You Kids with Your New Music April 24th, 2010
Originally Written 08/01/08
There’s something I’ve been noticing more and more these days. I don’t listen to the radio or music as much as I used to, I spend more of my listening time on podcasts and audio fiction. So over the past several years I’ve grown more out of touch with new music.
I’ve heard of the bands my teenage niece is into now, and I know a couple of their singles, but a lot of the time I’d be hard pressed to name their songs. I figure I’d recognize the songs if I heard them though.
Still, as part of the process of growing older, I realize there’s not a lot of new music that clicks with me. I think it’s true for most people that you tend to lock into the music from your younger years. There are some exceptions and you can discover some new music, but for the most part it seems you fix on music from that era.
Another example was awhile ago when I was half listening to the radio as I drove and thought, that I caught myself absently-mindedly grooving to a Bon Jovi song! Heh, that was a surprise. I still didn’t like it, but it took me a bit to realize what it was, when years ago I would’ve yelled at the radio and immediately switched the station.
I think it was a two-fold effect, one from not having the song crammed down my throat like it was from when it was in heavy rotation back then, so it wasn’t as obnoxious. Secondly, I think it’s the familiarity to songs from my youth, even ones I didn’t like. It’s funny when the songs you grew up with are now considered oldies.