Have Your Musical Tastes Stagnated???

[MylesBAstor]

[rbbert]

When you read this it should be apparent that the underlying thesis won't apply to people here. Who only listens to music 13% of your waking time? I'll bet any number of us here spend 13% or more of our waking time focussed on listening to music as the primary activity.

As far as "open-earedness" and aging, I would argue that many older music lovers prefer to stay mostly within genres which have given them the most pleasure over the years, and there is always new music coming out in almost any genre. Every now and then there is a genre-bending artist who comes along to spice things up a bit.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

I actually spend most of my listening time searching for and listening to new music. I am addicted to streaming. Qobuz and Tidal are my dealers and I have to find at least one new thing I like every day. Back in the 70s and 80s, used record stores were my source, where I would by anything that in any way looked interesting and different. Sure I bought the stuff from favorite bands, performers and composers new at regular record stores, but then I'd still have to stop somewhere where I could buy a dozen more for $1 a piece.

[Audire]

I find that most of the new music is trash! Every now and then I find a gem to keep. I enjoy older music the most — 60-80s rock and of course jazz. There’s still a few of those albums that I need to locate but for the most part I already own them on either LP or CD. We just purchased a new LP rack that should be here in app a month. So, I’ll buy a few more albums as I stumble upon them.

[1morerecord2clean]

Regardless of your feelings regarding digital and streaming I am listening to more new music than ever in my life because of these technologies. By new music I’m referring to music new to me and not necessarily recordings of the last few years.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

“New to me” is what I mean too. Could be newly released right now or from fifty years ago. I don’t care. I just love the feeling of musical discovery!

[astrotoy]

My deep dive into tapes (15ips 2 track) has opened up a world of new (for me) music over the past 15 years, particularly the past seven years. I started collecting records in the 1960's, with a great acceleration starting in 1990 with massive purchases of classical records - really my only musical love except for a bit of folk music, and the TAS SuperDiscs. Ended up with 15,000 record collection which was 97%+ classical music. In 2007, the world of 15ips 2 track tape, with Tape Project, with a majority of tape titles being jazz and pop/rock (my classification of everything else except classical). The number of titles were limited, but particularly in jazz. However, it was 2016 when I acquired 2 Ampex ATR-102 tape machines (with the ability to make high quality copies of tapes. both 1/4" and 1/2") and more importantly a very large collection of safety master tapes. There were almost no classical titles, but large numbers of jazz and rock, and some pop. For example the collection has many Miles Davis titles, as well as quite a few from Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. I was familiar with Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain and Time Out, but none of the other jazz titles. With Rock there are many Beatles and Pink Floyd titles and several Fleetwood Mac, and a range of others. I was familiar with several of the Beatles titles, Dark Side of the Moon and the first Fleetwood Mac (with Nicks and Buckingham), but not the others. However, getting into the tape community I have met several active traders as well as sources of high quality dubs, mostly rock and pop and this opened a new world of music as well as increasing exponentially the number of tapes in my collection.

These are all artists and albums that are new to me, if not strictly newly composed music. Nowadays I definitely have a more eclectic playlist of my tapes (having sold my entire record collection last year) and this has introduced me to artists I probably would have never encountered before. Most are well known to many of you, but they are new to me - Eric Clapton, Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young), Dire Straits, Doobie Bros, Doors, Eagles, Grateful Dead, Elton Jone, Rickie Lee Jones, and many more further down the alphabet. Freddie Hubbard and Modern Jazz Quartet have been great additions to my jazz collection. I have several Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix albums too. I am getting to like Hendrix a bit, but LZ is still too much for me.

Larry

[Rob]

Im with Steve, I do the same discovering 'new to me' music and new artist. I embrace it the same way I chose new restaurants, wine, travel destinations, etc. I'll make an effort to try something different, veering off the beaten path. Streaming has been a godsend to that end.

