• Question: Why does music appeal to some and to others it does not?I dont want a simple answer.

    Asked by 362bera28 to Colin, John, Kevin, Shikha, Triona on 17 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Tríona O'Connell

      Tríona O'Connell answered on 17 Nov 2014:

      You’re in luck, there’s no simple answer (and probably no answer at all). Psychologists and neuroscientists have a looooooooong way to go in understanding the brain.
      I’m one of those people who don’t care too much about music, so I’d be happy to join an experimental group understanding music and the brain. Though I hate MRI’s, they’ll need to find a new imaging technique first

    • Photo: Kevin Motherway

      Kevin Motherway answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      Everyone likes different types of music and it’s a mystery and just down to personal taste although there is always a slight herd mentality and groups or gangs always build up a culture where they will subconsciously like a certain type of music to fit initially and then get to like it eventually. There is nothing like being at a gig with 70,000 other people all singing the same song, having the same experience. So often liking music can be about a feeling of belonging.

      As you age or go through different experiences you will also like different music. I have cassette tapes from my teenage years like “classic break-up songs”. Stuff you wouldn’t dream of listening to one year could be the most devastatingly meaningful song a years later. So it’s a major mystery what your asking when one person can’t even be consistent in what they like over a lifetime. I love REM and Foo Fighters but I can’t get Taylor Swifts “Shake it off” out of my head at the moment. I like Ed Sheeran a bit, but I heard his song “Small Bump” the other day, it’s about expectant parents losing a baby to miscarriage and I was nearly balling on the way to work and had to listen to Monkey Wrench at full volume to cure myself. Can’t wait for Foo Fighters in Slane ! Who do you like (at the moment and why?)

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