Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste

by Nolan Gasser

Overview

From the chief architect of the Pandora Radio’s Music Genome Project comes a definitive and groundbreaking examination of why we respond to music the way we do.

Everyone loves music. But what is it that makes music so universally beloved and have such a powerful effect on us?

In this sweeping and authoritative book, Dr. Nolan Gasser—a composer, pianist, and musicologist, and the chief architect of the Music Genome Project, which powers Pandora Radio—breaks down what musical taste is, where it comes from, and what our favorite songs say about us.

Dr. Gasser delves into the science, psychology, and sociology that explains why humans love music so much; how our brains process music; and why you may love Queen but your best friend loves Kiss. He sheds light on why babies can clap along to rhythmic patterns and reveals the reason behind why different cultures around the globe identify the same kinds of music as happy, sad, or scary. Using easy-to-follow notated musical scores, Dr. Gasser teaches music fans how to become engaged listeners and provides them with the tools to enhance their musical preferences. He takes readers under the hood of their favorite genres—pop, rock, jazz, hip hop, electronica, world music, and classical—and covers songs from Taylor Swift to Led Zeppelin to Kendrick Lamar to Bill Evans to Beethoven, and through their work, Dr. Gasser introduces the musical concepts behind why you hum along, tap your foot, and feel deeply. Why You Like It will teach you how to follow the musical discourse happening within a song and thereby empower your musical taste, so you will never hear music the same way again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250057228
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	05/03/2022
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	720
Sales rank:	311,153
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

NOLAN GASSER is a critically acclaimed composer, pianist, and musicologist. Most notably, he is the architect of Pandora Radio’s Music Genome Project and the chief musicologist from its founding in 2000. Dr. Gasser lectures widely on the nature of musical taste and the intersections of music, science, and culture. He received his Ph.D. in musicology from Stanford. He lives with his wife in Petaluma, California.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: In the Ear of the Beholder
1. The Rise and Rebirth of the Savage Beast
PART ONE: A GIFT OF THE GODS
2. Under the Musical Hood: An Orientation
3. Melody: The Face of Music
Interlude A: The Evolution of Musical Taste—Music and Anthropology
PART TWO: BAR BANDS IN ANDROMEDA
4. Harmony: The Internal Body of Music
5. Rhythm: The Movement of Music
Interlude B: It's the Overtones, Stupid—Music, Math, and Physics
PART THREE: UNITY AND HETEROGENEITY
6. Form: The Shape of Music
7. Sound: The Personality of Music
Interlude C: The Singing Cerebrum—Music and the Brain
PART FOUR: Musical Metaphors
8. The Musical Genotype
9. The Pop Genotype
Interlude D: At the Cellular Level—Music and Cell Biology
PART FIVE: PARLEZ-VOUS GAMELAN?
10: The Rock Genotype
11: The Jazz Genotype
Interlude E: Listening with an Accent—Culture and Musical Taste
PART SIX: QUESTIONING THE OMNIVORE
12: The Hip Hop Genotype
13. The Electronic (EDM) Genotype
Interlude F: Staking Your Claim—Intraculture and Musical Taste
PART SEVEN: WHO ARE YOU, ANYWAY?
14. The World Music Genoptype
15. The Classical Genotype
Interlude G: Mind over Music—Psychology and Musical Taste
PART EIGHT: YOUR HIT PARADE
16. The What and Why of Musical Taste
Epilogue: Living with Music

Editorial Reviews

03/11/2019

The mystery of why music moves people gets a stimulating survey in this expansive treatise. Musicologist and composer Gasser, who headed Pandora Radio’s Music Genome Project, investigates how music’s objective properties underlie subjective preferences in a deep dredge that covers the physics of sonic vibrations; principles of melody, harmony, and rhythm; the science of how the brain processes music and connects it with emotions; sociological theories of musical preferences, class, and fan subcultures; and a disquisition on biology and “the conceptual link between pluripotent stem cells and theme and variation.” Woven in are analyses of musical genres—pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop, electronica, world music, and classical—with exegeses of representative scored examples. (An ability to read music will help in understanding these sections.) Gasser’s writing is passionate and generally accessible, though he sometimes stumbles over the inherent difficulty of conveying music through musicology. (A discussion of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” notes the “unusually small ambitus (range)—only a 5th (B-F-sharp), with most of it limited to the top 3rd (D-F-sharp)” before suggesting “there may just be something about that simple, bayou groove that keeps its fans... coming back.”) The book is a sprawl, but serious music lovers will find much fascinating science and lore to browse. (Apr. )

Publishers Weekly

Why You Like It resembles an earlier form of musical technology, the vinyl long-playing record, with the hits on Side One and the experimental stuff on Side Two. Erudite and educational...as well as an engaging overview of the development of Western music, with fascinating speculative “Interludes” about music and evolutionary psychology." —The Wall Street Journal

"One of those rare books that both geeks and casual listeners can enjoy, combining science, art and sheer enthusiasm to explain why you might love bluegrass while your significant other prefers the blues." —The Washington Post

"A work of staggering erudition and breadth. In taxonimizng the responses music elicits, Gasser identifies the peak high as 'frisson,' characterized by 'thrills and chills"...Why You Like It is a gateway to this exalted state." —The Economist

