I don't see the appeal of music

[sky14kemea]

If you don't like music, don't feel pressured into thinking you need to just because most people do.

I prefer lyrics and stuff in music. I'm a sucker for the emo-y type sad songs. Plus anything that's easy to sing along to. I find it a lot easier to vent my emotions by singing along to loud music.

To be honest I don't see the appeal in most techno music. >.> It just hurts my ears. But I don't have to listen to it so it's not really my problem.

 

[Aerosteam]

You can't touch music, but music can touch you.

 

[RejjeN]

It's primal and simplistic, conjuring images of dancing around ancient tribal bonfires.

It's complex and indicative of civilization's potential majesty.

It...uh...sounds good?

Seriously, I'm not sure how you can't find a measure of enjoyment from some type of music. The sheer variety available to you, at the press of a button, is astounding in and of itself. Hell, something as simple as making a beat with your tongue or patting on a table while you wait for the waiter to come back- it's cathartic.

Singing in the shower too! Embarrassing as fuck? Sure! Genuinely entertaining to me personally? Sure!

Don't think I'd still be alive without music, if I'm being honest.

Just hunt around until ya find something that strikes your fancy. Like what you want to like and fuck everybody else. You're the one listening to it, after all, so if it's enjoyable for you, then it's good.

I don't care if it takes the form of belting out Shake it Off while scrubbing yer bits or if it's humming Moonlight Sonata while you jog.

Up to you entirely.

Letting "gatekeepers" get ya down when it comes to music is just...c'mon, man. Own your shit.

This, so much this! Couldn't have put it any better myself

I personally like music of most genres, but the type of music that resonates with me the most is definitely game/anime music, like the boss music from Dark Souls, Metal Gear Rising, Hymmnos songs from Ar Tonelico, and more recently the RWBY OST. Basically the kind of music you don't want to share with your more "mature" friends or relatives I sometimes force them to listen to it when I'm the designated driver though :3

 

[Lieju]

Yeah, I'm not much into music either.

I very rarely listen to music, and when I do I prefer it as a part of a thing. I can enjoy musicals and opera or ballet but there is more than just music going on there.
Also I like stuff for the lyrics, which is like enjoying poetry.

Different people like different things, that's all.

 

[Bazaalmon]

Honestly I prefer audiobooks to music. I have a flash drive full of audiobooks that I listen to in my car on road trips and such. Listening to The Martian while on an 11 hour drive is a lot more engaging than switching on the radio in my opinion. When I'm working out I do listen to music though. Metal, Techno, anything with a really strong driving beat to get me pumped up pretty much. Going to live concerts is always fun though!

 

[Barbas]

It's probably similar to the appeal of enjoying your meal outside in the air during a summer evening, or reading by a crackling fireplace on a cold winter night while the wind howls down the glens outside frosty windows. It can enhance a lot of everyday things, like the little flourishes on clothes or the icing on a cake. If you're able to reliably discern specific motifs or instruments out of musical pieces with your ear, you're much likelier to find performances that complement whatever you happen to be doing. In short, there's music for every mood. It tickles your brain and you find yourself moving to the rhythm.

I don't get that out of a lot of today's popular music, though, which often just sounds like a jumble of words thrown at a wall until a suitable earworm is born from the resulting cacophony. So I go back in time pretty often when I'm looking for stuff to listen to. Most of the modern stuff I have is probably from soundtrack composers.

To me, saying you don't see the appeal of it is like saying you don't see the appeal of painting or writing. I say you've just not found music you like yet, 'cos it's definitely out there.

 

[Elfgore]

I like how it sounds and it makes a car trip to work a little less boring.

Honestly, I can't explain how I like it. I just do.

 

[Something Amyss]

Let the shunning begin!

If you don't like music, don't feel pressured into thinking you need to just because most people do.

...oh, fine. Spoilsport.

Anyway, I don't like hamburgers. Millions, maybe billions of people do. That's okay. Not everyone likes the same things. And it's not something that really needs explaining.

Me? I love music. I love a wide variety of music. I listen to it pretty much any time I don't need my ears for something else. But I understand that not everyone can be as totally awesome as me.

I'm kidding of course. I'm only kind of awesome.

 

[Something Amyss]

I like how it sounds and it makes a car trip to work a little less boring.

Honestly, I can't explain how I like it. I just do.

One of my theory instructors used to go on about psychoacoustic theory. I won't pretend to be an expert on the subject, but I can really safely say that the actual whys of what we like goes fairly deep. Psychoacoustics isn't solely applied to music, mind, but there's some overlap.

It's kind of interesting to read into, if you're a total music nerd. On the other hand, none of it's necessary. Just like what you like.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I mean I've never cried during a song. I've never been "moved" or had an "experience" listening to music, but I enjoy it well enough. I listen to it when I work out because its boring as shit to just run for an hour with nothing to do.
But I've had more than one experience where people say I just have to listen to...Oh, I dunno, Evanescence or Lorde's Hunger Games song.
And it means nothing to me. Its just a song, just like any other.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I like how it sounds and it makes a car trip to work a little less boring.

