How does one develop "taste?"
Listen to a lot of music
>>64164601
And have an emotional life.
Listen to music. Listen to music like the music you like. Continue branching out. Get suggestions from other music fans.
Listen to music, and decide what you like and what you don't like.
Listen to this and pretend that you loved it
Listen to a lot of music/watch a lot of films/read a lot of books
The ones you like are your taste
Maybe read about or listen to other peoples' opinions to learn how to articulate your own thoughts to yourself and others, and also to get insight into the good qualities of shit you don't like and shortcomings of the shit you do like
P easy
Listen to artists posted on obscure blogs and SOME artists featured on Pitchfork. Avoid "Best New Music." Listen to hip-hop both ironically and in earnest. Keep doing it until the two states are indistinguishable. Trawl through bandcamp looking for the coolest looking album covers and download them. Try to stick to electronic music; rock music is for dads. Find a lowkey festival and look up the artists at the bottom of the line-up. Drop them if they reach the top. Listen to music popular in other countries but never your own. If a band has a strong fanbase on 4chan, Tumblr or Reddit, avoid them. Dress the part.
>>64164601
This, but there is a difference between active and passive listening. I have a co-worker who always has headphones on listening to skrillex and seether, I can only assume he's a passive listener...