[Skylab]

I’ve never stopped listening to new music, and the last few years I’ve probably listened to more new music (and I mean music being made currently) thanks to the easier ability to sample before buying. I admit that to Doc Rob’s point above, most of that music is still in my favorite subgenres of rock, but it’s still brand new music being made in the here and now.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

I find that most of the new music is trash! Every now and then I find a gem to keep. I enjoy older music the most — 60-80s rock and of course jazz. There’s still a few of those albums that I need to locate but for the most part I already own them on either LP or CD. We just purchased a new LP rack that should be here in app a month. So, I’ll buy a few more albums as I stumble upon them.

Actually, most music in every generation is trash, but as it ages it also gets ignored and mostly only the good stuff gets remembered. When I was a kid, it meant listening to the radio to hear our favorite rock bands, but 90% of the time we had to listen to crap while waiting for one of the songs we liked to show up. In later grade school and high school when I switched from "top 40" WTLB (Utica, NY) to FM / progressive rock (WOUR, also in Utica) I still had to listen to a lot of crap while waiting for something good to show up.

Our selective memory makes the music of the past times seem a lot better than it really was. Also, we didn't buy the LPs of he music that was crap!

[Audire]

Actually, most music in every generation is trash, but as it ages it also gets ignored and mostly only the good stuff gets remembered. When I was a kid, it meant listening to the radio to hear our favorite rock bands, but 90% of the time we had to listen to crap while waiting for one of the songs we liked to show up. In later grade school and high school when I switched from "top 40" WTLB (Utica, NY) to FM / progressive rock (WOUR, also in Utica) I still had to listen to a lot of crap while waiting for something good to show up.

Our selective memory makes the music of the past times seem a lot better than it really was. Also, we didn't buy the LPs of he music that was crap!

You had a different radio station than we did. Ours primarily played the top 40 - rock. I’m my high school years I purchased a lot of cassettes. I wore them out quickly. I heard live rock music every Friday and Saturday. The different bands essentially played the top 40 too.

The TT was my fathers who wouldn’t allow me to purchase records to play in it - wise man 🤪 - so I heard a lot of country western LPs on the TT and on his R2R. In college I purchased my own TT. I was still purchasing the old rock music I grew up with.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

You had a different radio station than we did. Ours primarily played the top 40 - rock. I’m my high school years I purchased a lot of cassettes. I wore them out quickly. I heard live rock music every Friday and Saturday. The different bands essentially played the top 40 too.

The TT was my fathers who wouldn’t allow me to purchase records to play in it - wise man 🤪 - so I heard a lot of country western LPs on the TT and on his R2R. In college I purchased my own TT. I was still purchasing the old rock music I grew up with.

these were the to p20 songs from the AT40 for the last week of February 1966:

1 THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN’ –•– Nancy Sinatra (Reprise)-6 (1 week at #1) (1)
2 LIGHTNIN’ STRIKES –•– Lou Christie (MGM)-10 (1)
3 THE BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS –•– S/Sgt. Barry Sadler (U.S. Army Special Forces) (RCA Victor)-4 (3)
4 UPTIGHT (Everything’s Alright) –•– Stevie Wonder (Tamla)-11 (3)
5 MY WORLD IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU –•– The Supremes (Motown)-7 (5)
6 MY LOVE –•– Petula Clark (Warner Brothers)-10 (1)
7 DON’T MESS WITH BILL –•– The Marvelettes (Tamla)-9 (7)
8 CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ –•– The Mamas and the Papas (Dunhill)-8 (8)
9 ELUSIVE BUTTERFLY –•– Bob Lind (World Pacific)-6 (9)
10 WORKING MY WAY BACK TO YOU –•– The Four Seasons (Philips)-5 (10)
11 ZORBA THE GREEK –•– Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (A&M)-10 (11)
12 CRYING TIME –•– Ray Charles (with the Raeletts) (ABC-Paramount)-12 (6)
13 LISTEN PEOPLE –•– Herman’s Hermits (MGM)-2 (13)
14 I FOUGHT THE LAW –•– The Bobby Fuller Four (Mustang)-5 (14)
15 BARBARA ANN –•– The Beach Boys (Capitol)-9 (2)
16 WHAT NOW MY LOVE –•– Sonny and Cher (Atco)-5 (16)
17 A WELL RESPECTED MAN –•– The Kinks (Reprise)-13 (13)
18 WHEN LIKING TURNS TO LOVING –•– Ronnie Dove (Diamond)-6 (18)
19 NO MATTER WHAT SHAPE (Your Stomach’s In) –•– The T-Bones (Liberty)-12 (3)
20 THE CHEATER –•– Bob Kuban and the In-Men (Musicland U.S.A.)-5 (20)

