Songs that Bind

[xoxoxoBruce]

The NY Times looks at data from Spotify.

Consider, for example, the song “Creep,” by Radiohead. This is the 164th most popular song among men who are now 38 years old. But it is not in the top 300 for the cohort born 10 years earlier or 10 years later.

Note that the men who most like “Creep” now were roughly 14 when the song came out in 1993. In fact, this is a consistent pattern.

I did a similar analysis with every song that topped the Billboard charts from 1960 to 2000. In particular, I measured how old their biggest fans today were when these songs first came out.

[Gravdigr]

That's pretty interesting.

[fargon]

I was 17 when this song came out, it is still one of my favorites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUwEIt9ez7M

[Undertoad]

I was 20, but I remember it like I was 53.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

[fargon]

I hope you're proud of yourself, taking advantage of an old fart like that.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The only music I listened to was Top 40 in Pops truck, on the rare occasions I rode with him. In the car with my mother it was Arthur Godfrey or something of that ilk.
In my early teens Pop bought me a record player and two records, Rock Around the Clock and 16 Tons. I had never heard of them. At school I joined a record club and it was Mostly western, Marty Robbins, and Johnny Cash.

It wasn't until my late 20s, working on the Corvette in the garage late at night listening to FM radio that I really got into music. This was 1969 and music was blooming. Then a divorce, new friends, and being close to Philly the where the venues to experience live music were multiple.

Sex, drugs and Rock&roll became a lifestyle, and I liked it. So the early teen imprint doesn't apply to me, it was later but imprint it did.

[monster]

Do all y'all listen to current music now, though? Or just stuff from back in your day? I like live radio if I can find a decent rock channel, and almost all the stuff I will put on when I can't is from the last 10ish years.

most played at the moment: Pearl Jam -Sirens.
Second probably Highly Suspect -little One, closely followed by My Name is Human

[glatt]

Originally Posted by monster

Do all y'all listen to current music now, though?

Rarely. Radio has too many commercials. But some pop stuff creeps in somehow. So I know some of the hits.

At home I listen to CDs we own and there are about 30 or so that get the most play. It's older stuff that I've discovered in the last 10 years mixed in with stuff I've liked all along.

In the car, which is maybe 60 minutes a week, we have the XM radio channels and my wife set that up so we have like 6 channels to chose from and then you can turn a knob and choose form 6 other channels, and so on. I can't be bothered to learn how to navigate the thing, so I just listen to these mix stations like "Classic Rewind" that play all the old familiar music from 30-40 years ago.

I listen to music about an hour a day.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by monster

Do all y'all listen to current music now, though? Or just stuff from back in your day?

Even though I bitch about it a lot, I still listen to radio (Stop sayin' it, & start playin' it!!)

The only stations I can get with regularity that I can stand are classic rock. I don't listen to current country music at all. If someone tells me about a particularly clever country song, I'll seek it out and try it. I can't stand what passes for music on the pop/Top 40 stations.

The last cd I bought was in 2007, btw.

I did what Toad was talking about a few years ago, and actively sought out new, different kinds music. I tried a lot of different kinds. Came up with doodly squat, pretty much. I did discover that I kinda like some of the old country music, from the 50s, 60s, & 70s.

And, of course, I like anything with particularly clever lyrics.

One of the weirder discoveries was that I like George Strait. I never cared for him before, but he has some clever lyrics, fun songs, and pleasantly endearing melodies.

[lumberjim]

If you're a Spotify listener, they did a thing at the new year, where it gave you the 100 songs you played most from 2017. My #1 was 'A Comet Appears' by the shins. I just heard that first in 16 or 17. I don't think that counts as imprinted, but apparently I've put it in most of my playlists.

I find that i have a few songs that remind me of different times in my life. I guess because they remind me of people that had prominent roles in the story at those times.

[Undertoad]

In 2016, I made a conscious decision to really push myself to discover and listen to new things.

I just find this to be amazingly rewarding. The kids today are doing some cool stuff.

It does require a lot of work and active listening and such. Telling Spotify what to throw at you.

Out of my top 100 2017, only 11 songs are ten years old or older.

I still only recognize about 10% of the bands on modern music festival listings.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by glatt

In the car, which is maybe 60 minutes a week

I had to read this twice, and remember where you live, before I could understand it as anything but a typo. I have already spent 1.5 hours in the car today, and I'm about to spend another 30 taking my daughter to music lessons. And I didn't even run any errands.

As for music, I have maybe 40 CDs in the car that the kids choose from. They also frequently plug into the aux jack and play gimmicky YouTube songs through the car speakers. (What kind of songs, you ask? See below. I'm a very patient mother.) When they're not in the car, I listen to audiobooks, unless I'm too stressed/manic to pay attention, in which case I just turn on whatever they put in the CD player last.

This is the kind of stuff they currently like on YouTube:

[fargon]

I like those songs.