Abstract
Background and objectivesWith a few exceptions, musical taste has been researched via likes or preferences of certain types of music. The present study focuses on disliked music and takes a broad approach to cover explanatory strategies related to personal dislikes.MethodsIn-depth interviews were conducted with 21 participants in five age groups. Interviewees were asked to prepare a list of their disliked music, and for each item they were asked about the reasons for the dislike. To ensure that the complexity and range of the participants’ dislikes and rationales were captured in the analysis, a structuring content analysis as a mostly theory-driven approach was combined with inductive category creation out of the interview data.ResultsThe most often mentioned type of dislike was musical style, followed by artist and genre. Five main reference points were identified for describing musical dislikes: the music itself, lyrics, performance, artist, and the people who listen to it. The identified rationales for disliked music were assigned to three larger categories: object-related reasons, such as music-compositional aspects, aesthetic dichotomies or lyrics; subject-related reasons, such as emotional or bodily effects, or discrepancies with the self-image; social reasons, which refer to one’s social environment and the taste judgments common to it (in-group) or to other groups of which the participants do not feel part of (out-group). Apart from the rationales for disliked music, the participants described specific reactions when they are confronted with their disliked music, such as emotional, physical, and social reactions.ConclusionsWhile musical dislikes have already been shown to fulfill important social functions, the current study extends the rationales to music-related and self-related reasons. Musical dislikes fulfill similar functions to liked music, such as preservation of a good mood, identity expression and construction, strengthening of group cohesion as well as social distinction.
Highlights
With a few exceptions, musical taste has been researched via likes or preferences of certain types of music, painting an incomplete picture that cannot represent the evaluative diversity and complexity with which people approach, think and talk about their attitudes toward music
The present study focuses on disliked music and takes a broad approach to cover explanatory strategies related to personal dislikes
The identified rationales for disliked music were assigned to three larger categories: object-related reasons, such as music-compositional aspects, aesthetic dichotomies or lyrics; subject-related reasons, such as emotional or bodily effects, or discrepancies with the self-image; social reasons, which refer to one’s social environment and the taste judgments common to it or to other groups of which the participants do not feel part of
Summary
Musical taste has been researched via likes or preferences of certain types of music, painting an incomplete picture that cannot represent the evaluative diversity and complexity with which people approach, think and talk about their attitudes toward music. The goal of the present study is to investigate how people explain their negative musical judgments and thereby, extend musical taste and preference research by including negative attitudes into the concept of musical taste. The theory of omnivorousness today claims that higher social strata distinguish themselves from lower social strata by demonstrating broad cultural taste, i.e., by liking more (and disliking less) types of music [6,7,8,9]. Musical taste has been researched via likes or preferences of certain types of music. The present study focuses on disliked music and takes a broad approach to cover explanatory strategies related to personal dislikes
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