Getting old and musical tastes

Books, comics, TV, music
1

I’ve noticed that I’m getting old. I’m not as open to new music anymore. In fact, in the tradition of old fogeys everywhere, I shake my head at the kids and think “how can they listen to that crap?”

I’m not even talking about pop like Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys. I mean rock music… or what passes for rock music these days.

Take Linkin Park, for example. They’re the angry backstreet boys. If you’ve ever seen them on videos, it’s hard not to double over with laughter, watching these spoiled, preppy brats trying to dress and act rough. The music is a sad combination of rock and rap, and that second singer just absolutely has to go. He’s got a voice suited for a barber shop quartet. Utterly no edge to the music.

Of course, on the other end of the scale, you have Slipknot. Who are these chumps? I’d answer, but that would require me to care. However, I can’t bring myself to, just because they try so damn hard to be edgy. Remember that old saying all the cool kids told us geeks in their moments of pity? “If you have to try to be cool, you’re totally missing the point.”

Don’t even get me started on rap nowadays. If it wasn’t for Eminem, I’d have to agree with the elitists (wow, there are rap elitists, come to think of it… shocking idea), who claim that rap died with Tupac’s second-last album. His last, of course, took the mere trend of talking about how big your balls are, how much gold you have in your mouth and how many niggaz you gonna off with a “glock glock” - to the utter extremes which pervade urban music nowadays.

Where’s the message? Where’s the anger? How could anyone driving… nay, being chauffered around in an Escalade on 24" gold-plated wheels have any hatred for the system or anger at the white man left in them? It’s rebellious white kids who make these rappers rich. Of course, the moment every white kid does something, it automatically loses 90% of its rebellious value (the 10% being that it can still piss off mommy and daddy Bible thumper).

I mean, compare anything that Snoop Dogg, Nelly or Ludacris have released recently with say… Black Cop by KRS-One.

Oh well, at least Soundgarden is back, in the form of Audioslave.

2

Hey I agree with you and I’m barely 20. Except on the rap thing, I mean NWA did the gats & big balls thing way back, hell have you ever heard Eazy-E rap about bitches?, so to say that rap has lost it’s soul is more than a bit misleading. And to say that rap has to be rebellious and have a fuck-the-system attitude is a stereotype as good as any. And to say the only good music is rebellious music is totally messed up. Good music is good music. As always, there’s mainstream and there’s fringe music in every genre, and the mainstream is almost always non-controversial and bland, that’s why it has mass-appeal.

3

As I got older, my music tastes have expanded. I still like guitar rock the best but I throw in some Sinatra, swing or Johnny Cash when I want some variety. The blues have always been a favorite of mine with Albert King, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Gary Moore getting lots of airplay.

What I don’t like or understand is Hip hop, rap, gansta, bling bling, whatever you wanna call it. It’s not a racist thing, it’s a generational thing. (See above for black artists I admire.) The whole can’t sit up straight, pants falling down around your ass, tattooed, hat backward, slacker thing leaves me cold. I’m not a kid anymore!

4

My tastes have expanded too. I’m starting to enjoy blues and jazz (none of that contemporary crap though). I’ve always liked classical and my appreciation of various composers has grown in recent years, and I got to appreciate, if not quite be interested in, hip hop despite my firm rock origins.

But today’s crap (and it is crap) is pure crap. Pardon the Strongbadian expression for it.

5

I agree that most kids today listen to crap, but a lot of the music that I liked when I was a kid was also pretty crappy, in retrospect, so it’s hard to hold it against them.

6

You’re not old until you start liking today’s crap in a “I’m cool, I’m hip” kind of way. Not being down with the current generation’s pop music is soooo 25 years old Jakub.

7

Hmm, interesting point. I’m probably forgetting all the crappy music I used to listen to.

No, wait. I can see people pointing to Linkin Park and Slipknot 10 years from now and saying “omg the r0x0red”, or whatever l33t speak will have morphed to by then.

8

Somewhat late in life I discovered Slayer.

