What defines musical taste?

[Steve Ignorant]

I'm curious to what you guys think on how musical preference is formed. Is it a product of the people around you, like some auditory fashion? Is it something that has to strike a chord with you, personally? Or is it just hit and miss, find what you like, drop what you don't?

I got into punk and the surrounding genres when I was twelve, when I discovered a band called the Crucifucks. From then on, it was nothing but Oi!, Streetpunk, experimental synth-punk, pre-hardcore, hardcore, UK hardcore, crust, '77 punk, and hundreds of surrounding genres. This led into ska, psychobilly, early rockabilly, and glam-rock. My style of dress has centered around the punk lifestyle, and essentially my whole personality has been partially shaped by the ideals and information that bands like Crass and the Feederz have given me access to. As you can tell, I'm pretty into music. I feel that punk struck me on an intellectual (and somewhat physical) level, and hasn't left me since. I've grown up in a small town in Texas, so there's only one guy I hang out with who has remotely similar interest in the bands that I do, so I'm not so sure it's simply a social pick-up. I'm opting for the 'strike a chord' argument. How did you guys get into the music that you enjoy?

[Tweek]

A lot of the music I like, I like because my older brother used to listened to it.

I also like punk and ska, but I'm not exactly sure why I do.

I'm guessing it's a mixture of what the people you know like, and what is just unexplainably likable.

[Ziggy St. Valentine]

I think it just strikes a chord with a person. I listen to mostly rock & metal because I like it, I can't exactly explain why, I just do, simple. You just like what you like & in the long run I guess that helps determine who you are as well. Nobody around here is as into Glam metal & Sleaze rock as much as I am...I just like it because I do. So yeah, I think it just varies from person to person & strikes a chord.

[Steve Ignorant]

A lot of the things I end up listening to are purely for the shock value of it. I mentioned the Feederz up there, check this stuff out.

http://www.feederz.com/MP3/Jesus.mp3 The Feederz -Jesus Entering from the Rear

[SmileAndNod]

Without a doubt it's social. Your music tastes reflect your personality, your personality coming from social background. Of course, this could be argued as "strike a chord" too.

For example, i'm a ranged person, i do lots and lots of different things. Likewise, i listen to lots of different kinds of music. I listen to punk/ska/emo/hard metal/blues rock/classic rock/acoustic/jazz/classical

and enjoy playing them all too

The type of music doesn't matter to me, what matters is the feeling of the music. The lyrics, the meaning behind it. Of course, on the social level, there is the example of Rap.

It's cool to like rap, so people listen to it.

[Steve Ignorant]

I'm actually cool with some rap that has a message. Anything by Immortal Technique is more than decent in my book.

[KeyboardSpastic]

I got introduced to the music I like through my older sister. I didn't know any better so I would just listen to whatever she listened to. I didnt think that was such a bad thing, but she used to haha. Now we share CDs so its all good.

[Mr. Crow]

This could have been a good thread, but it turned into a shit-fest of, "Well I like _____"