Why does music have such universal appeal?

[Theophane]

But, Jklint, that would be lying by omission.

If you see Lewis Thomas in the afterlife, you can bring him that concern.

[Jklint]

What about the worst? Bach is nice. But it's not the whole story by a million light years.

...of course you're right! But we can't send the "whole story" out there can we and would we really want to? We're forced to pick and choose! In the case of Lewis Thomas he chose what he would consider the best and damn good choice it was since there is a kind of abstraction and order in Bach which exists almost nowhere else. It's a kind of sound which announces both simplicity and its elaboration into astounding webs of complexity summarized in one word "Universality", the term typically chosen to define Bach.

[Hereandnow]

I'm just worried that sending Bach out to proclaim our virtue gives the impression that we are so evolved and civilized, but then some unsuspecting alien lands her vehicle in the back yard of the likes of Ariel Castro. I think we should be up front: Bach and the Spanish Inquisition.

[boagie]

There are very few people who do not like some sort of music so what is it in us that it is appealing to? I can't think of any other form of art that has anywhere near the popularity that music has. Maybe music simulates some basic emotional stimulus or other, I really don't know.

Commonality of enjoying would come from, one would suppose, ones common biology, after words its a bit of an adventure. Certainly it has been stated that music touches the cords of the human emotions more than any other art form. Perhaps we have some biologist and/or physiologists in our mists whom we can lean on to enlighten us as to why we so enjoy music.