Teenagers and Musical Tastes

[oniman7]

As a teenager (17), I'm into all of the above other than maybe Skynyrd (and I'm in their hometown, so you better believe I hear about them... we have a venue here called Freebird that I believe was run by a band member's wife for a while).

Anyways, I also dig King Crimson, Black Sabbath, etc. but I'm into a lot of newer stuff like Avenged Sevenfold, Rage Against the Machine, Protest the Hero, Opeth, Symphony X, Katatonia.

I tend to like progressive music and hard rock

[oniman7]

My dad always played KoRn, Creed, Metallica, that kind of stuff in the car.

I got Guitar Hero 3 in 7th grade. Before that, I didn't listen to music. The occasional country/pop/rock that my mom listened to, but nothing else. I saw a Simpsons episode with a short clip of Metallica and I looked them up and thought "Heavy metal doesn't sound nearly as crazy as I thought it did". I guess because I grew up on stuff like KoRn. I never tried listening to it before then because I thought it was really heavy thrashy screamo stuff.

Guitar Hero absolutely encouraged me to pick up the guitar, and even after I got the guitar, hearing bass played on Guitar Hero is what solidified that I wanted to play the bass.

[Luke19Boarder]

Young people like classic rock because they aren't sick of it yet

[ReiPsaeg]

People still play guitar hero and rock band?

[JamesGoodall]

My dad has a collection or around 300 12" vinyls from the 60s to the 80s. It was the one thing than made him "cool" to me and not just a boring workaholic railroad executive. That and those songs were the start of a new era of music. Plus with a lot of the crap that's coming out today (catchy tho' it may be) classic rock just has musical talent, and more importantly, emotion that you just cant find in what's popular anymore.

[Session1969]

Originally Posted by GK Growl

Before you get the idea that this is an old fart bashing the music of the "yewts" (I'm sorry....yoooouuuths) thread, it is not. I'm 41 (old fart) and my son is soon to be 15. He's a bassist (starting on upright several years ago, now plays electric bass only in school Jazz band). He also plays a little guitar and keyboard but bass is his thing.

Now to the meat of the thread. I've noticed that in his circle of friends, the ones that are musical and into rock music absolutely love the music that I grew up with!! I couldn't imagine being his age and digging anything my dad liked. Aren't we supposed to hate our parents music? I actually like more modern rock than he does. As I'm typing this, I can hear him playing along to Orion by Metallica. Earlier it was Sweet Child O' Mine and Give it Away. Before that it was Skynrd!!

Here's a list of what he's playing this week:

Orion
Sweet Child O' Mine
Peace Sells
Wake Up Dead
Give it Away
YYZ
Simple Man
Mr. Brownstone


Is this because of guitar hero or what? It boggles my mind. And no, I don't have a problem with any music he might want to learn.

Awesome ! Wake up dead ? That's dope. I'm 42, btw.

[Toptube]

In regards to Guitar Hero:

The first game in the series has covers of 30 "main" songs. Half of which are what would be loosley considered classic rock or classic metal (I really don't want to get into specifics of genre categorization. Because that is awful and quickly becomes insufferable). there are also 17 additional songs that were licensed masters from all indie groups.

As such, Guitar Hero's legacy was built on passion for music (those 30 songs are tributes, impassioned covers, by people that love music. That's important). Good music. The type of music that people hear and want to play. Even the other, more modern half of the main 30. Most of them are good, solid songs.

and the indie list was just totally cool. sure, not all of it will appeal to everyone. So what, that's the point. Its relatively unknown music, being sold to kids/teens, encouraging them to come to know it and come to feel like playing it. In the end, yeah you are just pressing a bunch of colored buttons. But it still gets people to listen to music in a much different way, not unlike learning to play a real instrument, does. Guitar Hero also inspired a lot of people to graduate to real instruments.

Guitar Hero was a big deal you guys. The only shame in the whole thing is that it took as long as it has to have something like Rock Smith made available. (in that game you plug in any real electric guitar and basically learn to play it/use it to play).


----------------------

*look at the tracklist for Guitar Hero II. Again, half of it is classic rock and classic metal. It wasn't until the third game that the tracklist takes a decidedly more modern turn. But then eventually we get something like Rock Band where the music can be "anything" you want. There's also an entire game/version dedicated to the Beatles. We all know how important they are in regards to rock and roll.

[Kenzy]

I'm a college student and I listen to quite a bit of this "old music". In fact, my favourite bands are Yes, The Electric Light Orchestra, The Beatles, The Police, Led Zeppelin, and Supertramp. I can trace this back to my early childhood when I used to watch the trippy Yellow Submarine cartoon that featured music by The Beatles. I really developed my musical preferences in my teenage years, when I was reintroduced to The Beatles when my school band performed a medley of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and I started absorbing everything Beatles, along with collecting all their records- I was infatuated. This spread slowly to other 60s bands- The Doors, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Rolling Stones...I can't really recall what happened after that for a while...

I heard some Rush on a Classic Rock station on the radio and borrowed a greatest hits compilation from one of my friends who had just picked it up because he heard them on the station too. We both went to see them play live when they came to San Diego on tour, it was the first real concert either of us had ever been to.

