Why Do We Hate Certain Kinds of Music?
Why do we dislike certain types of music? Pretty much anyone who listens to music can point to some sort of music they dislike, and I would bet you can think of some music you dislike too. Personally, I’m not a big fan of country music (and no hard feelings if you are a fan — we all have different reasons for liking or disliking music). Many studies focus on what kinds of music people enjoy, but there is much less focus on the music we dislike. One study by Ackerman and Merril investigates how and why people dislike music.¹ They investigate this with a qualitative study where they interviewed 21 German participants distributed across age and vocation in-depth about the music they disliked.
Which types of music are disliked?
The various overarching groups of music (heretofore referred to as “types”) disliked by participants included styles, artists, genres, pieces, instruments, formats, and features. In this study, “style” refers to the broad categories most of us would think of as genres. Here, “genre” refers to music “characterized by its form, instrumentation, and function,” or specific ways that music is structured. For example, Classical would be a style, with Opera being a genre within that style.¹
Averaged frequencies in percent for each type of disliked music.
As seen in this boxplot, people most frequently mentioned disliking musical style, with dislikes for artists and genres being the next most common. My example of disliking country music would be under style. Unsurprisingly, the broader the category, the more frequently it seemed to come up as a dislike.
What aspects of music do people dislike?
When asked about what aspects of the music their dislikes were based on or referring to (the reference points for dislikes), participants identified the music itself, lyrics, performances, artists, and the people who listened to it. Most participants pointed to the music itself, either alone or in combination with another aspect, as the reason for their dislikes. Dislike of music based on lyrics or the artist was also common, but each only in combination with other aspects. Overall, most of the rationale for why participants had a dislike stemmed from a combination of factors. For the example of country music, I would point to the music itself and the lyrics as reasons I dislike it.
How do people explain their musical dislikes?
The reasons people disliked music consisted of three broad categories:: object-related reasons (the structure and explicit content of the music), subject-related reasons (the subjective aspects of the music), and social reasons.
Object-related reasons
Object-related reasons included music-compositional aspects, performance, aesthetic dichotomies, and lyrics.
Music-compositional aspects include factors such as the basic features of the music, like volume, melody, and rhythm. Some reasons that participants pointed to that fall under this category include feeling like music is too noisy, too fast or slow, or tuneless. For the country music example, it can feel predictable to me, which would fall under this category.
Performance includes aspects of how instruments or voices sound, for example disliking the roughness or the squeakiness of a singer.
Aesthetic dichotomies involve how uniform or varied the music within a category is, how much the music changed or stayed uniform, how complex or simple the music was, and how innovative or reproduced music is.
Lyrics involve the content and structure of lyrics, with participants perceiving disliked music with lyrics as too cliche, simple, or unrealistic.
Subject-related reasons
Emotional effects include what emotions that the music evokes, such as anger, cheer, sadness, ambivalence, or even boredom.
Body/physical effects involve physical reactions evoked by the music, such as exhaustion, a racing heart, general discomfort, and uneasiness.
Self-related and normative reasons include self-related reasons for disliking music- because of an associated past experience or from developing annoyance at the music due to overexposure- and normative reasons- the music doesn’t fit with their opinions or values. One example would be not feeling like I could relate to the lyrical content of country music.
Authenticity and commerce includes how authentic or inauthentic people feel the music is. Participants mentioned preferences for music they felt expressed something personal about the artist and dislike for music that felt emotionally inauthentic to the artists. For example, if an artist with no relationship experience released a song about a devastating breakup, it would feel inauthentic.
Social reasons
Social reasons for disliked music include referring to the ingroup, an individual’s social environment, or the outgroup, groups that exist out of someone’s social environment. When a dislike is common within an ingroup, people are more likely to dislike it. For example, I recall disliking Justin Bieber and his song “Baby” in middle school because everyone else in my social circle also disliked it. Participants also disliked music associated with an outgroup, particularly of those they disliked. Drawing from middle school again, I recall disliking One Direction because of my distaste for their rabid fanbase.
Overall, the researchers found that musical dislikes played a role in how people expressed their identity. It also served as a way to avoid unpleasant feelings or memories and demonstrate people’s “good taste” in music. I hope that this helped you think about how and why you and other people dislike certain types of music as it helped me think about the reasons I dislike country!
¹Ackermann TI, Merrill J (2022) Rationales and functions of disliked music: An in-depth interview study. PLOS ONE 17(2): e0263384. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263384
