How Middle Age Affected My Musical Tastes

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by sandmountainslim1, May 30, 2018.

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  1. sandmountainslim1

    sandmountainslim1 Vicar Of Fonz Thread Starter

    Sitting here on the verge of being 48 years old and I was thinking of the music I was listening to in the summer of 1988 versus what I'm listening to and my opinions of music now. Examples:

    One Slip is a better song than The Post War Dream and as a whole Momentary Lapse is more listenable than The Final Cut.

    Ram is superior to Plastic Ono Band in almost every conceivable way save for amount of whining involved and preaching.

    Frank Sinatra's 50's albums are as good as anything ever recorded by The Beatles or the Doors.

    The Who should have stayed broken up.

    All of the above I pretty much polar opposite that's what I would have told you 30 years ago. Anyone else's beliefs changed along similar lines?
     
  2. e.s.

    e.s. Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    But what's your favorite Wings poster now?
     
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  3. Freek999

    Freek999 Forum Resident

    Bob Dylan should never sing his own songs, just write songs for better singers :)

    … is what I thought between 15 and 30
     
  4. Echoes Myron

    Echoes Myron Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Less Black Flag, more Fleetwood Mac.
     
  5. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas
    At age 65 ( which is not exactly middle age for a male as I would define it )

    -have no affinity for any Pink Floyd after A Saucerful of Secrets and a single here and there afterwards for a couple of years. - I loved it all in my younger days.
    -outside of Band On The Run - a CD comp of various tunes by McCartney and/or Wings is entirely sufficient though essential. - I liked it all in my younger days.
    -Frank Sinatra thru any era excepting the Duet albums is pretty much essential. - I despised his music in my younger days.
    -The Who hold no interest to me from Tommy on tho their prior music is some of my very favorite. - I used to listen with interest up until Moon died.
     
    sami and sandmountainslim1 like this.
  6. rswitzer

    rswitzer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Golden, CO USA
    higher regard -> Ry Cooder, Leonard Cohen, John Prine and many others

    Lower regard - > nothing really. I may not listen to the artists of my youth as much, but I remember why I did.
     
  7. Musicisthebest

    Musicisthebest Exiled Yorkshireman

    Location:
    Manchester, UK
    30 years ago I had yet to comprehend the genii of Bob Dylan, Miles Davis & John Coltrane.

    I couldn't understand why people rated Van Morrison so highly, & even now I don't get Astral Weeks.

    Like you I don't rate the Doors so highly now, or perhaps I listened to them too much in my youth?
     
    DTK, Dave513, Peter M and 2 others like this.
  8. Partyslammer

    Partyslammer Lord Of The New Church

    On the cusp of 60, I find my musical tastes have been leaning further towards harder edged metal/punk music more than ever before.

    NOW GET OFFA MY LAWN!!
     
  9. Thievius

    Thievius Blue Oyster Cult-ist

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    I find I'm more open to listening to stuff my parents would like - Elvis, Johnny Cash, Sinatra, etc.

    But I still love most of the rock music I listened to as a teen - minus heavy metal. I haven't liked or listened to HM in about 35 years. Except Sabbath. Sabbath are still cool.
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2018
  10. Imperious Leader

    Imperious Leader Forum Resident

    I was a teenager in the 80s and even then I hated 80s music
     
  11. Radio KTmS

    Radio KTmS i am a dj, i am what i play

    same age as op here...
    i've found that i've become more open minded about music,
    and more close minded about everything else.
     
  12. Here's the thing: I'm 48 now, and I would have said most of those even back in 1988 (hadn't really discovered Sinatra).
     
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  13. sandmountainslim1

    sandmountainslim1 Vicar Of Fonz Thread Starter

    Back then the only current music I liked was Prince, Tears for Fears, Culture Club and AC DC..... I still like all the above
     
    stef1205, Zoot Marimba and timind like this.
  14. Sondek

    Sondek Forum Resident

    While the lyrics on The Final Cut are dated, the overall sound hasn't dated as much as A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. I don't tend to bother with Pink Floyd past The Final Cut these days.
     
  15. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    I concur with the Ram assessment.
     
  16. crookedbill

    crookedbill Forum Resident

    My tastes have been pretty broad since I was a teen (from grunge, hip-hop, electronic, to jazz etc.), but as I cross over into middle age (does 40 count) my tastes have actually become much more intense. They are not mellowing at all.

