Can younger people appreciate music better than people of an advanced age?

afd100

Member
Dumb topic, but this is something I sometimes think about and wonder why. I've noticed the older crowd (40+) almost always passes off any new(er) music as crap. I'm not talking about the stuff you hear on top 40 pop radio stations, because I do think most pop music sounds the same and has no creativity or originality. There is the odd gem that actually is a pretty good song, but it's rare.

I'm talking more about bands that are original, and produce quality stuff.

It seems they dismiss anything with a moderate amount of guitar distortion and even a semi aggressive/upbeat theme, odd time signature as a load of modern garbage with no musicality.

On the flip side, I've noticed a lot of young people can appreciate the old and the new. My musical taste has a huge range that spans from the 40s - present day. Most all of my friends are the same way. It just seems younger people have more of a capacity to look objectively at a song and decide whether it's good or not.

In any given day I could be listening to Zeppelin, Mudvayne, Talib Kweli, NWA, Billy Idol, Jimmy Buffet, Wu Tang, Toby Kieth, Skrillex, Bassnectar, Heart, Macklemore, Hendrix, CCR, Linkin Park, Luke Bryan, Sinatra, Andrews Sisters Porcupine Tree, etc... I like it all. Big band, all forms of rock, some country, electronic, classic songs...it's all good.

I guess there's no real point to this thread, but it really irks me and I wanted to put it out there for discussion.
 
I'm assuming you're under the age of 40? I think people in their 40s would take umbrage to being blown off by kids as a group of people that just blows off anything new ;)

You may have a point. But at the same time, you should probably look at it from the other end. For me, I've listened to ALOT of music by now, and by now I know, there's a lot of crap out there. There's also alot of stuff that sounds the same. This knowledge and experience makes it much easier for me to hear a few bars of something and make a decision as to whether or not I'll keep listening, and maybe this can be construed as 'blowing it off', when in reality, I don't need that much time to make a decision. I love music, but as I've gotten older, I've realized that it's not the only important thing to be thinking about too.
 
I don't think its dumb, rather a decent inquiry. I will guess from your post that you are younger, and probably have a parent that at one time or another refer to your music as crap, noise, not music, etc. Or possibly they would make fun of some aspect of it, like my father used to constantly tell me "I can't understand what they are singing. Are you sure that it is in fact really singing?" He would then run off making grunting sounds in a similar rhythm that the song was in.

I am not quite at the age group you categorize, but I'm almost there (37). I try really hard to be accepting of newer music, and I'll tell you that sometimes it just isn't easy. My daughter is 14, and some of the stuff she listens to just grates my ears. I can put up with (to an extent) Lady Gaga, but I swear if I hear Gagnam Style one more time I will start shooting. It's not the type of music, it's not the lyrics being in another language, it's not even that it's trendy, and I hate trendy. It's because I'm getting older and I expect better from music.

The days of music creation from my generation are mostly gone. The things I enjoy in a song (that isn't metal, I never get tired of metal) aren't there anymore. It isn't what I knew, nor will it be. Like every form of art, music changes as the crowd who create it are consistently younger as I get older, and its appeals and needs have also changed with the times.

As we get older, we have a tendency to reflect on "the good old days", and music that we enjoyed as a kid can for a moment take us back to that place. New music doesn't do that. It just becomes part of our daily routine, and while sometimes a new song can spark a feeling of enjoyment, it isn't what we know and love. It doesn't spark that awe we felt as young people when something new came out.

This is why old guys have a need for old cars, and play in cover bands that reflect the music of their day. It's what they (we) know and love.
 
I'm 44. I like music with a good vibe. I just get tired of all that negative stuff, but mostly it's the singing. I still like a good Metal riff, but like jazz, I just get tired of it really quick. I don't like any of the newer country music. I prefer the old C&W type classics. I have 20 gigs of music on my computer and it ranges from Bleeding Through and Lamb of God all the way to The Skatellites and Classical, and a whole lotta in-between, But, yeah, mostly you're right. We get set in our ways. I know an older guy who only listens to the Beach Boys and he's been this way for decades. Haha. Another friend of mine only likes Tom Petty for the most part. He's only 36.

