Well, olive oil does vary quite a bit in taste from brand to brand and quality to quality. I generally keep two kind around: the Costco Kirkland brand extra virgin for cooking, and Frantoia for drizzling. I have found any non-virgin oils that I like but, I admit, I haven’t searched extensively. There’s a lot of olive oil that just tastes bad to me, extra virgin included.
Now, the majority of my recipes don’t use it. Like you said, it has a distinct taste, and I generally only use it for recipes where olive oil is traditional and tastes appropriate to me, like Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern food, etc. The majority of the time I cook, I use a neutral oil like canola or sunflower, butter, or an animal fat like lard or chicken fat.
I do agree that it seems to be overused these days, and a lot of times I swap out the olive oil when it seems wrong to me.
When did it become fashionable for food to have oil added to it after being cooked, anyway? The last thing I want is for my food to have an oily texture. It’s just a few steps away from greasy, IMO.
The only stuff I tend to finish with an olive oil drizzle is certain Italian dishes and a number of cold appetizer type things that don’t already have a lot of grease on them. Oh, and maybe some grilled veggies or meats. I do like a little fat on my foods, whether that is melted butter, a buttery sauce, or just straight flavorful oil. For some Chinese dishes, for example, I like drizzling hot chili oil. But not really in/on stuff that is already quite rich fat-wise.