Taste in music is subjective

Taste in music is subjective, but it doesn't feel that way.

Multiple times I've seen a facebook thread bash a popular musician. It starts with something like "how can anyone possibly like _______?" Friends join in, hatred piles on. It gets nasty. A commenter may or may not suggest that this musician is the reason terrorists hate the US.

In one of these threads, the target was a band that I never liked much. But a group of my friends, all musicians who are pretty serious about music, worship the band. Then I saw someone from this group (not knowing his beloved band was attacked in the first example), ridicule another artist. And this artist, too, has fans who are thoughtful and serious about music.

Musical taste is subjective. And it is pretty immature to think it isn't. If a particular artist doesn't appeal to me, it doesn't mean he's shit and those who appreciate his music are misguided.

I understand that this is a challenge of our subjective consciousness. Some things we can consider objectively. One river appears wider than another. If there is disagreement about this, it can be measured. But to think that music can be compared the same way misses the complexity of human experience and the fact of our subjective consciousness.