Dear Niyata:

He was mean because he has issues, just like he told you. He is angry about personal things in his personal life. Maybe he is angry at a person but does not express his anger to that person. Maybe it is a parent, maybe it is co workers, maybe it is his neighbor. He is too intimidated to express it to the relevant person, for some reason.

On the other hand, he is not intimidated by you (maybe because you are not an assertive person), so he let you have it.

No, you were not wrong. On the other hand, once a discussion becomes an argument; once it becomes abusive (as it had), at the very beginning of it, it is best to disengage and stop the conversation-turned-argument. Reason is- it is no longer about the topic (music in this case) and it is nothing but venting one’s anger at other people channeled into the “topic.”

Once it turned to an argument, it was no longer about the topic or about you-

anita