Fighting Age, i.e. What Should I Like Now?

[MackTuesday]

Let me first say that I know this question screams mid-life crisis. Please just stay out of it if you have nothing constructive to say.

I've run into a number of people who simply can't get into newer music. I see Bob Seger's *Old Time Rock n Roll* (a great song nonetheless) as a perfect example of this tendency. This was 1978 -- New Wave wasn't even in full stride yet and already he was complaining.

I once knew a guy who thought his taste in music was fresh because he liked the newest album by King Crimson. No disrespect to them, but I know from my experience with bands who hit their prime decades ago that they simply don't retain the relevance they used to enjoy, and it's because they're doing the same *kind* of thing they were doing back then. (There are exceptions, however, like David Bowie.) It's new, but not really. I used to *love* Erasure and Depeche Mode, for example, but I don't think they've successfully updated their sound.

At the same time, though, I find even the newer artists I like strongly resemble music I grew up with. Royksopp+Robyn, Chvrches, and Ladytron (if you can call them new) are good examples.

So what does it matter? Like what you like and everyone else can piss off.

But I don't want to be the Bob Seger of 2018!

Thoughts? (Again, butt out if you're just going to be snarky.)

[morelia]

Just one thought I have is that you spend a lot of time/effort/money finding your audience and getting a share of the market. There is some risk to that by changing your sound. I suppose it depends what you want out of music. I'd play the same song over and over if it meant never having to see another email from my CEO again.

[vurt]

i went to school with a kid, by the time wed left school his entire record, tape and cd collection consisted of music written hundreds of years before we where born.
he couldn't understand why the rest of us would listen to what he heard as noise, which was everything from the beatles through to the grindcore stuff.

what i liked about him, although he didn't enjoy what we played he wouldn't sit and moan about it, instead he would passionately explain why he liked something, a particular piece or movement.

as much as i rag on coldplay, id rather hear someone telling me with passion why they like that, than using the same passion to tell me why something else is shit.


ie like what you like and f**k everyone else but allow them to do the same.

vive la difference!

[woggle]

Yes to the "like whatever you want" and give everyone else the same respect. My taste has changed a lot over the last 40 years from Deep Purple in the early 70s to Berio and modern classical a few years later to "world music", free improv and noise by 1980 along with whatever was happening in popular music (new wave at that time I think) and I kept that parallel streams of wildly different styles for a long time. But over the last 10 years or so I've mainly listened to contemplative works, simple and melodic eg Gorecki symphony no 3, Arvo Part anything, Thomas Tallis but still some from popular artists like Nils Frahm or quieter Radiohead etc . Most of which I would have hated or found intolerably boring when I was 20 or so

Also I find that I can now listen to old rock or pop songs that I would have hated when they (and similar) were played all the time. ( Billy Joel, Bob Seeger, Neal Diamond, Kiss) I can appreciate how well crafted they are. Not that I actively seek them out, but when I do hear them I can at least appreciate why they were hits.

I have friends who are less eclectic but I do find most people I know do not listen to the music of their teens /youth
as they get older but rather settle into a more distinctive listening eg West African music or Chant and early music or Jazz or World etc

[thecontrolcentre]

Listen to whatever you like ... but I think its good to challenge yourself with new (to you) music too. I listen to everything from Brahms to Zomby
A lot of my mate's (young & old) will ask me "what is this weird music? Have you got any (place genre here)?" My son helps keep me up to date with what's cool and interesting. He's a vinyl junkie. Current listens are Paper Dollhouse, Allessandro Cortini, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizards, Blanke Mass, Tyler The Creator and Brainwaltzera.

[woggle]

it is a little weird though when people stay listening to the music of their childhood on and on and on and to the exclusion of other musics - a bit like only watching the same cartoons or reading the same picture books into adulthood and middle age.

[morelia]

it is a little weird though when people stay listening to the music of their childhood on and on and on and to the exclusion of other musics - a bit like only watching the same cartoons or reading the same picture books into adulthood and middle age.

I get what you are saying but most people I know listen to music like they do other background noise. So from that point of view it's no different to listening to the same people talking, birds singing, cars driving by etc. Have you ever played a song you wrote for someone? In my experience almost everyone starts talking immediately for the sole purpose of critiquing the song that they are not listening to.

Even from my perspective there are songs I have a special place for because they remind me of something. Those songs will always be listened to and be special. That might be the most important part of music for many people (for all I know that is).

[Gamma-UT]

I've run into a number of people who simply can't get into newer music. I see Bob Seger's *Old Time Rock n Roll* (a great song nonetheless) as a perfect example of this tendency. This was 1978 -- New Wave wasn't even in full stride yet and already he was complaining.

I find it pretty easy to find new stuff I like (but only very occasionally does it appear in the singles charts).

But sometimes, artists need to stick to what they like to do. So I'm not going to blame Seger for doing that in '78. Neil Young did a couple of electronica-inspired albums in the '80s and they have not aged well. At. All.

I used to like Trans in parts but a lot of it now seems pretty cringeworthy. Landing on Water started off being pretty terrible and has stayed that way. When grunge finally arrived, Glitter Ball was just the right thing at the right time.

[fluffy_little_something]

I don't care about modern music, either. My taste is outdated and I know it, but don't care what others think about it. If anything, it is a type of tag, which brings me closer to other people like me, a musical bond.

There is no need to be up to date and modern, let alone to force yourself to like something that you just don't like. The point of liking something is to be happy. And when it is old music that makes you happy, so be it. There is no point in changing for the sake of changing. Musical taste is no competition.

Nor can you force experiences in life that you can associate new music with. You probably won't have experiences again as strong as those during your early years, those you associate specific songs with. Like when you first fell in love.

[chk071]

Thoughts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNkpIDBtC2c

Whoops, totally missed this:

(Again, butt out if you're just going to be snarky.)

So sorry!

[MackTuesday]

Whoops, totally missed this:

(Again, butt out if you're just going to be snarky.)

So sorry!

Harmless fun is well taken.

[chk071]

[Michael L]

I think its important to understand new music by also listening to the music which forms its context, such as the other composers/songwriters working in that 'genre.' I find Spotify's "Related Artists" tab very helpful in that way.

Also, older electronic musicians are often isolated, and particularly from younger musicians, so its important to collaborate. Elton John gave a nice interview about how he has always collaborated, and stays current by being personally involved with young songwriters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aumosJsX5i0&t=298s

[Bombadil]

I became my parents somewhere back in 1985. Stopped listening to the radio, because my favourite FM station, which used to be somewhat underground, was playing Foreigner and other formulaic crap more and more.

Became really contemptuous of rap/hip hop around the same time. Metal? Right, a bunch of poseurs in spandex and makeup pretending to be nihilistic Satanists just to get the angry, disaffected kids. Genesis had become 'The Phil Collins Show,' Floyd was DOA, and there was just nothing that spoke to me, save a little early U2, and The Police, which was also DOA by 1983. So, at that point, I turned inward to work on my own stuff, didn't make any serious effort to find new stuff that I liked, and it went downhill from there.

Now, git off'n mah lawn, ya l'ill bastids!

[Bombadil]

It was, coincidentally, around the same time as the rise of MTV, where it didn't take me long to realize that sophisticated video production was replacing 'the song' as the most important element, becoming mere vehicles for the marketing of mediocre tripe. There were, of course, exceptions, but I just became increasingly nauseous at what was being thrown at me.