When Did I Become Old? (Long Post)

[Killed_by_Death]

My theory is that if I indulge in the same music & entertainment that I did in my youth that I'll stay young.
I still put on TFFL & sing along like as if it were the story of my life (Frankie):

I get goosebumps to Diary of a Madman:

Never really felt the need for new music. When Chevelle, Helmet, 5FDP, & Volbeat were on the radio, I enjoyed it & miss it, but I'm not even bothered to add their music to my Motörhead/Testament/Ramones thumb drive for long journeys.

Here's another I can't help but caterwaul along to, even though I'm sure I'd sound horrible to anyone listening:



for that brief moment I'm a teenager (in my mind)
It's like stepping back in time!

 

[ak56]

Yeah, I thought the OP was about 60 or 70 when I first started reading.

34? Get the heck off my lawn, you whipper snapper!

You still have about 50-60 years to go. Enjoy the journey. Your wife calling you old? Hah!

Yeah. Kids these days, pffft.

 

[Nashrakh]

I felt old just now thinking back to when Metalcore, "Emo", Deathcore etc were current and popular.

That was over ten years ago already. Yikes.

Now think even further back to Nu Metal - and people still joke about it as if it still had any kind of relevancy!

 

[jjmuckluckjr]

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?

17, my body would argue, but........
Worked in a retirement community @ 20 years ago. Then they played a lot of music from the late 50’s- early 60’s. I joked at the time that they’d be playing; Ramones, Sex Pistols & probably Metallica when it’s my turn. C’est la vie.

 

[Nev375]

I'm 47 and I like new music as much as the music of my youth. Perhaps more in certain cases. But I make a point out of seeking out new stuff and retiring most of the stuff over 10-15 years old off my current playlist. I don't want my ears or my mind to get stuck in a rut.


I want to like Greta Van Fleet, but it just feels like parody or imitation rock to me. It's good, but it lacks authenticity to my ears.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I’m 54 and pretty much stopped listening to “new” music about 20 years ago. I don’t see any reason to change that as the Beibers and Drakes of the world do absolutely nothing for me. How people who have very little voice talent, like A Grande (shriek much?), become popular is beyond me.
My theory is that the millennials literally have never heard music made by people who can actually sing or play an instrument.

 

[mrcbass]

At 59, I tend to like what I like. For commuting, or in my car I usually have my general jazz loop running, because that's what I'm mostly working on musically. Just keeping the grooves my ear. IF I'm doing a cover thing, I'll be listening to those songs especially while learning the tunes or when working out specific sections. I find it helps to have stuff in the ear constantly.

My personal preference leans heavily on late 60s through mid 80s classic rock and 90% of my CD collection is from those eras. I have a few artists from later than that, but it's very slim and they usually have a familiar style. I've had some exposure to some newer stuff working with cover bands, and while I don't mind most of this stuff, I don't find myself seeking to get into the newer groups. I gave a couple of groups a deeper listen, but didn't find them to be interesting as a whole.

I can't say that I ever just sit and listen to music just to do that anymore - if I have music time, I usually have a bass in hand.

What little I hear of "current" music doesn't appeal to me most of the time. So much of it relies so heavily on electronic manipulation that it sounds pretty mechanical and I often wonder if there is any musical craftsmanship behind it at all. I'm a little snobby when it comes to perceived musicianship.

 

[hardtop]

This is the kind of stuff my wife says to excuse her poor taste in music. She says things like: "that's old" or "dated", or "my dad liked that" so she can listen to superficial, void-of-talent, auto-tuned, pop drivel. Hopefully your wife is coming from a different place.

First, 34 is not old by really any measure, except for maybe that of someone in their late teens... and we all know how deep our perspective was when were 18 (as shallow as a puddle)

Second, you don't listen to old peoples music, you listen to good music. People are still making it, its current, its relevant, and it happens to be better than what's popular. The inherent quality of those styles is why its stood the test of time.

Third, as far as cutting edge, you're probably still there. Jazz has always been a very free, expressive, cutting edge form, and continues to be. Prog rock is, well, progressive. Those bands continue to do stuff with structure, time signatures, sounds, and instrumentation that is new and different... Can't think of anything more cutting edge than that. A formulaic party dance number with computer programmed instruments and auto-tuned nasally teenage girl vocals, is not cutting edge; it may be new, but doesnt mean its in anyway superior to say Kamasi Washington's new album.

Fourth, hiphop/rap died around 1994 with few minor bright spots since

 

[tr4252]

Old is relative. A life of hard labor (I'm an industrial troubleshooter) has left me fit and still quite lethal at 67. Plenty of guys half my age wish they were me. Hell, even I wish I were me. Physically I'm in pretty good shape. Mentally, I'm still listening to Jimi Hendrix and J.S. Bach. Peak experiences include getting shot at a long time ago, Woodstock (the real one), some unforgettable LSD experiences in my late teens, killing the stock market, and of course, a few notable women. By every definition, I'm old. And content. Would today's button pushing kids want my life? No, they're too smart. Would I want to live like them? No, I'm too smart. You can't change your generation, so embrace it. Just keep an open mind.