    For example, in the last decade or so, I've become a pretty devout metalhead (I didn't touch metal as a teen, ironically) - I'm talking everything from Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Venom, Entombed, to more current bands like Mastodon, Pallbearer, Black Breath, Skeletonwitch, Toxic Holocaust, Power Trip etc. All sub-generes from death, to thrash, to black, to sludge etc.

    I chalk it up to the fact that this genre is the last to resemble anything like "rock" these days, with bands recording and touring frequently - and putting in 110% into everything they do, with a devout fanbase that gives it back. It's great.
     
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  17. asdf35

    asdf35 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin TX
    Funny you say that, I didn't "get" Black Flag until my mid 30's. MY WAR became my soundtrack (I may have issues).
     
  18. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    I've been gradually changing my listening to encompass more "serious" music, soundtracks and jazz in relation to popular forms.
     
  19. Prism

    Prism Damn Dirty Ape!

    Location:
    Miami
    I prefer 1988 you
     
  20. TheIncredibleHoke

    TheIncredibleHoke Dachshund Dog Dad

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    About to turn 50 and all of the classic rock I grew up with is boring, sleep-inducing, repetitive tripe. I have Beatles, Stones, and Who in my collection, but the only thing I can still stomach, if I've had enough to drink, is the Stones. And that's only a couple albums.

    80s college rock, alternative, punk, and metal has fared a little better, but it still feels a little stale.

    What does feel exciting to me is really good jazz, classical quartets, solo piano, country gold, and modern music. I find I care much more about modern rock, pop, or acoustic based jazz and classical. I'm always able to find challenging jazz, small classical, and modern pop, rap, hip hop that engages me. I can't find the time for Pink Floyd, Beatles, Grateful Dead, etc anymore. I think I've worn them out.
     
  21. rednoise

    rednoise Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston
    Prezactly. My taste is wider, but I still like most of what I did in the early days.

    I was never much into "ranking" music or proclaiming things "over-rated" and now I'm absolutely out of that adolescent foolishness.
     
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  22. smoke

    smoke Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I like 80's music now much more than I did as a teen living through it, but I still feel compelled to remind people that classic rock became so big because contemporary rock music sucked in a way not seen since before Elvis shook his hips on Ed Sullivan. There are a few bands that I listened to ALL THE TIME that I can't stand now, but mostly I still like what I liked back then, even if I don't listen much due to overexposure.

    Agree about the Sinatra, and I even remember an older person telling me I was too young to get it - he was right.

    I feel much the same, and I generally find myself looking for what's good in a piece of music instead of picking it apart. When I was a teenager musical taste was very, very close to a moral question, I position I find pretty laughable these days.
     
  23. I read the thread title quickly. I was expecting a discussion of medieval music. :rolleyes:
     
  24. Elliottmarx

    Elliottmarx Always in the mood for Burt Bacharach

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I now love Stephen Sondheim - and see him as perhaps the most important writer of the classic rock era - though he never dabbled with that genre. I've always enjoyed Broadway, but now basically prefer seeing a musical to a rock concert. Almost.
     
    TheIncredibleHoke likes this.
  25. Madness

    Madness "Hate is much too great a burden to bear."

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    At 55 I don't think my musical tastes have changed at all. I grew up listening to classic rock, then moved into "my bands" like AC/DC in the very early '80s. One of my best friends (and drinking buddy) always joked that we would be two old dudes in the old folks' home still cranking AC/DC. '80s metal had a huge influence on me, and I still crank Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Rush, among others. Thanks to the internet, I later discovered power metal like Iced Earth, Edguy, Avantasia, Wolf, Primal Fear.

    Funny that this thread came up...I was just thinking maybe yesterday that in 5 years I'll be 60 (when my next colonoscopy is due), that I'll still be enjoying hard rock and heavy metal.

    Sometimes when I'm sitting in the car listening to music in the parking lot of the grocery store (wife is the shopper...I hate grocery stores), and people walk by and they might be slightly younger than me or slightly older, I wonder if they appreciate the music coming out of my car, and if some people, as they aged, don't really appreciate hard rock and heavy metal anymore, if they used to.

    So I do believe, like I said, my musical tastes haven't really changed at all, and I don't really expect them to.

    "If it's too loud, you're too old!"

    and

    UP THE MOTHER F***ING IRONS!!!!
     
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