But when I was in my teens and twenties I bought a heck of a lot more music than I do now. Some of that crap is better left in the 80's and 90's, like Metallica's first album. It just seems so primitive now, but put on Reign in Blood, and I'm enjoying it. Then I'll put it away for a couple or few years. hehehe.

On the other hand, I jam with some older guys on the weekend and they play a lot of stuff I've never even heard before, but not new music, except for the originals which are written by my friend who is 47 and his buddy who is in his late 60's.
 
As I get older (34 now) my musical tastes have only opened up and broadened more.

I think dismissing older people as passing off new music isn't a good thing. Some people get more rigid in their views and more vocal about their opinions as they get older, true, but as far as "appreciation" goes, I find that older people who have matured in a healthy way are much more appreciative and open to new music.

When you talk about distorted guitars, semi-aggressive/upbeat themes, and odd time signatures as "quality" music, and modern pop songs as "crap", you seem to be less appreciative of new music than most 40+ people I know...
 
Caddy you're only 34? I always pictured you as a crusty old veteran jazz drummer.

I think that's a silly question to ask. The way you phrased the question just shows your age. I'm in my 20's and I'm pretty closed off to most new music. My father in his 60's has a endlessly expanding musical taste. My fiance who is m age actively seeks out new music to listen to when she gets bored of whatever new band she is on.

Its more a personality thing. Plus most of the hot new music from the underground made by some kids with eyeliner is written off because it IS crap.
 
I'm in my 20's and I'm pretty closed off to most new music.

You'll turn into me if you're not careful. I stopped listening to new music when I was about your age. If you wind the clock back 20+ years, you'll see that I missed out on some pretty good stuff as well as some crap.

Maybe I just wasn't ready to listen to some of it 20+ years ago.
 
Yeah, I'm 21 if that explains anything haha. I suppose I could have worded it better, but I'm only going off of my experiences and encounters with older folks who have made comments about modern music. So I'm not just passing off aged people as a whole. It's just something I always wondered.

As far as old country music goes, I do love Johnny Cash.

I really do think there are some great pop performers out there, but also a lot of it is just the same reused beats, riffs, and melodies with uncreative simplistic party lyrics. That's just my opinion though.
 
My age doesn't determine what I appreciate..........my ear does.

That rings as true now at 40 as it did when I was 20.

However, that doesn't mean we're gonna have the same definition of "quality music" either. That doesn't make me out of touch or narrow minded.......nor does it make you "cutting edge." It just means we might appreciate different stuff.
 
Last edited:
I have a long-winded theory about why this is, but I think there's something to what you say.

When we get older, unless we're in the music biz or extremely passionate about music, we're probably too busy with other things in life to stay on top of the incredibly fast-moving current music scene. Most people's favorite music is associated with coming-of-age events like adolescence. I think a study was done and it showed that most people's favorite music came out when they were around age 14.

I make an effort to check out what's new, even the pop "crap," just to have a frame of reference. That stuff interests me. My favorite music was made before I was born, but new stuff still wows me. There's a lot of great music being made, it's just not on top-40 radio.
 
When I was 17, I remember thinking about how music (and art in general) had the potential to be life-changing. I would say things like "Artistic expression is the highest human endeavor" and generally believe that those poor sods who had to get up every morning to work some meaningless job were lost souls.

Now, after having met hundreds of musicians (and thousands of people) while playing hundreds of shows,I realize that musicians are just as lost as everyone else. As a matter of fact, those musicians who never integrated with the "normal" world by somehow securing a stable home life and income now strike me as totally detached and self-absorbed, not to mention miserable. 45 yr old broke musicians are quite a miserable bunch, believe me.

Did music change their lives? Not for the better.

