Evolution of a Person's Tastes

[Pure-Metal-UTA]

So after a couple months of observing, I have noticed that people's tastes in music gradually evolve. It's very gradual and it can take from a month to a couple years.
For this observations I observed 3 subjects. All of them my friends.

Subject One is interested in Rock, mainly Classical Rock. Like 3 Doors Down. Awhile ago I got him interested in a little bit of Megadeth, but for the most part, he still listens to the same rock bands.

Subject Two listens to Rap Metal and a little bit of Rap. The Rap Metal bands he prefers are Slipknot and Disturbed.

Subject Three is interested in Deathcore. Previously he used to enjoy Death Metal.

These observations brought me to a conclusion.
Given certain circumstances, in Today's Day and Age, there are three types of ways you can go with music tastes, and therefore change the type of person you are.
Everyone will start out listening to everything, experimenting in a sort. Eventually, they will move onto Rock, they will start to listen to bands like Subject 1. Then eventually, they will move onto Heavy Metal, like Megadeth and old Metallica. Then the paths can start to split. You can either start listening to Rap Metal, or you can start to listen to Death Metal.
If you listen to Rap Metal, you will eventually gain the mentality of a person who listens to rap, and eventually listen to Rap.
If you listen to Death Metal, you will eventually start to listen to Deathcore music.

You may be wondering what the third type of taste is for today's type. This starts out in the experimental stage of your musical tastes. During this experimental stage, you will listen to Rock, Rap, Metal, Punk, etc. The main lure for the third path is Alternitive Rock. This path will lead to either Punk or Emo music.

Does that sound about right?

[HaniiPuppy]

And what about Pop, Classical, Techno, and subgenres of metal other than those mentioned here like Symphonic Metal or Pirate Metal?

[Quarl]

Well of course peoples tastes change, but I doubt you can really pin point it to be that specific. I used to listen to nothing but ska, then moved on to modern American hardcore, and now I listen to nothing but drum and bass. Sure there were stages involved, but I really don't think the evolutionary process of a persons taste has to adhere to any specific pattern. I think it really all comes down to exposure and how open to new things an individual is.

[Pure-Metal-UTA]

At 4/4/09 06:53 PM, HaniiPuppy wrote: And what about Pop, Classical, Techno, and subgenres of metal other than those mentioned here like Symphonic Metal or Pirate Metal?

I was hoping someone would answer this.
I was thinking about that.
I would need to observe people the were going to progress to those tastes to get a better understanding.
If I had to have an answer right now, though, it would be that:
After the person moves on past Megadeth and Metallica, the Progressive Metal (Symphonic) is a third path the person can take. If this happens, they will eventually enjoy classical music.
To move to Techno, you would move from Nu Metal.
And Pirate Metal (I'll assume Folk Metal) Is the other path you can take towards all types of Folk Music.
That's just a guess though.

[KrisSumara]

Well I have a very wide range of taste, I can listen to the craziest hardstyle and change it to some really gangsta hip-hop and then to the loudest hardcore screamo out there all in a matter of seconds, I personally think that one's mind will develop a stronger taste to a specific taste, like you start with trance, then techno and then hardstyle/jumpestyle, or like listening to rock, then metal, then hardcore, and then screamo/death metal. I'm not sure how to explain it but I just think that our taste will be stronger and becomes more hooked to a taste.

[HaniiPuppy]

Problem is that there's not really a fixed path.

I started out with Gothic and Gothrock, and suddenly decided one day to listen to greenday (pop-punk). I then slowly drifted into heavier and better punk along with symphonic metal, hair metal, and classical metal. Even now, I have a fairly strong dislike for most genres of metal, with the exception of what I've mentioned. I also still like Gothrock, which has expanded into Classical Rock and Post-Punk as well.

Everyone's tastes change, but it's impossible to really pin it down when it's so down to free thought.

[KrisSumara]

Thats true, but I always listen to the darker more harder style of music, I dislike soft rock but love screamo, I dislike cheesy techno but love hardstyle, I dislike old skool rap, but love pure gangsta underground stuff.