Honestly, I can't explain how I like it. I just do.

One of my theory instructors used to go on about psychoacoustic theory. I won't pretend to be an expert on the subject, but I can really safely say that the actual whys of what we like goes fairly deep. Psychoacoustics isn't solely applied to music, mind, but there's some overlap.

It's kind of interesting to read into, if you're a total music nerd. On the other hand, none of it's necessary. Just like what you like.

Psychoacoustics, eh? Have not heard of it before, but the psychology of music has always fascinated me. How and why we have evolved such appreciation and whether sad and happy/major and minor were innate or conditioned throughout early human history. It seems almost a pointless trait to appear in species. But it has nonetheless and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Another little thing that I have noticed is that some notes and chords played in specific tunings on acoustic guitar, resonate in ways through my body (mainly chest and throat) that feel nice to play. Even if the sound alone isn't particularly interesting, I find myself creating music around these few notes purely for the sensation. It might be just me, I dunno. Never asked or looked into it. But you having mentioned psychoacoustics today has peaked a fresh interest, I am compelled to find out more. Thanks for the unintentional musemette!

 

[Rednog]

You're not alone. I also don't really see any appeal to music.
Just to clarify for some people, but for me personally music is as follows:
I understand that it can accentuate things such as shows, games, movies, etc.
I understand that some people can just sit back and get lost in music, whether it connects them via lyrics, beats, etc.
I occasionally can be like yea sure I like that song, I like the beat, the lyrics, the rhythm etc. I just will never sit down and want to just listen to music, I never have the need to have music accompanying any activity. I've tried numerous times, I just end up daydreaming and I end up tuning out any music.
Some background, I grew up hearing a decent amount of music from my parents. I ended up playing the piano for 5-6 years and the drums for 2-3. I just reached a point somewhere in grade school where we had music class and I pretty much was like "yea I really don't care about this."

 

[FPLOON]

You can't touch music, but music can touch you.

Aw snap!

OT: You mean you can't see the appeal of sound and the many way of hearing it? Huh... Unless you have heard every, single sound that's could ever be mixed together, I don't think the word "appeal" can work in this situation... I don't know... Maybe you need some visual aid and/or some alternate dialogue to go along with hearing a multitude of sounds... Or maybe you just need some [general] understanding that would prevent you from going straight for the "appeal" word in accomplishment to just a [general] negative statement without a neutral backbone so that the understanding can cross all sides of the conversation in question... Again, I don't know... What I do know is that without understanding, you end up no different than those that judge your lack of "appeal"...

 

[Thaluikhain]

You can't touch music, but music can touch you.

...

That almost sounds like the tag from a horror movie.

 

[spartan231490]

It's probably because you have no soul.

In all seriousness, if music can't inspire an emotional response in you, you might legitimately have a medical or psychological disorder. There's a reason music is sometimes called the universal language. If I were you, I would tell my doctor about this ASAP.

 

[Something Amyss]

It seems almost a pointless trait to appear in species. But it has nonetheless and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I would imagine most of our sense of aesthetics evolved along with our senses as a side effect, really.

 

[RaikuFA]

This, so much this! Couldn't have put it any better myself

I personally like music of most genres, but the type of music that resonates with me the most is definitely game/anime music, like the boss music from Dark Souls, Metal Gear Rising, Hymmnos songs from Ar Tonelico, and more recently the RWBY OST. Basically the kind of music you don't want to share with your more "mature" friends or relatives I sometimes force them to listen to it when I'm the designated driver though :3

That's the only thing I can listen to without people going "ewwww, you like this?" Cause I can say "it reminds me of the game.

You can't touch music, but music can touch you.

I NEED AN ADULT!!!

 

[Nuuu]

Trying to explain why people like music is like trying to explain why people like colors. It's kinda just something people like. At it's base, its a bunch of sounds that go well together you don't hear naturally.

 

[RaikuFA]

Music is awesome. What more needs to be said?

Also, try going on a roadtrip with no music. Suicide will become a viable option.

Or sleeping. Or playing vidget games.

 

[Jamash]

It's probably because you have no soul.

In all seriousness, if music can't inspire an emotional response in you, you might legitimately have a medical or psychological disorder. There's a reason music is sometimes called the universal language. If I were you, I would tell my doctor about this ASAP.

As harsh as this sounds (as the truth often is), I'm inclined to agree with you, because I thought exactly the same thing when the OP made a very similar thread about books.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.874897-Why-are-books-so-boring?page=1

OP, judging by the fact that you don't see the appeal of music and you can't get past the first page of a book, I think that your brain may be wired differently, like perhaps you just don't experience imagination or pleasure and reward in the same way as most people.

It's not necessarily a bad thing per say (that is if you're fine with it), but I would be absolutely distraught if I woke up one day and couldn't enjoy music or read books, so perhaps you should consider seeing a doctor, because not being able to read books and not seeing the point of any and all music could be symptoms of an underlying medical or psychological condition, such as Anhedonia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia], which could be something that might hold you back later in life or suddenly torpedo potential prospects if it was suddenly discovered on a test.