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In most cases, by the time age 30 rolls around an individual is married and/or has children. Focus shifts from being immersed in pop culture to trying to support a family. Unless the individual is a real music buff s/he doesn't have the time to keep up with new music. In my own life the 90s and 00s were a big blur.
Fast forward a dozen years or so...the kids are grown, the individual is starting to slow down and is looking forward to retirement. S/he is in shock to discover that s/he no longer belongs to the "it" demographic and that pop culture is now pandering to--or more accurately, being produced by--the younger generation. This grates on our egos--and no surprise here--every generation will go through this.
Also, you always remember your first love. Why is it that I can sing word for word every early Beatles' tune but I can't quite grasp the lyrics to my favorite Bleachers song even though I play it incessantly?? While I love a lot of the music of today it's not where I originally "cut my teeth." Even though I can appreciate today's music I'm not of today's music. It's not "home" to me like those old Beatles tunes are.
Whenever people say that the music of today sucks I just roll my eyes. It's not the music that sucks--it's the fact that it's a subtle reminder that you're growing older and can no longer relate.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigSwede
About the same time when 90s nostalgia began.
My cutoff for 'Oldies' is December 31, 1970. Period. The rest of the 1970s will just be the era of classic rock and disco for me; yes I do like disco too!
Anything after that to me is last week, especially the '90s-forward.
Because POP music is designed specifically to sell "units" to young people who identify with a song/singer very closely for a while. It isn't designed typically for any intellectual/artistic purpose although the occasional good ones achieve that, it's a purely market oriented consumable like fidgets or troll dolls. And it helps if we can dance to it!
As we age we tend to like that music we came of age with because it reminds us of certain things. The next or previous generations POP music don't register as much until a real talent breaks through, this old fossil thinks Adele has got it alright. I think other genres (R&B, rock, americana, folk, country, etc) are more rooted in musical traditions, although country & R&B certainly have POP tendencies now in a lot of their output.
I liken Pop music to tv shows or movies: 90% nonsense junk food & the few good ones.
there are theories about the fact that music you heard as a teenager is deeply rooted in your brain and brings you joy in a way that music you hear later in life gives you no emotion at all.
I was a 90s teenager and I associate every famous song from the era to some events in my life, and I usually like hearing them even though there are songs I did not even like at the time.
Also, 80s music is directly related to childhood for me.
Has nothing to do with age and everything to do with quality. That's why my 14 year old nephew would rather listen to oldies from the 70s and 80s than current music.
There are always exceptions, but most people always proclaim that music was much better back in "their day." This occurs across generations. I am seeing that mindset emerging for myself now that I am into my 30s. As somebody who was really into pop music, I have a feeling that if I was 22, I would like the music on the radio today quite a bit better than I do being 32. I could be wrong, but that probably would be the case.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigSwede
That is two different questions.
Do they stop enjoying pop music or do they stop listening to newer music?
What studies are you refering to?
Also, pop music in 2010 was as bad as it is now.
I don't know...to me it was much better. However, in 2010 I was in my peak of young adulthood.
Most studies say that people slowly stop listening to pop music at some point around age 30, give or take a few years for different people. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule in that some people never like pop music or phase out of it early and there's always those people trying to hold onto their youth by listening to pop music in their 40s and 50s. Most however, will stop in their late twenties or early thirties. The reason is that it seems at that age, new music stops resonating with people. It's why you always hear older people talking about how music was so much better in their day. I am starting to notice it myself as well. I want to like today's pop music, but I don't think its as good as it was back around 2010, during the peak of my young adulthood. Yes, music may actually be getting worse but I think a majority of it is that I'm getting older, and if I were say, 22 again now, I would really enjoy what's on the radio today.
Question is, why is this? Why at around age 30 do we stop being able to appreciate new pop music? It's not like we lack the capacity to appreciate new styles. Most people get about two decades of pop music before they start to phase out of it plus a few more decades that their parents introduce them to. For instance, somebody born in 1985 would have likely been into pop music until around the 2013-2016 time frame. Myself, I started noticing music declining around 2013. There was still plenty of good stuff, it just wasn't quite as good as 2009-12. 2015 was probably the last really good year for music. 2016 had some good songs but for the most part sucked and 2017 has been god awful.
