People often talk about which types of music they enjoy. If they're fans of bands and performers, they let you know, enthusiastically. 

Let's look at the flip side of this: which musical genres do you dislike, or even hate? Which bands and performers irk you to no end? And can you explain why?

I've been interested in documenting music that people like and dislike, for many years. In eighth grade, I did a project in school in which I surveyed students in my mini-school (four-class cluster) about what music they liked and disliked, and then wrote up the results. This was my first real attempt at music journalism back in 1978, and while I don't remember which bands were most popular, I do recall which genres elicited the most disgust!

Kids who responded to my polling seemed most against punk rock, acid rock, and country music. This may make sense, especially in a largely middle-class neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. And when I asked for explanations why, I didn't get much of a response. A few kids admitted that they didn't know what punk rock was at that time (in fact, I seemed to be one of the few fans of the genre then and there), but these kids seemed to know what they didn't like and why? BECAUSE.

Recently on Facebook, I came across a discussion of why people dislike opera. I admit I wasn't a fan of opera, and only in the past 15-20 years have I begun to appreciate it to some extent. Some of the answers to this query seemed, to me, to smack of snobbery. Or reverse snobbery!

Thus, is snobbery a reason why many people don't like certain genres of music?

I asked about this on my own Facebook account, and my friends piled on with responses, but many didn't go into details about why they disliked certain genres such as heavy metal, country, modern pop, gangsta rap, disco, Dave Matthews Band, hair bands, Lionel Ritchie and so on. A few people mentioned that they didn't like noise, or whiny vocals, or, as Frank said of a certain style of music, "don't connect, don't relate, don't understand."

I also asked about this on a Facebook page for fans of New Wave, Punk, and Post-Punk. Folks mentioned disliking country, vocals with autotune, opera, jazz, polka, heavy metal, and others. A few of the acts receiving hate were Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, U2... keep going.

But again, most of those responding didn't explain why. People would use curse words and not delve into why they disliked the music. Those who did offer explanations described not liking the vocal stylings, feeling forced to like a certain group, not relating to the music (similar to Frank), and other reasons.

I want to get to the real reasons behind the dislike. What really drives us to dislike a certain group or style? I have some hypotheses but want to hear from people. Explain, my people!