Do we stop discovering new music after our thirties?

If this is true then I am an exception, again. Born in 1961...

I think the rate of learning to know new music changes, but not the fact of it, at least in my experience.

In the last two years I virtually started from scratch with the solo keyboards works of Bach. Maybe not new music, but certainly new to me.

All the best from Fredrik

It may be true. Personally I still listen to new music. The biggest problem I encounter is finding out what the latest good music is. At over 40 and less than 50 alot of my contemporaries have stopped seeking new music and are listening to the same stuff they have for 20 years. Reviews in the magazines are fairly subjective, so I listen and take a chance now and again. I hope I continue to find new music. It is part of the adventure.

Regards

Matt

No, just the opposite I would say.
Steve

I would hope not. There's new music and there's music which is new to me, which might be in the classical genre or any other form. I do want to go on discovering good music until my hearing finally gives up the ghost!

quote:

No, just the opposite I would say.

Agreed. My appreciation was much narrower in my youth. Besides, some of your old favourites are still making new music and previously set standards by which you judge what you hear now.

When you're young - no such benchmark.

Steve

I can believe that most people on this forum are listening to new music. I think the point of the article is that most people stop listening to new music after their thirties. Based on the preponderence of oldies and classic rock FM stations there must be a lot of folks living in the past musically speaking. The Naim forum is not really a cross-section of society at large. Certainly not here in the US. For the people who participate in this forum music is an integral part of this thing we call life.

I am with you Steve in that my tastes and appreciation of different music continues to expand, but if you ever met some of the people I work with you would think that music had stopped being made after their college graduation a couple of decades ago. And that is the people who even listen to music much anymore.

Matt

When I was approaching 31 I heard a single called Albert Hammond Bootleg and I had made a musical discovery - yes I had found a source of new music that was based on the tradition of centuries of folk songs. There was humour in music and a sense of great observation. I had discovered the musical genius of Nigel Blackwell. Yes the 20th century had many superb songwriters we know them because musical recordings are more abundant than ever. No doubt there were great songwriters in the 19th century such Albert Chevalier (1861-1923) and before - the greatest of them all being Anonymous - but, in my life time, Nigel Blackwell, is the best I've heard. So perhaps hearing the wonderful songs of Half Man, Half Biscuit and being lucky enough to be able to acquire new recordings every couple of years means I don't have any great motivation to seek out new artists.

Ocassionally, I stumble across one - Karine Polwart comes to mind. It is not really new music though, it is folk music prsented in a fresh way by a very talented person. Karine's two albums are wonderful.

And then, thanks to the forum, I discover some groups I'd not heard before: Altan, Grada, Solas and, of course, Lunasa.

Then again one of the old guard who I've ignored is brought to my attention - has anybody noticed that I really like The Drift by Scott Walker.

I think Garbage were my only find of 90s - though there are quite a few 90s groups I like.

However with the exception of a few new folies, I haven't found much in the 00s that strikes me - I probably haven't tried hard enough - and as jcs said if I'm found listening to Coldplay then you can shoot me too.

BTW is it true Radiohead is going to be the next UK entry in Eurovision?

Rotf

Who still thinks Shirley Collins should receive some kind of honour for making the world a better place.

Well, I still listen mainly to new music, about 90% I would guess, and I am way past my thirties.

Today it was Anthony Rother - Compression and Gregor Tresher - Monopoly and Dannii Minogue - So much Pressure

Shirley Collins OBE ? I see she is on the lastest Current 93 album - Black Ships Ate the Sky, with many other worthies.

DS

quote:

Do we stop discovering new music after our thirties?

NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I'm still listening to new genres, let alone new artists and I'm 40.

Bruce

The number of new records on the market encreased since 20 years ago.
So much that it's very hard to follow everything and even those who listen as a job and write on magazines just leave a good number of records untouched.
I buy new music because it's stimulating.
I buy old music new prints because it's nice to listen to them after so many years with a good system.
I think i'll keep on buyin new music till my brain will allow me to manage a puck!

Well, I should jolly well hope not. Given I've not yet made it to thirty, and the one of the greatest pleasures in life is discovering new music (not necessarily newly written or composed) it would be rather depressing if one did stop.

Fortunately all the evidence I have seen points other way. Over the years I have introduced my parents to various new artists and music (and for all of that time they've been over 30). Indeed, since they retired to Suffolk and thus regularly attend concerts at Snape, they find (given the festival's roots in new music) that they are listening to far more new music than they were ten years ago. Indeed, one of the things I dislike a little about Edinburgh is that much of the concert programming is a little conservative.

I suspect that as long as you keep looking for new things, and enjoy finding them, you will continue to do so - I certainly hope I find new things for many years to come.

regards, Tam

I'm discovering new music all the time - much of it via this forum.

quote:

I read an article in the New Yorker the other day that stated that most people stop picking up on new music after their thirties, which is why people in their thirties and forties spend a lot of money on cd's replacing vinyl

I would not be at all surprised if, as people getting older, watching their waistlines expand, staring aimlessly at the one eyed monster (TV!) lose interest in all sorts of things.

