Published on 12, July, 2020
Is it an autistic thing to have a hugely varied taste in music, or do our tastes just diversify more as we get older? My own taste in music is very varied from heavy metal through 80's and 90's music to Trance music. For me it's not so much about the genre of the music but whether or not I like a particular song or the music to that song. Personally I like quite upbeat songs as opposed to the slower tracks, regardless of what type of music it is. What is other people's experience? What do you listen to? Do you tend to only listen to one category of music or do you prefer variety?
Another thing I've noticed about my musical tastes makes me wonder about demand avoidance; I almost go out of my way to like stuff that society tells me I should like. So the directive from my parent's demographic to idolise Elvis & the 60s generally, football (I know that's not music!), and whenever I listen to classical music I can't bear "popular classics" like Pachelbel's Canon, the Musical Joke, Air on a G string, and unfortunately this also taints some music that I actually like, such as Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, O Fortuna from the Carmina Burana, the Peer Gynt Suite.
On a positive note though when I'm in the right mood I love Baroque string music for its pulsing toe-tapping rhythms! Alongside my love of 1980s electronica, ambient dance and modern pop :-)
I don't know about demand avoidance. Personally I either like a song or I don't, it doesn't tend to have too much to do with what other people think that I should or shouldn't like.