How to politely tell someone you don’t like their music.
*disclaimer* If someone plays you music by Pitbull you are allowed to tell them to fuck off. Okay? Sweet, here we go…
Resist the urge to fully explain why your soul shrivels every time to hear said song/artist/’unfinished production’.
Even if it’s a lie/half-truth; tell the person what you like about it. Avoid making the half-ass compliment into a disguised insult.
Wrong: “I like how you made that guitar sound so dissonant, dude…. OH that’s just your playing style… right.”
Right: “I like that one sound that happened just there” (when in doubt use ambiguity)
Then drop the hint that you’re not into it. Be gentle.
Wrong: “Dude this song makes me feel like Mugabe is taking a dump in my ear.”
Right: “This isn’t really my style hey.”
If they try and show you another song in the same style to try and convert you, humour them. A quality of one who has taste in music is one who listens objectively. If someone tries to get you into Beck and you hate him because they showed you a song from ‘Stereopathic Soulmanure’ you missed out, man.
After you have been shown the music you now want to avoid forever, you can stop the aural torture by requesting to show your weird/commercially brainwashed friend some music that you like. It’s only fair.