What's your most unpopular opinion about music ?

When people complain about new music not living up to old, it just means they've quit exploring and form their prejudices on the pop genre they hear, which has always been the lowest hanging song on the tree.
- absolute truth right here. I used to be like that, "Brehh Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Queen were the last good bands". Looking back I was such a tool. First because it's such a douche thing to belittle people for their music preference, and second because there is a ton of a great music. Now I can say I'm honestly a huge swiftie and I like a ton of music across several decades.
  We have the most variety of music in history right now. To say "I don't like new music" is absurd, and you're exactly right, just means they just don't even try.
- I think survivorship bias plays into it as well. Yeah, most the stuff on the radio today is kinda meh. Most the stuff on the radio in those days was kinda meh too. All the meh songs got forgotten, and you only remember the bangers. You've already seen it happen to 00s music and we're watching it happen with the 10s.
  But yeah, it's wild how many people look at how accessible different types of music are now and just... don't go looking.
  
  For so many artists, they'll have a single hit that survived the test of time and most that didn't. We hear the one song that not only topped the charts but continued to be remembered. I tried going back to the top 100 songs of the 50's. Some of them are good (Hound Dog), but others frankly just aren't very good. Contrast that with the modern day, I had a neighbor growing up who is a professional singer who has better original songs.
  Then you just get the factor of time itself. Old includes all surviving music before the present day. When you have centuries of music (if not more),
- As an unpopular opinion on the other end, it’s ok to stop participating in pop culture. Pop music, Blockbuster movies, and TV are all meant to sell consumerism to young people with disposable incomes. Not to people who are bogged down by kids and mortgages.
  New media isn’t made for your tastes, so unless you make an effort to change your tastes to those of the current generation of young people, new media will never be seen as good enough by you
  
  I think there's an important difference between "there is no new good music" and "I don't like any new music".
  The former is making a broad proclamation. The latter is keeping it limited to your personal experience, even if phrased a little sloppily.
  Though I guess you could argue people saying the former really mean the latter and are just communicating kind of badly.
- Doesn't this usually refer to music on the radio? I think most people understand that there's lots of good music if you look for it, but the problem is the "popular" music is getting more and more formulaic
  
  The thing is, I don't want to have to look for it. Growing up I could turn on the radio and hear amazing music on pretty much any popular channel. Depeche Mode, Billy Idol, David Bowie, REM, XTC, Goo Goo Dolls, En Vogue, Green Day, Alanis Morrissette, Boyz II Men, Sarah MacLachlan, and so many others. It was a preponderance of great music with some shitty stuff interspersed.

Modern electronic music is the spiritual successor to classical music (and modern-day "classical" compositions are just rehashes).
- I can get down with this.
- Modern electronic music is the spiritual successor to classical music
  I don't disagree, but can you explain your reasoning behind this?
  
  Mostly because electronic music is made by a single composer and that the performance by the musicians itself is not as central to the composition.
  And that Mozart would be probably making electronic music if he was born in this era.
- I upvoted you, but you are not entirely right in my opinion.
  Not all classical music is created equal. I am quite convinced that if J.S. Bach had lived today, he would make music like Squarepusher. However, somebody like Gustav Holst would probably be in some kind of doom metal or progressive metal.
  
  Thoughts on Ummet Ozcan?

Taylor Swift is fine, her music is enjoyable, but ultimately kind of forgettable. Her popularity comes from the social-cohesion function of popular music.

IDK if it’s unpopular, but I’m worried that TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube Shorts have completely screwed with what kind of music gets popular nowadays. It seems like every popular song has some kind of intense drop because content creators love the “quick build up to some kind of visual punchline” video format and it has ruined what I think could otherwise influence and encourage originality
- Historically, music changes to fit the medium that's used to deliver it to the listener. Short form video is no different. I just have to trust that artists will always find ways to say what they need to say. After all, "the enemy of art is the absence of limitations."
  
  I have never heard that quote. From what context does it come? It sounds somewhat ridiculous to me
- Also record labels probably can pay to have tiktok promote their music and that makes people like it artificially.
- The same thing happened in the mid 2000's with ringtone rap. This phenomenon is older than people think.
- Ditto

Separating the artist from the art is fine.
You can like music by someone who doesn't share your social, political, or religious beliefs with.
- Upvoted because this is the one I most strongly disagree with.
  Hitlers art but ignore the holocaust?
  Lost Prophets but ignore the lead singers horrifying SA of children?
  Kanye West and his anti semitism insanity?
  Chris Brown and beating the shit out of women?
  R. Kelly and SA a child?
  Rowling and her hatred of trans children?
  Michael Jackson and his .. weird child obsession?
  Gary Glitter and his SA?
  
  Separating the artist from the art is fine for me as long as you don't support them. There is nothing inherently wrong with consuming media you like from a controversial figure.
  Of course it's hard to separate the artist and the art if you actively give them money for it.
  I like some of Kanye West's music but I would never spend a single cent on one of his albums, watch an ad on Youtube for his music videos or listen to his songs on streaming services.
  
  the examples you gave
  Yes, that’s what separating the art from the artist means.
  
  The Pianist is one of the best war movies I’ve ever seen… even though Polanski.
- I'll go a step further:
  You have to separate the art from the artist because there is not a single artist I've ever encountered who wasn't some kind of fucking trashhole of a person.
  Artists spent their lives on being artists, not developing good interpersonal skills or understanding politics or philosophy.
  Beleiving an artist is a "good person" is just setting yourself up for disappointment. Start out assuming they suck dogshit and you usually end up being right.
  
  I think it's reasonable to draw some lines that, when crossed, you'll choose to disengage from their art.
  The musician doesn't have to be a saint. But if I find out they, I don't know, love eating live puppies, I'm going to prefer spending my time and attention elsewhere.
  