There isn't a radio station on either AM or FM that would play this variety of songs if they were new these days. People who listen to radio are driven to closely formatted single genre formats that prevent developing a diverse taste in music.

[Audire]

these were the to p20 songs from the AT40 for the last week of February 1966:

1 THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN’ –•– Nancy Sinatra (Reprise)-6 (1 week at #1) (1)
2 LIGHTNIN’ STRIKES –•– Lou Christie (MGM)-10 (1)
3 THE BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS –•– S/Sgt. Barry Sadler (U.S. Army Special Forces) (RCA Victor)-4 (3)
4 UPTIGHT (Everything’s Alright) –•– Stevie Wonder (Tamla)-11 (3)
5 MY WORLD IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU –•– The Supremes (Motown)-7 (5)
6 MY LOVE –•– Petula Clark (Warner Brothers)-10 (1)
7 DON’T MESS WITH BILL –•– The Marvelettes (Tamla)-9 (7)
8 CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ –•– The Mamas and the Papas (Dunhill)-8 (8)
9 ELUSIVE BUTTERFLY –•– Bob Lind (World Pacific)-6 (9)
10 WORKING MY WAY BACK TO YOU –•– The Four Seasons (Philips)-5 (10)
11 ZORBA THE GREEK –•– Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (A&M)-10 (11)
12 CRYING TIME –•– Ray Charles (with the Raeletts) (ABC-Paramount)-12 (6)
13 LISTEN PEOPLE –•– Herman’s Hermits (MGM)-2 (13)
14 I FOUGHT THE LAW –•– The Bobby Fuller Four (Mustang)-5 (14)
15 BARBARA ANN –•– The Beach Boys (Capitol)-9 (2)
16 WHAT NOW MY LOVE –•– Sonny and Cher (Atco)-5 (16)
17 A WELL RESPECTED MAN –•– The Kinks (Reprise)-13 (13)
18 WHEN LIKING TURNS TO LOVING –•– Ronnie Dove (Diamond)-6 (18)
19 NO MATTER WHAT SHAPE (Your Stomach’s In) –•– The T-Bones (Liberty)-12 (3)
20 THE CHEATER –•– Bob Kuban and the In-Men (Musicland U.S.A.)-5 (20)

There isn't a radio station on either AM or FM that would play this variety of songs if they were new these days. People who listen to radio are driven to closely formatted single genre formats that prevent developing a diverse taste in music.

We’re talking about a different Top 40. Casey Kasem’s America Top 40 was pure rock. https://billdembski.com/nostalgia/ca...ountdown/#1970

This is what our station in FL played.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

Kasem’s original top 40 was based purely on Billboard lists. Top 40 in sales regardless of genre. It stayed that way until the late 1980s.

[Audire]

Steve if you follow the link above to Casey Karen’s Top 40 it shows they are all rock. No matter that’s what was essentially played on our radio station in good old sunny Fl when I was growing up. Here’s the link again. https://billdembski.com/nostalgia/ca...ountdown/#1970 Of course I only listened until 1973. Then I took off for the military college …

[Steve Lefkowicz]

Kasem's Top 40 didn't start until 1970, and by then Billboard was dominated by a mix of pop, rock and soul. I guess I was was thinking more about the mid to late 1960s. Frank Sinatra's "My Way" was in the "top 40" in 1969.