When I first meet a guy there are usually a few questions I like to ask right off the bat. The most important one is "What is your favorite band?" To be fair, I ask everyone this question. But when you're a guy I might fancy I am going to be way more critical of this. To me this is a very important question, standing besides "Do you like animals?" and "Do you believe in God?" and other moral essentials. I'm an animal loving Atheist, and it is easier for me to date Mormon who is allergic to cats than it is for me to date someone who listens to Pitbull, Coldplay, or Katy Perry. Don't even get me started on Nickleback. According to internet dating polls, I am not the only one with this issue, a person's music choice determines their dating potential.
Let's face it, some of our interests can be telling of our values. The type of music communicates a lot about you. From a guy's music taste I can tell whether he is liberal, open minded, or socially aware. When I meet a guy who likes shitty music, I assume his personality is shitty. If his tastes are phony and lame, I assume he is too. Guys who like rock music are hotter than guys who listen to country, I'm sorry. This study "Effects of Associating with Musical Genres on Heterosexual Attraction" supports my theory.
"Disclosure of musical preference was found to influence heterosexual attraction as well as the perception and evaluation of pertinent traits. Men were more strongly attracted to women with whom they shared musical tastes than to women with whom they did not. "
I try to not be a judgmental jerk when it comes to music preference. Everybody can't like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Ramones and the rest. I like it that way anyway. But when they are not into something I am heavily into, it's going to be hard for me to get into them. Whenever I ask the question "What is your favorite band?" I have always gotten an interesting response.
"I don't really like music." Then I don't like you. C'mon, who doesn't like music?
"I don't have one, I like a lot of different music." Fair enough, but I like specifics.
"________ is my favorite band." He knows what he likes, cool.
"The Beatles." You're in.
When I hear crappy music it makes me cringe. I have a strict policy that I will not dance to music I do not like. On the flip side, I can't help dancing to music I love. To me the bulk on contemporary music is phony and over produced. I do not understand why someone would like it. I have tried to date guys with different music taste in the past, and it never lasted long. If I can't stand his music and he doesn't get mine, how is it ever going to work?
"It's no good pretending that any relationship has a future if your record collections disagree violently or if your favorite films wouldn't even speak to each other if they met at a party."- Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
I found a fascinating article in Men's Health blog called "Does music taste matter in the relationship?"
"If you met a girl with completely opposite tastes—she likes Nickelback, while you’re a fan of … good music—how long could you date her before breaking it off? “It’s not so much the music that may be a problem in the relationship, but the fact that music is symptomatic of much deeper values, attitudes, and dispositions, which would then be a problem.”This article "Can Bad Taste in Music Ruin a Relationship?: Scientific Study Finds Music Predicts Sexual Attraction" put it very well
"Music functions as a 'badge' people use to not only judge others but at the same time, to express their own self-concepts. The kid who wants to appear rebellious picks music that seems like it's made by people who rebel. The kid who wants to belong picks music that appears to be made by people who are accepted. Etc. Ultimately, we all want to belong, and choose a peer group where we feel at home. Music helps us to figure out which peer group we best belong to."And this is just too good not to share "Survey Reveals Nickelback as Biggest Musical Turnoff, Justin Bieber Close Second"
"If you’re a fan of the music of Nickelback or Justin Bieber it may be best not to mention it on a first date – at least according to a survey carried out by Tastebuds.fm, the UK-based dating site which uses music taste to match singles. With thousands of music fans signed up, the website is in a unique position to find out which artists are most likely to dampen desires. The site - also responsible for the study that revealed fans of Coldplay are least likely to go all the way on a first date - asked their members to name up to 12 bands whose music they couldn't stand. Over 1,600 users responded, with Nickelback and Justin Bieber leading the nominations by a sizeable margin."
And there you have it folks, there is such thing as crappy music and taste does matter!
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