Anyone else realize their taste in music hasn't changed much since high school?

After dropping off my kid this morning, I had difficulty finding the right playlist to listen to.

Eventually, I started a mix based on a song I used to listen to a lot back when I was in high school, circa 2010s. I was really enjoying the songs it picked, only to realize that they were all from when I was in high school, and that my taste in music apparently hasn't changed much:

I could go on with plenty more songs I've had on repeat for over 10 years, but does anyone else feel the same way? I mean, I try really hard to stay in tune with what the youngins listen to, but I always seem to find my way back to my high school soundtrack.
 

For me, I would say it has a bit.  Used to be rock, but I got a bit bored of it (likely due to heavy rotation of same songs on radio).  Now I am open to anything I "like" (obviously subjective,  music, is VERY subjective).

I think the tricky part is that the most popular songs of an era (via song charts etc) may not be what you like.  They can tend to be overplayed and formulaic. A prime example of this is the mid 70's.  There is some very good music there, but if you look at the pop charts, oh, my, god, it is CRAP!  Anyone hear of Captain and Tennille!?  They were very popular back then!

As an example, the songs you posted above, I think they are all great, but I suspect they would be hard to find on any top charts.

Also of note is songs of course have an emotional connection to when you became familiar with them (nostalgia).  Which of course can play a powerful role in you love, or hate of them.

I would also say, recently, not many current songs catch my attention at all.  Not sure if it's the music, or me (or AI?)

I don't often listen to music I listened to in high school, but I do still enjoy it.  Several of the genres I love I discovered long after high school.

The CD that's been on repeat in my car for like 9 years was released 7 years after I graduated.

I read something about this earlier this year. 
 

Couldn't find it exactly but this kinda highlights it. Very interesting stuff!

I still listen to some of the same music I liked in HS but my musical sphere keeps growing in ways that takes me by surprise

 

More or less. I listened to a pretty big variety then but not a ton of newer stuff. I usually dig into influences of the things I like to get broader. Most of the time now I am listening to ambient/etherial? music as I can have it on and doesn't distract.

More or less. I still hate the same music I hated in high school, but I listen to a bit more variety of artists and genres. 

But I've always been willing to listen to most anything that isn't pop, Nashville pop, R&B, techno, drum n bass, transformer farts, or techno/electronica.

I rail against this all the time.

My tastes have changed radically and continuously since high school *.  The only constant is that I hate commodity pop music of almost any kind or era.

I'm 59 years old, and probably 80% of the music I listen to was made in the last 5 years.  If you expand that to 10 years, the number probably goes up to 90%.

I don't now dislike anything I used to like **, but after a certain number of listenings, I've internalized it and don't really need to hear it very frequently.  I'd much rather spend that time finding something new.

More than half of the music I listen to on a daily basis comes from the Youtube algorithm making suggestions of artists I've never even heard of before.

*  I tell meme-posting people on the internet all the time, "No, they didn't stop making good music in whatever year you happened to graduate high school.  You just stopped listening for it."

** One exception being the Beatles.  I loved the Beatles when I was 12 or so, in the mid-'70s.  By the time I was 16 I was totally sick of them, and I am really annoyed by the slavish devotion that continues in a certain demographic to this day.  I turn them off as soon as anybody starts talking about or playing them.

I always thought that there was something fundamentally wrong with me because I ALWAYS gravitate to the same few bands i listened to in middle and high school.  I like some newer music, but it never replaces my 'comfort food' bands... 

This is wierd, but it makes me happy that I'm not alone in this.

Kinda, sorta, not really. What I was enjoying in my high school years (late 90's) definitely had an influence on what music I've enjoyed later, but certainly didn't define it.

I've discovered a lot of music that is new even since I graduated college (2006) that I really like. I find I enjoy really good examples in pretty much any genre, but enjoy mediocre examples of music in the classic rock, blues rock, grunge, and post-grunge alt-rock I was listening to as a teenager.

From your examples above - I think "Of Monsters and Men" is fantastic, but the other two are very "meh".

New artists are more likely to catch me if they are reminiscent of what I grew up liking - Adele, King Gizzard..., Vulfpeck, The Heavy. But there are others that I've loved that are outside of that, even hip hop artists: MF Doom, Anderson Paak, Glass Animals, lots of Dan the Automator projects like Bitter:Sweet and Handsome Boy Modeling School, Wax Tailor.

I've definitely discovered less newer stuff I love. I think that's mostly because culture now is about tailored streaming rather than radio play with everyone listening to the same thing. Even still... I started listening to Chapel Roan because she's making a splash, and it really wasn't for me. Billie Eilish is pretty great.

golfduke said:

I always thought that there was something fundamentally wrong with me because I ALWAYS gravitate to the same few bands i listened to in middle and high school.

I would say that is much more the norm than an anomaly.

I'd extend that well into my 20s. That's why they call them the formative years. It's the same with most of our cultural affinities - sports teams, fashion, movies, et cetera. As a 60X YO individual, it's a trip when talking to the youth. They look at me the same way that I used to when my parents talked about  Bing Crosby and Myrna Loy.

