Do You know Anyone Who Doesn’t Like Music?

[MattHooper]

Inspired by a confession thread on Reddit where the person admitted that they simply do not like music. To them music is at best boring but in almost all cases an irritant.
Doesn’t matter whether its a live concert, music in the background, even music in his gaming, it’s all a yuck factor.

That got me thinking that I am not aware of knowing anybody who doesn’t like music.
Feels pretty hard to fathom.

Reminds me tangentially of different peoples attitudes toward enjoying food. A work companion once accompanied me to a nice restaurant. I’m a “ foodie” and so I was just swooning over the food and he’s looking at me puzzled. He said he just didn’t understand people into food in the way I am. To him “hunger is just a hole I have to fill, and food is something that just fill the hole. It’s functional, I fill the whole and just move on.”

I suppose there’s a similar divide regarding music.

Does anybody know somebody who doesn’t like music?

 

[kemmler3D]

A friend of mine doesn't really like music and only listens to a little bit of certain genres.

I've mentioned it before but I'll also plug the Oliver Saks book Musicophilia. It has a bunch of stories about the intersection of neurology and music, including one where he personally suffered a bout of amusia, i.e. the inability to perceive music as music.

Apparently he went to the symphony and it just sounded like a bunch of noise.

I assume that's how it is for some people who don't like music. The difference between music and noise is (if I may be so bold) is patterns or structures in the sound, particularly with specific ratios of frequency and timing. I guess If your brain doesn't react to those ratios or patterns then music fails to exist for you.

And if that's the case I don't see why you would like music more than any other sounds.

 

[Lao Lu]

A friend of mine doesn't really like music and only listens to a little bit of certain genres.

I've mentioned it before but I'll also plug the Oliver Saks book Musicophilia. It has a bunch of stories about the intersection of neurology and music, including one where he personally suffered a bout of amusia, i.e. the inability to perceive music as music.

Apparently he went to the symphony and it just sounded like a bunch of noise.

I assume that's how it is for some people who don't like music. The difference between music and noise is (if I may be so bold) is patterns or structures in the sound, particularly with specific ratios of frequency and timing. I guess If your brain doesn't react to those ratios or patterns then music fails to exist for you.

I had a very intelligent student (class president, graduated from Duke even through English was her second language) who said her mind 'could not make sense out of music'......strangely, I believe a few writers were this way as well...Kafka, I think was one...

 

[Hiten]

Here is something for those who dont like music.
Silent music

 

[Chrispy]

I know several people that don't listen to music much any more, altho I wouldn't say they don't like it. At least not as much as someone who hangs out at ASR likely does . My brother and sister particularly come to mind, just not something they do much of for quite a while now, and both have mentioned declining hearing as a partial reason. I remember last time I was with my brother he actually wanted me to just turn it off. Even when they did listen to music more they didn't collect it or want the gear to enjoy it with like mine, let alone have a collection like me or go to concerts as much etc.

 

[DanTheMan]

I know several people who don’t really care for music but none that would ever say they “don’t like music.” I bet the vast majority of the people I know do not intentionally listen to music.

 

[Audiofire]

Musical anhedonia is the term for a neurodivergent condition, which has been proven with fMRI scans that show less neurological activity at the nucleus accumbens than normal.

 

[sigbergaudio]

I have a friend who claims to not really understand or enjoy music at all. It's just background noise to him. In his words, he might as well listen to random noise from a construction site or the radio, it would be all the same to him.

I have no idea how literally I should take that, and it's so far from how I understand the world so it's hard to process. But interesting nonetheless.

 

[olieb]

Apparently he went to the symphony and it just sounded like a bunch of noise.

That is exactly how it is for me with most metal music. "Music" in itself is a complex notion.

I guess If your brain doesn't react to those ratios or patterns then music fails to exist for you.

There is this other option. The brain does react, but not in favour.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Does anybody know somebody who doesn’t like music?

I wonder if there is "active dislike" versus indifference. In terms of indifference, I know people who would never go out of their way to listen to music, but don't object if they hear something that doesn't offend them (i.e. something classed as "easy listening") in the background. They wouldn't want to pay to go to a concert and wouldn't set aside time to intentionally listen to something. They don't stream music and own no tapes, LPs or CDs. I've never met anyone who actively dislikes music.

 

[Vacceo]

Hi Matt! Yes, I do know people who not only dislike music or not care about it, they loathe it.

Due to some religious interpretations, music can be even forbidden or heavily disliked. Not just a particular genre or form, but music as a whole.

For the not caring part, I know quite a bunch of people.

 

[sergeauckland]

My mother hated music, it was just noise to her. My father only listened to military bands, and rarely at that. I wonder if there was any connection between these...

Whether my love of music was youthful rebellion, I don't know, but the love of music has stayed with me.

S.

 

[Yameyo]

I've never met anyone who doesn't care for music at all, but it does amaze me that almost everyone I meet have no interest whatsoever in how their music sounds - even those who are incredibly passionate about particular artists, live performances, etc. I just can't fathom how the two don't go hand in hand!

 

[Mart68]

My father had zero interest in music. He did have a few military band tapes in his car but I never saw him actually play them.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I have a friend who claims to not really understand or enjoy music at all. It's just background noise to him. In his words, he might as well listen to random noise from a construction site or the radio, it would be all the same to him.

I have no idea how literally I should take that, and it's so far from how I understand the world so it's hard to process. But interesting nonetheless.

Amusia is, in fact, a thing.

Amusia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The congenital variety alone seems to affect at least 1 in 100 people, so it's not even super duper rare. It is not clear whether all of those affected actively dislike music though.

 

[Mayan]

Of the people past and present during my lifetime I'd have to nominate one brother-n-law whom I've witnessed less than a handful choose music as a pastime. Having said this, categorizing and classifying him as someone who dislikes music would be untrue after asking repeated questions pertaining to either a specific band or song of an era we both are familiar with. My questions were correctly answered which leads me to believe their still is or once was an interest.

 

[kemmler3D]

Amusia is, in fact, a thing.

Amusia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The congenital variety alone seems to affect at least 1 in 100 people, so it's not even super duper rare. It is not clear whether all of those affected actively dislike music though.

Yep, and it's interesting to think of amusia as a "condition" when as far as I know only humans and birds have any concept of music. Cats and dogs don't dance, not because they can't, it's at least partially because they don't hear music as music. They hear the same audio that we do (and more) but they don't perceive anything special about it.

It makes you think about how much our brain constructs what we hear. Even though it feels like our ears are passing a pure signal straight to our consciousness, that could not be further from the truth, and the fact that music exists is the proof.

 

[Robin L]

Jerry Colonna:

 

[ta240]

That is exactly how it is for me with most metal music. "Music" in itself is a complex notion.

I was thinking the same thing. There are types of music that sound like noise to me; the really 'busy' type, like metal, and the really simple and repetitive. The busy stuff can be okay if I'm in the right mood/situation but the overly simple my brain just finds annoying. It is almost a form of torture "Trying to think about something? Well, enjoy processing these three notes over and over and over and over."

It reminds me of a discussion I had with a friend that was into country music. I commented that the lyrics were often annoying and his response was to not listen to the lyrics. My brain can't ignore them and just take in the music.

 

[ta240]

It makes you think about how much our brain constructs what we hear. Even though it feels like our ears are passing a pure signal straight to our consciousness, that could not be further from the truth, and the fact that music exists is the proof.

And thus the "I heard detail I've never heard before with this new DAC"