“My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music.
I am not a fan of the movie. At all. But I love that song, at least the melody and its structure (the “schnitzel with noodles” stuff I could do without). I even spent about a month teaching myself a rather challenging jazzy vsn. for guitar. If it’s good enough for John Coltrane, it’s good enough for me.
I’m a metal head for the most part. Metallica, Ozzy, Sabbath, Sanctuary, Fates Warning, Dream Theater, etc.
Most people freak when they find out I am a huge Lyle Lovette and KD Lang fan. Any Lyle or KD. They kick ass. It’s even more odd because, for the most part, I hate country.
Slee
I like classic rock, punk, blues, and non-political American folk music, plus the occasional old timey gospel tune. My unusual tastes? I generally take a dim view of heavy handed anti war tunes but I like “One Tin Soldier.”
Thanks to my leftie college roommate I like Chilean folk music. I still don’t know what instruments they use but the sound fascinates me.
I can’t stand show tunes unless they are related to Simpson’s episodes. I’ll run away screaming from the soundtrack to “Annie Get Your Gun” but I love the Simpson’s song about the monorail.
I tend to find Classical music boring, but Mozart is okay. I even named one of my cockatiels after him.
I usually like whiny white boys with guitars and angry whiny white boys with guitars. I also like country (redundant), but for some reason I like this song called, “Bye Bye Baby” by TQ.
It’s so deliciously ghetto, and I’m not in the least bit.
I love old school alternative and punk. Bad Religion, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, (not recent) REM, Nirvana (okay, kind of more grunge than alt, but still), Dropkick Murphies, Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello, (earlier) Idlewild, etc. Plus some wierder stuff like Mercury Rev and Vast. My favorite of all these bands are probably REM and Bad Religion. I usually dress a bit on the punk/goth side, and often have spikes, handcuffs and/or Obnoxious Clunky Silver Jewelry on my person when I’m not at work. Many of my favorite songs use words that, for better or worse, I cannot use at work. Ever.
So, when I say that I really kind-of love Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” I’m sure you appreciate the inherent amusement factor. I mean, if I tell people that I like Hungarian folk music, they kind of understand. If I say that I like some rap music, they understand. But the Celine Dion thing seems to just throw them. Hell, it took me forever to admit it.
My Swedish SIL loves all Swedish ABBA and hates all English ABBA, except Fernando.
I can’t tell you how many people “hate all Andrew Lloyd Webber” stuff until I say “including Jesus Christ Superstar.” Except that one.
I’m mostly into musicals and classical, but Neil Diamond’s “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show” is one of the best songs ever written.
I listen almost exclusively to EBM, industrial, and techno of various kinds.
In spite of this I have a deep fondness for Last Farewell, by Roger Whittaker. My mom used to play it when I was a kid.
I like all kinds of music. It’s all good. My guilty pleasure though, has to be Biz Mark E - “the Vapors” and “Pickin boogers”. 
Like DaddyTimesTwo, my taste in music is eclectic. I like classical, show tunes, country, rock, alternative, oldies, metal, etc. I’ve always prided myself on not being too much of a snob to acknowledge and appreciate a solid pop tune, but it just kills me that I like Kelly Clarkson.
I didn’t like “A Moment Like This” – “Miss Independent” was the first song of hers that caught my ear, and I went so far as to download it from iTunes and put it in my playlist of songs that I love to sing along with. It remains the only song of hers that I own, but since then I’ve liked just about everything except “Because of You”: it’s still good pop, but I don’t like the idea of blaming your adult problems on your childhood. I mean, I get it, and I even sympathize to a degree, but that message bugs me just enough to keep me from enjoying the song.
In terms of what I listen to that surprises most people, it’s definitely the heavier stuff: Iron Maiden is one of my top 5 favorite bands, and folks are always surprised to “catch” me listening to them, Linkin Park, Funeral for a Friend, Metallica, etc.
I usually listen to punk, alternative, classic rock, metal…can’t stand country music.
However…my Dad is a bluegrass banjo picker, and I absolutely LOVE his version of Earl’s Breakdown. I have a Flatt and Scruggs greatest hits CD, as well as a tape with various songs by Bill Monroe, Country Gentlemen and Jimmy Martin.
Having said that, I also love Jesus Walks, by Kanye West. It’s the only rap song on my iPod.
I’m mainly a hard rock/prog/metal listener, but I like just about anything. Jazz (particularly of the big band variety), country, old-school rap. I’m not a fan of teeny dance-pop, though, which makes it somewhat surprising that I like Britney Spear’s “Toxic”. Don’t ask me why like it. It’s just got … something.
The minor-key instrumentation makes it sound like a catchy, sexy spy movie theme, like something from a James Bond movie. That’s why I hate Britney’s music but also really dug “Toxic,” and there’s no surprise why it’s her only Grammy-winning single.
I mostly listen to musical theatre, but… oh. What she said.
I’m a guy but I can’t not sing along with Chrissie Hynde when she sings about taking it bent over the hood of a car. I guess (hope?) that’s out of character!!
I’m a pretty quiet person. Most people think I’m reserved, well mannered and don’t use foul language, much less listen to any rock or rap - though I like quite a wide variety of music.
I totally dig White Zombie - Thunderkiss ‘65. I think even Mr Johnson would be surprised to know that. And Tela w/ Eightball & MJG - Sho’ Nuff.
Those two stick out as very much out of my perceived character.
I like Britney Spear’s - Toxic too.
My tastes are pretty eclectic within the pop/rock genres. I like stuff like Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie, and the song that’s running through my head these days is “Cell Phones Ringing in the Pockets of the Dead”. And on the other side of things, I’ve got no qualms about saying I like early Neil Diamond (pre-1972, say) and Glen Campbell. But I do have limits; I’m not keen on stuff that’s sappy or overproduced.
Hence, that I like the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” and Herman’s Hermits’ “There’s a Kind of Hush” is kinda surprising. And I like both songs a lot.
And like Mr. Blue Sky, I (atypically) like “I Love You Always Forever.” I think it’s the feeling of quiet intensity that the vocals have.
Annie-Xmas: “Brother Love” isn’t even one of Neil Diamond’s best songs! It might make his top five or six, but that’s about it. The best Neil Diamond song is of course “Solitary Man.”
I’m a classic rock guy myslef but I’m also a big Britney Spears fan. I think she’s great.
mm
I’m a right-brained saxophone-playing New York 78 nerd who rarely gives a wet fart for any music postdating 1945. But I grew up in a Midwestern town full of left-brained techweenies who instilled in me a deep love for the work of Tom Lehrer. In particular, his song The Elements, now available as a rather nifty Flash movie.
Yeah, I’ll third this one. Something about this song is really captivating and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Also, I love Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and “Love at First Sight”, though this may have something to do with the crush I have on her in the latter video.
See, my problem is finding a genre that I hate enough to make it surprising that I’d like something from it. I listen to everything.
My record collection starts with a 1904 recording of a comedy routine- something about Miss Peach, I think. I love the Teens through Forties, later Fifties (nascent Rock and Roll), and early Sixties, a chunk of the Psycadelic Sixties, bits of Disco, Classic Rock (oh, how I love Classic Rock! ) and portions of everything since. Throw in old Country, especially Trucker Songs, a little Broadway, and, uh, Flight of the Valkyries. I’m even attatched to Song Of Norway, which I know from a very old 33 of the movie soundtrack from the Grieg bio-pic. Oh, and Alice Cooper.
So, how can anyone be surprised by me?!
Well…can I fourth “Toxic”?