People who don't like any kind of music

[RedPandaClaws]

I used to think that music was such a universal thing, something that humans have been making and sharing for millenia, and that liking it was part of the human condition. And with so many different types of music, from pop, classical, Venezuelan nose flutes, whistling & even tapping your fingers to a beat - there is something for everyone.

But I remember reading something about someone who just hated all and any forms of music! I couldn't really believe it. And I still don't really belive it.

I can't imagine a world without music, I think it taps into a part of our brain in a way that nothing else can.
And I'm not talking about people who just don't really listen to music much, or can take it or leave it. I'm talking about those who actively avoid music.

Is there anyone out there like this who truly hates all forms of music?

I love music it's what gets me through the day most of the time, it's my way of connecting to people past and present. Only time I've ever gone without music is when I'm ill or depressed otherwise it's always on!

I am tone deaf. Music just doesn’t matter to me. If I have to do heavy cleaning (oven or shower descale), I may play sing along songs to caterwaul to join in with. That’s my limit.

Even as a student, I only played music for effect (Morrissey, Pulp, Bob Dylan).

I know musical people think being tone deaf is like missing a sense. But I really don’t feel like I miss anything.

I have favourite singers and songs I think are good and a genre I prefer....but, I never listen to music. Never listen to music radio... only talk radio. I hate music in public places like shops and restaurants. Cannot stand buskers.
Starting to wonder if it's a sensory thing. I leave shops if they're playing music.

My GP surgery has started playing a fairly loud radio in their reception, some cheesy local station with dated pop. Drives me nuts! Especially when you’re sitting there stressing about a health issue and again, not very aware of ND folk.

I can take it or leave it, I love art but music is just okay

A lot of people here saying how much they love music - don’t think they are the targets of this thread 😂

I get it’s weird not liking any music - literally no music at all, that’s me - and I’ve actually stopped saying “I don’t like any music” when asked, people find it incomprehensible. I make up an answer.

i don’t like it.

I used to, but after years of a non stop talking toddler and then child, i would rather just sit in peace and read, or work.

Dh drives me mental with music and noise. I can be happily outside gardening or reading book whilst Ds plays, and dh comes out with iPad to watch QI or something random or brings out speakers and can’t just be without noise.

I dropped Ds at nursery and il come home and eat breakfast in silence maybe reading news. Dh if he’s home will join and wnat to put the news on iPad, play a video tutorial on loud..

It sounds so alien to me - but then as someone who has an ‘inner voice’ I was shocked that some people don’t. It’s difficult to understand something you can’t really comprehend

Sounds exactly like my husband. Has to fill every silence with radio, music or iPad!! Drives me nuts, especially if gardening as I like to listen to the birds. However then he often gets out a pointless loud power tool instead! But that’s probably for a different thread entirely! 😂

I like back ground music - or as I call it - 'writing music' which tends to be along the lines of sound tracks for movies or similar. And yes, I do tend to have it in the background while writing stories.

I find a lot of music annoying and I can't tolerate rap music or anything similar. I also can't dance or hold a beat very well. While I was doing an OU course some of the topics we could choose an assignment for were music based and I realised then I couldn't hear some of what was being discussed in the way other people could.

Fascinating replies, thanks all!

I think most people who have posted that they can take or leave music have often mentioned that they used to like it in their youth, or like a very narrow range of music at a time of their choosing. As far as I am concerned that is liking music to some small degree.

And I don't think being tone deaf means you can't enjoy music. The simply steady beat of a drum requires no musical ear, but can still have an effect on you.

But there does appear to be a small minority who do actually really not like music at all. I'm interested in the idea that they may have some kind of condition which means they actually can't process music as anything other than noise. And similarly those who are neurodiverse may have similar processing issues.

I myself both play and listen to music fairly regularly. If going somewhere on my own always have earbuds in. DC have started putting on music at home too recently and I love sharing new music between the family. Equally I do love spoken word too and listen to a lot of Radio 4 and podcasts, so it's not all one or the other.

Does it sound like those who really don't like music are much rarer in society?

And just to add, I can generally find something to like in almost all genres of music. Classical, Hip Hop, Jazz, Pop, Swing, EDM, all decades. I don't like all music but like plenty from all eras.

Does it sound like those who really don't like music are much rarer in society?

