This really IS a GQ, folks, IMO–I’m really wondering about people in general, though I’m an extreme example. I haven’t bought new music (well, maybe a CD or two) in fifteen years, and I was a music-playing junkie as a young man, and still know lyrics, trivia, record-release-dates, etc. from my youth. This stuff was IMPORTANT to me, and now I could care less. But music is still important to my kids, and to my students, in the same way.
Assuming this is a common phenomenon, why does it occur?
It’s not, in my observation, typical of art in general: I still follow movies, books, painting, all the arts, as avidly (or most cases, with more attention and certainly more knowledge) than popular music, and I don’t think I’m atypical. I remember noticing it with my parents’ generation, too: they continued to keep up with all sorts of stuff, but musically they remained stuck in their youth.
I’m 53 now. My own experience has been that as I’ve gotten older I have found that there are fewer times when music will blow me away like it used to. However, I have also noticed that my tastes have broadened considerably. Music that used to sound just stupid to me - Dean Martin, classical, foreign - I can now appreciate. So while there are fewer intense reactions to music, I can enjoy much more of it.
I’m 19, and already I notice a similar trend with myself. I listen to the same music I listened to when I was 12-16 years old, with few exceptions. Music is also growing less important. I used to listen to music pretty much constantly, as situations allowed. Now, I just plain don’t care, unless I’m driving. I hate to think what it will be like for me when I’m old, like you guys!
A colleague of mine had advanced the theory that one’s drive to collect and display music peaks during courtship, and arrests abruptly once a mate is found.
I cannot relate. I’ve been an avid collector for four years. My vinyl collection is just now starting to take shape. By the time I’m in my 40’s I hope to have several thousand pieces. If there is one thing I have learned its that no matter how hard you scour there is always another gem around the corner. There is simply too much good music out there.
My advice, check out Marc Moulin (jazz), Fela Kuti (afrobeat), The Bobby Hughes Experience (acid jazz), Kid Loco (trip hop), Tortoise (post rock), or RJD2 (hip hop) and see if that doesn’t get some blood flowing.
I think, sadly, that it is just another sign of aging. I have been an avid Sci-Fi fan for over 50 years, but these days I find myself rereading my favorites and I find very few new writers that I can stand. There are a few, Brust, Kingsbury and at first Card and Tepper, but for the most part, I just go back to the old favorites. Same with music. I don’t want to hear anything by a composer who is still alive (although there are a number of dead ones in the same boat, e.g. Stravinsky).
Actually there is a helluvah lot of music out there that you;d probably enjoy - but as the “popular” music changes it doesn’t get air time on tv or radio.
So, quite rightly, you may find yourself not listening to the stuff thats “trendy” these days because its not - in your opinion - good music.
It may be however, that if you were to hear some of the other stuff out there you’d really enjoy it and would go out and buy it.
This is what my parents have found - i’m always lending them my coldplay, pulp and travis cds (amongst others).
im just a few weeks off 60 and used to listen and play music avidly
now i just like to play and create new songs
the old stuff is still enjoyable i just dont make any attempt to play it consciously
it must be age?:rolleyes:
I would like to offer a contra example. I am 24, and find that I am buying more and more music. The limit for me is not the ability to find good stuff to listen to, but rather that I can’t afford to buy all the music I would like to have. A few years ago I had few CDs, now I have 700+, and have also started to buy used vinyl when I can find things I like. The more I have started to listen, the more types of music I enjoy. I listen to jazz, rock, classical, blues, electronic etc… As an example, in the last year or so I have been working through the Grateful Dead’s catalog, and enjoying it very much. Three years ago I doubt I had ever given the dead much of a thought.
I was a professional musician for about 20 years. In my teens
I earrned a degree in music and since then have worked with some very good country groups (On the road) for about 10 years (In the 60’s)
The work has faded for me since I’ve gotten older but, it sounds to me like you are born to music, you love music, and you always will love music. We are a special breed. I’d love to hear your work. Reckon you’re fair to middlin’!
Generated many happy memories with alternative/international music.
What turned me off was diminishing returns. A good part of the really exceptional stuff pops up without too much hunting. After that – it’s hour upon hour of listening to discover you like one song out of an album – that the group broke up 4 years ago – that the artist only recorded one album, etc.
There’s a higher return rate with classical composers. Many wrote dozens, if not hundreds of pieces. Then the only task is to find the best recording. Fairly easy to do, using one of the catalogs that reviews classical records. (Buying blind from the shelf often gets ya sub-standard stuff.) Which is another reason to buy classical – if you don’t like the recording of a pop song, but like the song, generally you’re out of luck.
The commercial music business has undermined the artistic integrity. The product is dollar and contract driven as opposed to inspired. The same can be said in a broad sense for all of popular culture. It’s synthetic. There is some good stuff out there but you’re rarely exposed to it. IMO, of course.
Counter example: I’m now 45, and I still regularly buy new CDs. I’ve been buying regularly since I was about 16 or so. Back then, it wasn’t the case that music was IMPORTANT to me, it was just nice stuff to listen to. Still the case now. My tastes have changed a bit (I got really into contemporary blues a few years back, and I like more “slow stuff” now than I used to), but I still like and listen to the things that I bought way back when. Cosmo’s Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival was the first album I ever bought. I recently bought the CCR boxed set of CDs, and enjoy them immensely. (What passes for new music these days, at least as heard on the popular radio stations, makes me put my fingers in my ears.)
I’m 57 (bite me, B.Pants ;)), and I like most of the pop music I hear on the radio. I listen mostly “adult contemporary”, but I enjoy the other stuff too. Even Eminem. And Kid Rock. And Dirty Vegas. What’s not to like? I just don’t like it quite as LOUD as I once did.
Peace,
mangeorge
The commercial music business is a bit like a large, extremely distasteful plastic pool cover placed over, well, the ocean. Everywhere you look you see nothing but thick, ugly, blue plastic obscuring the treasures lurking in the depths, and if you let time and habit gradually fool you into believing the cover and the ocean are one and the same, it’s only natural that you lose your faith in music as a whole.
I’d like to heartily second cainxinth’s assertion that there’s always another gem around the corner (incidentally, I also second his suggestions for listening material). There is literally so much good music out there that we could search and listen for the whole of our lifetimes and still not get to the bottom.
Go ahead, poke a hole in that cover. Take a dive, delve deep and wide, and after a good long soaking, if you still can’t see anything shining through the murk, then and only then can you declare yourself truly dead in the water.
I’d say it just depends on how far you’re willing to dive. It’s really not that hard.
to the extent that an opinion can be wrong - you’re wrong. wilco, rhett miller, lucinda williams, jack johnson, coldplay, interpol, spoon, the hives, the white stripes, the mendoza line, jesse malin, the strokes, ryan adams, warren zevon, yo la tengo, the donnas, the flaming lips etc etc etc etc etc.
there’s plenty of great music out there, go find it. if you don’t feel like it, cool, but don’t disparage pop-music b/c it hasn’t shown up at your door - there’s an army of great bands out there waiting to be listened to.
I agree with krazy kat and Fnoonf. There is great music out there. Always has been always will be.
I grew up with rock and roll, and I remember how the older generations always complained about the teenage noise that we listened to. Our music just wasn’t as good as theirs. Ultimately the Beatles came along and pretty well shut them all up.
If you’re willing to be open to new and different styles, you’ll find great stuff everywhere you look.