  Sam from Future Islands is a pretty dope guy.
  
  Agreed. Show me a flawless human being, and I'll show you someone who doesn't have anything interesting to share with the world.
- My mind is telling me nooooo
  But my body
  My bodyyyyy is telling me yesss
- This is actually really popular among my music students. I completely disagree on most case. X raped 300 kids but hey, he makes pretty good beats so let's pay 200$ for a concert.
- I'm alright with this as long as you pirate it lol
  
  Yarr harr
- I guess it's the same as buying Nestle Hot Chocolate knowing full well child labor was involved. It's ok as long as your sweet tooth is satisfied.
  
  You got downvoted by someone who didn't understand sarcasm so I evened it back out.

Most rap sucks and it's effects on mainstream media have had detrimental effects on society as a whole.
It literally just glorifies the ghetto lifestyle of being a piece of shit and acting like it's the only way you can live life.
- I get this is an unpopular opinion but 99% of the time I hear this take its just barely masked racism.
- I felt that was true for a long time. There are a lot of sub-genres out there that don't promote that kind of thing. Honestly, and this is probably me wearing a conspiracy theorist hat, a lot of hip-hop that essentially glorified a lot of horrible traits was just what a lot of old, rich white dudes figured would make them money.
  Counter example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMwGT55A8k (sorry about the YT link, but that's where I know this lives)
  
  a lot of hip-hop that essentially glorified a lot of horrible traits was just what a lot of old, rich white dudes figured would make them money.
  Arrested Development touches on that in at least a few of their recent songs. This is one that immediately springs to mind, but there are others:
  Full lyrics here
  Song here
   
  do i have to tell you how this industry goes down
  they wanna promote us as the lowest things around
  stereotypical images of blacks all around
  police beat us to the ground
  do i have to tell you how this industry goes down
  promote the thugs with the criminal sound
  stereotypical images and white supremacist images of us never innocent it kills
   
  kills, snitches and witnesses
  i guess the business is exploit us sexually
  but keep us intellectually primitive
  sedate the sensitive
  nullifying all their initiative
  to ever unify, just relying on representatives
  our english is now seen as this, opposite of geniuses
  the truth is meaningless
  they deliberately been deceiving us
  ...
  Edit: Realized the lyrics site had a couple words wrong.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://www.piped.video/watch?v=rhMwGT55A8k
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
- its* effects.
  Yup. Unpopular opinion indeed. Upvoted.
- Yes unpopular, but your final sentence indicates a deep lack of understanding regarding the origins, purpose, and breadth of the genre.
  You are welcome to your opinion, and I'm 100% sure that no one coming in like that is going to look any deeper. I'm just sharing my opinion that yours is uninformed and superficial.
  
  Hey that's fair. I'm not privy to a lot of the socioeconomic shit that took/takes place that led to the rise of rap and what I call ghetto culture.
  I just think it's been glorified to the point people who have no experience with ghetto culture outside of rap music start acting like they thugs n shit. Like "gangster" shit started happening everywhere with a shitload of people fully embracing not only the visual look but the "hustler" "gangster" lifestyle.
  Also don't mistake my ignorance for inability to learn. I'm willing to listen and learn about it all I just don't think it'll change my outlook on how it's effected everyone everywhere negatively.
  And you know maybe I'm wrong and I'm just upset things aren't changing the way I want them to. In that case oh well I'll live.
- Look into underground hip hop, there's all sorts of awesome music of much higher caliber than mainstream rap/hip hop.
  Mf Doom, Busdriver, Kool Keith (and his many many aliases), Aesop Rock (not ASAP Rocky or whatever), and I'm sure lots of newer stuff I'm not even familiar with. Digable Planets are pretty big and they're good (and old, like me)
  .
  
  I've dabbled into some underground stuff. I like hopsin for one. I've heard of Mf Doom but couldn't pick out a song.
  For me it's less the rapper themselves it's what they're rapping about.
  I don't like music I can't relate to and I can't relate to most rap songs. I'm not out here thuggin or poppin caps, doing drugs and fuckin removed. I don't even really want to do those things. So that erases almost half the damn genre out the gate.
  I like certain rap songs like tech9's Dysfunctional or Am I a Psycho or Eminem or NF's stuff but for the most part I can't stand most of it.
  And the glorification of "thugging" is what I mean by raps negative impacts.
  
  I've had a hard time getting into Aesop Rock, but he comes up so often I should try again.
  I have enjoyed most Busdriver that I've heard, but I admit I often have to look up his lyrics to understand them, and it's probably discouraged me from exploring his catalog more than I have. My fave that I've heard of his is Much, partially because he slows it down a bit.
  Digable Planets - I only knew them for The Rebirth of Slick for decades. Took a deeper look a couple years ago and was blown away. They are high on my list now. Love their sound. Good recommendation there!
  I've got to also recommend Brother Ali.
- Rap was important and had a clear goal; to inspire afroamerican people, kids to learn, to live their life and fight for their rights. to get up from the ghetto, to keep on going, make them see they aren't alone, they have their backs by the community. (In the US)
  this all was rather successfull.
  but then, I don't know what rap's function is today. if there is any... so what you are saying, I can aggree with it, but I tend not to forget what was the original goal of this genre, and this is why I can't completely dismiss rap.
  
  You should look into conscious hip hop. Plenty of that kind of music still being made.
- Agreed wholeheartedly. And just to pile on another unpopular opinion: it all sounds like trash. Literally it's not music. Just a repetitive beat while some douchebag talks fast at you.

