What is music even?

Firstly, excuse the fat body of text, blogger is blocked at work so I wrote this on my phone...

Musical taste, much like food, is something different for everyone. Everyone has been through a phase of loving a type so much that anyone who says anything against it makes you rage. But why?

I played in a metal band for the better part of 8 years and for those of you know know metalheads you'll know what they think of anything that isn't metal. In the same breath, metalheads love their music more than most people. The difference is they will refuse to accept. 

Anyway, I got to a point where I felt the need to explore other musical avenues. Enter pop, dance music, folk and acoustic, everything! I grew up on classic rock, radio music and adult contemporary and further on punk. I think that listening to music from the likes of The Eagles to Boyz II Men to Joe Cocker and Tina Turner planted a seed in my mind that would only grow into a colourful hybrid of a musical tree later in life.

Music is music in whatever form you may find it. It all has a beat, be it fast or slow, it all has melody whether it's technical or even a simple groove. It's the same, just packaged differently. It's a little sad that people can be so mad/annoyed at each other for liking different types of music. 

I'd like to put forward a little experiment. One day when you're home alone or one evening after work. Mail a bunch of your friends with different tastes in music. Say, 5 friends, get them to send you 2 or 3 of their favourite songs across their favourite genres or just their 3 favourite songs ever. Take those songs and add them to a playlist then find yourself a comfortable couch, bed, floor to zone out on, hit shuffle and just let it happen. If you don't have friends then go find a rad playlist of random music on YouTube. 

LISTEN to the music. Close your eyes and let your ears take you past the annoying voices and weird sounds you may hear at first and you will find something else, something that repeats an awesome groove, or beat or melody. Every song has it but we don't always hear it because we don't want to listen. The key to appreciating any type of music is to listen to everything in it. Find the drums, find the separate instruments and vocal harmonies. I guarantee you there will be something in there that will catch your ear and possibly even blow your mind.

I'd like to hear your results, so if you like please do leave a comment. I truly believe that everyone can like any type of music, or at least appreciate it for what it is without dismissing it completely - There's something good in everything.  
Let's share experiences, let's enjoy each other's brains.