Nobody likes my music!

Have you ever found music that is just so perfect that it doesn't even make sense to you that other people don't love it like you do? What do you think they're hearing when they're listening to poppy surface level stuff? Do you feel like they're missing out?

1. Yeah, literally everything I listen to, but I've just never really been concerned with what others think of what I enjoy in the first place, or support, for that matter. I would've probably never fully enjoyed anything if I was focused on someone else's opinions. To each his own, it's best this way.

2. I have no damn clue.

3. Not even close. I really don't want to sound like one of those "elitist" farts but in all honesty the stuff I like simply isn't targeted at the average person, it requires some understanding on their end in order to fully enjoy the art, and there's not many people who would even give it any chance but just a first listen, which is most often also the last, never to return or explore any further. It isn't something "fluffy, nice, and easy" to digest.

That being said, I think we all need to adapt to any kind of new music we discover. Indeed, certain genres truly are an acquired taste and not something that just instantly clicks, and we all have probably been there at some point.

For instance, in my early teens I was a rocker and I used to listen to bands such as AC/DC and really enjoyed the stuff, but I also listened to it due to peer pressure, to an insignificant degree as a number of classmates also enjoyed it and I wanted to be part of the group, although we've never got along in the first place. A few years later however I had become dissatisfied with it and looked for more "extreme" stuff, something that pushed the limits from most if not all points of view. I must also mention that "extreme" is a term that I have since come to loathe as there's no such thing in art and I only see it as a label (or stigma) thrown by people who either don't understand its concept and ideas or ideals, or simply want to look "edgy & cool".

Thus, I found black metal first through bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Darkthrone. The early 2000s era of Dimmu was mostly an instant click, but Darkthrone took a while to understand. My mind and ears just couldn't comprehend why would anyone listen to something so raw, but with time my interest in it had only increased and it slowly "revealed its mysteries to me", to say so. Therefore, it wasn't a change that just happened over night. I have also done some research on its origins just so that I was aware of them, but I've never been interested in the bullshit that happened in its early days. I also liked the imagery and how the artists were dressed and the "militant" attitude and spirit so I eventually bought some shirts, black + dark blue pants, and a pair of knee-high black leather boots and I used to wear them a lot, but my interest gradually shifted mostly to the art and much less to the image, which is why without my kvlt outfit I look just like the average person and have short hair. I still very much love dressing up in my kvlt outfit but I no longer have as much spare time in my hands to do it. Since I'm not a "party animal" I'm not exactly into concerts either, I prefer listening to music in my headset or CD player instead. Music & the meaning behind it > image, no doubt about this.

Around the same time I discovered bm I also discovered death metal which was less hostile in feeling and atmosphere and consequently, more accessible. And yet, it also took a while to get used to it. For instance, some of my first dm albums were Decapitated's Winds of Creation, Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness, and Cannibal Corpse's Tomb of the Mutilated. The first two had grown on me rather quickly from the first listens, but Chris' voice on Tomb of the Mutilated gave me chills . And that's how it all started, slow, with small steps.

Due to various bm band's incorporation of other elements, often non-metal, I have also gotten into other kinds of music, most notably dark (+ ritual) ambient, folk, epic stuff, neoclassical, and even jazz. And without their influence, even some synthwave, you can't just listen to only one genre after all, no matter how ardent your passion for it is.

Now for a fun fact, out of all my former classmates who were rockers at the time none of them have maintained an interest in the music after finishing the 8th grade, which doesn't surprise me at all (and shouldn't surprise anyone else either) since they listened to the music out of peer pressure and to be cool instead of genuinely liking or being passionate or hungry for the craft. I'm basically the only one who has progressed to metal + other genres. Once you take a serious enough interest in something you'll never give it up. Things may or may not change in the future, yet you'll never just "abandon" it.