Mordred

Have your musical tastes ever drastically changed? When I say drastic I mean drastic to the point of liking completely different styles. Basically what I'm wondering is how often people who like musical genre A, decide that now they like genre B and A sucks. Just to be clear, I'm not wondering how often people who enjoy Metal hear a Jazz song and now appreciate both styles of music. I also am not interested in people who like bluegrass but discovered Dance music and realize that it's a lot better than bluegrass. I'm just wanting to know how common it is for people to enjoy Hip-Hop/Rock/Country/____ and then decide that style/genre of music isn't any good anymore and sell off all their CDs in favor of some new style.

The reason I ask is that one of my sisters has done this at least twice in her life. She started off with musical tastes very similar to mine, enjoying hard rock/metal (she used to borrow my Metallica and Sabbath CDs) then in the early '90s she got huge into the Alternative scene (Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins) and decided that 90% of the music I enjoyed was crap. Five years later she got into the Indie scene and sold off almost every CD she had and decided that she pretty much only like bands that never receive radio play.

On the other hand, I've sold maybe 15 CDs in my life, and other than the very first CD I ever bought, I've regretted selling almost all of them. If I like a song/band it's a good bet that in 20 years I will still like that song/band. I suppose it explains why I still love hair bands, etc. It's pretty hard for me to fathom ever deciding that something I really liked was a mistake in my taste.

cdollaz

I have gotten to the point where I don't really like classic rock or euro synth-pop (Erasure, DM, New Order, etc.) anymore. I have gotten rid of most of that stuff. Now I listen to mostly hard rock/metal or early punk/hardcore.

DeltaSigChi4

She's almost got it right now.

Indie music = music not tainted by commercialization of radio

And when they do get radio play, it is because their album reached #2 on the Billboard chart thanks to the immense amount of followers they have [SEE Arcade Fire].

E

Mordred

I'm wondering if you ever felt that you got into classic rock/synth-pop because of constant radio exposure? Maybe a sense of "I didn't know there was real music out there?" There's definitely a "you like what you hear all the time" effect which explains the a lot of the flash in the pan pop stars and shows why payola is so effective as well.

Maybe the reason this has never happened to me is that my musical tastes were never really "timely." I grew up listening to classic rock/oldies throughout the '80s thanks to my Dad and my parents thinking rock music was evil. Around 1990 I realized that I liked hard rock and when I discovered metal my world was kind of flipped. While I enjoyed Nirvana at the time, that was when I started getting big into the '80s metal/hair bands etc. I got into Blues as well in the late '90s but I never felt that my enjoyment/appreciation of one genre precluded my enjoyment of another. Metal is still my favorite style but it wouldn't be unusual to find Opeth-Stray Cats-Dokken-Creedence loaded back to back in my car changer.

cdollaz

I'm sure some of it had to do with radio exposure, especially the classic rock, as I listened to a lot of radio in the early 80's. I didn't really get into the synth pop until the late 80's and by then I wasn't really listening to the radio very much anymore. I think I just was introduced to it by someone, liked it, and then began looking for other similar stuff on my own. Now, the synth popl doesn't do much for me for 2 reasons. One is that it just sounds dated and "cheesy" at times. It just doesn't have timeless quality to me. The other is that as time goes on, I think I am becoming more appreciative of music that is just bass/guitar/drums/voice, and appreciative of the talent it takes to play instruments, not make music with a computer.

Giles

surprisingly, no... I've been a fan of electronica music since I first heard Art of Noise 'beatbox' on the radio. Movies like Repo Man exposed me to punk: dagnasty, circle jerks - that was a brief faze. MTV's 120min nurtured my interest in indie and more specifically the British music scene - I've been a fan ever since. Working retail at a record store - exposed me to other genres: jazz, world music... appreciate classical music, but haven't pursued or ventured into it too deeply. If you had come in and asked or tried to discuss 'country music' I would have beaten you with a stick

atlantamoi

I wouldn't say drastic changes. Sort of an ebb and flow. The only instance of snapping was when I heard Dwight Yoakam's first album. I went from hating to country music to liking it almost overnight (moved along in part because of my love of rockabilly). I hated heavy metal 25 years ago. Still hate it today.

Actually, now that I think about it there were some of those sappy 70's bands like Journey or Styx that I loved in my early teens and then dropped like a hot bag of shit when I started listening to the Clash, Ramones and REM. I only listen to those bands now for the novelty of it. A band like Led Zeppelin I've gone from liking in the 70's, sick of and bored with in the 80's, ignored in the 90's and today I like them more than I ever have (party in a backlash to realizing how gawd awful so much rock music was in the 90's).

