Going off what I said up there about Justin Bieber, when you're in your teens/twenties, music is more than just a passion. It's a defining characteristic of who you are. To have someone criticise your favourite bands or musicians is to insult you on a deeply personal level. In a way it's understandable. Music can have such a deep connection to people (which is an odd thing to say as I sit here typing this out while listening to Trigger The Bloodshed) so it's easy to see why someone hating your idols can feel like a personal attack. Music still plays a huge part in my life. The difference is, at thirty, I'm unperturbed by negative responses to what's in my CD collection or on my Spotify playlists. I'm a huge fan of death metal, for example. Ten/fifteen years ago I would have legitimately been bewildered that other people didn't 'get' my music: "Oh my god!" I'd probably say as pastry flakes flew out my mouth. "How can you not like Carcass!? They're way better than that pop crap you listen to!" While I do believe this (though I can probably articulate better than my teenage self ever could), I'm mature enough to understand that extreme music is not to everyone's tastes. I can't expect to convert someone to my favourite music when they either aren't interested or have a specific genre they prefer. If someone ever accuses my music of being "just a load of noise," I shrug it off. In a way I kind of understand what they're saying. It's an acquired taste and a person's first exposure to death metal is not always going to yield positive results. I know because this was exactly how I felt when I first started hearing it at a friend's house. As a result, I take other people's opinions with a grain of salt because music is such a subjective form of art and I don't let what other people say affect my judgement of it. Conversely, I'm also not ashamed of the fact that I may, on occasion, get drunk and go through an entire discography of Phil Collins albums.
