Music T Friday: U2: Overcoming Aversion

In my second year of university, there was a group of girls living on my floor in residence who had a regular Wednesday routine of finish class at 3:30, start drinking at 4, and blare U2 tunes on repeat until 6:30 when they would start getting "dressed" for Pit Night at the Student Union Building pub, all the while singing along tunelessly and at the top of their lungs to their Bono soundtrack.

For nearly 10 years after that, I had a knee-jerk "ick" reaction to U2's song "One", the most frequently played track by that group of girls.

Happily, I had outgrown the aversion enough by 2009 to find my way into the stadium when U2 came through Vancouver.

Some aversions are biological. I'm lactose-sensitive and allergic to cilantro. Milk and most Thai/Mexican/Indian and some Chinese food will make me physically ill although, thank goodness, not dead. Ginger isn't my friend either.

Other aversions are based on personal taste: I've never liked bell/green/red peppers and can't stand the texture of eggplant. This is not for trying. I know the health benefits and nutritional value of these things and have made considerable efforts in the past to incorporate them into my diet but as much as I talk them up in my head, it just doesn't get past the gatekeepers in my mouth. There's a point where you just have to give it up. Or at least a prolonged rest. Tastes do change, after all. I once heard the fact stated once that every cell in a person is completely replaced every seven years (qualified by a biology student later that brain cells to not regenerate) and that includes taste buds. This explained why eight-year-old me, all of a sudden, no longer liked McDonald's Filet-O'Fish sandwiches (when previously, that was the only sandwich I'd eat) and stole my mother's cheeseburger instead. Spinach is another taste aversion that I've grown past. Other sensory choices that I think fall into this category are not so much from an aversion to one thing but a strong preference for another.

And then there are the aversions based on prior bad associated (like the U2 example) or perceived associated evils. I recognize that these are illogical and irrational aversions. In my case, a lot of these have to do with movie, television, music, and literature. My on-going aversion to the work of actress Charlize Theron is rooted in her slamming of Canada in an interview during the filming of Reindeer Games. Won't listen to Chris Brown (not that I ever did before). Boycotting Glee because of the Jonathan Coulton thing. These aversions are psychological and I realized awhile ago that if I were to collect and hold on to these aversions, I would be limiting my world a lot. So, like green peppers and eggplant, I try to re-evaluate my dislikes every so often. I got over Tom Cruise's "crazy" period that way and really quite enjoyed his recent movie Oblivion (it helped that Morgan Freeman was on board for that one too). I've mostly forgiven Kirsten Dunst for portraying a stoopid and useless version of Mary Jane Watson in the Raimi Spider-Man franchise and pretty much exhausted my ire with Sam Raimi for NOT killing her off on the bridge in the first movie (err.... SPOILER ALERT). Mind you, Raimi also had some good-will currency in the bank for his involvement with the Xena and Herc enterprises and his general connection to Bruce Campbell.

So, anyone got an aversion - past or current - to share? 

Interesting N.B. : Didn't get much return on my comment fishing expedition yesterday ... although page views took a massive jump. Might've been related to the labels I used. Will have to investigate that...