No doubt taste in music can change, but in my case I wonder if it didn’t really change so much as it became exposed via higher end gear (less distortion, greater frequency extension, flatter frequency response, etc.) When I listen to music I want to be emotionally and/or spiritually moved and to connect with the performer and their message. I suspect I may have always liked many more genres of music back in my younger years than realized, but hearing them through crap systems (car radio, elevator, dentist office, Good Housekeeping gear, $5 cartridge from Woolworth, boombox, etc.) the only aspect of music that COULD move me was the driving beat, thus R&R. It was the only "message" that could be disseminated from the gook that spewed from all of the crap gear to which I’d been exposed. A pattern certainly emerged for me as I got into higher end gear: better gear begot enjoyment of more performers and different styles of music, some of which I used to ignore, or even hate.
So, did my taste change, or did it simply become evident through better reproduction of sound? Maybe both? Hard to say.
So, did my taste change, or did it simply become evident through better reproduction of sound? Maybe both? Hard to say.