The Missing Link

I partially agree with this article above. I feel that when I go to look at a band on itunes I usually will download the top few songs that it lists as the most popular, but I definitely don’t think that just because these songs are more popular in general that they are the best songs. For example one of my favorite songs by a band is ranked 55 out of 56 by the itunes ranking system. I also have found that when I listen to songs by a band the rankings that I would give the songs are much different than that given by music providers like itunes. Music is much like art where beauty is in the eye of the beholder except in music beauty is in the ear of the beholder. So to hear good music or get what you want it’s important to just use your ears and listen and to not just take for granted what popular culture tells you to listen to.

This is interesting but I must partly disagree. I believe that one's taste in music has more to do with the image that he wants to portray to others (which would explain why people do not always choose what others like). While most people want to "jump on the bandwagon" and be accepted by who they perceive as "normal," there are also many people who choose music just to be different. I think a perfect example of this is heavy metal rock, which I imagine could only be pleasing to half-deaf people (ironically it probably makes people deaf). Obviously people don't want to become deaf; they are using this music to make a statement.

This generalization is also true for me; I listen to trance (I actually prefer "Happy Hardcore" but most people don't know what that is). The reason for this is that I am using the fast (usually 160 bpm or higher) and electronic music to compliment my personality (and no I don't do drugs; most people think you have to be high to enjoy trance). For me Happy Hardcore is like an existential/nihilistic, technological, futuristic response to other music.

While it may be interesting to study why songs become major "hits" I believe that the answer could also be found in studying the people who do not like the mainstream music. Basically I would argue that people tend to listen to specific music more as a rejection of the alternatives and the stereotypes of the people who listen to those alternatives.

It's true. I often find myself wondering why I like a song. Perhaps its because some other friend likes it, or we like to listen to it when er are all together.

But I have seen people blatantly listen to a song because "popular" people enjoy it. Perhaps this is because teens look up to the "popular" kids and this is a way to be like them.

Oh yes, and on another note (hehe), if you really wanted to only listen to music that is the most "pleasing" then there would not be very much variety, as the most pleasing would obvious be octaves, fifths, and fourths, and possibly thirds. "The most pleasing" music would probably lack many chords, and rarely have more than 4 different notes played at once. It is very hard to make chords (with more than 3 different pitches) that still sounds pleasing. Even Bach's music had tritones in it (probably the worst musical interval) Tritones can be found quite often in classical music if you just pick out two notes of certain chords. I guess the most complicated thing about music is that even dissonance can sound "pleasing" to some degree depending on its context (i use "pleasing" here to just mean acceptable to our ears).

Instead of asking people what music they like we should be investigating how we actually percieve sound. What does the brain actually do when we hear things?

There are exceptions to every rule, but it is very true that people generally select their music based on what they believe the people they like to associate themselves with will like.
Even people who claim to be unique and different end up acting in a uniform manner. The initial pioneers of the “punk� and “metal� movements may not have been populists but the followers of these movements definitely have been.
But this shouldn’t be a surprise because everything in life works in a very similar way. When a book does well, the publishers advertise how many copies it sold to sell more. McDonald’s counts how many burgers it sells and tells everyone. The populist mentality is just a part of human nature.