What I'm not is contemporary, and I'm OK with that. I think an individual has a right to like whatever they please, and if anybody has a problem with that, I can probably tell them what to do about it in a comprehensive way, no matter their generation. My girl friend is somewhat younger than I am, and likes hip hop, bee bop, snot rock, or whatever is new. That's OK too.

O.P., you're not old, just unwilling to sell out to every new fad. Just think, when todays teens are 45 years old, they'll cling to their obnoxious music as classic, and condemn the current popular music, which intentionally mimics whale farts and monkey shrieks. To each his own.

Tom

 

[Sid Fang]

Hell, ever since I was a kid in the 1970s, at least 80% of currently popular music has always been crap.

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

So, when the hell did I turn old? If I had to pin-point it to an age. I’d say it was around the time I turned 30...

When I was 10 and my parents made me listen to Ella, Frank, Basie, Ellington. I'm forever grateful.

 

[pcake]

There's some neuroscience explaining why we all love music from our youths, and why we don't attach as much to stuff that's new when we're older. It's a thing, it has to do with our brains developing and the effect pleasurable music has on us at ages 12-22 or so.

Here's an article from Slate magazine that goes into some detail.

i feel odd that i like music from my youth, before and long before i was born, and music all the way up to now. i wonder what that says about my brain

I’m 54 and pretty much stopped listening to “new” music about 20 years ago. I don’t see any reason to change that as the Beibers and Drakes of the world do absolutely nothing for me. How people who have very little voice talent, like A Grande (shriek much?), become popular is beyond me.
My theory is that the millennials literally have never heard music made by people who can actually sing or play an instrument.

there's a lot of artists and bands out there who aren't beibers or drakes, i'm happy to report. some can actually sing AND play an instrument.

 

[Frank77]

There is an absolute TON of great, new stuff out there in EVERY possible genre you can imagine and then some. It's never been so easy to discover new stuff. It's never been so affordable to buy music.

I'm 41 and I buy new albums pretty much every week. Many of my friends (including those who are in bands) still listen to the same bands/albums that they were listening to when we were in high school and they haven't branched out at all. Personally I think this is unbelievably sad.

 

[HolmeBass]

There is lots of good new music of the sort you like. Snarky Puppy, Kamasi Washington (a killer mix of hip hop and jazz, heavy on the jazz in my opinion), Thundercat, Vulfpeck, Flying Lotus, Tuneyards. Really really cool stuff that embraces electronic music as a timbre, rather than a genre, and allows it to influence the composition process.

 

[higain617]

Have you guys heard that new Pink Floyd band?

 

[JLW]

@Matthew_84 give Childish Gambino's album, "Awaken, My Love!" a listen. It was released in 2016. He's very popular with the young kids. His music is very much inspired by old school Funkadelic, but he has a fresh take on the genre in my opinion.

No one made any major innovations in music without getting at least some kind of inspiration from the present-day musical themes of the time....at least as far as I know.

 

[Hambone70]

60 years old here.

I have tried (and mostly failed) to discover new music. Whenever I do find something "new" that I like (Brian Culbertson comes to mind), to me it sounds like a rehash of what I was listening to as a teenager. There are only so many permutations and combinations of notes and rhythms, and IMHO they've pretty much all been done.

I'm glad to be old. There's so much digital everything today, and it's instant, and mostly forgettable. I treasure the memories of waiting for a new album back in the 70s, carefully cleaning it, putting it on the turntable, kicking back with a cold one and the album liner, and listening to it in its entirety.

Now get off of my lawn, too!

 

[Stumbo]

Have you guys heard that new Pink Floyd band?

Which one is Floyd?

 

[Cutter8]

So this is a pretty interesting article, describing an analysis that says the music you connected with as a teenager basically sets your musical tastes for life: Our musical tastes peak as teens, says study.

Honestly, though, don't beat yourself up about liking what you like and not liking what you don't like. My dad was born in 1920, but he spent most of his adult life listening to opera and classical music. Stuff that was written and popular sometimes hundreds of years before he was born! You're not required to like current music, and let's face it: most of it is absolute rubbish, as was most music in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, etc.

There are some good contemporary rock artists around today. I love Spoon, the Decemberists, the Shins, Nate Rateliff, and others. That doesn't make me "young." It just means I'm a 59-year old who likes some contemporary music.

Just like cars. Whatever the hot car was when you were in your early-mid teens will still get your juices flowing (and be skyrocketing in value) when you are in your 40's!

 

[Muddslide]

We are probably in a "dumb" cycle of popular music right now, similar to the late '70s punk rock movement and opposite a "smart" cycle like the early '70s prog rock movement.

I get your point, and it is valid, but as a 50 year old who was a punk rock kid (although I always did, and continue to, listen to all kinds of music from all eras and all points on the globe) I'd like to say that while I acknowledge a lot of punk was not very cerebral and much of it was generic, there were several punk bands who had great musicians and whose music was anything but dumb:

The Fall
Wire
Pere Ubu
The Birthday Party
The Minutemen
Mission of Burma
Bad Brains

...just a few who come to mind...