"Why Do Old People Hate New Music?"

SoCalSurf · #1 10-05-2019, 11:47 AM

There is an academic website that encourages children to pose questions that can be answered by experts of various fields (www.theconversation.com).

One of the recent questions posed was, "Why do old people hate new music?" It was answered by a psychologist.

I think members of this forum would find the response really interesting. https://theconversation.com/curious-...w-music-123834

RP · #2 10-05-2019, 12:15 PM

I love this interchange from The Big Chill:

Michael (Jeff Goldblum): Harold, don't you have any other music, you know, from this century?
Harold (Kevin Kline): There is no other music, not in my house.
Michael: There's been a lot of terrific music in the last ten years.
Harold: Like what?

Denny B · #3 10-05-2019, 12:21 PM

Young people have been asking this question as long as there's been music, and I don't really think it takes a psychologist to answer it...

Although I'm sure we'll see a thesis or two posted in reply....

frankmcr · #4 10-05-2019, 12:45 PM

I guess old fogies like me, with our Velvet Underground and our Stooges and out Television records, just can't appreciate the wonderfulness of Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake and . . .

JCave · #5 10-05-2019, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankmcr

I guess old fogies like me, with our Velvet Underground and our Stooges and out Television records, just can't appreciate the wonderfulness of Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake and . . .

And just like me...

Mark Hatcher · #6 10-05-2019, 01:44 PM

There is a coming of age period in most people’s lives that as we become adults we begin to set as a bench mark for many things including music. We tend to measure things from that perspective for the rest of our lives.
I recently moved to NH and when I drive around the wooded roads here I get a wonderful and familiar feeling of being home. When I looked into it I found a study showing a graph of the quantity of memories we have over the years of our lives from the perspective of about 65 years old. As you might expect we remember more details from the more recent years and it falls off the further back you go. Except there is a large bump starting in our teens on into our early 20s. I realized that the wooded roads I drive today look a lot like the back roads of western NJ where I lived at that age.

Silly Moustache · #7 10-05-2019, 01:51 PM

Well, this happens to me a lot. I think about something, and make a judgement, and regard it as something we used to call "common sense" en someone with a doctorate or some letters after their name write a paper, or a book, or gets a tour of chat shows announcing the same concept as their magnificent discovery.

Hmph!

Of course, everything that that fancy pants trick cyclists says is quite valid , but, to me at least, common sense.

However, as I started listening to music as the 1950s emerged, I will add something to this.

"Popular" music of the '30s was more complex and structured than in the '40s, and the '40s were more complex that the music of the '50s ..and so the simplification of, shall we say, "top twenty" music has become increasingly formulaic and focussed on the basics that people can be persuaded to listen to and buy.

Way back when I was a drummer, I realised that I could get a dance hall dancing by just hitting out a drum riff and rhythm - didn't actually need the singer, lead, rhythm or bass player at all.

My theory is that the large majority of the population understand very little to nothing about music, and will simply respond to a regular beat.

It's essentially tribal.
Pop music now is essentially a digitised beat track (usually 16 or 32 bar sequence, and somebody shouting or talking in an approximation of the beat.

There are, of course exceptional musicians and wonderful music emerging ... it just doesn't get taken up by the big labels/distributors so it doesn't sell to the great unwashed like a processed boy band with a dance routine and a repeated shout or "rap" line.

and ...

FLRon · #8 10-05-2019, 01:52 PM

"Hate" is far too strong a word for me. I would say I simply don't like a lot of today's music and find my tastes run more old school.
Whatever"old school" is. 😙

spike66 · #9 10-05-2019, 01:57 PM

Why do New People hate Old Music?

catdaddy · #10 10-05-2019, 02:49 PM

Well, I'm an old person and I like discovering new music. But here's the thing: a lot of the "new" music that I like is not actually new, it's new to me, but not necessarily new in terms of its actual age. For instance, I have recently taken several university sponsored online classical music courses which introduced me to many hours of classical music that was entirely new to me. Much of that music has since become a regular part of my personal enjoyment listening playlist. In short, I like this music. I've also discovered "new to me music" in other genres which I like, some of which is older music, and some of which is very much contemporary.

So, does the term "new music" refer to music that's new to the listener, or is it specifically referring to newly released music? I find it difficult to believe that we, as human beings, are really so closed to accepting and adopting new musical input as we grow older; perhaps we're inherently lazy as aging listeners, but does that automatically translate into a musical dislike (hate seems like too strong a word)?

Denny B · #11 10-05-2019, 03:26 PM

I don't think this is rocket science or an earth shaking news flash...as music has evolved over the years, it's like a right of passage that a lot of parents can't stand what their kids listen to as they grow...

I'm old enough that I can say for a fact that my Dad (and his friends) hated...yes, hated Elvis...

When the Beatles arrived, my Dad (and his friends) hated them even more...

When I was listening to Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and the Dead, my Dad (and his friends) thought I (and all my friends) were going to hell in a handbasket...

FWIW, the only thing my Dad and I could agree on back then was Johnny Cash...

frankmcr · #12 10-05-2019, 04:20 PM

Is there a band now using the name "Scrambled Debutante"?

http://www.fakebands.com/wiki/images...nAndHobbes.gif

I'd buy it!

ManyMartinMan · #13 10-05-2019, 04:22 PM

I always loved my parents music. They bought me my first albums (Carol King, Jesus Christ Superstar, Elton John...). My parents encouraged me to play in bands, including practicing at our house, and thought it was great that I wanted to, and did become, a professional musician. Jump ahead 23 years and I loved my daughter's music. I guess it depends on where you come from in life. I believe - if you love music - you love music. All music.

Fogducker · #14 10-05-2019, 06:02 PM

Sometimes when I'm shopping and there is some "music" being played on the company speakers, I ask the person waiting on me if they will hum a bit of it to me,--------they never can! It has no tune to it, it's just noise and some sort of guitar/drum track. I don't think it would even get a 60 on the old Dick Clark show 'cause it had a good beat!

Fog

Brucebubs · #15 10-05-2019, 06:20 PM

True story.
A few years back I worked week-ends in a little music shop here in my small rural coastal town.
A guy came in and asked, "Have you got a greatest hits of the 80's?"
I looked him square in the eye and said, "There were no greatest hits in the 80's."
He left and I didn't care.