Why Do We Like or Not Like Music?

I think everybody is different. I hate the sounds made by the saxophone, the "ill wind that nobody blows any good", but my partner loves it.

I suppose there might be a small class of sounds that resonate well with everyone, but like contrex says, people vary enormously.

Electric organ, piano accordion and lapsteel guitar make me feel ill.

There actually isn't any type of music that I can listen to for any extended period of time, let's say 10 minutes for random songs on the radio, or half and hour if it's an artist I happen to really like, like Sting, that doesn't start making me tense up.

There's many times 5, 10 or 15 seconds of something is enough to totally jangle me.

I've discussed this on other threads, so no sense rehashing.

You might know the song Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones.

In a german TV-advertisment for multimedia products you can hear it. The spot shows you how close the world is to you because of the internet and you can get access to it everywhere.
So I always associated the song with freedom, fun and so on because of the little film i had seen on tv.

But indeed after paying the lyrics more attention I realized that it has a real bad topic.
However, people here like this song, because they saw that advertisment. Most of the people think the song is about summer, fun........

That's quite interesting.

Right, I think it has to do with associations you've already made with the piece or type of music. And, I suppose, your personality too.

I've always wondered about spooky music - particularly in film. What make's something menacing and make you sense something bad's about to happen? Why is sad music obviously sad - is it mise en scene?

It can't be a genetic race memory - must be learned/cultural.

I like real country music and alt-country , but the stuff they call
country that they play on the radio literally makes me angry.
I feel like throwing stuff at the radio.
And talking about music used in commercials, the one that gets me
is the cruise line that uses Iggy Pop's Lust For Life. Did they not realize
that the song is about using heroin?

This reminds me of something I heard about the "Devil's Interval".

It is used in the opening to the song "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath.

This chord was banned from use by the Catholic church in the middle ages.

Scared the bejeezus out of me when I was a kid...Loved It! I am a Metal fan.

I do think that what we like or don't is very individual and personal.

I like a huge variety of different styles. Metal is my favorite of course, but I like classic, outlaw country. I'm with thiefoflight in that the plastic assembly-line country-pop swill you hear on modern country stations is irritating. My kids are into that and I let them like what they will, but it makes me sick.

I have never been into "popular" music. But there are always certain songs, call them "guilty pleasures", that I cannot help but like, even if they are of a genre I'm not into.

I can usually link many important events and memories in my life to certain songs or even albums.

I cannot define what will make me like or dislike any music. Sometimes it's lyrics, sometimes it's just the music.

I also believe that there are certain pieces of music that evoke universal reaction in people. The "devils interval" mentioned in my last post is an example. Another would be "Tubular Bells", which was used as theme music for the movie "The Exorcist". I remember, back in the day, when that piece was used in a commercial for Saran Wrap, or something.

Will have to rifle through vinyl for that one....

Tastes are not only individual; they change. There are a fair number of records I bought for one piece, only to decide years later that the flip side was really the good one.

If you don't understand "flip side", "Howdy youngster".

Yup... usually referred to as the "tritone."

The "devil's interval." Ha. The tritone. Dominant 7 chords. One of the fundamental sounds of blues and all it's descendants. So it's found its place in the devil's music, I guess.

Every interval is different, and some of them are very affecting or very jarring, so if a certain type of music is focused around a particular interval, you're likely to have a gut reaction to it.

Like Miles Davis's music has tones of 9ths in it, and all the piano players who played with him emphasized 9ths (except maybe Herbie Hancock when he tried to get funky).

Coltrane and his band worked on on the 4ths a lot, to a fault, even. -- (For reference, the sung "a-men" ending to a lot of hymns is a 4th ...suspense... resolving into a major 3rd.) -- A bunch of 4ths stacked on top of each other is very propulsive, and it's got a certain restrained tension to it.

So a tune used as a jingle might be really heavy on a particular combination of intervals, depending on what gut reaction they want to go after.

Of course, gut reactions that some people enjoy might be really unpleasant to somebody who likes something else.

And there are some things (like the bagpipe) that are only played out of a jovial contempt for the (frequently captive) audience.

LOL...but I will say that "Amazing Grace" brings a tear to my eye when played on the pipes.