Why do we stop listening to new music as we get older?


Hello all,

Sometimes I find myself wondering why there is so little newer music in my library. Now, before you start in with rants about "New music is terrible!", I found this rather interesting article on the topic. (SFW)

 

With the maturing of streaming as a music delivery platform, and the ease of being able to surf new artists and music, it might be time to break my old listening habits and find some newer artists.

Happy listening. 

 

128x128musicfan2349

Showing 2 responses by cd318

It's important to remember that searching out new music always takes a little time and effort.

It's all too easy to find good music at the start of your journey (be it via cassette, 45, LP, CD or the internet) but as time goes by, the searching will inevitably reap fewer and lesser rewards.

Take for example the world of popular music.

Once you've explored the back catalogues of the likes of Elvis, Buddy Holly, Phil Spector, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Dylan, Donovan, Bacharach, ISB, the Doors, the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, ELO, Bowie, Pink Floyd, Paul Simon, Bob Marley, Sex Pistols, Joy Division, Springsteen, the Smiths, R.E.M. Morrissey etc it gets progressively more and more difficult to find the same quality of 'musical hit' that initially fuelled your drive towards this wonderful journey of musical exploration.  

 

Anyone familiar with US and UK singles chart history from 1954 to 2023 will understand that it was those earliest decades, particularly between 1960 and 1980 were the best hunting grounds for classic songs.

Songs that may well be timeless.

I haven't given up on new popular music being made today but neither am I prepared to put much of my increasingly more precious time and effort in towards exploring it: not when the musical bang per buck for me is so pitifully low in comparison to what's already gone before.

As we keep reminding ourselves, this should mainly all be about enjoyment, shouldn't it?

 

@musicfan2349 

Although it would seem that some of are still enjoying new music there doesn't seem to be any consensus as to who today's best music acts might be.

If you look at the covers of today's bighest music magazines (Mojo, Uncut, Rolling Stone etc) you are still more likely to the likes of Springsteen, Young, U2, Zeppelin, Dylan, Madonna, Hendrix, Beatles etc.

If you read the music section of audio magazines then you are likely to find more interesting articles on reissues of classic albums than any new groundbreaking current release.

As @frankmc195 said earlier, 1980 seemed to be a key year when it came to a slowing down in musical development.

By the end of 1980 we had seen more or less every significant musical genre as well as the murder of John Lennon just after his return to recording.

 

@musicfan2349 

I don't think any of us are in any serious danger of getting jaded in our tastes. Most of us here seem to be finding plenty of 'new' music to enjoy.

New to us, that is.

Until some current artist (other than Roger Waters, Eric Clapton or Morrissey etc) is willing to stick their head above the parapet and speak up as to what is happening in the world today, then their music can hardly be called current.

Given the enormous social changes we've all been witness to these last 20 years or so I think it's fairly safe to say most of the music produced in that in that time has little more than ephemeral value.

Here today, gone tomorrow.