Anyway, never changed enough to get rid of albums I used to like.

wendersfan

The last time my taste in music changed was in the late '70s, when I first heard the Sex Pistols (no more prog-rock and fusion for me!.) Since then they have evolved, but not changed.

islandclaws

Not really, but I'm only 25. I've always been a metal head, but the older I get the more I can see (hear?) my musical tastes expanding. I listen to a lot of bands now that I never would have listened to in high school.

polietilen

Making music on a computer requires talent as well, you know. Not every electronic/synth group is simplistic commercial fluff. Just listen to Autechre, The Orb, Underworld, Skinny Puppy or Aphex Twin and tell me anybody can do the things they do on a computer. Creativity comes in many forms.

To address the OP, my musical tastes haven't changed that much. Maybe the biggest change for me ocurred during the late 80s when I started hearing Faith No More and Jane's Addiction when I was deep into glam metal. Those groups sort of erased those bands for me. As time goes by, I find myself listening less to metal. I actually don't even bother with new acts. The only metal stuff that I can still listen to is old Metallica and Iron Maiden, not just for the nostalgia factor, but because their music was so good it trascends the genre for me.

DaveWadding

My musical taste so much havent changed as they have vastly expanded.

cdollaz

Yeah, I don't like that shit either.

Numanoid

Yeah, it takes a lot of talent to make punk/hardcore.

JPRaup

I went from bling rap too indie music

Ginwen

I've pretty much just expanded what I like. I get tired of stuff (Led Zeppelin, the Doors) but after a few year I like it again, so I'd never get rid of music.

calhoun07

I wouldn't say mine haven't changed all that much either, but I like a WIDE variety of music. I can be just as satisfied listening to a track by Nine Inch Nails or Frank Sinatra or Leonard Cohen or Keith Green. I am all over the road, and if you ever listened to one of my mix CDs, you'd never know what was coming up next.

rw2516

Im 49 and got into music when I was around 12 in 1970. Got into rock(Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, etc) and stuck with to this day. I find myself less interested in the late 70s and up as I used to be(Journey, Styx, Kansas, Van Halen, etc.) but still listen to a lot of the late 60s through 1975 stuff(Humble Pie, Rory Gallagher, Traffic, etc.). The past several years I've been getting into and buying a lot of 1950s through late 60s stuff mostly(Zombies, Animals, Rockabilly, Sun Records). I never completely lose interest in the music I liked and records/cds I own, except for maybe that Partridge Family Album from when I was 11 or something.

uncle-frank

growing up i was into alot of rock, and alternative music, i basically stopped following all the bands and singers i use to listen to except for a handful of favourites and got into rap. ive been following rap the same way i use to anything else. 95% of my buys are rap now.

porieux

Some people don't really like music, it's like fashion to them.

I just add new genres all the time. I just got massively into classic dub, as my latest example.

slop101

While I like certain artists from pretty much every type of music (always have), the core of my preferred taste has always been Rock. But even my taste in Rock has always evolved, which I feel is necessary for any fan of music - as much you might like something, you just can't keep listening to the same shit over and over, year after year.

I mean, you have to move on. And if you're a true music fan, you do so because you're well-listened enough to have already memorized Zeppelin and Beatles, to love Dylan and Cash, to have grown up on U2, REM, and the Cure, to know Motown, to know Public Enemy and Metallica - you just want something new. Once you've gone through the classics, you move on. You start listening to indie rock, underground hip-hop, obscure metal, avant-garde jazz, regional folk - whatever. If you're a music fan, that's just what you do. Just like when you've seen enough Scorsese and Spielberg, you move on to Cassavetes or Melville. Otherwise, you've just stopped caring.

JOE29

Not me, I've basically liked the same type ( metal, classic rock, blues, even oldies ) since day one. I really have no need to change. I understand other people have changed but for me I haven't had the urge to.

wendersfan

How is "oldies" a genre? When I was a kid, "oldies" meant Nat King Cole, the Andrews Sisters, The Platters, etc. Now it means Duran Duran and Peter Gabriel.

Decadance

I must say, my musical tastes have modified over time. I use to be solely a metal fiend.
While Tool still remains my favorite musical experience, I also heavily listen to Ani Difranco, Ryan Adams, The Fugees, and Jason Mraz. If it entertains me, it does the job.

Dubya

There have been periods of time where I have been bored with classic rock (except the Stones, they have never gotten old for me) but over the last couple of years I have been listening to it more than ever. Led Zeppelin is a prime example. I think I went years avoiding their music but lately I have been listening to every album on a regular basis.

polietilen

Beautifully put.