It all depends on the person, I am a caffeine addict, I am a very fast paced man. I can't do stuff slow, for example, when I ride on my motor bike, I always full-throtle it and go as fast as I can. Best thing to do is the ride in your car, blast some hardcore techno and race others at night, its illegal but sure is fun, I been to many of my friends races and I sit passenger when they race haha :D

But if you a calm person you might listen to calmer music, it makes sense

[Pure-Metal-UTA]

At 4/4/09 07:04 PM, HaniiPuppy wrote: Everyone's tastes change, but it's impossible to really pin it down when it's so down to free thought.

I see what you mean. And I want to contradict it, but I'm not completely sure how I would besides running some sort of experiment.

[KrisSumara]

At 4/4/09 07:18 PM, Pure-Metal-UTA wrote:

At 4/4/09 07:04 PM, HaniiPuppy wrote: Everyone's tastes change, but it's impossible to really pin it down when it's so down to free thought.

I see what you mean. And I want to contradict it, but I'm not completely sure how I would besides running some sort of experiment.

Well if you are going to do a experiment, then you might want to add a lot of important aspects like the person current emotions, mood, comfort and stuff. I did a test to see how people react to diffrent music

Results, faster music, faster heartbeat and the person is usually ready to party their pants off

Slow music, makes them sleepy

Music is like you mind, it all depends on your state of mind, like right now its 1:25am in Poland I am really tired but im listening to hardstyle to keep me awake, plus coffee :D

[Pure-Metal-UTA]

Since I will be conducting an experiment, I need to do it properly.

Problem: Do people's tastes in music have a fixed path of change?

Hypothesis: Yes it does. Rock leads to Metal, which leads to 4 different pathways leading to a last type of musical taste.

Materials: 10 test subjects, Classical Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Rap Metal, Death Metal, Folk Metal, Nu Metal, Classical, Rap, Deathcore, Folk, Techno.

Steps:
1) Take each subject and have them listen to Classical Rock, then Heavy Metal.
2) Over a specific amount of time, have each subject listen to each kind of Metal until they find one they like.
3) Depending which one they like, give them the corresponding Genre (e.g, Progressive Metal would lead to Classical Music.)
4) If they like the corresponding Genre, then the hypothesis is correct. If they don't like the corresponding Genre, then the hypothesis is incorrect.

Sound like a good enough experiment?
If I can't find a person that's getting into Classical Rock, then I might ask people about their history of musical tastes.

[KrisSumara]

Looks like a good experiment to me

Try it on your friend or somthing

[DanielMunro]

hahaha you must not get out much, you do know that there are other genres that people like besides types of rock/metal music? There are other instruments besides the electric guitar? I like how the representation of music in the experiment is like 80% metal of different varieties, and then you have gigantic genres such as classical as just one, as well as leaving out other major genres. You and your friends may love a certain type of music, but keep in mind many people actually like other genres and don't follow one of your three paths of electric guitar music.

If this topic was about a certain genre then I wouldnt be complaining, but you are talking about music in general and psychology, so I would suggest a more accurate representation of music.

[Nav]

I am a perfect example of this. There is no fixed path. It's different for each person. Here's mine:

Alt rock -> Rap -> Pop -> Alt Rock/Metal -> Metal -> Hands Up (thanks to Newgrounds) -> Trance -> Drum N Bass (within that: Pendulum -> Heavy DnB -> Liquid Funk/Atmospheric Jungle) -> Hardcore (Happy -> UK)

Yeah. That was over the course of about 10 years.

[gregaaron89]

Uhhhh... for me I totally branched out

I used to listen mainly to rock, alternative rock, and punk. Now I listen to trance, progressive house, trip hop, downtempo, ambient, classical, jazz, blues, shoegaze, rock, rap, metal, pretty much anything. I moved away from the constraints of genres to find just plain good music. Right now I'm just trying to find more music and discover more artists and genres.