"the Beatles are overrated" is a poorly defined statement often made by people who give the impression they want to be seen as an iconoclast of some sort.
Ok. Overrated on what metrics? Historical impact? Popularity at the time? Popularity now?
"I don't like the Beatles' music" is probably closer to what people mean, and that's fine. I rarely listen to them on purpose. But the whole "I don't like them, and neither should you" thing is kind of insufferable.
- When I say they're overrated, I mean I don't understand why they're so popular. They're not bad but they're not that good, either. I don't understand the praise lauded on them. It's too much relative to their quality.
  I can understand if someone loves them in their time. For example, Nirvana was absolutely amazing in their time. However, it's been 30 years and that sound is a lot more mainstream, but in their day, they were breaking new ground.
  But my kids age? Why do people think they're that good?
- TBH people listened to these Beatles high on acid. And somehow the radio stations where persuaded to play their songs more frequent.
  Perfect recipe for verse rush
- I generally assume that "popular thing is overrated" is generally said just to troll people. At least, I like to dog on things that are popular that I'm not in to just to get a raise out of people that can't accept any criticism of their thing.

Some music is made by and for lowlifes, where I live is Vallenato, Campesina, Rancheras, Bachata, and 90%of reggaeton.
Lyrics about asking for forgiveness after cheating, smoking, domestic violent (being the one that does the domestic violence), admitting to spike drinks and brag about it, simping for drug Lords, and women are nothing but a sex object.
The people who listen to that music is just as you imagine them. Uneducated, sexist, wife beaters, going around in huge SUVs blasting that music outloud with no respect for anyone around then, they are the ones who start blasting the music at 1AM on a Wednesday and doesn't let anyone sleep in their entire neighborhood.
People give me shit for this and claim is "culture" but I think there is such a thing as music for lowlifes.
- While I can see where you're coming from, about 90% of the music I listen to is some kind of metal. Most of it is just about cool nerdy stuff but there's definitely some truly horrible shit in there. I have yet to and don't intend to do any of it.
  I think the bias comes from how loud some of these shitty people are. They build the stereotype. For the most part, people just mind their own business, go to work, raise their kids, and bob their heads to the beeps and boops.
- I see where you're coming from, because I kinda also hate the genres you mentioned in specific, but man, it's not ALL bad. You put on some Juan Luis Guerra and he makes better bachata than anyone else you can think of. It's actually fucking enjoyable. It took me decades to even begin to appreciate some of the more pop music (or even tolerate it, cause fuck regueton....but everyone listens to it where I live), and he definitely stands out.
  That's it, I just wanted to mention the 440.

Eric Clapton is wildly overrated
- YES! He's a massive idiot too.
- Cocaine is his only good song.
  
  I guess my unpopular opinion is that I don't think that's a very good song :)
  
  Now this is an unpopular opinion, mostly about Cocaine being good in any capacity.
  
  Layla is also pretty good imo.

There are too many damn love songs. 75% of all music does not need to be about love, relationships, and breakups. I stopped listening to radio because all the damn love songs got annoying.
Can we please have more songs about literally anything else. Weed, flowers, rainy days, animal companions, construction work, types of cars, card games, anything. There’s more in life to sing about than just relationships and/or the lack of them!
Sincerely, A person whose sexuality is “No” and has no interest in that kind of relationship.
- Well godd news then, you can start to enjoy music about religion, cause I feel like every other popular song is about that, and I am just as annoyed as you, be careful though there are overlap betweem the two. 😄
- I feel this so hard.
  It's not even that 90% of love songs are for straight people, it's that 100% of them are about gals and guys who have no definining features, beyond their predisposition to breaking the singers heart or making them "feel like woah." Give me an actual story about something beyond just vague descriptions and the musician just saying how they feel without going too deep into why.
  I don't want to fill in the blanks with me and my crush/partner/ex. I want a story that puts me in someone else's shoes so I can see the world through their eyes. Extra credit if it's not the same demographics and stories that saturate every other form of media.
- For a recommendation of an album that isn't about love, but about a wizard seeking immortality, check out Hypercube Necrodimensions
- As someone on the asexual spectrum, I feel you. I also have intense social anxiety and so those two things combined means it doesn't make sense for me to attempt a relationship to begin with. Occasionally I get sad when listening to love songs. Because they are so ubiquitous and it makes me feel like I'm not even human sometimes because I lack these basic human feelings and experiences.
- Which is why I love concept albums where the artist sings a bunch of songs that tell some story of a fisherman who catches a magic mermaid type creature who can cure cancer, but the mermaid type creature ends up becoming a trapped carnival attraction at a freak show instead. Or about the story of a mad scientist type dude who conducts experiments on his patients, creates an evil demagogue who then becomes a tyrant whose reign ends in a terrible war that causes a lot of death and destruction. Or about a bunch of AI who find themselves in disagreement with their creators and then say bye to the solar system and just fuck off into deep space.
- They Might Be Giants
  Mountain Goats
- Certain genres have different themes i find.
  For example i think most 'metalcore' songs i listen to are about emotional or addiction struggles, anger at society/moral injustices, inspirational (yes really, overcoming obstacles and living a happier life), life experiences and oddly a lot of christian bands in the genre.

There is, in fact, good country music that isn't just about trucks, beer, flags, and right-wing U.S. propaganda.
People have a lot of hate for the genre due to the mass appeal, common denominator examples. But like with all music, dig a little deeper beyond what gets radio play and you can find some good shit.
- Had a chat with a coworker about this. I'm not a big fan of the genre as a whole, but something happened to the genre around 20ish years ago. The country twang went from being a natural signature sound of some artists to being something everyone emulated while singing their bird cage bottom piece of shit piece about their truck.
  
  My grandparents used to watch this show on TV called Club Dance. Imagine Soul Train for old white people; it was shot in a fictional "saloon" and they'd have both professional country dancers and amateurs who wanted to be on the show. Most of the music I remember hearing about the show was basically about dancing. The whole "truck jeans beer girl creek boots truck" phenomenon hadn't been invented yet.
- I have a real love hate relationship with country music, I love almost everything except it feels very low energy most of the time and like you said the classic truck songs
  I've found bands like poor man's poison and the dead South, hurry up and wait by ben miller band is a great example of something decent
- dig a little deeper beyond what gets radio play and you can find some good shit.
  Don't leave us hanging! What are your suggestions?
  
