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Comment by analog31 | Hacker News Reader

>>>> There are some folks in my life that believe that if you don't like something, you are not allowed to express your dislike....

I try hard not to be that person.

I like a lot of "weird" art, architecture, music, etc. I'm a jazz musician, and my preferences within jazz are somewhat on the experimental / artistic side of jazz.

It's amusing but sad to watch people in conversations, including friends and family members, struggle to say something when they find out that I like jazz. Or they're trying to work out a nice way to say that they'd rather not attend one of my performances.

Honestly it's OK to tell me that you hate jazz, since I already know it. Most people hate jazz. It's OK to tell me that my lengthy, obnoxious bass solo was a bit much. It's true. My feelings are not hurt. The world needs weird art, someone needs to make it, meaning that some kinds of art won't please everybody, or sometimes even anybody.

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During my Computer Music class in college, the professor asked what we thought of an especially unorthodox piece.

I responded that it was "just noise", barely music. He challenged me to get precise about what I meant; all music is "just noise" and I should strive to articulate what I meant by it.

A lot of the stuff we listened to was bizarre - e.g., someone slowly lowering a metal chain onto a cymbal and running that through an effects chain.

But it was clear that that's really some people's jam, and while I'm allowed to hate it, it's good to have a clear picture of why I do.

Have you thought about which of these is closer to the truth:

1. What you like in art/music happens to be weird, so by definition only liked by a small minority

2. What you like in art/music has to be weird because you want to feel like you're pushing the boundaries, which is a very "art-y" thing IMO

We need people pushing the boundaries of the weird. I don’t even think it’s bad to like weirdness for weirdness’ sake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_classical_music_concer...

It is also funny to read about how historic audiences responded to weirdness – and almost all of this music modern audiences would listen to and go "yep, that's classical music."

"Weirdness" is what pushes art forward, sort of by definition. And people will dislike it, also by definition.

You know I find people that like weird music actually just LOVE music generally. So they like pop music as well (if its good) but then they also like weird shit because they like damn near everything interesting

Have you thought about which of these is closer to the truth:

1. People like different things for different reasons.

2. You think people who appreciate things you don't like are forcing themselves to like it to be twee and artsy, because you can't actually imagine someone who has radically different tastes from yours.

Your comment has a lot of the same energy as this xkcd guy: https://xkcd.com/1534/

People actually do like beer.

https://www.threadless.com/shop/@threadless/design/i-listen-...

(2) certainly does describe some people.

There IS some pleasure in learning about things before your friends do. They, on the other hand, have probably learned about YOU that you often get into things that really are terrible.

I find it entertaining how many people there are who apparently have this need to psychoanalyze things like musical tastes.

Apparently if you like whatever's on the radio this week, this requires no special analysis, you pass as normal. But if you don't, that must be a reflection of attention-seeking.

What makes it funny is that people who think like this never seem to notice the neuroticism and empathy-weaponization inherent in the need to bucket other people's taste like that.

Probably 2 or 3. ;-) The weird becomes normal by repetition, and I don't like repetition. Also, the boundaries mainly involve the boundaries of my own abilities and the sensibilities of musicians who are gracious enough to tolerate hiring me.

I'm not good or prominent enough to have a hope of affecting boundaries in a widespread fashion.

I should add, after reading the other comments here, that it's definitely 3. The notion of being "art-y" sticks in my craw, and would seem out of place if you actually observed the process of preparing for a performance, and the performance itself. You wouldn't guess that it was a jazz performance by looking at or talking to any of the participants.

The things that propel this activity are really pretty primitive: A love for the music itself, a feeling that it "deserves" to be performed, even if to a limited audience, pride in the craftsmanship involved, and the social hang.

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