"A sprawling, packed-to-the-brim study of the art and science of music, as monumental and as busy as a Bach fugue... Gasser's enterprise has a pleasingly mad-scientist feel to it, one that will attract music theory geeks as much as neuroscientists, anthropologists, psychologists, and Skynyrd fans." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A marvelous overview of the science and sources behind why we're attracted to some pieces of music and not others, by a generous and thoughtful guide and a leading musical thinker of our day.” —Daniel J. Levitin, cognitive psychologist, musician, and author of This Is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs

"It is obvious that music is the 'fastest' art form; two notes and something invisible and magical happens. How great then to have a book that helps us understand that mysterious, but fundamental alchemy." —Ken Burns, award-winning documentary filmmaker

"Why You Like It is a beautifully written, fresh, and articulate explanation of the science and art of music that will greatly expand your understanding, knowledge, and love of all music. It doesn't get any better than this." —Steve Miller, famed rock musician and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee

"A remarkable exploration of emotion, psychology, culture, and the musical working of the human brain. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the effects of music on the body and soul of the human experience." —Kurt Elling, Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist

“This thought-provoking book is destined to become a classic. Gasser’s stimulating insights into music are required reading for anyone who not only likes music, but also desires to understand why its companionship to our species has such ancient origins.” —Donald Johanson, pioneering paleoanthropologist and author of the National Book Award winner Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins

“Dr. Gasser clearly had a ball trying to figure out why you like it, meaning that his readers will too. Neither the science of musical preference nor the intricacies of music theory prevent him from telling the story of musical taste in plain, accessible, and infectiously enthusiastic language.” —Elizabeth Helmuth Margulis, musicologist, cognitive scientist, and author of On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind

“In Why You Like It, Dr. Gasser shares with the world the musicological insights and thinking that helps make Pandora so great. His command of the myriad musical components we all respond to, as well as his profound love for music, shines through on every page.” —Will Glaser, cofounder and initial CTO of Pandora Radio

"As much as I love music it has always mystified me. Nolan Gasser is brilliant at explaining the beautiful machinery behind your favorite songs without taking away any of the magic." —Conan O'Brien

"A fascinating exploration into our musical taste from Rachmaninov to Snoop Dogg. There is something for everyone here!" —Malcolm McDowell

“Dr. Gasser takes us by the hand, marches us gently through the universe of musical knowledge, and delivers to us a feast of ideas as to why we are drawn to our favorites. It is a tour de force!” —Michael S. Gazzaniga, "father" of cognitive neuroscience and author of The Consciousness Instinct

From the Publisher

A big advantage to listening to Nolan Gasser’s deep dive into music—how the brain processes it, theories of preferences, and even a quick dip into music therapy—is the inclusion of countless musical clips for illustration. As he explains melody, harmony, and rhythm, and develops seven prototype fans for several genres—including rock, jazz, world music, and classical—the clips make his discussions a lot clearer than than they would be if one were merely seeing the scores on the page. This long audiobook ranges from straightforward to incredibly technical. Gasser paces it slowly, regardless of the complexity of the material, so sometimes his delivery is too slow. But he can be quite charming—as when he recounts his childhood dispute over whether Queen is better than Kiss. A.B. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile

A big advantage to listening to Nolan Gasser’s deep dive into music—how the brain processes it, theories of preferences, and even a quick dip into music therapy—is the inclusion of countless musical clips for illustration. As he explains melody, harmony, and rhythm, and develops seven prototype fans for several genres—including rock, jazz, world music, and classical—the clips make his discussions a lot clearer than than they would be if one were merely seeing the scores on the page. This long audiobook ranges from straightforward to incredibly technical. Gasser paces it slowly, regardless of the complexity of the material, so sometimes his delivery is too slow. But he can be quite charming—as when he recounts his childhood dispute over whether Queen is better than Kiss. A.B. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile

★ 2019-02-17

A sprawling, packed-to-the-brim study of the art and science of music, as monumental and as busy as a Bach fugue.

Why does one person like the Rolling Stones and another like Celine Dion? Why does anyone like the Eagles? Are there human universals at play in musical preferences? Gasser, the polymathic mind behind Pandora Radio's Music Genome Project, probes the "sources, nature, and implications of our own, personal musical taste," a taste that cannot always be easily reduced to buy- or listen-next algorithms. Music has features that are essentially invariant among human cultures: It is shaped by rhythm, "the overriding parameter wherein the listener gains an intuitive understanding of the music as a whole," and it comprises melody, harmony, and other sonic elements. But more individually, our musical taste is shaped by all sorts of factors, socio-economic and psychological, that sometimes anticipate and sometimes follow "our membership in intracultures," whether goth or mod or lite-classical. Gasser's overarching aim is not just descriptive. In his forays into all imaginable corners of the musical world, he seeks to soften prejudices and broaden horizons, posing exercises and suggestions such as identifying syncopation in hip-hop tunes and appreciating the power of pre-Islamic chants sung by Saharan women "aimed at bringing the listener into a state of ecstasy." The author's body of examples—backed by a vast online site—is fittingly broad-ranging, featuring tunes from "Old MacDonald" to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Leonard Bernstein's Candide overture, all of which have something to say about why we like what we like. And while there's no disputing taste, as the old Latin tag has it, there is much to know about how our psyches play in our musicality, what recreational drugs can contribute to the enjoyment of a Grateful Dead song, and the many ways in which music can make us better and happier people.

Like Nathan Myhrvold's like-minded explorations of cooking, Gasser's enterprise has a pleasingly mad-scientist feel to it, one that will attract music theory geeks as much as neuroscientists, anthropologists, psychologists, and Skynyrd fans.

Kirkus Reviews