Knowledge in a subject changes taste

[Curtybob]

I've noticed that alot of musicians think that the music everyone likes is no longer palettable to them. Same thing with pro chefs. Also, home decorators always think that the general public's tastes are horribly tacky.

So howcome this happens? How does education in a field that is based on the taste of the public, drive the educated away from the public taste?

 

[KsToaDangr]

I partially blame it on oversaturation. You study something for a long enough time to become quite knowledable in it and at least part of you is never going to want to see it again. Try doing inventory at an adult video store for 4 months, then watch one of the movies. It gets old real quick.

 

[Pilgrim]

Part of it is an ego-driven urge to demonstrate that your tastes are better than everyone's "common" tastes because you're educated and ever so sophisticated. Part of it may be a reluctance to admit that many "common" things are pretty darn good, even if you did spend a lot of time studying them. And to give credit where it's due, in the process of becoming more educated you normally do learn nuances about the topic of study which interest you and incline you to change your preferences.

It's just that those who are highly educated about some topic can be such undiplomatic pains in the ass about their preferences.

 

[Mesmerize-16]

It's like asking how come most musicians can't stomach The Jonas Brothers? (I know I can't.)

It's hard to have respect for an artist, etc. if they appear to have no talent at what they're doing (see the above example). Obviously that is a debatable example, but IMO the Jonas Brothers/Miley Cyrus/HSM is more a result of good fluff-writing by producers and good promotion by the Disney Channel than any skill/talent on the part of the persons in question. Not saying that they aren't talented, because they obviously have to have some talent to get to where they are. Just saying that the product they put out and market seems to be pretty mind- and talent-less.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I used to play in guitar-based bands but after a while you realised every song was just the same few chords regurgitated over and over - now I just hear that droning E string and switch off!

So my taste changed to Jazz and other types of music where there is more variety and musical colour!

 

[wdinc01]

I think some of it is tolerance, for lack of a better word. You get into it, do everything on a basic level, and then you move to a more advance level to try and capture the magic that you had from the first level.

Like say chocolate. You eat a Hershey bar, and you think it's good but you're tired of it. So then you start getting into gourmet chocolate. You realize that there's something even more advance, of higher quality and so forth, so you pursue that, hoping to get that same feeling from your first Hershey bar. But because of that, you just don't get that same feeling from a Hershey bar as most other people do.

Now I won't say that people have terrible taste in whatever. Although I very much admit that I don't listen to a lot of new music on the radio. People's taste in music very much is different from mine, and I've learned just to let people be people and don't try to preach about whatever band I just discovered. A lot of it is better when it's self discovered, or at least for me.

 

[Tsal]

So howcome this happens? How does education in a field that is based on the taste of the public, drive the educated away from the public taste?

I would think that typically the masses take mostly what's being brought to them, and as it's often simplified and catered for large audiences, this doesn't completely match people's individual tastes.

Once you get deeper into something, your knowledge of the processes involved gets better, and you can tailor stuff to match your tastes exactly. Also, as your understanding deepens, you start to appreciate subtle variances, which are usually missing from mass productions. It's not good for business to design high quality products, if the target audience doesn't understand it and isn't willing to pay extra for it.