How did your taste in music changed as you grew older?

7 comments

1. I thought I had very good taste in music in my 20s. I went to a lot of shows and kept up on new albums. Life changed, I went out less, and my music tastemaker friends also spent less time keeping up.

   Two decades later, I don’t listen to most of that stuff anymore. Don’t hate it either, not embarrassed by it, but will almost never queue it up for a listen anymore.

   As my listening shifted from a curated iPod experience to Spotify at work and around the house, I’ve gone farther back into the catalog. More ‘60s and ‘70s R&B, more instrumentals, more stuff in general that isn’t from touring bands or buzzed about by Pitchfork and its ilk.

   Keep in mind that I went from taping cassettes off the radio in high school to burning CDs off Napster in college, to iPod after college, to streaming now. How I listen has had a big effect on what I listen to.

2. No really for me. It still fluctuates depending on my mood, time of year, life situations, and whatever else. Only thing that’s probably changed is that I used to listen to a little country music when I was younger. Barely touch it now.

3. I definitely listen to more upbeat music now I’m older (stuff like ska).

   Most music is actually quite depressing, and it took me a long time to realise that although it can feel cathartic, it actually just brings you down overall.

4. I’m a bit all over the map when it comes to my musical tastes. I can listen to stuff from back when I was in high school but I have to be the right mindset. I feel like I’m always shifting around depending on my mood.

   Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Dick Dale.

   I guess I’ve learned to appreciate all type of musical genres as I’ve gotten older. So much great stuff out there!

5. I honestly didn’t like the music of my youth very much. The grunge and hard rock of the 90s and early 2000s just wasn’t for me, so I mostly listened to 80s music and oldies in my teens and 20s.

   I’ve liked the music of the last 10-15 years a lot more, and so I’ve been into new music in my 30s and 40s much moreso.

6. There are a few theories around this, and it is a popular question of study. It is generally agreed that a male’s music genre of choice is fixed between the ages of 11 and 16. This does not mean you are fixed into one genre of music, it just means that your brain can quickly identify features of a particular genre, features that may feel comforting, empowering and/or familiar. The familiar aspect seems to be where you are finding comfort and enjoyment. This could be due to the early childhood exposure of the genre, or the associations you have developed with the genre. This is good, you are showing brain elasticity, or good brain development, an adaptive brain. The way you hope your brain will age. What you don’t want to be is stagnant.

   This is only one aspect, there are many other theories, such as social/economic exposure for example, or presenting the face/mask that you want to portray to your social circle; a very natural part of development. But you seem to be done with, or outgrown that last one.

7. 45. No change for me. I still listen to all my old bands I love and their new tunes if any. Maybe I’m a bit more diverse now, but will love the punk, metal and old school hip hop until the day I die.