The science of why we like — and dislike — certain music

The nature versus nurture debate has been going on in the sciences for well over100 years.  I doubt a final conclusion has been reached.

For most of the people I know, the music they most often like ties back to what they heard in their childhood and teenage years as they were developing.  I know my parents didn't care for the Beatles and their many cohorts who became famous in my early teens, but they loved Big Band music which was the hot thing when they were young. 

As a side story, I ordered by phone from a local hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant earlier this week. The owner's wife who answered the phone asked me to wait for a minute. She didn't put me on hold so I heard what was going on. She began to sing to herself -- a Chinese song that apparently she really liked. The words obviously didn't mean anything to me, but the melody also did nothing for me -- I couldn't envision anyone who thought that was a catchy tune. But, then I didn't grow up in China.

Cast my vote for a heavy dose of nurture.

I believe the implications of this extend beyond simply what type of music we prefer to actually having something to do with what sounds we prefer. Why do some, but clearly not all,  people prefer tubes to ss for example. It's obvious that while our hearing physiology is basically the same, the interpretation done by our brains isn't. It is becoming clear that our preferences are based on experience, learning, and the attending biases that we have, most being subconscious.

Equipment preferences are due to subjective biases! Same as music!

that's what researchers are indicating.

The only music I do not care for has more to do with vulgar content. Other wise I like or love all music.  

So how does Prof. Large explain the popularity of Brian Eno's music, and similar styles?

Certainly the songs we heard growing up with like the parents’ big band sound, and our boomer generation of folk, rock, country, and jazz, influence our music choices. I have always preferred  songs that move to the beat of the heart. Sometimes a bit more upbeat to get the heart pumping a little faster.

Strength of one's association to their culture and/or society, and/or any group likely has much to do with these preferences. The stronger the association the more resistant to outlier music.

Think about all the ways one's affiliation to audiophiles as a group may affect their behavior, likes, dislikes.

This is why 12-tone, bebop and modern jazz are failed experiments which have only tiny audiences.

@pryso 

"For years, scientists thought these distinct interval preferences were hardwired into our biology; in other words, that our brains are wired to prefer one sound over another — nature over nurture, if you will. But a new study seems to squash that theory. The results, published recently in the journal Nature, suggest it is not biology that dictates our musical tastes, but rather hundreds of years' of learned behavior.

"This raises the possibility that it might be possible to develop the opposite preference given enough exposure to dissonant music," says Josh McDermott, an author of the study and assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

Some tribes have been discovered that actually prefer dissonant, rather than consonant music.