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Acquired taste
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| Bierheld |
Might be kicking in open doors, but i think there is something to discuss here.
Let me explain.
Acquired taste is a well known phenomenon. Everyone knows how it applies to food and beverages; no one liked their first taste of beer or coffee and everyone frowned at their first olive or puff of a cig.
But it applies to music and art as well and is far more debated in that aspect.
My first question is: Looking at yourselves, do your consider some of the genres you currently like to be a form of acquired taste? Did you feel like you had to force yourself to like it and why?
I do remember the first time i listened to a melodic techno album, i thought it was incredibly dull en long-winded. Same goes for ambient. I forced myself to listen to it a couple of times before i was prepared to make a judgment though, and off course it started to grow on me. Now i wonder though, why did i want to like it so much? Was it because i knew many critics and peers that i looked up to would have liked the stuff, or was there something in the music itself that somehow still managed to spark an interest? It might have been a combination of those. Hard to tell now.
There's another issue as well, i am prepared to accept that some of my more recent tastes are definitely acquired. But then which ones weren't? Is there a form of music i liked from the first listen? A taste that came naturally?
Most of my teenage years i was metal-head and I'm pretty damn sure it was because i thought it was cool to listen to noisy stuff. I had no reason to like house music though, none of my friends or peers liked it. It wasn't a cool thing to do. Maybe some of my early encounters with gabber were influenced. But definitely not house and trance. So maybe these were natural. I could never say that with confidence though.
Now the question is, does it matter?
Wikipedia lists a more or less worrying passage on the subject:
“Intentionally changing one's preferences can be hard to accomplish. It usually requires a deliberate effort, such as acting as if one likes something in order to have the responses and feelings that will produce the desired taste. The risk in this acting is that it can lead to all sorts of excesses such as_self-deception_and_pretentiousness.[2]_The challenge becomes one of distinguishing authentic or legitimate acquired tastes resulting from deeply considered preference changes from inauthentic ones motivated by, for example, status or_conformism.[3] “
Hmm, positive or negative? Going back to the beverages, I do now consider a glass of whiskey or a cigarette to be one the finer things in life. But I am also well aware that objectively, they have not improved my life quality by a single bit and I'd probably have been better off without them.
Do you get the same feeling with music? Would i have been just as happy if is stuck to my original likings and not bothered much with musical exploration? Quite possibly. Sometimes it feels more like a hobby then anything else. Listening to a classic house tune that captivated me when i was younger gives me the same if not more satisfaction now as it does listening to my new more 'complicated and refined' music pieces. But there somehow also is satisfaction in enjoying something that was much harder to like in the first place, it feels like I've grown somehow.
Another interesting question: Can you go too far with it? Is it possible to get yourself to the point of identity crisis?
I myself have had moments were I was so determined to find new kinds of experimental music to explore I lost focus on what I was actually looking for: Musical satisfaction. It seriously took the joy out of listening to music for a while before I realized what I was doing. I wonder if I'm alone in this? |
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| mehta |
for sure dude
edit/elaboration:
I've acquired tastes through exposure & intention. house was tricky for myself because although I loved dance/pop music as a child it seemed boring when I started to appreciate the subtler forms of it
in other areas, stuff that was very "musically satisfying" earlier now seems more like wanky cheese (virtuosic bass guitar solos are a good example)
sounds that were originally painful became intriguing - for example, 10k+ sine waves oscillating wildly at 120db which originally made me physically sick were for some time my favourite "music"
don't worry about it too much. now I am happy to enjoy whatever and also let my tastes vary from moment to moment |
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| Esiotrat |
| For me personally I fell in love with EDM instantly and effortlessly. I didn't have to try, it just..flowed, naturally. As if that's how it was meant to be... I haven't looked back since. |
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| KilldaDJ |
| i listen to music that makes me feel good. |
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| Bierheld |
| quote: | Originally posted by mehta
I've acquired tastes through exposure & intention. house was tricky for myself because although I loved dance/pop music as a child it seemed boring when I started to appreciate the subtler forms of it
in other areas, stuff that was very "musically satisfying" earlier now seems more like wanky cheese (virtuosic bass guitar solos are a good example)
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I get the same feeling, but it doesn't always feel genuine to me.