[Pure-Metal-UTA]

At 4/4/09 08:27 PM, DanielMunro wrote: If this topic was about a certain genre then I wouldnt be complaining, but you are talking about music in general and psychology, so I would suggest a more accurate representation of music.

It's not that, it's just that the majority of the people at my school listen to those genres, and that's why I'm running the experiment with those genres.
If I went to a school where the amount of students equals the population of the town I live in, Yeah, I would definately do more Genres.

[blackattackbitch]

Bah! Your theory doesn't apply to me!

I started out listening exclusively to rap music. I intermittently lent an ear to RnB. And I listened to VG music sometimes, but Rap was my main thing. I even tried my hand at rap, but the main thing that kept me going in that field was the thought of someday making my own beats. Which is where my composer side came in.

After I started composing VG electronic music, I started listening to more VG music and less rap. Then when I tried to "evolve" myself from a below-average composer to an above average composer, my tastes branched out even further to some classical, some filmscore, and some rock. Then when I started submitting to NG, my tastes branched out even further than that to both Trance/dance, Rock, Classical, Classical rock, some metal, and finally Jazz. And I'm apt to listen to even more stuff given the right moment.

I figured that most people branched out as they dove deeper and deeper into music, as far as their tastes go.

[Kanped]

1. 3 people does not a survey make

2. The examples of genres you gave aren't that genre (Slipknot don't rap. They do suck, though)

3. People's musical tastes cannot be broken into simple patterns and are, as such, not predictable in any way. There is no 'path', or system of any kind and the idea is ridiculous. Abandon it.

[Kanped]

Sorry for double-post (can we get an edit button, please?)

But anyway... I started out listening to Iron Maiden, Man 'O War etc. then got into kinda glam-rock I guess (Bowie and Queen). Then I started listening to White Zombie when I was 9, happy hardcore at about 11 or 12, loads of different punk at about 13 (Pistols, Clash, AFI, Sick of it All, Misfits, even Green Day and Offspring) at 15, cKy, reel big fish, then Pink Floyd, Rush; a little while after that I started listening to Therapy?, Iced Earth and Malevolent Creation. I got into Primus when I was about 18, then Ween and they're still pretty much my favourite bands.

Since then, after studying music-related subjects I've got into Stravinsky, John Cage, Mum, the Flashbulb, Murcof, Radiohead, Tori Amos, Messien, Ochre... the list goes on. I still can't stand Handel, though.

The point being; the only way a path predicting what people's musical tastes will be could only arise as the result of incredibly dull, unimaginative people who are unwilling to expand their own horizons or challenge themselves in any way. I activly seek out, as much music-lovers do, things that are interesting, different and challenging; things like I've never heard before and nobody could predict what that will be.

[Pure-Metal-UTA]

At 4/4/09 11:21 PM, Kanped wrote: 1. 3 people does not a survey make

And that's why I'll be doing another one with more people

2. The examples of genres you gave aren't that genre (Slipknot don't rap. They do suck, though)

I didn't classify Slipknot as rap, I classified them as Rap Metal, which is what they are. Agreed they do suck.

3. People's musical tastes cannot be broken into simple patterns and are, as such, not predictable in any way. There is no 'path', or system of any kind and the idea is ridiculous. Abandon it.

I'm a kind of guy that likes to believe there's a system for everything, and that's why I must conduct the experiment. So I will not abandon it until my hypothesis is incorrect.

Like I said, I believe it can take awhile to get into a fixed genre/band, even years. And that's why there's stages.

[Tweanut]

As others say, there is no fixed path that someone will take.

Personally, I started out listening to heavy rock/metal of the 70's such as Black Sabbath and AC/DC. This was a result of the CDs that my dad had laying around. Eventually after a bit more exploring through my dad's collection, I found myself to be a huge fan of Grunge (which is still partially true to this day). I got into bands like Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Alice in Chains. Grunge also led me to Radiohead. After listening to Pablo Honey and The Bends, I decided to explore more Radiohead and found myself listening to their more experimental stuff. This led to an explosion of exploration as experimented with all sorts of different kinds of music. As a result of this exploration (which I would say is finished yet) I now find myself listening to a variety of music ranging from Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Sigur Rós, to Múm, Amiina, Iron and Wine, Ray LaMontagne, and Sufjan Stevens. All of which are pretty distinct in style.