  Here is a random list of songs I like, in my opinion under the umbrella of country in one way or another (though some stretch that a little. Or a lot. Don't @ me, die-hard country fans).
  Some may, indeed, involve beer, trucks, and American Christian propaganda - but pleasant sounding at least. I'm also confirmed to be pretty lame, and that may be reflected in my choices here.
  I also never said you needed to dig deep - some/most of this is like, a fingernail scratch. But if you find something here you dig, strongly recommend diving deeper into the artist.
  Merle Haggard - Mama Tried
  George Jones - White Lightning
  The Highwaymen - Highwayman
  Dick Curless - The Heartline Special
  Eddy Arnold - Cowpoke
  Conway Twitty - Hello Darlin'
  Townes Van Zandt - Waiting Around to Die
  Sons of the Pioneers - Empty Saddles
  Marty Robbins - Running Gun
  Willie Nelson - Bubbles in my Beer
  Hank Thompson - A Six Pack to Go
  Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down
  Sonny James - Baltimore
  Del Reeves - A Dime at A Time
  Dale Hawkins - Everglades
  Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West - Blue Bonnet Rag
  Tim Carroll - I Think Hank Woulda Done It This Way
  Buddy Emmons - Orange Blossom Special
  Tommy Collins - You Better Not Do That
  The Louvin Brothers - Satan is Real [here's that propaganda I told you about - still love this song]
  Eddie Noack - Psycho
  Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed - Jerry's Breakdown
  Tom T. Hall - That's How I Got to Memphis
  Roger Miller - Dang Me
  
  Go listen to Ray Charles's album covers of country songs, "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music."
  
  Not them, but Red Headed Stranger is probably one of my favourite concept albums ever.

Disturbed's cover of Sound of Silence is not only awful, it is an antithesis of the meaning of the song. Anyone who likes that version better than S&G's arguably doesn't understand the point of the song, and the fact that everyone holds it up as the gold standard of "covers better than the original" is even worse.
A close second is Postmodern Jukebox and their horrendous tendencies to take tempos to an opposite extreme instead of finding more meaningful ways of changing the genre of a song. I like some of their stuff, but the number of people who love their cover of Welcome to the Jungle is mind-boggling to me.
There are plenty of songs that I prefer the cover of to the original (Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You'), or ones that just give the original a modern coat of paint without changing much else (Smash Mouth's 'I'm a Believer'), but these songs in particular are just awful imo.
- I don't mind a cover changing the meaning of a song, but stuff where the cover is just the song again is...lazy as fuck?
  Like Fast Car by (country music guy) is fantastic, but it's the same as the original, which is also fantastic. Feels cheap or something, I don't know. Like the whole Weezer cover album was boring as fuck. The songs are technically great, but why listen to that over the originals? Rivers said his goal was to try and reproduce the original sound, which seems like an interesting exercise for the band, but not for the listener. So that wraps back around to respecting the band.
  Anyways, I have a lot of strong feelings about covers. Make it your own, even if you don't change it that much.
- I think Johnny Cash's cover of 'Hurt' is probably the gold standard of a cover exceeding the origional

Modern music slaps. Just gotta find the right albums.
- There's people on spotify with less than 5000 monthly listeners pumping out music so good it would have topped charts 10 years ago. The quality and talent of artists these days is insane.
  
  These days? This has always been the case. I remember downloading mp3s from unknowns who offered their music for free in the internet on the early 2000s. Great music.
- Care to share some of your favorites?
  One of my favorites recently has been Djesse Vol. 4 by Jacob Collier
  
  Depends on how new you want it, but Rime of Memory by Panopticon is great.

We're in the best time to listen to music. There's amazing stuff out there. It just doesn't come to you automatically, you've got to seek it out.
Now, it's a pretty bad time to be an artist trying to make a living. But it's also the easiest time to DIY music.
- What has helped me with this was seeking out local bands and seeing them live. Check out local bars with live music nights or open mics, wander around the biggest city in your area and look for interesting flyers and stickers, or [other useful advice]. As a bonus, when you find bands you like they often play shows with bands that are of a genre you'd never seek out yourself.
- To pair with this, we're now bearing the fruits of having unlimited media available to us. You can hear rappers on SoundCloud that directly influence metal from the 2000's, you can hear artists from small countries reference shows like Community, or US artists reference the UK show The Inbetweeners. Even at the top, Taylor Swift referenced a song called Best Of Me by The Starting Line in one of her songs, and now thousands of fans have swarmed to listen to their music, despite the band being split up and the front man now making new music under Vacationer - also getting a fan bump.
  Years ago I listened to a podcast from someone that was in a band called Busted in the UK. The went deep into how they wanted their band to be like Sum 41, but how within about 6 weeks they had released a pop album, were on your, and on covers of magazines as the new face of pop. Many bands saw the rise of pop punk, and feel that the UK (and other countries in Europe) missed the boat because the recording industry was stuck in the past. Look back at pop punk and tell me how many bands of that era weren't from North America, and look at how many were eventually churned out once the recording industry shifted towards downloads and streaming.
  Influence is everywhere now, and those that seek out music are rewarded.
- I mean, not to be a shill, but Spotify makes playlists every Monday and Friday showcasing new but older and new new music respectively. So it kinda does just come to you
  
  I guess my other unpopular music opinion is that I still buy music. I guess ANOTHER unpopular music opinion is that I think algorithmic suggestions aren't great and ultimately limit the kinds of music one is exposed to if that's their only source of new music.

