New stuff has about a 30% chance of appealing to me. I still like 80% of the stuff I did in the 40’s and 50’s (years not ages).
I’m not so much a genre person as I am into melody and musicality.
My playlists are all over the map with an emphasis on instrumentals. Lyrics have to be special for me to pay much attention to them. Lyrics-driven stuff is not for me as a rule.
At the same time, overly complex instrumentals go right by me.
I still listen to a lot of music on YouTube, Pandora and Spotify, but my used-to-be favorite radio station went to an all-classical format and ditched the jazz. So I’m computer-based for my listening.
When I do listen to music, it’s >95% stuff I’ve owned for at least a decade, and the vast majority of that is at least a decade older than that. In other words my music library was basically “locked in” when I was about 27.
61 here. I like the rock I grew up with 1965 to 1975 but the only time I hear it is in the car on an oldies station. I like the singers from the 50’s that my parents liked and I used to laugh at when I was younger. I like Indian, South American and African music. Love Classical. I would say I’ve opened my mind to stuff I would have never given a second thought to in my 20’s
For popular music mostly stuff from the '60s and '70s, plus Dylan and Mike Oldfield at all times. Also love swing. But six years ago or so I decided that I was lacking an understanding of classical music, and started on that with the help of my father-in-law who was a music teacher and is a composer. Mostly 18th and early 19th century stuff, though I do like Dvorak and Copland also. Probably more than half my listening is classical now, since so much is new to me and much, much better than the current music I hear.
I struggle to think of the “newest artist” that I have bought a CD. I will listen to podcasts of “song of the day” from stations like KEXP and WRCW. I like most of them. But buy? That is reserved for stuff like Dylan’s complete Basement Tapes or a 27 disc King Crimson Starless and Bible Black.
When you get older, you just get more comfortable with what you know.
I am 66 years old. My musical tastes have broadened considerably as I’ve aged. I still love the old rock-n-roll of my youth, but I like quite a bit of the current stuff, too. I enjoy Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and other pop stars who are on today’s charts. Love Joan Jett and Pink.
I also listen to country music, classical, jazz, opera, show tunes, just about everything except heavy metal, rap, and hip-hop.
Yeah, there are some more recent artists that I like, such as Pink and Walk off the Edge, or even a street artist like this woman. I’m finding myself being more intrigued with blues since I picked up the guitar again. I like playing it, not so much listening to it, unless it’s people like Stevie Ray or Albert King.
66 here, if I am out I still enjoy rock and alternative If I am home I enjoy classical. I used to love motown as a kid but have lost my tatse for it. All the hippie rock I did not enjoy as a kid I now enjoy.
Somebody should tell Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, One Direction and Lady Gaga, all of whom have had tours grossing around $200 million within the past year or so. Guess the audience is just going for the event, without knowing anything about the content.
I’m within spitting distance of 61, and I mostly prefer the music of my youth as well as folk music, big band, show tunes, and a lot of classical. I never liked country, rap, opera, metal, or heavily synthesized music. I can’t abide songs with extreme vocal gymnastics that seem to be so popular with some performers. I would guess there are songs being put out today that I might like, but I don’t listed to much on the radio these days. We’ve got satellite radio, so mostly it’s NPR stations, 60s, 70s, or something called “The Bridge” which tends to love playing *Moondance *and Deacon Blue over and over and over again…
So, no, my musical tastes and preferences haven’t changed much since I was a teen. Now kindly take your hippety-hop noise and get off my lawn!!!
I don’t quite qualify, but at 57 I’m pretty close. I loath most of the music I listened to in my teens and twenties. I feel like I have extremely diverse tastes in music compared to most of my contemporaries. I very rarely listen to commercial radio. Most of the new (to me) music I listen to I learn about through NPR or from reading about it on the internet. I do listen to classic rock but only stuff I feel has stood the test of time or stuff I have not been overexposed to. I listen to lots of my old mix tapes (yes, on cassette!) and I have a good sized collection of CDs and concert DVDs. I also surf YT quite a bit
Most of what I listen to causes people around me to roll their eyes and ask “WTF?”
One of the groups I am a recent convert to, having discovered them via Prairie Home Companion, Dakha Brakha.
