Bad taste he exhibited initially? Surely not! (8)
I believe the answer is:
aesthete
'bad taste he exhibited initially? surely not' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'bad taste he exhibited initially?' is the wordplay.
'bad' indicates an anagram.
'initially?' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'initially' mean this).
The first letter of 'exhibited' is 'e'.
'taste'+'he'='tastehe'
'tastehe' is an anagram of 'aesthet'.
'aesthet'+'e'='AESTHETE'
(Other definitions for aesthete that I've seen before include "Person who appreciates the beautiful" , "Someone claiming special knowledge of beauty" , "Person with great sensitivity towards the arts and the beautiful" , "Arts lover" , "Person with deep interest in art and beauty" .)