Lyrics ruin most music. This is one is weird because I actually love the sound of the human voice, but it most music its just ugly. Also most of the lyrics themselves suck. Usually vague, meaningless, hoping you'll interpret them as something deep. There's just so many songs that most lyrics have to be bad.
Also drums ruin most music. They are harsh, dissonant, overly loud, overpower subtler instruments, and reduce complex, varying melodies to a simple beat. Even when I want simple heavy beats, I prefer electronic alternatives (no idea what they're called) so it's not so harsh

Being a metalhead, most of my opinions about music are unpopular I guess. Or are they?
- Techdeath here. I know no one directly with shared interest...
  
  Early Decapitated is my absolutely favorite (tech)death ever. I can easily find more technically impressive music, but it feels like good songwriting with is not very common in that genre.
  
  I love some techdeath, my friend! What are your favorite bands?

David Bowie had like, 2 okay songs.
- You're walking on dangerous road mate
- You're wrong but I'll bite. What 2 songs lol.
  And I'm joking with the you're wrong. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
  
  Bring Me The Disco King, and that other one about taking protein pills

Most hip hop is missing key musical elements and just isn’t good. I have no idea why the genre became so popular.
- It's why I got so into Busdriver for a while. Not a lot of rappers out there trying to rap to a melody instead of just a beat.
  Further, even if they are out there, they aren't as popular.
  
  Yeah there is definitely some hiphop that I do enjoy but it’s a small minority of the overall scene.
- Are you a Ben Shapiro fan?
  
  Lol no, why?
- I have no idea why the genre became so popular.
  Trash talking, scandalous

I dislike modern pop's mixing of the human voice, mixed so high compared to the rest, to the point where you can't hear instruments anymore. The music is often there just for accompanyment, elevetor music. I rather have chillwave, where everything is one big reverb trick pony, than having to hear people screaming.
- If you listen to 99% of current music it consists of a simple repetitive background, with all the individuality of the song created by the vocalist. Its a bit like that Monty Python sketch "here comes another one, here it comes again".

Lyrics don't add value to 99.99% of music and any notes from them should be from an actual instrument.
- I tend to hear the vocals as an instrument and often have no idea what the words are. It's happened before where once I learn the words I don't like the song as much anymore either because the meaning of the words is distracting or the meaning is way different than the meaning I'd put on the song.
- This is a fantastic unpopular opinion.
  I definitely consider this for some genres, but for others it ruins the music for me.
- Same, glad I'm not the only one, lyrics is shit, tune of the vocals, of course the beat, & sometimes the chorus are the thing that matters

Pink Floyd is the most mediocre group in the prog rock scene (also works if you remove everything after 'group')
- I ain't gonna call them mediocre myself, and The Wall means a lot to me personally with my own life journey, but there's absolutely better, more musically interesting prog rock groups out there than Pink Floyd.
- Limiting drummer (so I hear)

I despise bagpipes. Anyone who thinks that awful noise is in any way related to actual music should have a set jammed into their ears so hard they come out the other side.
/Rant over.
- They have their place. Which is a hill far far away and not indoors.
  
  At the bottom of the ocean?
- You might like this line from Arrested Development, Season 4:
  And, like all bagpipe music it was hard to tell if it was good music played horribly, or horrible music played well.
  I'm Scottish, so I felt guilty for laughing at that as much as I did :-)
  On rare occasions, I do think bagpipe music can be spectacularly beautiful and moving, but it takes a really talented piper and/or some contextualising occasion (like a major sports event) to really make me like it all that much.
- I think even bagpipe players agree with you.
- I fuckin’ love bagpipes… but I also love Xiu Xiu so I wouldn’t trust my musical tastes.
- How do you feel about Tuvan throat singing? I feel like both sounds are complex and deeply interesting but I also think it's an acquired taste.

There are great songs and albums in all genres.
There are terrible songs and albums in all genres.
Listening to an album as it was released, front to back, is the best way to consume music.
- Following on from this, they do make music like they used to. Just like they used to, there's heaps standard fare being shoveled out the door. Every now and then, there's a good one that stands the test of time.
  This happens in every era, not just the music you grew up with.
- I mostly stick to concept albums and genres that tend toward musical suites, so I strongly vibe with that last sentence.
  Still, most albums are just collections of songs the artist wrote. They're not intended as conprehensive works, just a way of distributing songs in bulk, and maybe a physical copy.

I don't care for Dylan or the Beatles. At least I understand the ground-breaking work of the Beatles, but Dylan is incomprehensible.
- and largely always was
  
  https://youtu.be/ukq-Zc7nGw8?feature=shared
- I don't understand Dylan but I believe he was lauded because of other musicians looking for anything new. Dylan pioneered the 3 minute song as a short story. So if you are a pop artist struggling to write a new song, it opened up lots of new ideas.
  Dylan called his technique his crutch in writing "4th Time Around" to Lennon about Norwegian Wood copying Dylan's style.

When someone dies or leaves the band, you have a new band and should give it a new name.
- "A three-legged dog is still a dog. It just has to learn to run differently." - Michael Stipe
  
  But when every leg is replaced? When head is replaced too? When torso is broken and remodeled? Is it still that dog or something different?
  I'm ok with band switching members, but there should be a limit...

Rap and Hiphop are just shit music.
I have a pretty broad music taste, I have rock, classical, pop, eurodance, opera, bitpop, industrial, metal, ballads and more on my phone, except rap or hiphop.
There is just something in me that as soon as I hear either it just sounds like shit.
- I like it because I can equate it to poetry. You have to be one talented motherfucker to come up with some of those rhymes, and to be still able to put it along to a rhythm and beat, sometimes incredibly fast (Busta Rhymes, George Watsky).
  ETA: I also have a soft spot for three particular white Jewish boys from NYC
  
  I've been thinking about something similar (as someone who isn't a fan of rap/hip-hop). No matter how much I don't like it (the actual music behind it is too bland for me), it has the greatest potential to deliver deep lyrics with puns and other wordplay.
  But then it got me thinking: What the HELL is holding us back from improving the other genres' lyrics, or actually slapping some decent music on top of rap/hip-hop music, and not just some bland base or short and repetitive catchy tune?
- Also, I implore you to listen to JU$T by Run The Jewels and really listen to the lyrics.
  