What an awesome, angry band. God Hates Us All is the best angry CD for years.

As I’ve got older my tastes have got louder.

[size=2][except for a burgeoning like for free jazz…][/size]

9

At age 26 I told a certain major label to stuff it, quit my job there as a promo flack, and went back to work “temporarily” as a waiter until I found something more “permanent”…but I was so burnt out on the state of music at that point that I’d go months without buying a new cd or record. I was done, period, with the whole mess.

Took me about a year, but finally I realized I really missed the tunes. I still had friends who were smart enough not to get jobs in The Industry, and they were rhapsodizing about this band or that, and I was utterly clueless, out of the loop.

“Who are Guided By Voices, again, and why are we going to see them?”

“If Pavement is the Beatles, and the Grifters are the Stones, Guided By Voices is The Who–got it?”

“No. Who are those other bands?”

Anyway, I managed to scam my way into a record store job (where I briefly worked side-by-side with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy), spent three months of intense music begging, borrowing, and stealing to get back up to speed, and resolved that I’d never “let go” again.

I’m always of the opinion that true music fans who claim “there’s nothing good out there anymore” aren’t trying. Even if all you’ve got is the Amazon search engine to guide you, that’s actually not such a bad place to start. Anyway, I’ve bought more discs this year than any other year I can remember, and can’t remember a year that’s seen more quality releases–and we’ve still got some biggies left to come out, too.

Currently listening to:

The new Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci (Welsh folk/rock/pop)
and
The new Undertones disc (first new disc from the greatest rock band in the history of Ireland in 22 years, and it lives up to their legend.)

10

My tastes have expanded – I like classical, Big Band, crooners, even some country music, as well as all the variants of rock, reggae, and blues – but I find I’m less interested in music overall and disinclined to listen to it most of the time. I get a dose of music from my car radio whenever I drive somewhere and that seems to sate me.

11

So, triggercut, basically you’re saying that there’s little good that comes out of the major labels - which I’m liable to agree with. Maybe that’s why sales among RIAA members have gone down? Nah…

12

See, that’s my theory… I found new music I liked well into my early-mid 30s. I don’t think it’s totally generational. Sure, every generation has their crap pop music or equivalent, but there’s generally good stuff coming out as well. But for the past couple of years, it’s all been crap.

I have hundreds of CDs. But this year I bought exactly one new release – Joan Osborne’s new CD. (Some chick in Idaho bought the other copy of that one, I think, which is a shame because it’s a good listen.) I’ve purchased a few other CDs that have been out for a while to fill my back library, but no other new stuff. And no, I haven’t “Kazaa’d” anything, either – it’s the content that’s caused the music industry to lose me as a customer, not theft.

If there’s good music coming out, I’m not being exposed to it.

Hmm, if only there was a legitimate, legal, reasonably priced, lacking-oppressive-DRM method for me to be exposed to new tunes that my peers enjoy…

13

Nah, there’s even good major label stuff out there, if you look hard enough past the hype.

The problem the major labels have right now is they’re top-heavy: 90% of the money they’re contractually on the hook for to artists is centered around 5% of the people who put out a CD in a given year. That’s an insane business model, and one which requires them to invest almost 100% of their promotional budgeting in that 5% of artists they’re stuck in front-loaded contracts with.

14

He, that’s interesting. My tastes started out firmly in jazz and it only took a couple of days for it to expand to nearly every genre under the sun. Still not quite into trance or house too much, and I hate country and enka–which are the same thing, just in two different languages.

I don’t hear too much stuff from America these days, but that’s just because what plays on the radio from there is pretty limited. I disagree that there’s nothing good. Lately, its true, there seems to be a real slump of talent, with shockingly bad stuff topping the charts, but when I look at really old stuff, like 80s and 70s tunes, I see some pretty awful stuff hitting number 1 there too. Of course, to a certain extent, music is more of a matter of taste than a great deal of other expressive mediums. Still, there’s some good stuff poking through, as usual.

