Like if you don't like something right away but suspect that it's actually really good will you devote yourself to making the effort to appreciate and learn to enjoy the beauty in what you're missing?

I've been trying that during the past months. I thought it'd be a great idea to check out entire albums by bands that weren't neccessarily my kind of music but I still liked hearing on radio.
Turned out they only have those 2 or 3 songs I actually like.

That made me intensify my devotion to 80s music, although I must admit that the experiment isn't finished yet.
However there's more Glam and New Wave on my PC now than ever before.

Absolutely. Of course the music must be up to a certain level for serious consideration. However, if it isn't up to that level I'll at least try to figure out what specifically I don't like about it.

I think a lot of people will struggle with books that they don't understand because they feel they can get something out of the experience but with music if they don't like it or get it they just give up. I think people should offer the same kind of dedication to music that they do to literature. They should invest in developing an appreciation of wider genres. People don't take music seriously enough.

No. If I don't like a particular song, I leave it. In time I will most likely return to it and it may have grown on me, but I don't recall ever finally 'loving' a song after not liking it.
For example, my buddy gave me a Tones On Tail album. He said, "Check this out! This is excellent!" Since it was a gift from a friend I really tried to get into it. To this day, I can't help it: it sucks.

You know Zolaman, that reminds me of something...

Yeah, if I don't like something right away, unless it's by an artist that has proven themselves in the past, why listen to it again anytime soon. Everyone still gets their chance, but listening to something I don't like over and over again in hopes that one time I'll like it can qualify as cruel and unusual.

What inspired me to start this thread was comments made in the recent Nick Cave thread.

No!

if overcoming a particular singer's voice constitutes working towards it then i'm guilty of it for at least 2 notable groups (radiohead and jane's addiction). i'll admit that i couldn't stand thom yorke or perry farrell the first times i heard them but i liked the music and could recognize they had talent, i just had to get used to their voices.

on the other hand had i thought the music sucked as well as the voices on those first few listens i would have never bothered with either group no matter what people said.