I guess the point I'm making is that youthful romantic notions do not hold up over time. The younger people think that they love music more but the fact is that they generally do not have enough life-experience to make an honest judgement.

The older crowd has usually been through the wringer of real life. Dealing with birth and death, for example is much more emotionally moving than any piece of music ever written.
After having been through all of what life can throw at us, maybe the older crowd isn't so impressed by some 20-something singing about how "life would be nothing without you"

As far as the distorted guitars, I think that has more to do with the music you grew up listening to. If your dad liked big band then he will hate Meshuggah. If he grew up on Slayer, maybe he could deal with it a little more.
 
I 100% agree with the premise.

And 100% disagree. All the at the same time. Ha!

The agree part: I know numerous people who essentially don't listen to anything different than they did when they were teenagers. Their weekends are spent essentially trying to re-live their late teens and early 20's.

Most bands as they age always face the same dilemma: their fans only want to hear the old stuff. Be it Rush, Ozzy, Paul McCartney, The Who, whomever, etc, it's the old hits that get the best response when played live, and fan interviews are always peppered with questions of "are you going to play old stuff on this tour?" Every original band either becomes a nostalgia act or breaks up, or breaks up and then re-forms as a nostalgia act later on. There are artists and bands out there who make a living simply playing their hits from 30 years ago, and don't bother with new material because no one will buy it anyway.

Where I'll disagree:
I noticed with many of my parents generation, as they aged, they took on new interests in classical and/or jazz, or gospel or such. Which may not have been new music, but it was new to them.

For myself I'm often finding myself appreciating a band or album I never payed much attention to before. Maybe it's a song that I've heard on the radio a million times that I never cared for will suddenly trigger a light bulb and I'll get it.

More likely though, it's something new. With the inventions of myspace, youtube and especially spotify, I'm constantly digging through the internet looking for new and interesting bands. Most of my favorite albums of the past 5 years are bands I never heard of before then. I just bought an album yesterday from a German band I had never heard of before.

The world is now open to listening to. With spotify, I can type in a band I like, hit the "related artists" button and find something I like. Then hit the "related artists" button of that band and eventually stumble upon a whole new world of bands. I might find something that really hits me, and I'll google who the band is and it might just turn out it's something a kid in some far corner of the world recorded in his basement.

Overall, I have a far more diverse album collection now that I'm over 40 than I did at as a 20-something.
 
When I was 17, I remember thinking about how music (and art in general) had the potential to be life-changing. I would say things like "Artistic expression is the highest human endeavor" and generally believe that those poor sods who had to get up every morning to work some meaningless job were lost souls.

Now, after having met hundreds of musicians (and thousands of people) while playing hundreds of shows,I realize that musicians are just as lost as everyone else. As a matter of fact, those musicians who never integrated with the "normal" world by somehow securing a stable home life and income now strike me as totally detached and self-absorbed, not to mention miserable. 45 yr old broke musicians are quite a miserable bunch, believe me.

Did music change their lives? Not for the better.

I guess the point I'm making is that youthful romantic notions do not hold up over time. The younger people think that they love music more but the fact is that they generally do not have enough life-experience to make an honest judgement.

The older crowd has usually been through the wringer of real life. Dealing with birth and death, for example is much more emotionally moving than any piece of music ever written.
After having been through all of what life can throw at us, maybe the older crowd isn't so impressed by some 20-something singing about how "life would be nothing without you"

That's deep. And so much truth to that.
 
I think sometimes the younger crowd just doesn't realize or care how actually un-original some of that crap is. Sometimes it just sucks. I listened to some real crap when I was a kid because I didn't know better, and MTV told me what was cool. I don't assume the new kids out there are much different, except that MTV no longer has any music...
 
When I was 17, I remember thinking about how music (and art in general) had the potential to be life-changing. I would say things like "Artistic expression is the highest human endeavor" and generally believe that those poor sods who had to get up every morning to work some meaningless job were lost souls.