OutKast for instance? Not exactly fringe, and their new album is awesome. Haven’t they probably been playing it a lot over there, “Hey Ya” I mean? How about Incubus? They seem pretty decent, I especially like their song “Drive” though its pretty old. Also, nobody will probably agree with me here, but I think of Destiny’s Child’s stuff shows a more accomplished pop edge than most of the hip hop out there. When Beyonce’s not doing that horrible Mariah Carey “I lo—haa-haaa-haaa-aaaaa-ieeee-yeeee-wuuuu-ooooha—love yooooou-hooo!” type of ear-flaying yelling, then they do some great pop. Beyonce’s solo Crazy in Love, with those blazing trumpets and the “I must have lost my mind” type of lyrics is really quite catchy and that Bootylicious song was the right kind
of light-hearted funny. Emotions sounds like something older than it actually is, but the flow is really quite lovely in that power way. 'Course they do a lot of questionable stuff too, but I really think they show more actual talent and stand-out power than others. Also, how about Common? Heard his duet with Mary J. Blige or his Soul Power? Two great songs. Also, somewhat of a one-hit wonder, I think, but telepopmusik’s “Breathe” is heavenly. Of course, I do this thing were I supplant bad lyrics with ones I think are better with some songs that have otherwise great melodies, so maybe I’m different. (Though I haven’t really done that with any of the ones I’ve mentioned.) I also find with every album they release, I like No Doubt more and more. shrugs

Maybe you should try some (for you) foreign music? I could recommend some Japanese stuff, if you’re interested. You might like to try these songs and see if you like them?

orange pekoe - Beautiful Thing
kururi - Sukebe na Onna no Ko
Shiina Ringo - Mayonaka wa Junketsu (or maybe Meisai)
Hitomi - Samurai Drive
Dragon Ash - sleep
Ripslyme - Blue Be-bop
Cornelius - Drop
Hajime Chitose - Oyasumi
Hitomi Yaida - Hitori Jenga
Kick the Can Crew - Marushe
Porno Graffiti - Mugen
m-flo - Hands
hyde - secret letters
Mr. Children - Youthful Days
Utada Hikaru - Deep River
Do As Infinity - Boukenshatachi

Maybe something there might strike your fancy? It ranges from techno to pop to rap to rock to jazz. In any case, hope you find something to electrify the musical part of your mind soon! ^_^

-Kitsune

15

I used to listen a lot of classic rock in my youth, now being 29, I still do, but not as much. Pink Floyd is still my favorite.

Aside from that, I have a pretty eclectic range of music I like listening to, depending on how the music strikes my fancy.

People at work find it weird that I can listen to Pink Floyd and Evanescence on a consistent continual basis (it helps to have every single produced track by Evanescence since 1997 :)

So on my iPod I could have:

Pink Floyd
Hans Zimmer
Fire Inc.
a-ha
Phil Keaggy (the non-Christian instrumental stuff)
John Williams
Yoko Kanno (Ghost in the Shell: Sac or Cowboy Bebop)
Freddie Jones Band
Reverend Horton Heat
Porcupine Tree
ELO

etc. on a playlist at any one time. The only two things I consistently don’t listen to are: rap/R&B and country.

— Alan

16

I don’t think I’ve ever been stuck on just one genre, but then I never quite got serious about considering my musical tastes until a couple of years ago. To me music is music, genre definitions are not something exclusive, rather a broad labelling of mood. Music affects me on so many levels that virtually every genre has something I am able to appreciate. I play Audio bullys back to back with Mozart, 2 Live Crew, Kent, Norah Jones, The Clash and Clipse, all in one big eclectic mix. I enjoy all these artists, but for different reasons, and I’m pretty much open to anything. There is virtually no genre of music I would not enjoy to listen to under certain circumstances.

17

Hell yes, Outkast. They’re wildly hit-or-miss with me, but when they hit, OH MY GOD. Some of the best music I’ve ever heard. Their new double-LP probably could have been trimmed down to one really long single disc, but it’d be a disc of nothing but incredible stuff.

How about Incubus?

