Why we like some music and not others

• structure of the study
• These factors are for our music taste responsible
• Those are them unbeliebtesten Genres
• Why we can’t hear some genres – that’s the reason
• Reactions: ability friendships break due to different tastes?

Grandfather listens to folk music, mum to oldies and the child to German rap. There is a gigantic variety of music genres and subgenres, which hardly anyone can grasp in its entirety. Tastes differ not only from generation to generation. It also depends on where in the world you live, what family and friends listen to, whether you are musically socialized and what your political beliefs are. As much as we love some music, we also despise certain songs, performers or genres. At the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, research was carried out into the reasons behind this. Even friendships are said to be broken by different music preferences.

This is how the researchers worked

One Study, in which, however, only 21 people took part, should bring insights. The group of people was mixed up. To the 18 to 64 year old music listeners There were about the same number of men and women with different educational qualifications. For the most part they were musically active themselves. Divided into five age groups, the participants were in-depth interviews guided.

Here the interview partners should Make a list of the music they don’t like. Each item listed should be justified. The interviews were qualitatively evaluated by the researchers using a content analysis – i.e. the answers were assigned to different categories.

The categories consisted of the type of dislikethe end Points of reference for the justification of the respondents and found for the dislike. In addition, the scientists were interested in how people react when they hear music they don’t like. That too Genre of the unpopular music was identified.

These genres were unpopular with respondents

The result of the study: There are a number of reasons why you simply can’t stand certain music. In any case, the aversion to music fulfills social functions. Music listeners named the style of music as the most common type of dislike (44.4%). 29.1% disliked certain artists, 13.1% the genre was generally decisive. But also certain songs, instruments or TV programs on TV were decisive for not liking certain music.

Schlager is a no-go – at least among the respondents of the study. But techno and house didn’t fare particularly well when it came to musical styles either. When it came to musicians, it was mostly rockers who weren’t particularly popular. And also the Some respondents did not like opera as a musical genre. But what is the reason why we can’t stand certain music?

The study divided the reasons into object-related reasonsif it’s the music or the lyrics themselves, in subject-related reasonsif the music does not appeal to you emotionally or does not fit your identity and in social reasons. A social reason can be that you live in a social environment in which a certain taste in music is typical and you feel that you belong to this group with the same taste.

That’s why we don’t like to listen to certain music

According to the study, with your taste in music, you want one good atmosphere in the group maintain. What music you listen to and what you don’t also shows friends, for example, what makes you tick. The music taste is almost part of one’s identity. Teenagers who hear “Cro” attract each other and at the same time differentiate themselves from their parents, who might go to the opera at the weekend. Rejecting certain music strengthens group cohesion.

The best concerts and shows – get tickets here