Anyways, my point is, that there are so many more variables to what you first listen to/like. For me, what was available likely played a huge part in what I listen to now. Other variables that I didn't even touch on also affect this such has how I relate to music/lyrics and acquired tastes.

[Saethiaal]

Well i started out listening to rock like Green Day, Foo Fighters and what have you. Eventually i discovered Metallica (still alright) and Cradle of Filth (Don't like them so much anymore).. Well my metal tastes have grown since then, mostly down the death metal and black metal paths. Being a rather big death metal fan, i absolutely despise deathcore as a genre, find it to have little to no redeeming qualities. I'll admit there are a few bands that are okay, but really the whole genre is just horrible as a whole. There is no set way to define the evolution of a person's tastes. Because someone who listens to rock could go down many paths, they could go with classic rock/heavy metal (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd etc) or onto rap-metal as you say (Slipknot, Disturbed, Korn, other crap band, etc), or hundreds of other different genres. (lets hope its not core/emo/rap metal).

Besides that, i can tell you for a fact, most people nowadays will listen to deathcore before they hear death metal and then start to enjoy death metal more, hopefully abandoning deathcore. Or they can stay faggots forever and wear tight jeans and listen to deathcore and do the pathetic "hardcore dance" which looks like they are fighting invisible ninjas.

[TwilightNecrosis]

At 4/5/09 12:00 AM, Tweanut wrote: There is no fixed path that someone will take.

This is SO TRUE.
Just because a person starts out enjoying one genre, does not necessarily mean that their enjoyment of a different, specific genre will always follow.
Sweeping generalizations = bad.
In some cases, what you're saying is true: a fondness for 80's thrash CAN lead to interest in heavier genres (that was the case with me). But that isn't ALWAYS true, nor can you predict which turn a person's enjoyment will take, because everyone is different.
I could have listened to those awesome solos in Hangar 18 and said to myself "that's awesome! I want to listen to crazy guitar solos ALL THE TIME" and then started listening to neo-classical (aka Yngwie Malmsteen). In that case, I would be making a jump that your theory doesn't account for.
And the truth is, you can't account for all of them. You never know what you might hear tomorrow and take a liking to. So the whole 'what's the natural progression' question is pretty much unanswerable. Sorry.
Good try, though.

[Buoy]

An 'experiment' like the one described in the tenth post of this thread won't prove ANYTHING. Perhaps the results will tell you something about the ten people you annoyed, but that's... it.

At 4/4/09 11:47 PM, Pure-Metal-UTA wrote: Like I said, I believe it can take awhile to get into a fixed genre/band, even years. And that's why there's stages.

So you believe people who are open to all kinds of music, will gradually limit themselves to listening to one kind of music, or even one band? Not the opposite? I listen to pretty much every genre in the world (except, well Nintendocore, Freakbeat and hundreds of similar very very small genres) and I don't think I've ever listened to one or two genres alone. Most of the people I know don't limit themselves to listening to one kind of music, or one band. Of course, that might just suggest that everybody who lives in southern Norway are fucking weirdos or something. I dunno man

[Alexman159]

I haven't yet found a genre i won't listen to if it's executed well.

[Pure-Metal-UTA]

At 4/5/09 05:10 AM, SBB wrote: I dunno man

I see what everyone's saying, so for that, I'm completely wrong. For the school I go to, however, I believe that the majority of the people have a fixed path for their musical tastes.
So even though almost everyone is random when it comes to their tastes, I will still conduct the experiment at my school.
So now it applies to NO ONE on NG.

[DJSnowblind]

I used to love Trance, but now I can't stand it. After Trance I moved onto Hard Dance, which i still love. But my main music love right now is Hardcore. I can't get enough of it!