Around the same time, that same friend and I began listening to vinyl records on our record players (we both had one). We'd go to to the local "swap-meet" to find records, where I picked up my first ELO record for "****s and gigs", I said. It was their debut album and I was blown away (it still stands as a favourite of mine, actually). We moved from there to hitting up the local record stores, eventually finding a little shop nearby that sold records in excellent condition at a low price. We were both huge "old music" junkies by this time, so we'd pick out records from the bands we knew and loved and also sampled some of the bands we'd maybe heard once or twice somewhere but didn't know much about, like Chicago, Blue Oyster Cult, and The Moody Blues. My uncle randomly decided he'd supply me with records too, and that's how I came across my first Yes record (though I'd had some experience with them on the radio, you know- Roundabout, and maybe Starship Trooper or I've Seen All Good People once in a blue moon), which was Fragile. I was astounded by the musicianship, sophistication, and complexity that I heard, and it really kicked me into overdrive with Progressive Rock.

It feels like I've been listening to this "old music" for so long, when it's really only been about 5 or 6 years (though, to be fair, I listen to A LOT of music). And, since this seems to be the epilogue of my massive, reminiscing post, I'll just mention that the same friend that lent me the Rush album and listened to vinyl records with me happened to be quite the guitarist, and together we formed an original "alternative" Jazz-Funk-Rock band, which continues to be a lot of fun. And, yes; we're both long-hairs.

[pklima]

The downside is that a lot of young guys waste their youth playing music their grandparents like instead of music girls their age like, which would benefit them a lot more.

[I<34080]

Probably grew up listening to it in the car with you. That kind of stuff sticks.

[jmclearnon]

Just to add i'm 21 and most of the music i listen to is from before 2000.

I learned playing classical music, listening to that and learning to deal with idiots who made fun of me allowed me to have confidence in the music i listen to. I must say several band i had never heard of came to my attention while playing games like GH but tbh.

Grew up listening to stuff like Boney M, AC/DC, Metallica and other greats.

All the jazz i listen to apart from Mike Stern, Victor and Richard Bona is from decades ago. As a generation i think we are at the beginning of the end, i would love to see the next generation of "great" bassists coming out of 4 chord basslines and having virtually nothing interesting to play in these new pop songs.

Thank goodness young people are holding on to older music, i say bring back funk

[vlado]

Originally Posted by Luke19Boarder

Young people like classic rock because they aren't sick of it yet

So true! I grow bored with the same music easily. I've been through different styles over my 30 years of paying attention to music. The only ones that remained over time for me are The Beatles. But, anyway, you have to keep your taste fresh and update it regularly. Not just because of new music, also because of any older stuff that you might have missed. And it's not like you give up on some stuff to make place for the other, it's just being aware and alert to anything you might find interesting.
As for the classic rock thing I have to say I'm pretty out of it right now. I might put on some Rory Gallagher and Taste sometimes, but only because I didn't explore them earlier and so they are fresh to me. On any other day if I'm looking for loud I'd go for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds when they go mad or for Neil with the Crazy Horse. It's not that everything else is bad, it's just that I had my share of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or Soundgarden in my days and it's been enough.

[MarkMgibson]

I don't think this is such a new phenomenon (I hate typing that word). I'm 46, and I got into music when I was about 14 or so. Obviously I heard the commercial stuff growing up, but as a young guitarist (and rock fan) I gradually worked my way backwards - from Zeppelin, to The Who, The Doors, Free, The Beatles, then Motown, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, etc.

At the time I started playing guitar, it was the "new age" period, and the music just didn't interest me; I assume the same is true now for young musicians.

Just like Jazz has "standards", so does Rock & Roll, so it's no surprise young musicians would hunt that music down.

[Kmonk]

My son is now 23 but his musical tastes were largely shaped by what I listen to. His first concert was KISS, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent. He likes most 1970s and 80s rock bands. It was after this that he started getting into Rockband and Guitar Hero.

[lwknives]

Originally Posted by jmclearnon

Thank goodness young people are holding on to older music, i say bring back funk

The University Center at the college I got to plays funk and 60s - 80s pop in the morning. I had never listened to it before, totally changed the way I looked at bass. They play modern pop junk later in the day but the mornings are funky.

On a side note I dont think that modern music as bad. There are lame pop songs that get advertized and get millions of views and junk but there are a ton of artists putting out really good music. I also haven't observed that modern pop is loved by most young people, it seems more like they enjoy it for the social interaction and conversation that happens when it is playing. Most of the people I know have pretty good music on their Ipods they talk about Gag'nam style and laugh about it but then they go and listen to good music on their Ipods.

[Tupac]

As a teen, I can confirm it. All the musicians my age are more into 90s and older music than today's, or at least respect it heavily. You can't be a bassist and listen to only modern music today, creative basslines have slipped away from popularity.

[pklima]

Originally Posted by Tupac

creative basslines have slipped away from popularity.

Last month at a rehearsal, I jokingly explained to one of my bands that thanks to the process of natural selection, only the fittest two basslines have survived: house (quarter note roots) and dancehall (dotted quarter root, dotted quarter root, quarter note rest).

[BBox Bass]

While delivering my first day introductory lecture to 35 college students this morning, I told them about our student services center, whose acronym is now ACTC (the center changed its name last term). I made a joke about them trying to be cool and sound like AC/DC, then stopped myself and said "Wait, how many of you actually know who AC/DC are?" 95% of the hands in the room shot up. One student blurted out "I have their box set!" When I asked how they knew about the band, most said it was due to parental exposure and/or Guitar Hero.

[zachoff]

My 15 year old daughter likes crap music. Bieber and One Direction sort of stuff. She pretty much hates everything I listen to.

[Casting Thunder]

When I was 13 I discovered a new band I liked, all other modern band of their style didn't appeal to me but somehow Ella came up. It's been snowballing ever since.