Mid 50s, and listen to more newer stuff than the classic & prog rock I grew up on. Usually get out to a show of some sort about once a month.
I like a number of indie/alternative bands like New Pornographers, Florence & the Machine, The National, The Hold Steady, CHVRCHES, etc. I also listen to a lot of newer artists in the alt-folk/newgrass spectrum some of which have been mentioned above: Mumford and Sons, Lumineers, First Aid Kit, Aoife O’Donovan/Sarah Jarosz/Sarah Watkins, Avett Brothers, Mipso, Brandi Carlisle, Amos Lee, The Decemberists, Punch Brothers, etc… Manage to get out to see a show of some sort about once a month.
Not much for hip-hop, but I worship at Lin-Manuel Miranda’s feet.
Those of you looking for an eclectic mix might check out the stream of Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current (89.3 FM). Their DJs really know their music, new and old, and do a nice job of educating their listeners, too. And they don’t have to play what sells commercials.
You can see how eclectic the playlist is here: https://www.thecurrent.org/playlist
I turned 35 in 1999, the year Clear Channel basically took over a lot of the airwaves, and it was more this than my age that means that my knowledge of current popular music basically ends then.
I always have the sneaking suspicion that people who think that there hasn’t been any good new music since the 1960s or 70s would have hated that same music when it was still new.
I can’t stand to listen to “Classic Rock” anymore, because I’ve heard everything on their playlist (even the songs I like!) hundreds of times, over-and-over again over the decades.
So I listen to modern Pop-Rock and Alternative stations, as well as one really eclectic local station that plays Blues, Jazz, Folk (traditional and contemporary) as well as select Alternative; you never know what you’re going to get when you tune in, but one thing’s for damned sure: it will never* be “Turn The Page” or “Stairway To Heaven.”
Well, it helps if you know my initials are BGS. But I have to admit I love the 60s BeeGees. Before someone decided that a shrieking falsetto was The Cutting Edge of Music.
I also have too admit that i made a conscious decision tho broaden my horizons. I quit listening to the radio in my car out at home in the mid nineties. I worked part time at a bar with live music. I played cds. But most djs annoyed the crap out of me. Between morning shows and talk radio, I found that listening to the radio just made me angry. That’s no way to get through the day.
About five years ago, our local PBS radio station added a new all music (as opposed to music and npr shows) sister station. I really didn’t want too be constantly living in the past, so I decided to listen.
It’s paid off as far as I’m concerned. If memories were all i heard, I’d rather drive a truck.
There are still some ‘classic rock’ songs I don’t mind hearing, but the best way to keep on liking them when I hear them is to NOT listen to classic-rock stations anymore.
Even the best songs have only so many times you can listen to them before they get old. The number of times may be in the thousands, but the classic rock format will make sure you hear the songs on their playlists literally thousands of times, if that’s the format you listen to.
A few years ago, I went from listening to some classic rock in my mix, and changing the station when a worn-out song came on, to not listening to classic rock at all. It’s improved the quality of life. All those songs that have used up their last listen, and then some? I never hear even the opening notes any more. They’re gone, and the world’s a better place without them.
‘[N]ew to me’ was part of a heavily qualified (‘granted’, ‘some’, ‘merely’) side-clause. Also ‘bands that had their peak when I was a teenager’ is explicitly only a subgroup within that side-clause. Bands that peaked when my parents were teenagers are a lot more likely to come up…even bands that peaked when my grandparents were teenagers are at least as likely (thank you, Fallout 3).
But bands not even formed until I was in my late 20s or 30s (and, in a few cases, the members weren’t even BORN until I was in my 20s) are certainly much more likely to come up in my seeking out new stuff - especially given that the old stuff that would appeal to me, I’m a lot less likely to have never found, yet.
Late 40’s. I stopped listening to pop stations in 1991, except when I go shopping.
There are few songs created since 1991 that I even recognize, let alone like. Since music companies now refuse to take risks and only sign cookie-cutter singers, and almost all pop songs were written by the same people, there’s little to interest me anyway.
There are many new artists I like, but in another genre: Contemporary Christian Music.
I do like Rihanna. She chooses her collaborators well, and consistently produces excellent pop tunes, often with a darker edge than her peers. The Bajan accent helps too…
The Monster isn’t her first collab with Eminem - even darker is 2010’s Love The Way You Lie.
I must admit I don’t listen to much in the way of contemporary guitar music - I really only rate Wolf Alice, and that’s probably because I loved all the bands they are heavily influenced by
Born in 1963. Some newer bands I like a lot, some I don’t. That was also true when I was 19. And some of the stuff I did like when I was younger I can’t stand to hear now. Just in the last year I’ve gone to see Lady Gaga, Lake Street Dive, and Janelle Monae. If I like it I like it, doesn’t matter when it came out.
Nearing 50 fast here, and yeah. I still like new music. More good music is being made and released today than ever before, partly because it’s even easier to record and release than ever before. Finding it is still work, but since I’ve never really liked pop music much, that’s nothing new to myself.
