ATTN: Musicians and listeners

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Has there ever been a moment in your life where music no longer mattered?

I kinda noticed it in the past couple of weeks. It was in Villager's car. Here's the thing, I'm a metalhead (with untapped flexibility because what you listen to inherently sucks) in his borderline mid-30s. Villager was born in 1984, so she is 30. Her next best friend who isn't me is in her mid twenties. She also, on an objective level, has poor taste in music. I say this as a musician, rather than an old dude. Her secret boyfriend seems to agree. Of course he would, he listens to, as she would put it, "angry white boy music" never mind that she listens to valium dosed white girl music. What does any of that mean? I don't care about the folk, I've played it for money and loved it. I don't care about the color of the skin of the musician, if you guitar, you guitar. I don't care if he or she is angry. If it's targeted to boys, I'm honestly not interested. There's a very good reason that I grew up in the 1990s and want to beat the whiny shit out of Jonathan Davis. He sucks. His band sucks. I didn't know at first, but I still figured it out before the year 2000.

I guess this is a defense of the get off my lawn, but a strange twist on it. You're welcome on my lawn, but stop pretending that your grass is greener Your music sucks as much as the music from my era that I now recognize as sucky.

The difference is, I'm willing to give your music a shake. A fair shake.

I'm just not going to give it a free pass. I may be older. But I'm going to put myself in that position of listening to it as a 13 year old and then fast forward myself 20 years.

There's a reason why a Twid likes a bit of Nirvana. It's not because Kurt was good. It's also not because Kurt was shitty (he had some chops, if you listen to Bleach). It's because Kurt happened to be at the right place at the right time. And I'm a better musician than him, so fuck his ashes. So I like crap music from the 90s. That's a challenge. I'll listen to it one way or the other. Most of it is going to suck, much like most of what I liked back in the day also sucked. What's going to stay though? What are you listening to that you'll still be listening to in 2030? Because that's the kinda shit that you're listening to now that I want to hear.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I meandered off of the point.

Probably the most telling was that when I ride shotgun, sometimes I just ignore music. Entirely. I'm so used to Mandi taking shotgun and playing music that I dislike that when it's just me and Villager, Villager will go "way to stay on top of things, DJ" and I'll retort, "You want me to DJ? I'm so used to listening to music I don't care about here."

[Nephew Twiddleton]

It's dumb, I guess, but there's a level of what do you want me to do? I don't know what you think sucks anymore.

[LMNO]

I have no idea how to respond to this, other than to say, there is more music available from 1910-2013 than there is music from 2013-2014.  Proportionally, there will be more songs that are good from the last century than from the last year.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Are you asking for music recommendations, or just sharing? I post music links a lot. I like a lot of new stuff because I have little patience for getting stuck in nostalgia traps.

[Eater of Clowns]

You said it yourself, Twid, music doesn't have to be timeless, or have lasting power. It's a reflection of a huge number of influences, including one's own fleeting mood. It's also easier to recognize ten or more years after the fact what was really great musically and what was just great for its time. My age group listened to Blink 182 and Green Day and, yeah, Korn in the 90's. FOR FUCK'S SAKE I OWNED A LIMP BIZKIT ALBUM. I can't stand any of it now but that doesn't mean I loved it any less at the time.

I know you love music, Twid, because I know you. But this reads a lot less like loving music than it does loving loving music.

Some of my favorite shit in the last few years has been obnoxious electronica. Bloody Beetroots, Ki: theory, and Robert Delong. And surf rocky as hell Django Django. Will I be listening to them in five years? Hell, I don't know if I'll listen to them in one. But who cares?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Research on musical preference across ages strongly indicates that people prefer the music that was popular when they were between 15 and 30, and think that the music of the younger generations isn't as good.

[Eater of Clowns]

Research on musical preference across ages strongly indicates that people prefer the music that was popular when they were between 15 and 30, and think that the music of the younger generations isn't as good.

Yeah, this.

[I_Kicked_Kennedy]

Here. I wrote this song for you:
http://youtu.be/kmmPFrkuPq0

[rong]

i've developed a strong distaste for classic rock - not because it sucks - there's some really great classic rock music.

but, because any job i've ever had where there was a radio - classic rock is what was on that radio.  i now strongly associate classic rock with being at work.

has anyone else experienced this?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

i've developed a strong distaste for classic rock - not because it sucks - there's some really great classic rock music.

but, because any job i've ever had where there was a radio - classic rock is what was on that radio.  i now strongly associate classic rock with being at work.

has anyone else experienced this?

Total classical conditioning, where you come to associate a neutral or even pleasant stimulus with an unpleasant stimulus.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Are you asking for music recommendations, or just sharing? I post music links a lot. I like a lot of new stuff because I have little patience for getting stuck in nostalgia traps.

This was more of a rant that I was trying to push through a sheet of champagnoise. It's been kinda rattling around in my head a bit.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

i've developed a strong distaste for classic rock - not because it sucks - there's some really great classic rock music.

but, because any job i've ever had where there was a radio - classic rock is what was on that radio.  i now strongly associate classic rock with being at work.

has anyone else experienced this?

I hate Weird Al because of a long car trip where the musical options given to us were Weird Al and Korean techno.

[hooplala]

I'd probably pick Weird Al too.

What I got from the OP was that there is crappy music from all times but Twid was was willing to give the new music a fair shake, implying that Villager's best friend was not.

I would agree that shitty music is made at all times, I was not a big fan of most music from the 90s while that decade was transpiring. I'm more forgiving to a lot of it now, but at the time I listened to music which was, on average, 30 years older.

There must be teens doin he same today, but it often seems like he current young generation has a distinct lack of interest in the musical past. Or maybe those ones are just the loudest on social media... the recent Kanye/Paul Macartney thing is the most recent example. When I was a teen, it seemed like me and my friends would never admit to having not heard of something from the 60s or early 70s.  We always wanted to seem older and smarter than we were.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'd probably pick Weird Al too.

What I got from the OP was that there is crappy music from all times but Twid was was willing to give the new music a fair shake, implying that Villager's best friend was not.

I would agree that shitty music is made at all times, I was not a big fan of most music from the 90s while that decade was transpiring. I'm more forgiving to a lot of it now, but at the time I listened to music which was, on average, 30 years older.

There must be teens doin he same today, but it often seems like he current young generation has a distinct lack of interest in the musical past. Or maybe those ones are just the loudest on social media... the recent Kanye/Paul Macartney thing is the most recent example. When I was a teen, it seemed like me and my friends would never admit to having not heard of something from the 60s or early 70s.  We always wanted to seem older and smarter than we were.

Mine listen to all kinds of random shit, including stuff from the 80's that I hate. Mostly I just make a point of not telling them when I hate their music, because I've spent enough time around music snobs that I loathe being told that my tastes are "bad" and don't want to impose my opinions on their enjoyment.