  I tried to, but I just coulnd't stand the rythm or the rapper's voice.
  Sorry but the genere just isn't for me.
  The one song that might classify as rap/hiphop that I do enjoy is https://youtu.be/KD59LJX2r38 though is has a lot of pop in it, the video is quite cool, and I would be lying if I said that I would not like to have a fur baseball cap.
- You shouldn’t generalize, a lot of the stuff that gets played a lot is not indicative of the whole genre. There is some rap that makes me cover my ears, and there is some rap that makes me feel enlightened. Hip hop it just depends on the song, since there is so much variety.
  
  I mean, OP litterarly asked us about what our most unpopular opinion about music is, this is mine.
  I would never impose this view on others, they are free to like what they like.
- On the rare occasions I'm scanning through FM radio stations, the reason I hit the Next button the fastest when I find myself "listening" to a hip-hop station? The hi hat. tss ts ts ts ts ts tss ts tssssss. It's most of what you hear, everything else is mixed down in the mud beneath it. I'm informed this is an...artistic choice?

I never got the hype for Satriani’s music. He’s a virtuoso for sure, but I never really found his music interesting.
This is probably high school nostalgia kicking in, but Limp Bizkit is great. lmao
There is actually some great kpop music out there.
- Satriani is a great guitarist (among the best), but a mediocre song writer. He suffers from what I like to call The Solo Syndrome (not a reference to guitar solos). A song tends to be better when multiple musicians have had input, otherwise there's too much focus on only one instrument. A lot of solo musicians' music suffers from this.
  Take for example Satrianis "Made of Tears". How much better wouldn't the song have been if an actual basist had written a cool bass riff to go along with it?
  Or another example from Satriani: "Searching". Excelent guitar hook in the beginning and the end, but I would've loved it more if there were other bandmembers who could tell him that the middle section is long and boring and would be better spent playing WITH other instruments instead of TO other instruments.
  I find that Steve Vai is a better (and comparable) songwriter (although a lot of his songs aren't to my taste)
  
  Right on. I was kinda holding back from saying his music is boring, but you explained it better. And I agree, Vai, while also making guitar solo driven music, actually makes interesting songs that you don't tune out after the first 2 minutes of listening,
  
  Satriani is a great guitarist (among the best)
  That's very far from true. The last decades have brought forth countless young talents. Every single one of them smokes satriani in a pipe. Easily.
  
  100% technique, no soul
  That's how I describe his music
  
  I'm a Satriani fan and, while I totally disagree with you calling him a mediocre song writer, I can't help but understand your point about Searching and Made of Tears. If that's your sample of his music I totally understand your view.
  Searching is just a catchy Whammy trick followed by an unending jam/solo. It's very uncharacteristic of him. Made of Tears is not a bad song (one of the best on Super Colossal and it's not a good thing) but is definitely off what I was used to hear from him when that album came out.
  The thing is, if you want to know what Satch is about you have to hear what he did before Super Colossal. I like Super Colossal. But for me it's when his fire died. Sure, you can still hear his genius there but only on the occasional song. For me Ten Words is the last song where you find that. One of his most simple songs. It's an appropriate farewell. What came after is still good...but it's not mind-blowing.
  Super Colossal came out in 2006, you should hear what he did before if you want to know why he's considered one of the most melodic guitar players ever. Is There Love in Space already has some signs of his "downfall" but you have to be Searching them (wink, wink).
  Before that everything is genius and everything is different. I'd say, in my opinion, he hit his peak on the 2 albums before that (Crystal Planet and Strange Beautiful Music). But even before those two you have lots of material showing what he used to be about.
  Steve Vai is maybe more original. It's a matter of preference. But I've only felt about him the same way as old Satch on 2 albums. The rest is nice but meh. I am looking forward to their collaboration though, it gave me good vibes.
- Satch for sure is an extremely talented guitarist and understands that the key to a good song is a melody (or "hook") that is simple, memorable, and catchy. Almost every song he wrote has this at its core. The problem is simply that this is insanely difficult to do and he struggles with it, especially on his later albums

This may not be an unpopular in the outside world but somehow I bet it will be here, the vast majority of metal is just straight noise and incomprehensible yelling to me. I do enjoy when metal songs are covered by bluegrass bands though
- I don't agree with "most" or you're using a too narrow definition of Metal...
  But I agree that the stuff you don't like sounds like noise and incomprehensible yelling to me too, which is what I need to hear sometimes. Feels cathartic to have a wall of sound crash over you as you yell your guts out on the highway. Much better way to handle rage than taking it out on family members or service workers.
  
  I debated adding subgenre to it but since it was an unpopular opinion I decided to go for broke. I know there’s a lot of variance, and don’t really hate on metal fans at all. Though I do stand by my point, at least for me
  I prefer hip hop and country myself, and my experience tells me it’s not uncommon for metal heads and punk fans to say similar things about those genres even though the stylistic differences between say dirty southern rap and the west coast game are super obvious to me
  It’s all just preference and personality
  Edit: also I’m glad it gives you what you need from music! I don’t get it but I don’t need to
- Ooh! Another genre mix-up fan!
  Bluegrass, lo-fi, and orchestral covers of popular music are 90% of my Spotify history at work.

