Posted on 04/24/2015 7:16:06 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
For all of us, we have a musical sweet spot in our lives. It happens roughly between the ages of 14 and 24, from the time we enter high school to the time life begins to intrude with its demands of jobs, mortgages and families. During that period, almost nothing is more important to us than music. It not only becomes a personal obsession but something we use to proclaim our identity to the rest of the world.
But after about 24, we just don’t have the time (and often the interest) to indulge in our musical passions as much as we used to. Instead of spending hours seeking out what’s new and cool, we begin to fall back on the music of our youth for enjoyment, relaxation and comfort. New music just doesn’t do it for us anymore. We might even find ourselves saying “Music today isn’t anywhere as good as it used to be when I was young!” Then you go and yell at some kids on your lawn.
This is totally natural. Every generation has the biological right to believe that the music of their youth is the greatest music of all time. We also have a biological right (or at least a predilection) to have a musical mid-life crisis. The Guardian reports:
Some encouragement for all the 42-year-olds suddenly getting into Rihanna or Rudimental: at least your midlife crisis is less dangerous than buying an unsuitably-powerful motorbike.
Streaming music service Spotify has identified 42 as the age when many of its users rediscover the joys of current pop music, as part of research into how their tastes mature over time.
“During the teenage years, we embrace music at the top of the charts more than at any other time in our lives. As we grow older, our taste in music diverges sharply from the mainstream up to age 25, and a bit less sharply after that,” explained the company on its Insights blog.
“We’re starting to listen to ‘our’ music, not ‘the’ music. Music taste reaches maturity at age 35. Around age 42, music taste briefly curves back to the popular charts — a musical midlife crisis and attempt to harken back to our youth, perhaps?”
If it ain’t baroque — don’t fix it.
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When you realize the music of your youth can only be found on an “oldies” station.
I thought I would be hair metal forever, but when I turned 25 and moved to Seattle I rediscovered music again and really got into a more diverse range and latched onto the grunge scene there at the time, Now when I hear old 80s metal I kind of cringe. My 2 year younger brother is hopelessly stuck in 1984 and listens to WASP and Cinderella, agghh.
I’m approaching the seventh anniversary of my 29th birthday, so I’m going to need a “trigger warning” about removing old school hip hop from my weight training mix. Lol!
Music used to be good until that snot nosed upstart Hayden ruined it
I plea guilty. I am so ashamed.... or something....
Current pop music sucks donkey balls.
When I saw a Led Zeppelin CD advertised on an infomercial.
For the most part I left the FM dial around 1990. Nothing good was on so I flipped to the AM dial. Came across a local station with this crazy guy trashing Jesse Jackson. I thought to myself who is this guy? You can’t say that about JJ...you’ll get killed.
The broadcaster’s name: El Rushbo.
Then I discovered sports talk radio and it was AM all the way.
“Never going back again....”
LOL!
Put me on your list?
The fact is most Boomers go on liking the music they grew up with...the 50s, 60s, and 70s in my case. My wife is a little younger and likes a number of the 80s bands. In the last ten years we've been able to attend concerts by many of our rock and roll idols from our youth. We don't do rap.
Another thing I find amusing is the insistence of the same rock "experts/critics" that young people should only listen to music of their generation. The music I like goes back hundreds of years and includes old Celtic folk music, bluegrass, American folk, old country, the standards of the twenties, thirties, and forties, classical music (before the 20th century), and rock and pop from my era.
People are free to like whatever music appeals to them....old music or young music, and d...the people who tell you what music you're supposed to listen to because of your age.
Most of my listening these days is online to Otto’s Baroque Musick, a commercial-free stream.
Well does "Disco Polo" count?
Done :)
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