In reply to Duke :

Most of the music I listen to on a daily basis comes from the Youtube algorithm making suggestions of artists I've never even heard of before.

Teach me how? 

No matter what video I click on on YouTube, it makes a playlist of the same songs. Every. Single. Time. 

Even when I find something new I want to get into, it'll play that video, then go into a playlist of did I've been listening to for years. 

It's getting worse than terrestrial radio these days

My first reaction is, "you were in high school in the 2010s!??! You're not even old enough to have an opinion"

but then I remembered I was class of 2006, so I have not much room to talk, then I remembered it's 2024 and that was all so long ago and I'm old now...

Anyway, to answer the actual question.

I wouldn't say my tastes have changed, more evolved. 
I still like a lot of the same stuff. I also like a lot of stuff I've discovered since. My taste for metal came along after high school. My RHCP playtime is WAY down.

I like to think I'm pretty open minded, my wife would probably disagree. 

In reply to classicJackets (FS) :

I think that sums it up pretty well. Makes sense to me.

After reading all of the other responses, I'd have to agree that it's not that my taste in music hasn't changed, but that it has evolved.

I've probably (subconsciously) been seeking out music similar to what I listened to "back in day."

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

As a 60X YO individual, it's a trip when talking to the youth. They look at me the same way that I used to when my parents talked about  Bing Crosby and Myrna Loy.

Hey Nineteen
That's 'Retha Franklin
She don't remember the Queen of Soul
It's hard times befallen
The sole survivors
She thinks I'm crazy
But I'm just growing old

Nope. I get off on discovering new music. I actually enjoy Hardcore nowadays. In high school you were pretty much stuck with whatever MTV/radio played or word of mouth if you were lucky. But the internet has made it so easy to find new, rad E36 M3.

I'm about to jump in with both feet into Salsa, just because I heard somd one on a speaker of a guy at work and it took hold of my ears.

Duke said:

I'm 59 years old, and probably 80% of the music I listen to was made in the last 5 years.  If you expand that to 10 years, the number probably goes up to 90%.

So who are the big standouts?

Most of my favorites now I've *discovered* in the past 10 years, but were made earlier.

My taste hasn't really changed, but I've found new bands that are still in the style I like. I occasionally find a song here or there that's a bit different that I find really catchy. 

Like Olivia Rodrigo - bad idea right?    or    South Arcade - How 2 get away with murder

But still mostly stuff like Kyuss, QOTSA, Death, Metallica, Mastodon, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, NIN, RATM, Faith No More, Zeppelin, etc.

In reply to z31maniac :

Dude, Bad Idea is such a banger.

RevRico said:

In reply to Duke :

Most of the music I listen to on a daily basis comes from the Youtube algorithm making suggestions of artists I've never even heard of before.

Teach me how?

I literally just click on things that it suggests, sometimes only based on the cover art or titles.  I do get a lot of repeat suggestions, but I just don't click on those playlists.

I have a couple of specific aggregators that post mixed-artist playlists or albums by specific bands within a genre:

• Seven Beats Music for triphop, downtempo, and lofi
   
• Stoned Meadow Of Doom and 666MrDoom for heavy stuff
   
• Where Postrock Dwells or Captain BeeFart for lighter, well, post-rock stuff
   

I'll listen to the aggregator playlists and take note of anything I really like, then I hit those artists' channels directly.  Once I do that a few times with a few different bands, YT will start suggesting similar stuff, some of it only days old or with a few hundred views.  I'll try anything.  Some of it is cack, but it takes 2 clicks to give up and try something else.

And some of it is astoundingly good.  Added bonus to this is geographic diversity, thanks to the internet.  There is a ton of great rock music coming out of Chile, Greece, Albania, Poland, France, you name it.

Also, don't be afraid to put in randomly specific search terms in the YT box.  For instance, one day I typed in "French psychedelic stoner rock" and was rewarded with The Sun's Evil Twin, who I've been revisiting for the last couple days.

This is all stuff I would never ever hear if it weren't for YouTube, or to a much lesser extent Pandora.  I've found a lot of music I love through Pandora, but you need to be really vigilant with the thumbs buttons (both up and down) or all your Pandora channels wind up sounding the same.

In reply to classicJackets (FS) :

If I was answering that survey, I would say ALL OF THEM.

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

Duke said:

I'm 59 years old, and probably 80% of the music I listen to was made in the last 5 years.  If you expand that to 10 years, the number probably goes up to 90%.

So who are the big standouts?

Most of my favorites now I've *discovered* in the past 10 years, but were made earlier.

I have a fair amount of that, too - I do listen to a lot of stuff made 2000-2010 that I didn't really become aware of until 2015 or later.

What genres are you interested in?

Appleseed said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Dude, Bad Idea is such a banger.

Absolutely. The chorus is what really does it for me. I love the harmonized vocals on top of each other. 

I totally agree with the premise.  There are entire decades of popular music that I have absolutely zero knowledge of and zero interest in.  Every once in a while, my kids will play something that catches my ear and actually sounds good to me.  The last time that happened I think was something by Sammie Rae and the Friends.