Posted on 04/24/2015 7:16:06 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
For all of us, we have a musical sweet spot in our lives. It happens roughly between the ages of 14 and 24, from the time we enter high school to the time life begins to intrude with its demands of jobs, mortgages and families. During that period, almost nothing is more important to us than music. It not only becomes a personal obsession but something we use to proclaim our identity to the rest of the world.
But after about 24, we just don’t have the time (and often the interest) to indulge in our musical passions as much as we used to. Instead of spending hours seeking out what’s new and cool, we begin to fall back on the music of our youth for enjoyment, relaxation and comfort. New music just doesn’t do it for us anymore. We might even find ourselves saying “Music today isn’t anywhere as good as it used to be when I was young!” Then you go and yell at some kids on your lawn.
This is totally natural. Every generation has the biological right to believe that the music of their youth is the greatest music of all time. We also have a biological right (or at least a predilection) to have a musical mid-life crisis. The Guardian reports:
Some encouragement for all the 42-year-olds suddenly getting into Rihanna or Rudimental: at least your midlife crisis is less dangerous than buying an unsuitably-powerful motorbike.
Streaming music service Spotify has identified 42 as the age when many of its users rediscover the joys of current pop music, as part of research into how their tastes mature over time.
“During the teenage years, we embrace music at the top of the charts more than at any other time in our lives. As we grow older, our taste in music diverges sharply from the mainstream up to age 25, and a bit less sharply after that,” explained the company on its Insights blog.
“We’re starting to listen to ‘our’ music, not ‘the’ music. Music taste reaches maturity at age 35. Around age 42, music taste briefly curves back to the popular charts — a musical midlife crisis and attempt to harken back to our youth, perhaps?”
There’s still some good stuff being made, only hearable on college stations, though.
The only polkas I like are Irish polkas. And as an amateur musician, I play them for my own amazement.
In my teens, sweet spot music consited of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Tchiakovsky with some Rachmaninoff and Moussorgsky thrown in. (The ultimate act of rebellion is to rebel against your U2 listening peers)
Now that I'm in full mid-life crisis, it's a strange mix of cafe racer bikes and the big, orchestral late-romanticism of Mahler, Strauss, Elgar, Vaughan-Williams... So... Small, fast bikes distilled down to their functional essence and long, drawn out hour long symphonic epics chock full of every instrument under the sun.
“Popular charts” Maybe today but not for anyone I knew going back to 5th grade. The top forty in 1969 had act like The Doors and Steppenwolf which pulled us away from the bubble gum fast. From ‘69 to ‘76 when I graduated not one single person I knew paid any attention to the top forty. I stopped paying any attention at all when the half talented KISS came to prominence (if not popularity). It all seemed old and stupid at a that point.
The funny thing is that when I hear new music that really grabs me I think “Man, I’da loved THAT when I was 17. Then I forget about it completely.
I have always taken the tack of “is it good, for what style of music it is”
Menaing: does it have a good melody, nice changes, a catchy hook?
You’re right, that today the female vocalists have to try to hit these notes and warble around and preen at how wonderful they are, and the men tend to want to prove that they can hold a note for eight bars or more. In both cases they tend to “emote” too much for my taste. They can’t just follow the melody, they have to stylize. And it grows tedious when in many cases it is unnecessary.
Ha Ha Ha...good article.
As a performing artist, I discovered that I must gauge my audience and play the music from their High School Years.
For some audiences, this meant the music of the 30’s, WW2, and others it was the 50’, 60’s and beyond.
Then something strange happened. My littlest students (7-8 year olds) wanted me to teach them the music of the Beatles, the Stones, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin! The recitals have perennial favorites: Wild Horses, Angie, Wish You Were Here, Stairway to Heaven, Landslide, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Hey Jude, Let It Be, Say You Love Me, Etc.
The kids actually COMPETE for “Wild Horses” and “Stairway”.
Another cool thing is the fierce competition for the “Star Spangled Banner” at the beginning.
There IS Hope, my FRiends! :-)
LOL...my Bass Teacher (and dear Friend)was in Cinderella.
He was a brilliant pianist and could play Classical, Jazz, Rock, Blues, and everything else. he was also a Conservative politically.
But he was in Cinderella! hahahaha
Southern Rock is the best music, and Lynyrd Skynyrd is the best Southern Rock. Those of us who love Southern Rock are right, and everyone else is wrong.
What were you saying? LALALALALALALALALALA...I can’t hear you...LALALALALALA.
It’s all so simple. Why is there even an issue?
Indeed.
I loved his early work.
Then he started injecting left-wing politics into his songs and I couldn’t listen anymore.
Oh yes.
I am a Vocal Coach, and I HATE that damm warbling.
What’s worse is a bad dismount from a “run” , flat, off key, and behind the beat. OUCH!
Music don’t mean a thang if it ain’t got no twang.
I rarely listen to the music of my 20s anymore. With Pandora I am listening to a fantastic mix of new and old music and many styles.
I agree. IMO, everything Gong Hyo Jin is in is well worth watching, and I’m highly anticipating the upcoming series The Producers.
The cast is all A list stars in Korean entertainment, and the list of cameo appearances is full of big stars as well.
Synopsis here: http://www.koreandrama.org/producer/
My musical taste started skewing away from the charts as a teen and keeps moving. At age 45 I’m still discovering new to me music. In the last year I’ve started exploring the wild worlds of Harry Nilsson (who had some hits inspite of himself) and Leonard Cohen (no such luck). No crisis for me.
Cool
I worked for AF for 6 years, toured the U.S. a bunch of times and Europe.
Played lots of times with Murphy’s Law.
Jimmy Gestapo,now that guy knows how to tell a story.
Holy smokes
I worked that show
Drum tech and roadie
At 18:32 that’s me with the White t shirt
In my pre-High School years, mid-70’s, it was Black Sabbath, B.O.C., Kiss, Aerosmith, Zeppelin. In HS, Rush was all the rage.
Fell into Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull and it was the lyrics combined with the complexity of the music that struck me.
Elvis Costello was the master of lyrical prose while the Talking Heads and The B-52’s rounded out my tastes in the early 80’s.
I never got into the “Metal-Hair” bands and Guns and Roses was the last thing I wanted to listen to.
Aerosmith’s first 4 or five albums stayed with me, but after that, I lost interest.
Stumbled upon the reconstituted “King Crimson” with Adrian Belew and was blown away.
The best live show I’ve ever seen.
Thela Hun Ginjeet King Crimson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-5hLiZnJhU
And Les Claypool does and awesome remake here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml6LmIB-hvA
Beautiful piece.
Congratulations for getting married.
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