A nice example is a fairground ride like this one:
When i first tried it as a kid i thought it was thrilling and satisfying.
Now, just a few weeks ago, i tried it again for the laugh. And it felt daft and uncomfortable. How could something that was naturally fun to start with have lost so much of it's charm, do i now feel too good for it? Measly child entertainment? Too conformist? Too cheap? Kind of makes me sad te be so bitter.
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sounds that were originally painful became intriguing - for example, 10k+ sine waves oscillating wildly at 120db which originally made me physically sick were for some time my favourite "music"
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Same here, but it makes for a bit of a paradox since it should be like this:
| quote: | Originally posted by KilldaDJ
i listen to music that makes me feel good. |
I listen to experimental noise, drone, tekno or forms of terror/speedcore not because it sounds or feels good. But because it does interesting things with your head. It will eventually sound good but only through prolonged exposure.
I think what comes naturally might be different depending on the person. I myself feel naturally drawn to rhythmic music. Anything purely melodic initially felt like an effort to me.
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don't worry about it too much. now I am happy to enjoy whatever and also let my tastes vary from moment to moment |
Me too, but it is interesting because the so called 'musical exploration' after getting tired of the 'gateway genres' is often thought of as being natural. And sure enough it happens to most people evolved in scenes or forums and the like. But when i look at my friends they don't bother with that stuff and they still like the same simple trance and house tunes they started with years ago. Peer pressure is often a hard to understand thing that happens subconsciously. So it might just have more to do with it then we might think. |
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| LoveHate |
| quote: | Originally posted by Enigmatik
For me personally I fell in love with EDM instantly and effortlessly. I didn't have to try, it just..flowed, naturally. As if that's how it was meant to be... I haven't looked back since. |
this^
and it shouldnt be done any other way. |
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| corjay9 |
| quote: | Originally posted by LoveHate
this^
and it shouldnt be done any other way. |
That's bull. My tastes into house music and EDM have grown and evolved (rather quickly, I must add) from heavy metal/alternative music, and then I was exposed to heavy fidget house and electro, really metal sounding kinda stuff, then I got bored of that, and my tastes evolved again.. If you were to tell me 4 years ago that today I'd be going to afterhours clubs and DJing myself, I'd have laughed at you.
Then again, I'm a huge music fan in general. I've gone through waves of listening to hip hop, metal, trip hop, experimental, house music, IDM, jazz, and most recently post rock..
I latch on to a genre of music and listen the out of it until I'm bored and thru common ground I find a new genre to open up to. |
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| ziptnf |
| You shouldn't ever have to force yourself to like any kind of music. If you do, you're missing the point of listening to music entirely. |
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| Bierheld |
| quote: | Originally posted by ziptnf
You shouldn't ever have to force yourself to like any kind of music. If you do, you're missing the point of listening to music entirely. |
Yet, if you don't, don't you get the feeling you're missing out? A general notion is that inaccessible music is more rewarding. Just like it is more rewarding to force yourself to listen to a long build-up in a DJ set so that when the big hitters finally come it feels more satisfying. It all has to be within reason of course. |
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| corjay9 |
| quote: | Originally posted by ziptnf
You shouldn't ever have to force yourself to like any kind of music. If you do, you're missing the point of listening to music entirely. |
One thing I've noticed however, is that the music that never gets tiring to me, is the music I didn't like much at first.. but it just gets better and better with every listen. |
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| epicaricacy |
| even a piece of feces can be delicious if you put enough tobasco sauce on it. |
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by epicaricacy
even a piece of feces can be delicious if you put enough tobasco sauce on it. |
in the end it would taste like tobasco with a hint of
delicious |
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