That rap is absolute garbage. For reasons I can't explain it makes me unbelievably angry to have to listen to. It probably has something to do with a combination of my anxiety and sensitivity to loud noises, but I don't know. I do like metal, although I don't like it particularly loud.

The beatles are vastly overrated. They may have been trailblazers at the time but their music really doesn’t hold up
- Decade or two ago I would agree with you.
  Nowadays not that much. Ofc those radio songs you've heard more than billion times are awful and helps nobody to appreciate Beatles. But if you dig a bit deeper into songs that are ignored by radios, there are quite some good songs.
  For one, I can't believe Helter Skelter was made by the same Beatles as e.g. Help. Or whole Sgt. Pepper album is nice too.
  
  Maybe I should specify, I don’t like typical radio music.
  Metal head etc etc.

People like Hip Hop because it makes them feel cool for listening to it.

90% of all radio songs lately have been horrendous covers of old songs, with some of them literally being just that old song, but with a cookie cutter beat under them. The other 10% are just said cookie cutter beats with some generic singer doing an annoying voice over them.
Popular music is becoming more creatively bankrupt than it ever has been.
- I think they asked for unpopular opinions
  
  Oh right. Weezer sucks.

Mine is: I don't really listen to music

I just don't listen to Ska because never feels like the time. But whenever I've heard it I've actually liked it.
- I literally always have the time to listen to The Impression That I Get by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and so should you!
  
  No? Well...
- I really want to like Ska, and I really like nearly the entirety of this album, but whenever I try to branch out from there I come up dry with anything I really enjoy.

Bands that title their album random symbols (or a series of them) are assholes.
I'm looking at KMFDM (can't even encode "symbols" accurately) and Justice (their first album, often called latin cross). Both great albums that suffer from fucking horrible visibility because of their shit names.
- What?? KMFDM back in the 90s were groundbreaking with their name and album art alone. Very stylized, nihilistic vibes aesthetically when I would see their albums in the record store - even before I ever listened to them. Hell, I even shoplifted a cassette tape from Camelot Records when I was a teenager just cuz I was so intrigued as to what this band was about.
  You’ve awakened my “old man yells at cloud” vibes with this one.
  
  Hey, both the bands I mentioned are awesome - I just object to the symbolic naming of albums. If you read "KMFDM's Symbols album" and knew exactly what I'm talking about then you're part of an in-group and everyone not in that in group standing with us in a record store in the 90s wouldn't have a clue which album we were talking about... if we were talking about the album over lunch and they went to a record shop to pick up a copy they wouldn't be able to find it without awkwardly asking a clerk.
  Obscure symbol album names create elitism that we don't need - you could easily find Nirvana's Nevermind but by naming their album... that untranscribable string of symbols they made it less accessible to new listeners.
- Everyone calls it "KMFDM - symbols" for a reason. I agree only in that it drives me insane when I would rip CDs and have to deal with trying to figure out what to name them. Also, fuck Leæther Strip for their stupid "æ" in the name.
- I don't think I'd call them assholes... more just shortsighted about the realities of selling an album, specifically in how you refer to the album both in speech and in writing.

Beyoncé is not a very good singer.
- She is, she just doesn't use it to full effect. The vocal range she uses in her releases is such a small sliver of what her voice can do.
- She's got talent, but if it weren't for Jay-Z, she would have had a career similar to Kelly Rowland.
  
  Kelly who?

Guns 'n' Roses sucks.
- I think that's pretty widely agreed upon - ditto with KISS.

There is very little bad music in the world, only wrong ways to "music" to it. Some is meant to be listened to, some danced to, some bonded over to, some created and some thought about.
- I like music with almost pornographic music videos that hit different on mute.
- its all about the context of how you listen to it as much as the music itself, there is no bad art, just bad listeners.

Trent Reznor's original version of Hurt is better than Johnny Cash's version, which is terrible. I strongly dislike him bringing in the religious aspect by changing the lyrics and I just plain don't like his voice.
Yeah, I said it.

Most unpopular among my friends would be something along the lines of "metal is the best music" or "electronic music/techno sux, because it's all the same".
I like to troll a bit with them, but honestly I do like me some metal. It's so variable, there's progressive Opeth on one side, brutal machinegun Cannibal Corpse on the other, insane meatgrinder Mayhem on the third and groovy jumpy Pantera on fourth. And we're only at the beginning. But I get that some (most) people find it all too heavy. Their loss, not mine ;-)
- Gawd, I lurrrrve me some Opeth.
  
  It's insane how versatile their music is. One song is calm prog like Pink Floyd the other is really metal. And the singer rocks, going through all this like it's nothing.

I can't stand Queen, even though I have respect for their skill. (my highschool had an "arts program" and they bombarded us with musicals, Queen, and some sort of Queen musical)
NIN does nothing for me, and I've tried several albums and owned one. It's just.. nothing soup.
95% of music in any genre is garbage, but you can find the 5% gems if you go looking for it.
- Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap.
  I like to combine it with the Pareto Principle and hold that 80% of everything is crap.
- I have no idea why, but I used to hate Queen songs when I was younger. Nowadays I've flipped around to enjoying them. No clue why!
- My friends and I have recently been doing some shared tours through particular artists back catalogue. As a result I recently went through all of Queen’s back catalogue; there is a lot of shit in there. I didn’t realise that their hits, while stand out, were spread out over such a long catalogue of odd mediocre songs.

SRV is the Steven Segal of guitar.

The Kinks are better than The Beatles
- The Chats are better than The Beatles

Coldplay are boring
- Not an unpopular opinion
  
  Really? I'm glad someone shares it, but I'm not sure how many of us there are given how often I happen to hear their songs around.