No, it says that people who are constantly plugged in can't be told otherwise and probably annoy people by sending them new tunes to listen to.

I had a friend like that. It was always 'listen to this bit' or 'listen to these lyrics'. It was bloody annoying.

Some chronic illnesses which seem increasingly common like Fibromyalgia and similar do have noise sensitivity as a symptom, I have that along with light sensitivity. Also I think the world is very noisy now compared to before, so maybe some have become overwhelmed. I read an interesting book once called ‘Silence in the age of noise’ by Norwegian explorer Erling Kagge where he argued silence was really important. Sounds weird but I agreed with him. Thats not to say you can’t like silence and music though.

Everyone is talking about their hobbies and interests and i only love to play games such as Delta Exectuor...https://deltaexecutor.mx/

But it must be pathological, surely? Some kind of health condition?

I absolutely agree with you . When they cut the music on strictly for Rose's dance on strictly i understood it was to make us appreciate how hard to learn the steps with no music. But it just made me think how awful to live in the world if there was no music .

I don't like music, I can appreciate it in the moment but it never seems cohesive, but I love speech radio and podcasts amd I'm always reading.

I have no interest in music. I have never attended a concert, bought a record or CD, or downloaded a song. I have never owned a stereo and can’t once recall playing music in the house.

I do listen to a lot of talk radio but never a music channel.

It’s not that I hate it, I just have no interest in it whatsoever and don’t gain the enjoyment that many others do from it.

Crude analogy probably, but for me music is a lot like sex in so much as it is important to most of us, varying in individuals from some interest to obsession, and that its importance can wax and wane. I’ve had prolonged periods where I’ve had zero interest in music at all, and then for whatever reason I’m back into it. As a teenager I absolutely craved music pretty much all the time and as loud as possible. I don’t need it like that now, but the right music at the right time can still be really powerful.

On genres, I hate most chart music now. The sound effects are like the aural version of too-sweet kids’ sweets. And I always wonder how I’d have managed in the Middle Ages as I absolutely cannot stand the sort of music that tends to be played in films about that period - would I have been a music hater too back then or have I just not heard the medieval music I would have loved?

No it isn't. It's an intense sensitivity to specific sounds. Eating sounds are just one of the most common sounds that people with misophonia are sensitive to.

I've known two people who hated music (a colleague and a relative of dh's). I love music and have been in choirs off and on throughout my life, but I don't actually often put music on, especially if I'm on my own. I don't know why really. I like quiet, and I also find it hard to decide what I want to listen to. I'm very musically suggestible - hearing a single bar of a song, or even just a word or phrase that reminds me of one, can make the song go round in my head on a loop for days.

I enjoy quiet.

I have been having breakfast, then baking with Ds all morning , just is talking to each other. Dh comes home and sticks music on in the kitchen and it’s just annoying. Can’t hear myself think.

If people are talking at somewhere like a restaurant with music on, I find it really hard to concentrate on what they are saying even if the music isn’t too loud. As I’m hearing words from two places.

The only music that’s vaguely ok is instrumental covers of things as no words

I’m disinterested and always have been, it was quite isolating as a teen - I’m the age when girls wept because take that split up and everyone bought Smash Hits. I love stories - tv, film or books - music gets in the way. I’ve also got a very loud internal voice and don’t need more mithering. There are a couple of classical pieces I like but I couldn’t name them - I quite like stuff that sounds European - and for want of a better description - Jewish. I couldn’t even name the genre. There are probably 30-40 “pop songs” from the last 50-60 years I like but I couldn’t necessarily say who sang them. I really don’t like Jazz, or sort or regency harpsichord type stuff or opera (but I do like opera stories and the whole “production”), or any Tudor lute + clapping nonsense. I always liked comic songs Gilbert and Sullivan or Victoria wood as a kid. I also like hymns but more for the nostalgia and memories and praise and glory of God than because I enjoy the music as such and there will always be stuff like “I think we’re alone now” which stirs up memories of a different period of life but not in a million years would I think “ooo I’ll put some music on!” - just no. I’m not tone deaf, learned piano and violin as a child - even sang in choirs - but I’m just not interested in the actual noise of it.

I love peace and quiet. Nothing better. I also love music. Certain songs touch your soul. They transport you back in time to treasured memories. Uplifting. Mesmerising. The sheer talent that’s out there in the world and has always been. Music has been the backdrop to my life x