Meh. I don’t like nu-metal much. Same with rap-metal. Give me rap or give me metal, but don’t water down both to come up with a weak hybrid, that’s what I say. I haven’t liked a rap-metal song since Ice-T and Slayer collaborated on “Disorder”.

Also, nobody will probably agree with me here, but I think of Destiny’s Child’s stuff shows a more accomplished pop edge than most of the hip hop out there.

I like Destiny’s Child somewhat. They’re unbelievably talented, Beyonce is so hot that if you don’t drool over her then you need to seriously question your sexuality (this goes for you too, ladies), and every so often they’ll do a song that’s just too catchy to deny. They’re sort of the Jay-Z of R&B music (well, aside from the “whoa they’re hot” thing) in that I just wish they could consistently produce amazing songs, instead of seemingly relying on a few great tunes and a bunch of filler that doesn’t stick with me.

Also, how about Common?

Easily one of my favorite rap acts of recent years. He, Blackalicious and Aceyalone all seem to come from the same mold - they churn out fun-yet-hardcore-yet-smooth jams like butter.

Also, somewhat of a one-hit wonder, I think, but telepopmusik’s “Breathe” is heavenly.

I honestly haven’t heard that one.

I also find with every album they release, I like No Doubt more and more. shrugs

They don’t really do it for me, yet I still kind of like them.

Maybe you should try some (for you) foreign music? I could recommend some Japanese stuff, if you’re interested. You might like to try these songs and see if you like them?

I’ve heard Cornelius, and yeah, my world = TOTALLY ROCKED. He’s great.

I would add to that particular list (no idea if any of these are mainstream acts or not, although the first name is fairly popular over here in the USA):

Cibo Matto
The Boom Boom Satellites
The Boredoms
The Polysics
Melt Banana

In particular, The Boom Boom Satellites not only have never released an album that sucks, but I don’t think I’ve heard a single song by them that doesn’t at least make my head nod a little bit. They’re like Japan’s answer to the all-mighty Meat Beat Manifesto.

18

Welcome to music from 2 years ago. (re: linkin park and slipknot)

I can see myself actually liking linkin park if I was 15, because their producer is really good, and I woudn’t know shit about music. I’d put up with the crappy singer/rapper because I didn’t know that they made music without a singer. It would introduce me to the better musical genre’s such as industrial, goa, IDM, etc. (I loved the mortal kombat albums)

Musical training wheels for those who don’t have musical guides.

Then of course being an occasional DJ makes for listening to LOTS of music. I get so much good stuff.

19

This was one of the reasons I loved kazaa. I subscribed to blender and would download a couple of tracks from any band reciewed that sounded half way interesting. Then if I did turn out to like it I would buy the cd. You get exposed to so much more variety of music then your going to hear anywhere else.

Side note to the phil keaggy comment above. I used to work for a sound reinforcement company in the 80’s. Phil Keaggy’s wife was from Akron Ohio and he would come home and do solo instrumental concerts for her home church and we always ran sound for him. Out of the thousands of live shows I’ve seen he remains one of the best guitarists I’ve ever seen. Because of the whole Christian thing though he never has gotten the respect from the musical world he should have.

20

Like everyone else here, as I’ve gotten older, it’s odd, but my tastes are both more limiting, and more expansive.

Bands in the genres I’ve typically been a fan of don’t impress me any more; in other words, while I’m a hard rock fan, and a funk rock fan, newer bands in those genres just don’t get me to buy their CD. So, in that aspect, within the genres I’m supposed to like, my tastes have become more limited.

However, I’ve finally opened up to other styles of music, and I find that these new avenues more than replace what I miss in other areas.

In addition, I’ve become something of a soundtrack whore. Whereas I previously didn’t may much attention to the soundtrack of a film, I’m starting to realize how much a part of the movie it is. Consequently, I’m buying a lot more of them.

And finally, I’ve discovered that the radio is worthless. To find new bands, I’m attending concerts of bands I like, and seeing who opens for them. Sometimes, I’m discovering gold.