Nickleback - Silver Side Up is a pretty decent album. Sure, that song is annoying and extremely overplayed, but I quite like the rest of the album.
I must admit that beyond that particular album I don't know much about them, so if you claim that the rest of their discography is garbage, I'll take your word for it.
- IMO early Nickleback up to about the early/mid 2000s was awesome, I still listen to their older stuff once in a while. Someday is their best song IMO and its from the late 90s (I think?)
- I discovered them through "Savin' Me" and I unironically love that song (and its music video) to bits. Even if some of the lyrics are a bit flimsy and dramatic, the song overall is so emotionally powerful. Same goes for "Hero" (packaged with the first Spidey movie). Strip away some of the ear candy in the Kroeger production and they both still hold up as beautiful songs.
  
  "Savin' me" is a great song! "Far Away" is a great soppy love song as well.
  Nickleback have nothing groundbreaking, but they have some enjoyable radio-friendly rock songs.

I generally don't have any interest in music... I mean, is fine some of the time, but I certainly wouldn't go out of my way for it. I also don't think it should be allowed as "background noise" in public places. It can have profound effects on your mood without you even realizing it's happening.
- I can't even remember how many times the wrong music as background noise has screwed with my mood for no reason

ABBA = shite.
IMO, obviously.
- Got any more room on that hill?
  
  Sure, grab a seat, friend!
- But the A*Teens ROCK!
  
  The what now?

Bomfunk MC's Freestyler is the peak of musical creation. (Ok, prolly no but I love coming back to it.)
(Fwiw, initially I read "triple !" (i.e. !!! or ChkChkChk) in your op comment and thought why?, that's a great band.)

The Beatles are pretty lowbrow compared to the hype given to them which is based mostly on charisma instead. If they made their song debuts on The Masked Singer, not nearly as many people would be particularly drawn to them.
- I say that if you want to appreciate the Beatles for the first time in 2024, spend a solid month listening to nothing but popular music from the 1950's (and earlier), then put on one of their albums.
  The older music is fine and enjoyable, but you'll hear why, the Beatles still get regular airplay today, and e.g. Pat Boone does not.
  
  If that's the reason, where does the idolization come from? Even as human individuals, the Beatles members are worshipped to the point they can save a dying business by talking about it. It's suggestive of the fact there's some unspoken gimmick at play.

People who suscribe to Spotify don't give a shit about musicians.
- As a musician and spotify subscriber, can confirm
- I think I understand your sentiment, but I don't think that's a fair take. I subscribe to Spotify, but I also go to 6-10 shows per year, buy merch directly. The music industry has changed, and live entertainment is king. I'm sure you have an opinion for the stance you're presenting, but that's statement is pretty inflammatory by itself.
  
  Yeah, it is an unpopular opinion lol.
  The fact is Spotify and Youtube music are the two worse streaming service. They give less to artists, the pool system only benefits artists that are signed to majors, and on top of that they give 100 effing millions to stupid Joe Rogan. You are paying money to Joe, not artists.
  If you need a streaming service, Tidal is the only ok option. Same price but 3x more for artist. But the best thing you can do is: buy album from bandcamp (90% to the artists), go to shows, buy merch, contribute directly to the artists in any way.
  I'm actually teaching in a college to young musicians, who all want to live of their music but pretty much none of them has ever even bought an album. I don't think I've ever convinced a single one to switch to Tidal.
- You can't have it both ways.
  Piracy took off because the ability to outright download any song you want within minutes was so much better than anything else available. Spotify dominated because it allowed for streaming, which again, much easier than downloading and wading through lists to get the right song.
  Ultimately, utility wins. If I care about musicians, what is my option? I could download from Bandcamp, but that reduces the usability of just streaming, and most artists aren't on Bandcamp. I could support their gigs, but frankly, Spotify does a decent job of this already by telling me when my favourite artists are touring. Any alternative needs to be as usable, but public about giving a shit about musicians.
  With all that said, I'd say that most people don't give a shit about musicians anyway. Hundreds of artists have come to prominence during the Spotify era, and they seem to be doing just fine, and while I'm being purposely facetious in this example, when most people are struggling in their own jobs due to rising costs, they probably don't have fucks to give about musicians.
- I can confirm, however, recently I have dusted off my old ipod classic and moved it and not I am buying most of my music and storing it there (I say most because there are some songs that I already had CDs and just ripped then... and a few that where acquired by other means 🏴‍☠️)

Many of my friends get super personally offended when I say that phish isn’t a great band
- Phish is great at what they do, I just find their music dreadfully boring and long

Geezer Butler is the most important member of Black Sabbath.

That punk died in the early 80's.
- That Portlandia sketch with Jello Biafra waking up from a coma to the Yuppies having won was probably the only really good and well thought out sketch on that show.
  
  Sir, this is not a "Your unpopular opinion about sketch shows" thread.
  Please leave without making a scene.
  
  The Simpsons bootleg one is pretty good imo.
  
  Portlandia sketch with Jello Biafra
  I thought it was 2 "No more yuppies."

The average quality of music in the world doubled the day Kurt Cobain solved his headache problem. Grunge was a disease caused by not changing your clothes, and using too much heroin instead of learning to play instruments and sing.
And, I'm peak GenX and a Seattleite.
- Alright, Courtney, no need to shit on his grave.
  
  Also, Courtney Love is 10x the musician Kurt ever was, listen to any track on America's Sweetheart and you'll break your heart. It's better that she's free.
- That's kind of a dark way to word that, damn.

Not unpopular, just weird: the way to find your favorite song is keeping one as an alarm sound without starting to actively hate it.
- Yup, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine theme song as my alarm, 5 years and counting
- Next level: set it as your boss' phone ring tone.
  
  This has been my alarm for 3 years and I still love it
- I feel like that's impossible for me.
  However, I set my ringtone forever ago and it never annoys me when it comes on. I like hearing it. It's a chiptune from a keygen of soft software I pirated as a teen lmao.