I’m trying to figure out that moment when I stopped following current music.
Surely, I remember the start was when I was maybe three, in the 1950s. But the coming of age music was in the 1960s, with the Beatles and Motown, et al, and later Cream and Aretha, and the like. Still active in the singer-songwriter 1970s, and revived in the early 1980s with the Clash, the Talking Heads, the Police, and so forth.
Was it the 1990s when I didn’t “get” Nirvana initially?
No, I actually eventually purchased some Nirvana and Pearl Jam. And, even as my music consumption diminished, MTV was still actually playing music videos, so that I was vaguely aware of the hit songs. But now? I look at the charts and don’t even recognize most of the names, let alone the songs.
It’s not that I don’t buy ANY new music, it’s that I am more likely to buy tried and true artists. My favorite album last year? By Paul Simon. The albums I’m most looking forward to right now? By Bonnie Raitt (her first on her own label) and Leonard Cohen. Oh, and that album of Bob Dylan covers. Got Bruce Springsteen for my birthday, and picked up Lyle Lovett and Paul McCartney with a gift card.
I’ve purchased very few albums by artists whose recording career started in the 21st Century, and most of those tend to be singers such as Corrine Bailey Rae or Adele. There may be an outlier, such as Arcade Fire, but it is the exception.
If you are of a certain age, are you still buying new music, and if so, is it from newer artists or ones you’ve grown up with?
I find that while I still love the classic artists of my youth, the newer CD’s (Yes, CD’s), I buy are by female pop singers! I just bought Keri Hilson and Rhianna.
For a while in the 2000s, I wasn’t buying music by new artists. In the past year or so, I’ve been trying a bit more. There’s some good music out there, but when you get past your mid-20s, I think, you tend to have more things to occupy your time, and it’s harder to find stuff. But it’s there! (Of course, I’m only 40. Maybe I’m just not yet an old fogey like you are!)
I think we hit a certain age where music isn’t as important as in our youth. The last CD I purchased was Seal but only for the title song.
And here’s a little experiment for you. Take any abstract idea and do a google image search. You will come up with at least one musical group with the concept you typed in.
I’ve bought a few from newer artists, but in a select genre. Not pop. Lately my music buying has been non-existent really.
For me, it was fall 1989, when I went to college, and suddenly I had a lot less money to buy music with. Plus, I was studying music, so I dug into classical in a big way and left pop music behind. I’ve never really looked back; my pop music purchases since then have been few and far between. (And nowadays, my music purposes in ANY genre are few and far between.)
Syncing my MP3 player for yard work made me think back to this post.
I think people tend to get enamored with music in high school because (1) kids in puberty are all emotion and raw ends, and music is great when you’re emotional and (2) kids in high school tend to have a lot of time in places like the lunchroom to just talk with friends about whatever – and music is a great “whatever” conversation. Beats the weather.
Based on the stuff you said you did like, some you might try:
– Rammstein: try “Amerika” (political), “Du Hast,” “Keine Lust” (very “Nirvana”), and “Rosenrot”
– If you like the message in Aretha Franklin’s music, try Madison Avenue, particularly “Don’t Call Me Baby”
– If you’ve never heard Sarah McLaughlin’s music, try it. It’s more calming and less angry, but I like it. Also like Cranberries, which is in between. Hardly new, but still good.
– Listen to dance stations. I do. I have a secret list of songs I love from dance stations that I wouldn’t let the rest of the world see.
But definitely try some Rammstein and other German hardcore, including rap. It’s great, energetic, often angry and aggressive music.
And for a kick of weird German rap… Seeed’s “Ding”: http://youtu.be/_yWU0lFghxU
I think I’m an equal opportunity music lover. But I tend to download more than buy CDs or albums these days. Adele is topping the list these days.