So, it’s occurred to me recently that I don’t listen to music as much as I did in my teens, 20s and 30s (I’m 49).
It’s not that I dislike music, or that I suffer from “cuh, music today is rubbish, you can’t hear a word they’re singing” syndrome. In fact I like a lot of modern music that I overhear in shops, taxis, TV adverts etc. and even go as far as buying some of it.
It’s just that I can’t seem to make myself sit down and listen to any of it, and I can’t bear it in the background while I’m working like I used to.
Is this a common phenomenon? Is there something about one’s aural system as one ages that makes it physically difficult or less pleasant to listen to music?
But what about the old stuff? I still like the old stuff, but I can’t bring myself to listen to any of it for more than 10 minutes or a snippets at a time.
I don’t think it’s a lack of concentration either; I have no problem reading for hours at a time.
I hate to admit it because it makes me feel old (I’m 55) but I don’t enjoy metal like I used to and a lot of rock has gotten boring. I still listen to a lot of music, just not so much metal.
Yep. Same here. It is not a matter of not liking new music. I very rarely bother, these days, to listen to old music that I still, in principle, love. On the rare occasions I do listen to this older stuff, I still enjoy it, but I think the pleasure then may be largely from nostalgia. I think this is probably a normal effect of aging. Indeed, older people’s lack of interest in new music probably has more to do with a declining interest in music in general, rather than any specific objections to what is new.
I have never been a classical music fan so I do not know if this applies there, but it occurs to me that older people’s waning interest in pop and rock etc. may simply be to do with the fact that the themes of most popular music are very much for the young. It is almost all about young people’s relationship issues.
I was never a big music listener in the first place, however I do notice my desire to do so and tolerance for having it on have diminished over the years (and I am starting to get concerned about my lawn).
I had a crochety teacher in high school. Her big thing was she was “allergic to noise”. That was one quite and well behaved classroom let me tell you.
Oh definitely this. I’ll listen to a snatch of song to remind myself of this or that. But can I make myself listen to the whole song?
Nope.
I also agree with you that it’s probably a normal effect of aging. But is there some actual physical or psychological change as one ages that makes music harder to listen to I wonder?
Yes, it seems to me that I still like the stuff I’ve always liked, but I don’t like to sit down and listen to it. On the other hand, if one of my old favourites just happens to pop up unexpectedly, like on the sound system at a mall or something, I find it quite pleasurable.
I also like discovering music in TV commercials. I’ve been very pleased with the latest round of Heineken commercials, and car commercials, and smartphone commercials—I get introduced to some cool new music, even if I’m not at all interested in the product. The music pops up and—hey, party!—somehow it’s better than intentionally putting on music for the purpose of listening to it.
Same here (recent Sainsbury’s ad featuring Aaron Espe being a case in point - very Fleet Foxes), but I wonder if we find that bearable because TV ads typically have a 30 second execution with maybe a 10 second cut-down version?
Huh. I am also 49, and while I still regularly listen to new music, for the last year or so I’ve found it difficult to finish a single book, much less maintain the 2 or 3 I often had going at the same time. It’s been bugging me lately, and while its not precisely the same problem as yours, it might be an analog…my brain is pitching reading instead of music?
Maybe some hearing loss would make it less enjoyable. We lose some of the highs and lows as we age. Also, I can remember the “snap” or “pop” that a Talking Heads album would have when I listened to it on vinyl, but it sounds somewhat bland on my CD.
*We are people borne of sound
The songs are in our eyes
Gonna wear them like a crown
Walk out, into the sunburst street
Sing your heart out, sing my heart out
I’ve found grace inside a sound
I found grace, it’s all that I found
And I can breathe
Breathe now*
Tastes change, but that’s not what you’re talking about. Whereas 20 years ago, you could cheerfully sit down and listen to 2 hours of ‘the music you like’, you now can’t be bothered and would rather muck about on the computer/watch TV/read a book/do whatever it is you currently do to fill your time. Does that sound like a fair assessment of what’s going on with you?
I find it tough to spare the time to sit down and listen to something the way I used to. I’d happily spend much more time listening to music, but that’s a difficult juggle.
I personally think that our society has changed to the point where there is nothing special about hearing music. It’s in the background of every store you go into, you hear that ‘flies in a condom’ sound of people’s headphones on the subway/bus/train, etc., etc. It is all around us whether we want it to be or not.
My opinion - in treating music like wallpaper, it is losing its value to us.
Well I do agree with elements of what you say; I probably do have far more distractions in my life now than my teens; I certainly wouldn’t have been posting on message boards for example, so would have had more time to listen to music.
But still, while I sit here and type this, I would much prefer to do so in silence than with music playing in the background (at whatever volume level), which I’m sure wouldn’t have been the case 20 years ago.
I have the same issue as the OP. I can’t enjoy just sitting and listening to music. All the old stuff I like, I’ve hear a million times, and although some new stuff is OK it doesn’t hold any emotional attachment for me.
My time in the car is spent catching up on the news, however occasionally I will flip around to a few music stations. Usually they’ll have on the same old stuff I’ve heard a million times, new stuff I don’t know, or new stuff I’ve heard but don’t care about.
The Who were playing in Ottawa last night, and the rock station here was playing all Who songs. I stayed tuned to that for 30 minutes or so.
