It's cool to hate popular music. He probably likes obscure metal bands from Sweden no one has ever heard of. That's much cooler.

*Edit* I'm an idiot, you sir are a gentleman and a scholar.

"Pike was mean to characters I liked!" Character development happens, it's a fucked up world they were thrust in to. He believed what he was doing is what needed to be done to protect HIS people. This is what the flashbacks are trying to show you, try not to be blinded by him being a meanie.