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The phenomenon you're describing is certainly true, but the cause doesn't resonate. I'm almost 40 and super happy with my life, much more than when I was in col

The phenomenon you're describing is certainly true, but the cause doesn't resonate. I'm almost 40 and super happy with my life, much more than when I was in college. However I still gravitate towards music I've known for decades rather than listening to new stuff. I actually find listening to new music mostly unpleasant now, which is weird because I consumed records like mad till 25 or so. I do believe there's neural plasticity we can lose as time goes on. Maybe those people, and myself, got busy for a while and forgot how to listen to new music, is all.

wwweston 3y ago
I’m older than you and still love new music… but have noticed the variation that exists among many of my/your peers. My current theory is that while brain development and age plays a role, the psychological trait openness plays an equal role, maybe a greater one with age. Conscientiousness might too. (I also do music composition and songwriting as a hobby, but I can’t figure out if that’s a contributing cause or another manifestation of the underlying psychology. Fortunately/unfortunately I don’t have the problems of fame tying me to a work I’ve outgrown.)
slowmovintarget 3y ago
It's not just neural plasticity, honest. It's the quality of the music. Most of it is the equivalent of an overly processed sugar-spiked pseudo-food. Tracks are designed to sound the loudest from streams (so they compress the living daylights out of the dynamic range). The songs don't go anywhere: monotonous repetition of one or two chords, nothing complex or surprising. Many used canned beat tracks; that same trap beat you hear over and over again. Every once in a while you hear new music that's actually new. Music that reaches. But it's so rare to discover because all the main channels are clogged with engineered, safe, sameness. I still like discovering new artists, its just that there are so few that do what bands from the 70s to the early 2000s did. Most of the pop these days is programmed, and even the hip hop seems... artless, all texture, no lyricism.
- rainonmoon 3y ago
  Besides this being the kind of argument people have been lobbing since the dawn of rock'n'roll, you're slapping a broad brush over a period in music where you have access to more songs than literally anyone in history. And not just more access, but more songs, period. I guarantee if you like the notion of listening to a new band but also sort of really just want to listen to "Jungleland" again like the first time you heard it, someone made that song yesterday. The music didn't change, your priorities did. If you want new music that fits your taste, it's never been so easy to go and find it.
- Gud 3y ago
  Sorry you feel that way. There is a lot of amazing new music out there, especially electronic.

wwweston 3y ago

I’m older than you and still love new music… but have noticed the variation that exists among many of my/your peers. My current theory is that while brain development and age plays a role, the psychological trait openness plays an equal role, maybe a greater one with age. Conscientiousness might too. (I also do music composition and songwriting as a hobby, but I can’t figure out if that’s a contributing cause or another manifestation of the underlying psychology. Fortunately/unfortunately I don’t have the problems of fame tying me to a work I’ve outgrown.)

slowmovintarget 3y ago

It's not just neural plasticity, honest. It's the quality of the music. Most of it is the equivalent of an overly processed sugar-spiked pseudo-food. Tracks are designed to sound the loudest from streams (so they compress the living daylights out of the dynamic range). The songs don't go anywhere: monotonous repetition of one or two chords, nothing complex or surprising. Many used canned beat tracks; that same trap beat you hear over and over again. Every once in a while you hear new music that's actually new. Music that reaches. But it's so rare to discover because all the main channels are clogged with engineered, safe, sameness. I still like discovering new artists, its just that there are so few that do what bands from the 70s to the early 2000s did. Most of the pop these days is programmed, and even the hip hop seems... artless, all texture, no lyricism.

rainonmoon 3y ago
Besides this being the kind of argument people have been lobbing since the dawn of rock'n'roll, you're slapping a broad brush over a period in music where you have access to more songs than literally anyone in history. And not just more access, but more songs, period. I guarantee if you like the notion of listening to a new band but also sort of really just want to listen to "Jungleland" again like the first time you heard it, someone made that song yesterday. The music didn't change, your priorities did. If you want new music that fits your taste, it's never been so easy to go and find it.
Gud 3y ago
Sorry you feel that way. There is a lot of amazing new music out there, especially electronic.