In addition to their own music, their parents would have introduced them to 60s, 70s, and 80s music. So, they have grown to appreciate at least five or six decades of music.
Why does appreciating new music and sounds stop around age 30?
You are asking somewhat complex questions with different variables involved when it comes to the answers, therefore, I will give you my take on this topic.
I think that as kids, the music that we listen to and that most of our peers listen to becomes the music of one's 'social group.' And as kids get older and become adolescents, this becomes intensified where the music that teenagers listen to become 'their' music(or 'our' music from their perspective). And within their music comes various attitudes, behaviors, and social mores. Also, there is a lot of group 'conforming' involved when it comes to those attitudes, behaviors, and social mores.
However, after graduation from high school, or for some people college, all of this apparently starts to fade, even though a lot of the 'attitudes' are related to youth, and which is why a person in their 20s or early 30s will continue to listen to the type of popular music that they've been listening to for most of their lives. However, as those former social pressures and influences, along with one's own youthfulness starts to fade, for a lot of people, their desire and interest to keep up with the current, 'what's-happening' music starts to fade.
Also, interestingly, there's also this factor where after what I consider as being the heyday of Pop music(and which would include Rock and R&B) in the 60s, 70s, and part of the 80s, music itself started to get worse. And even though some people of the younger generation don't see this or won't admit to this for the reasons that I mentioned before about today's music being 'their' music(also, see this thread), I think that the music speaks for itself. Also, I don't know if a lot of the Rap songs are still doing this, but when you have a large number of Rap songs that basically 'sample' their main melody from former R&B or even Pop or Rock hits, then to me, that shows a lack of creativity and shows that this music is more concerned about conveying an 'attitude' rather than conveying 'real' music.
But for me, being a long time R&B fan, the late 80s and early 90s is when R&B started to become too 'Rappy' and too crude for me(see a sample of some of the hit songs in 1991 here) and therefore, I decided to investigate jazz music. But fortunately for me, it seemed like perfect timing, because in that same year, Natalie Cole came out with "Unforgettable... with Love," which turned out to be a huge crossover Pop hit and served as a bridge to the type of music that I was looking for.
But I wanted to mention that even though what some consider as being Pop Jazz is my go-to music nowadays, I still enjoy listening to the R&B and Pop music from my youth in the 60s and 70s simply because it was good music and it still holds up today. And which is obviously why a lot of young people today are able to enjoy the music from the 60s and the 70s, as you had mentioned.
Last edited by William Taylor; 08-05-2017 at 08:23 PM..
It depends how you define 'pop'. I've always been a rocker (thank you, KISS) and have very little patience for anything that may trouble chart compilers.
Much of what we now call classic rock was considered pop in its day, The Beatles for example. I love them as all right thinking people should, but if I'm honest, their material pre-Help does very little for me. The simple song structures and largely adolescent lyrics represented a stage they had to progress through before they began to challenge themselves or their audience.
I will listen to 'new' bands, or those I wasn't previously aware of, when they strike a familiar chord (ha!) or remind me of artists I already enjoy. Iced Earth are essentially America's equivalent of Iron Maiden (Jon Schaffer does Steve Harris's bass 'gallop' on rhythm guitar) and conjure many fond memories of the heavy metal I loved in the 80s. I enjoy Porcupine Tree because they remind me of Pink Floyd and Rush without being derivative. When they split after The Incident, the void in my playlist led me to Riverside, Katatonia and quite a few other bands in a similar vein. I'm a great fan of Opeth's newer progressive phase as well.
In most cases, by the time age 30 rolls around an individual is married and/or has children. Focus shifts from being immersed in pop culture to trying to support a family. Unless the individual is a real music buff s/he doesn't have the time to keep up with new music. In my own life the 90s and 00s were a big blur.