Now, after having met hundreds of musicians (and thousands of people) while playing hundreds of shows,I realize that musicians are just as lost as everyone else. As a matter of fact, those musicians who never integrated with the "normal" world by somehow securing a stable home life and income now strike me as totally detached and self-absorbed, not to mention miserable. 45 yr old broke musicians are quite a miserable bunch, believe me.

Did music change their lives? Not for the better.

I guess the point I'm making is that youthful romantic notions do not hold up over time. The younger people think that they love music more but the fact is that they generally do not have enough life-experience to make an honest judgement.

The older crowd has usually been through the wringer of real life. Dealing with birth and death, for example is much more emotionally moving than any piece of music ever written.
After having been through all of what life can throw at us, maybe the older crowd isn't so impressed by some 20-something singing about how "life would be nothing without you"

As far as the distorted guitars, I think that has more to do with the music you grew up listening to. If your dad liked big band then he will hate Meshuggah. If he grew up on Slayer, maybe he could deal with it a little more.
Great post Jeff :) .....
 
When I was 17, I remember thinking about how music (and art in general) had the potential to be life-changing. I would say things like "Artistic expression is the highest human endeavor" and generally believe that those poor sods who had to get up every morning to work some meaningless job were lost souls.

Now, after having met hundreds of musicians (and thousands of people) while playing hundreds of shows,I realize that musicians are just as lost as everyone else. As a matter of fact, those musicians who never integrated with the "normal" world by somehow securing a stable home life and income now strike me as totally detached and self-absorbed, not to mention miserable. 45 yr old broke musicians are quite a miserable bunch, believe me.

Did music change their lives? Not for the better.

I guess the point I'm making is that youthful romantic notions do not hold up over time. The younger people think that they love music more but the fact is that they generally do not have enough life-experience to make an honest judgement.

The older crowd has usually been through the wringer of real life. Dealing with birth and death, for example is much more emotionally moving than any piece of music ever written.
After having been through all of what life can throw at us, maybe the older crowd isn't so impressed by some 20-something singing about how "life would be nothing without you"

As far as the distorted guitars, I think that has more to do with the music you grew up listening to. If your dad liked big band then he will hate Meshuggah. If he grew up on Slayer, maybe he could deal with it a little more.

Great, great post....................
 
Caddy you're only 34? I always pictured you as a crusty old veteran jazz drummer.

Nope. Just a crusty old 34 year old.

...musicians are just as lost as everyone else. As a matter of fact, those musicians who never integrated with the "normal" world by somehow securing a stable home life and income now strike me as totally detached and self-absorbed, not to mention miserable. 45 yr old broke musicians are quite a miserable bunch, believe me.

Did music change their lives? Not for the better.

I guess the point I'm making is that youthful romantic notions do not hold up over time.

This would totally be me, if I wouldn't have got married and had kids. A sense of being financially responsible for the sake of those you love has a way of reshaping your thinking.
 
I think appreciation of anything has to do with education and exposure and not age.
 
Youngest Son: Grampa, what did you listen to at my age?
Grampa - I was raised on Glen Miller, now that band really knew how to swing.
Youngest Son - So what do you listen to now?
Granpa - Music died with Glen Miller boy. I listen to Glen Miller, maybe Bennie Goodman.
Youngest Son - Hey dad? what do you listen to now?
Dad - I listened to Led Zeppelin . Boy that band really knew how to rock.
Youngest Son - So what do you listen to now?
Dad - well Led Zeppelin, of course.
Yougnest Son - Hey Grampa wanna know what I listen to?
Grampa - No boy, I don't.
Youngest Son - hey dad do you wanna know what I listen to ?
Dad - Ah, It all sounds the same, and I don't have time to listen to new stuff anyway.

Give me figures. Follow the money.
Is any more or less music, or the variety of music, being purchased by youth today than older folks (even as iTunes)?
Is any more or less live music, being seen today by youth, compared to older folks?
To answer the question, follow the money(sadly).
 
Back
Top