Do You know Anyone Who Doesn’t Like Music?

[Gitfiddle]

After listening to several new music generated by AI, I don't particularly enjoy them. They seem to be something amiss or perhaps more added to the composition.

"generated by AI" Personally I dislike diarrhea entering my ears too. The best solution to this; is to choose to not have have that happen in the first place.

 

[Vacceo]

That reminds me of the one person I can remember who did not react strongly or positively to listening to one of my audio systems.

Virtually every person I can remember who sat down for a demo of my systems over the years where sincerely blown away or impressed.

Except for my wife’s friend.

She was curious about the big audio equipment in my front living room and I explained a little to her (not going overboard as I knew she didn’t care much) and I asked if she wanted to hear anything on the system.
She said OK.

I asked what she wanted to hear and I managed to find within her selection a nice sounding track.

And when she finished listening she just Had a slightly puzzled look. I asked what she thought. And she said: …well… It sounded really good. But…(she added slightly puzzled and sheepishly)…. So what?”

She could recognize the sound was something on level she hadn’t heard before, but that fact meant absolutely nothing whatsoever to her. She didn’t even understand what to do with the experience and what I do with the experience.

That was kind of interesting.

Not surprising. I have experience that with Romanesque art for decades.

Loathe and disgust is reserved for people talking about soccer.

 

[bluefuzz]

Does anybody know somebody who doesn’t like music?

It depends on the situation and the type of music. I love many different genres of music and pass a considerable amount of my time listening to it. However, I can only really enjoy it if I am in control of the source. If a neighbour has the radio on in the garden a hundred metres down the road then my thoughts immediately turn to murder and monstrous tortures I would inflict on this person for invading my auditory space. I have no problem with, for example, the sound of hammering or a pneumatic drill from some nearby roadworks. But if the workmen have a radio on (which they inevitably do) I will run for cover, even if it's music I enjoy when played freely on my own system.

While I have nothing against 'Classical' music as such, I find much big symphonic orchestral music utterly baffling. Whether its Beethoven, Stockhausen, Schönberg or Schumann it just sounds like 'orchestra' to me: an amorphous grey aural sludge with little discernable musical content. However, I can easily enjoy the same pieces arranged for a small chamber quartet or solo instrument ...

 

[bluefuzz]

Loathe and disgust is reserved for people talking about soccer.

Yes, I have been to precisely two football (soccer) matches in my life and that was two too many. I usually tell sports bores that once you've seen one football match you've seen them all. That usually ends the conversation. And of course that goes for pretty much any spectator sport. No doubt my lack of sporting interest is equivalent to other's lack of musical interest.

Any kind of cultural appreciation, be it music, visual art, dance or sport (if you accept sport as 'culture' - I'm not convinced) then it requires some familiarity with the 'language' of the medium. I find being able to play a musical instrument – even at a rudimentary level – greatly enhances my musical enjoyment. Conversely, sport for me, is only associated with pain and boredom and is thus a language I've never been inclined to learn ...

 

[Vacceo]

Yes, I have been to precisely two football (soccer) matches in my life and that was two too many. I usually tell sports bores that once you've seen one football match you've seen them all. That usually ends the conversation. And of course that goes for pretty much any spectator sport. No doubt my lack of sporting interest is equivalent to other's lack of musical interest.

Any kind of cultural appreciation, be it music, visual art, dance or sport (if you accept sport as 'culture' - I'm not convinced) then it requires some familiarity with the 'language' of the medium. I find being able to play a musical instrument – even at a rudimentary level – greatly enhances my musical enjoyment. Conversely, sport for me, is only associated with pain and boredom and is thus a language I've never been inclined to learn ...

I exercise daily lifting heavy. To me that is not sport, it´s maintenance, just like reading. Soccer over here is a massive social force, corrupt to the marrow and disgusting in how much you can get away with because it´s soccer.

Music, like architecture or literature, to me, has the same level of introspection I have with deadlifting. It is something I can do without anyone else.

 

[MattHooper]

These days I play music in the background far less than I used to. The most enjoyable way I have to listen to music is listening on my dedicated audio system. And in normal times I might listen between an hour and two hours a night.

But if I’ve been playing music in the background for much of the day I grow tired of music, and instead instead of wanting to turn on my system, I want a break from music instead, so I don’t listen with my system.

I’ve decided I prefer to listen to music when I’m really going to listen. After all if I really like music I find it extremely distracting in the background… it’s either good enough to listen to or it’s not.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

I've known people who don't care much for music. I don't believe I've met anyone who had an active dislike for it, but I've known people who find it distracting or just don't get much out of it. Some music makes me anxious, e. g. new age and minimalist. I'm indifferent to most mainstream pop music. Late Romantic classical music annoys me because I find it overly dramatic and more about the composer's skills than anything else. Even so, I've sung and played music since before I could read. I couldn't imagine life without it.

 

[Soandso]

These days I play music in the background far less than I used to. … if I’ve been playing music in the background for much of the day I grow tired of music ….

My impression is that you are describing a factor of our age related change in time of day cortisol levels. Long music listening (background) engages some brain attention which, if needed to, we can adapt to with increments (bursts) of cortisol.