Fast forward a dozen years or so...the kids are grown, the individual is starting to slow down and is looking forward to retirement. S/he is in shock to discover that s/he no longer belongs to the "it" demographic and that pop culture is now pandering to--or more accurately, being produced by--the younger generation. This grates on our egos--and no surprise here--every generation will go through this.
Also, you always remember your first love. Why is it that I can sing word for word every early Beatles' tune but I can't quite grasp the lyrics to my favorite Bleachers song even though I play it incessantly?? While I love a lot of the music of today it's not where I originally "cut my teeth." Even though I can appreciate today's music I'm not of today's music. It's not "home" to me like those old Beatles tunes are.
Whenever people say that the music of today sucks I just roll my eyes. It's not the music that sucks--it's the fact that it's a subtle reminder that you're growing older and can no longer relate.
Good post, Daisy. But I have to somewhat disagree with your last sentence because some of today's music does suck(IMO).
You are asking somewhat complex questions with different variables involved when it comes to the answers, therefore, I will give you my take on this topic.
I think that as kids, the music that we listen to and that most of our peers listen to becomes the music of one's 'social group.' And as kids get older and become adolescents, this becomes intensified where the music that teenagers listen to become 'their' music(or 'our' music from their perspective). And within their music comes various attitudes, behaviors, and social mores. Also, there is a lot of group 'conforming' involved when it comes to those attitudes, behaviors, and social mores.
However, after graduation from high school, or for some people college, all of this apparently starts to fade, even though a lot of the 'attitudes' are related to youth, and which is why a person in their 20s or early 30s will continue to listen to the type of popular music that they've been listening to for most of their lives. However, as those former social pressures and influences, along with one's own youthfulness starts to fade, for a lot of people, their desire and interest to keep up with the current, 'what's-happening' music starts to fade.
Also, interestingly, there's also this factor where after what I consider as being the heyday of Pop music(and which would include Rock and R&B) in the 60s, 70s, and part of the 80s, music itself started to get worse. And even though some people of the younger generation don't see this or won't admit to this for the reasons that I mentioned before about today's music being 'their' music(also, see this thread), I think that the music speaks for itself. Also, I don't know if a lot of the Rap songs are still doing this, but when you have a large number of Rap songs that basically 'sample' their main melody from former R&B or even Pop or Rock hits, then to me, that shows a lack of creativity and shows that this music is more concerned about conveying an 'attitude' rather than conveying 'real' music.
But for me, being a long time R&B fan, the late 80s and early 90s is when R&B started to being too 'Rappy' and too crude for me(see a sample of some of the hit songs in 1991 here) and therefore, I decided to investigate jazz music. But fortunately for me, it seemed like perfect timing, because in that same year, Natalie Cole came out with "Unforgettable... with Love," which turned out to be a huge crossover Pop hit and served as a bridge to the type of music that I was looking for.
But I wanted to mention that even though what some consider as being Pop Jazz is my go-to music nowadays, I still enjoy listening to the R&B and Pop music from my youth in the 60s and 70s simply because it was good music and it still holds up today. And which is obviously why a lot of young people today are able to enjoy the music from the 60s and the 70s, as you had mentioned.
You make some good points here. During youth and to an extent into your twenties, the music you listen to is heavily associated with your identity and "tribe." People who typically listen to rock have a different culture than hip-hop listeners who have a different culture than EDM listeners.
However, I would disagree that objectively there has ever been a time where music "went downhill." It might seem that way because of the way we remember hits from certain decades. For instance, when we think of the '60s, we immediately think of the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, etc. We don't think about 1910 Fruitgum Company or Ohio Express. Every decade has its mass-produced garbage. It's just most of that gets forgotten as the years progress.
The reason I say that music has never "went downhill" is the fact that the Greatest Generation, who grew up on swing and early rock, were not fond of the music of the 60s and 70s, much of which is now considered some of the greatest music ever recorded. Baby boomers who grew up in that era started complaining about pop music not being as good once we got into the 90s. As a millennial, I bet I won't like the music that is coming up in the '20s. I already don't enjoy current music as much as I did music that came out around 2010.
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