# How many songs until you're allowed to not like something? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-until-youre-allowed-to-not-like-something/693716 "2014-07-22T03:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 17
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-until-youre-allowed-to-not-like-something/693716/17 "2014-07-22T13:41:54Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Not to hijack [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=729049): > > How many songs in a given genre do you have to listen to, before you can say “I don’t like \_\_\_\_\_”? > > Whether it’s bluegrass, metal, opera, musicals, country . . . as soon as someone opines that they don’t like it, someone else will come along saying not everything in the genre is the same, and anyone who doesn’t like the entire genre is ignorant. > > I agree with that thread’s OP that I don’t like the blues. How much blues songs do I have to listen to before my dislike is valid? Do I have to be familiar with every blues performer before my claim is taken seriously? > > Same goes for action movies, “modern” art, Frank Gehry architecture, Irish dancing, Anime, etc. For me, it’s not a set number of songs; it’s how you say you don’t like it. Here’s the OP from the other thread: > [@I don't like blues music. There, I said it.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-like-blues-music-there-i-said-it/693674/1): > > I’m enjoying watching the second season of _The Wire_, years after seeing the first on HBO, now that the whole series is streaming on Amazon Prime. But I can’t stand that fucking theme song, which is a way more annoying version BTW than in the first season. They always jump into it from the teaser with no warning, too, before I can hit the mute button. > > I just don’t understand the appeal of blues, and I hate that whenever I mention this in casual conversation, people look at me like I just said I club baby seals as a weekend hobby. Maybe SlackerInc is friends with judgmental people who look down on him when he shares his perfectly valid opinion. Or maybe his friends are discussing some blues music they like and he starts talking a lot about how terrible it all is and is derailing the conversation. There are people out there who are judgmental about music and other arts, and there are also people who take every opportunity to rant about their favorite musical hates. Hip-hop comes up in conversations more often with people I know. If I was talking to someone and they said hip-hop music wasn’t their thing, then I would say OK to that and move on to another topic of conversation. If they said that they’d tried to get into hip-hop but hadn’t found anything they’d liked, I’d try to find out more about what they listened to and see if I could make any more recommendations about different stuff they might like more. If they said that hip-hop is terrible and all sounds the same and they don’t know how anyone with working ears can listen to it, I will look at them like they are crazy and ignorant, because those are crazy and ignorant things they are saying. That’s not to say that there aren’t judgmental people out there, who won’t accept your opinion unless you’ve listened to a long list of artists and gone to shows and done this and that and all these things to learn about the blues (or whatever else). But don’t worry about those people; they won’t be happy with you unless you do all that and parrot the right opinion. > [@BaldDudePeekskill](#): > > As a music director for my Episcopal parish, i can professionally vouch for the crappiness of 99% of contemporary, evangelical, “Jesus is my boyfriend” drivel. The old classic hymns remain classics due to traits common to any quality music of any genre…memorable, rhythmical melody, pleasant chord progressions, meter, sensible words, and some sort of pattern be it verse, chorus, verse…etc. > > Most anything outside of this framework generally won’t work, at least for me I think there are a lot of weird restrictions on Contemporary Christian Music. It has to sound a certain way and cover some subjects but can never cover some other subjects, or it will make the music company nervous and the potential audiences upset. The CCM audience is one that can get very upset about seemingly arbitrary rules. Also, I think there are some artists who get into CCM because of their love of music and their passion for Christianity. But there’s more than a few who are doing it because they couldn’t find success in the more mainstream music business so are trying it in the smaller CCM market. Some of that cash-grabbiness can come through in the music. Also there are musicians who are Christian who write some songs specifically about Christianity or their faith or something along those lines, but also have songs about other topics. Those artists will be on mainstream or indie labels not in the Christian Contemporary Music genre, and won’t be usually categorized as Christian music. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-until-youre-allowed-to-not-like-something/693716)._