I’m around 40 and I keep sorta up with current music because my children do; it’s not always ear candy (well, at times it was too much candy and not enough sustenance – luckily, my oldest daughter is beyond that phase and my son never went into it) but I’ve discovered artists I might (Peter Fox, e.g.) or would have missed otherwise.
I’m 28 but in all other respects the quoted stuff here perfectly reflects my attitude towards music. It’s never been a big deal to me or an important part of my life, and I’m happy with that.
Depends on your definition of “keep up”. I’m not entirely clueless on different bands that are around, but I’m not at the forefront of the hip mp3 blog community either. What I do is that I force myself to keep find new music that I like, regardless of genre or time period. That might include new music.
Unfortunately, no, I don’t keep up. Unless it’s someone I’ve listened to since the 70s or 80s who are still active and still release new material every few years. I’m clueless as to new artists and find I really don’t much care.
I barely keep up with anything. Perhaps I manage to keep up so-so with the indie rap scene.
I chose no in that I wouldn’t recognize almost anything on the Billboard charts. However, I very much keep current as far as my favorite bands are concerned and am always jumping on their new albums as soon as I can.
I’m 45, and I do keep up with rock/metal and country: more country than rock, though.
40-year-old (female) audiophile checking in.
Not only do I keep up, but I revile terrestrial radio because I’m always looking for the new and fresh. I still attend concerts, I still love me some metal, and I love to go dancing in the clubs. I cannot live without my satellite radio, which is on 24/7 at my house. I’m just that into music. Right now, I’m on an Indie Rock phase and pretty much listen to XMU-Channel 43 most of the time.
I would suggest that a lot of people fall out of touch as they get older because they have kids. The music that pops up on your radar changes because the kiddies want to listen to [whatever] on the radio in the car and/or you may not feel like blasting Tool when you have an infant in a car seat. (That said, some Tool fans have children, and I would consider it right and proper, if I had kids, to raise them up listening to Tool. 
My luck, my kids would be Smooth Jazz fans and I’d want to gouge my ears out with a Taco Bell spork.)
36 yr old, I really only keep up with metal, and not all that well. But every once in a while, I will come out of my cave and listen for some good tunes, buy the cds and retreat back to my cave for about another yr. As a matter of fact, its probably time to come out of the cave again. No new bands in the last yr.
Oh, and I just wanted to add my motto:
If it’s too loud, you’re too old.
38 year old checking in.
I am aware of the current rock/pop scene and occasionally pick up an album when a song caches my ear. But I am much more current about the punk, ska, indy and alt genres (to the degree indy and alt can even be called genres). I hardly pick up every album. But I find the variety and depth of the current music industry to be far greater than I ever remember it to be in the past. Back in high school I bought about 3-4 albums a year. In college it was about one a month. Now I seem to average one new album a week.
To a limited extent. (41, male) Lately, I’ve kept up my subscription to Paste magazine and subscribed off and on to Rolling Stone, and I keep an eye on the record reviews in more general magazines like Entertainment Weekly. I do buy albums by new artists/bands, though I don’t spend nearly as much time on them as I used to, since I have so many old favorite albums, older music I’m just now discovering, and new music by old favorite artists that have pretty much fallen off the cultural radar.
The music world seems more fragmented than it was when I was a kid and I used to listen to the radio and stay up all night watching Night Tracks on TBS. There are so many niches that I have little-to-no interest in. Though I give it a try every once in a while, rap/hip-hop and R&B do nothing for me, and I don’t have any interest in country music, pop tart music, American Idol music, or “feat.” music.
I’m almost 40, clicked “classical” and “yes.” Absolutely I keep up with current music in the classical music world (since I am a composer myself.)
Looking at the percentages this poll is on crack. What the heck is up with the percentages?
I love music and no, I don’t keep up with modern music with one caveat: I do keep up with modern Indian music, that being my true love in music. Western music, I find out about new things by accident, or if someone points them out to me. I never listen to the radio.
10-4! Funny. Wonder what the denominator is…
It’s multiple choice, so the percentage for each choice is calculated against the total number of votes.
I’m more amused by the fact that the poll itself is almost useless. There’s no way to correlate the “Yes” and “No” to the ages or to the genres. Right now, 33 people voted “Yes” and 41 voted “Rock”, meaning that “Rock” comprises both people who voted “Yes” and people who voted “No”. What good is the data?
Hey, it’s the OP’s first try at polling; give him a break. He’ll figure it out eventually.
I think it’s tied with “Oh, I don’t read”.
I’m 27, and I love music. My tastes have expanded a bit since I got an MP3 player and satellite radio (terrestrial radio in my area is mostly crap). I’ve always loved rock (mostly classic and hard), and I enjoyed alternative and electronic/industrial in high school and college. I’ve gotten into metal lately (good work music). There are a few pop songs I like, but I don’t make an effort to follow pop music in general. I inherited a small blues collection from my Dad; I enjoy listening to this. I don’t actively seek out showtunes unless I’ve actually seen the show. I can listen to classical, but I don’t really know enough to converse about it. I also enjoy Celtic or Celtic-inspired music (there are some great podcasts for music like this; I’ve found a lot of new artists this way).
I don’t care for country or rap at all.
I don’t keep up with music now and I never have. I think the last time I acquired music in any form was the mid-90s.