Music
Here's a breakdown of the most hated bands in America
by Mark Teo
February 28, 2014
Earlier this week, the Echo Nest—the music innovators who developed, among other things, the Infinite Jukebox—revealed which bands were most beloved in each U.S. state. There were certainly some surprises (who knew that Minnesota loved Metric?) and some home runs (New Jersey listens to more Springsteen than any other state, natch), but mostly, the results were eye-opening. Who knew that the U.S. had such regionalized tastes?
Well, as it turns out, if American states differ over who they love, they’re more or less united (eh? eh?) in who they hate. Engineer Randal Cooper has taken the time to sift through the data, though unlike Echo Nest, who used their own research, he used Spotify data. Using the top 50 artists on Spotify, he plotted where those artist are most despised geographically—and some of the answers are hilarious.
For example, Chicago’s R. Kelly—who’s seen plenty of controversy about his checkered past surrounding latest album Black Panties—is easily the most hated person in the U.S., with much of the disdain centred around the Pacific Northwest and the Midwestern states. For reasons that are unknown (read: completely obvious), bougie lumberjack Bon Iver is hated in Texas and neighbouring New Mexico. Meanwhile, Haim earned ire in places as disparate as Indiana and Florida; and inexplicably, Pennsylvania hates 2Pac.
Cooper didn’t stop there. He also plotted maps using Spotify’s top 100 (revealing that the south hates Bonobo) and one using the top 200 artists (showing that below the Mason-Dixie, they hate Hot Chip even more). Check out Cooper’s data on his Tumblr.
Haters always gonna hate.