I would have thought most people in their 30's probably never owned vinyl beyond their early teens.

I'm sure most folks on this forum are not representative of the general population when it comes to music with lots of us always on the lookout for some new sounds to maintain interest in our investments.

Just as suggesting to members of the Ferrari owners club that people beyond the age of 40 lose interest in sports cars. Eh PB?

Peter

I too agree with most here that I try to actively find new music, & I'm 43.
OK, there are some genres that I know I can dip into, & some that just don't do it for me, such as rap & opera. Ok, my loss, & one day, who knows.
Since I've been into this forum, I have bought music mentioned here, as well as re-investigating stuff in my collection that I had'nt listened to in ages.
I do think that in general it is difficult to find new music, as so many radio stations are playlist limited.Putting the radio on all day, & I seem to hear certain tracks 2 or 3 times a day.
It may be that for the majority of casual listeners, taking a chance on a new cd & not liking it is too much hassle, so you end up not bothering to expand your comfort zone.
matt.

I suppose it depends on what the writer of the article means by 'new' music. If they mean 'of the present time', then I haven't really listened particularly to contemporary music since my early twenties.

If they mean 'different' then I would say it is absolutely the opposite.

Now in my forties my musical taste has widened dramatically and I find myself listening to and enjoying jazz, classical, opera and many other musical genres I would not have entertained when younger.

Looking back I consider myself to have been narrow minded, where music is concerned, previously.

The thing is that there is such a wealth of music already in existence for me to discover that I do not feel the need to listen to 'modern' music, which is mostly a rehash of that which has gone before, although I would buy it if I liked it.

Mark

No Way....
Strangely enough I am getting more into both Heavy Metal and Classical genres.

Work that out - well it's just a mood thing, and whatever mood I am in will depend upon which disc I spin.

Pete

My answer is logically No - because I am, and have been for a very long time, a Naim system owner!

Regards
Geoff

quote:

Originally posted by northpole:
I'm sure most folks on this forum are not representative of the general population when it comes to music

Exactly. It's obvious really doncha think?

I'm discovering old(er) music as I explore blues recordings from the 1930s/50s, as well as expanding my knowledge of the classical repertoire. The 'new' music I've heard seems to be to be mostly derivative stuff that has been done better in previous decades; you won't find a better rock album than 'Raw Power' no matter how hard you dig.

As for artists I've discovered since, say, the age of 40, the list is far to long to post in its entirety, but includes:
Nick Drake
Boo Radleys
Sonny Boy Williamson
Chet Baker
Hank Williams
John Fahey
Julian Cope

I also endorse everything ROTF has written about Nigel Blackwell/HMHB.

quote:

Originally posted by northpole:
I would have thought most people in their 30's probably never owned vinyl beyond their early teens.

I'm sure most folks on this forum are not representative of the general population when it comes to music with lots of us always on the lookout for some new sounds to maintain interest in our investments.

Aside from snobbery, I'm not really sure what ownership of vinyl has to do with anything.

As to whether this forum is representative of the general population, probably not. I would suggest that this room is probably pretty representative of music lovers.

regards, Tam

quote:

Originally posted by Tam:
As to whether this forum is representative of the general population, probably not. I would suggest that this room is probably pretty representative of music lovers.

regards, Tam

I think probably the truth is that most people don't really like music all that much. So that when life starts to change they give up on finding new types of music. Maybe they'll start listening to Britney Spears, The Darkness or Coldplay which are probably not that much different from what they listened to before.
I know from my own point of view I have lost some of the acquisitive urge. I no longer feel the need to buy 20 records every week or find out absoulutely everything about a new style of music. So for ecample, lately I've been listening to Fado and Klezmer music and whereas before I would have rushed out and bought everything I could find, I now can't be bothered so I've maybe only got 20 or 30 examples of each. Also I find my memory for names isn't as good as it was so if I hear something I like I may not remember who it was by. A nuisance if you're searching for something.
Life has got in the way of music a bit. I don't get to listen to my system very much anymore - probably not much more than an hour or so blasting some drum and bass and reggae 10's and 12's on a sunday or a little bit of ambient on a friday night. My main source of music is cd's in the car and standing on the door of clubs listening to hardbag/hardfloor/hip hop thumping out. It's a long time since I've stood outside the Ministry of Sound or Gatecrasher and felt the urge to rush in and find out what it is they're playing. Maybe exposure to too much mediocre sound can dull our need to hear music

The wireless is my main source of discovering new music. R2&3, Andy Kershaw, Late Junction, Mixing It, Stuart Maconie, Bob Harris and Mark Lamaar (amongst others) have kept me interested in new music throughout my 20's 30's and 40's. (I never was big on the much missed John Peel but he did stay fresh into his 60's).

I think i listen to more new music post-30 than I ever did in my 20's!

I've bought far more diverse and new (to me) artists since I was 40 and even more so since I was 50. Seemed to co-incide with my buying a NAIM system not sure if it's connected.

H