Yet as we age (both men and women) the timing of our base-line cortisol levels aren't the same as when young. In the below graph of 143 adult European's cortisol daily cycles (from left to right is morning to past midnight) the black circles chart an average under age 40, the black boxes chart 40 - 60 year olds, and the black down arrowhead represents those over age 60.

I propose that when we "grow tired" of background music it might be at different times according to our age. If our base-line cortisol has shifted lower then more cortisol bursts may become resorted to. This kind of cortisol output can then become potentially demanding of resources fatiguing some neural synapse and in some cases contributing to aversion ("getting on one's nerves").

The trend is for age base-line cortisol becoming higher in the late evening and after midnight hours than when young. This would be consistent with creating at night the more absorbing music listening experience (cortisol accentuates concentration) as we age.

There is obviously individual variability in the age related shifting of cortisol concentration patterns. And the graph is not data about teenage or youth cortisol patterns [might our youthful tolerance for loud music be in part a feature of age related base-line brain cortisol ameliorating synapse stress].

Edit to add citation: (2017) "Impact of age, sex and body mass index on cortisol secretion in 143 healthy adults"; free full text available on-line https://doi.org/10.1530/EC-17-0160

 

[Audiofire]

Very scientific, but there could be a simpler cause: Matt Hooper has to be careful with sound that could attract sharks. On a boat, he has to be very careful with how much sound is made, and he has possibly been traumatized by the boating accident involving a shark!

 

[mglobe]

I don't, but apparently Leonard Cohen did:

"Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?"

 

[Audiofire]

I never met that dude either. Even these cows are in a party mood after a man starts playing accordion music:

 

[mcochris]

Most music producers.

 

[Soandso]

"Musical Anhedonia, Timbre and the Rewards of Music Listening" free full text = https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027723003062 covers some of the brain involvement. Interestingly the authors end up contending musical anhedonia reflects our pleasure and displeasure with sound are not just using the same neural pathways as an either or filter of like vs. dislike. All screen shots (3) are not sequential paragraphs in the cited (2023) report released.

……

……

 

[Robin L]

I can think of two cases of musical or sonic anhedonia in my life. One involves a woman who used to love music, has a stereo of some quality and a lot of LPs. A few years ago, she suddenly became deaf in such a way that music becomes an intolerable noise. The other case is a teenager with misophonia, a condition where sounds like chewing or pen tapping can send him off. I don't know (haven't asked) if this extends to music, but it does indicate an intolerance for certain types of sound.

 

[Soandso]

... misophonia, a condition where sounds … can send him off. I don't know (haven't asked) if this extends to music, but it does indicate an intolerance for certain types of sound.

American legend has it that John Wesley Harding once shot a man for snoring. It was nothin' personal - just that misophonia got the better of 'im.

 

[Madlop26]

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.

Amusia is the difficulty to sing, is neurological disorder like aphasia is the difficulty to speak, can come in different shape and size, not much related of the enjoyment of music, most aphasics can still enjoy poetry, anhedonia is the better term, inability to enjoy

 

[wadude]

It depends on the situation and the type of music. I love many different genres of music and pass a considerable amount of my time listening to it. However, I can only really enjoy it if I am in control of the source. If a neighbour has the radio on in the garden a hundred metres down the road then my thoughts immediately turn to murder and monstrous tortures I would inflict on this person for invading my auditory space. I have no problem with, for example, the sound of hammering or a pneumatic drill from some nearby roadworks. But if the workmen have a radio on (which they inevitably do) I will run for cover, even if it's music I enjoy when played freely on my own system.

While I have nothing against 'Classical' music as such, I find much big symphonic orchestral music utterly baffling. Whether its Beethoven, Stockhausen, Schönberg or Schumann it just sounds like 'orchestra' to me: an amorphous grey aural sludge with little discernable musical content. However, I can easily enjoy the same pieces arranged for a small chamber quartet or solo instrument ...

You might try individual movements of a symphony or other orchestral work. Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro is pretty awesome.

 

[xanalog]

Good topic @MattHooper,

Musical anhedonia is the term for a neurodivergent condition

Both those fancy words have pleasure embedded in their meanings.
It is probably a stupid analogy but I think people who like music (no matter the genre) are usually happier people.
I never not liked music.

 

[GD Fan]

Oddly, neither of my parents were much interested in music. Somehow, and very fortunately, both my brother and I turned out to be rather obsessive about it.

In a rather snide moment I might suggest it was a generational thing. They grew up in the post-war era of truly dreadful music. By the time I came along Led Zeppelin, Police, Grateful Dead, Cat Stevens, etc. were already well established.

 

[bluefuzz]

They grew up in the post-war era of truly dreadful music. By the time I came along Led Zeppelin, Police, Grateful Dead, Cat Stevens, etc. were already well established.

So you grew up in an era of even worse music ...?

There's plenty of great music from the 40s and 50s and plenty of dross from the 70s and 80s. I think the proportion of garbage to gold remains more or less constant throughout the decades. Depends on where you look ...