When it comes to music, there are two types of cool. There is a brand of cool that is naturally lofty and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. People with that kind of cool know what’s good, they seek it out, and they point the way for everyone else. That kind of cool is to be admired. It is also rare.
For everyone else who aspires to be cool, there’s only one way to do it: at everyone else’s expense. These people elevate their own tastes by trampling all over everyone else’s. They tell you what you should like and punish you if you don’t. They do it well enough that other people buy into it and perpetuate a cycle of meanness that we’d all do better without.
When you hear anyone trashing someone else’s tastes in music, you can be sure that those people are that shitty, manufactured brand of cool. They’re not the real deal. If they really loved music and knew what was good, they wouldn’t need to tear other people’s music down.
I’m not saying that I’ve never trashed anyone’s music. I’ve been alive long enough to make some mistakes. But the older I get, the more I realize that what you like depends on your background, your mood, where you are in life, and who you’re with. Your likes change over time. That’s as it should be, so you don’t owe explanations or apologies to anyone for the music that you like. Ever.
So don’t try to be cool. Either you already are, or your attempts to be cool will only hurt you and/or other people. And anyway, being cool is a lot less important than listening to and enjoying whatever type of music you naturally like.