haven't looked back

From there I got into other Power metal bands, a combination of recomendations and my own research got me into the likes of Iced Earth, Sonata Arctica, Edguy, Gamma Ray and many others. I also branched into other genres (partly) related to this, mainly prog and symphonic metal.

While I don't stick rigidly to these genres, they were/are my main influences

qwertplaywert

Around the age of 12/13 ,I was never really into music, but [prob to do with friends etc] got into commerical gangster rap, eg. 50 cent, eminem etc. From there I moved onto chart music, such as Coldplay. I contuined with the charts for a whille, was never really serious about music though, just a casual lover. Then I heard the Manic Street Preachers song 'A Design for Life' . From there I explored there back cathalogue , and discovered my 2nd favourite album of all time, 'The Holy Bible'. I got into other alternative british acts[Placebo etc] then breached out into other alternative acts[such as the Pumpkins]. I then went through a grunge phrase, then onto a nu-metal phrase,then metal, then back to alternative. Then I discovered Folk rock[the likes of Dylan and Robert Johnson] and fell in love.
I'd find it hard to classify my musical tastes at the moment. Bands I've been listening to a lot lately include Weezer, My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, Arcade Fire, early Kings of Leon, Kasabian, the Manics[prob my favourite band] ,Tool,Garbage to name just a few , and solo artists such as Springsteen, Dylan, Elliott Smith. The last few weeks however seem to have just been one big Nick Cave fest

JeanH

I would imagine that whatever music is big when you're between the ages of 3-10 will have a significant impact. I have no shame in saying I LOVE the likes of 2Unlimited, Doop, Whigfield, Corona etc - because it reminds me of being a child and long hot summers.

I progressed to all the 'Britpop' stuff then with Super Furry Animals, Cast and Pulp being my first ever gig when I was 9.

Then almost like when reading a text and you look to the bibliography... I looked to the citations from these bands - Pulp mentioned Bowie and Moz and so there you go I looked them up.

You probably will find some people citing reasons relating to geographical location, parents taste (yes, I still love my mother's Gallagher and Lyle tape. 'Breakaway' anyone?)etc (as mentioned in your initial post) but I think you need to take this factor that I've highlighted into consideration too.

nyarlothothep

hmmm, from 2-7 my musical world was The Beatles, Queen and classical music. I tended to like the harder stuff, for example Helter Skelter. 7-12: acid jazz. I listened obsessively to it. 12-20, mostly indie and classic rock: initially all I listened to was Radiohead and Beck, then I got into Jimi Hendrix, Thin Lizzy, Pulp, Blur, Jeff Buckley, ATDI, Supergrass, SFA and The Flaming Lips. Metal was something that was scary and fascinating at the same time but I didn't go near it as I thought it was too hardcore, I listen to Korn once and I disliked it, but as I got older, around 17-20, I started listening to more of it, Trial by Fire by Testament and One by Metallica really caught my imagination. I tried to get into punk based on recommendations from my friends but just didn't like it at all. Then around 20 I got into Trivium and heavier stuff such as, NIN, Metallica, Marilyn Manson and Opeth being the mainstays and I just listen to them mostly now for 3 years, especially NIN.