Music question to those in their 30s and older...

Jack White/White Stripes and Raconteurs
Lucinda Williams
Evanessence
Pink
KT Tunstall
All sort sof stuff!

I do listen to and buy new music. I have a better love for music than ever before. A way better appreciation. I am way more open to it than I ever was.

Exactly the way you describe it. Any style, any type. I love to hear it. I may not always listen to it all, all the time but I really enjoy it.

I’m 43 and I still love discovering great new music. Lately I’m listening to Beach House’s album “Devotion,” The Black Keys’ “Attack and Release,” Mogwai’s “The Hawk is Howling,” Ray LaMontagne’s “Gossip in the Grain,” and Earlimart’s “Hymn and Her.”

I’m soon to be 32 and I doubt I’ll ever stop seeking out and enjoying new music. There’s a certain thrill/euphoria from discovering something awesome and really grooving on it for the next few weeks.

I like just about everything, honestly.. indie, mainstream, world, whatever. I don’t know if anyone else uses Last.fm, but I like it for the charts to keep track of what I listen to. My profile

I’m 37, and my musical horizons have expanded more and more as I’ve gotten older. My CD collection sits at about 2000 titles and growing. One thing that’s slowed down a little is backfilling…by that I mean music that may not be new but is new to me. I grew up in a very small town which basically had a top 40 station. If the winds were blowing right I could tune in a classic rock station from about 80 miles away. But we lived to far outside the city limits to get cable, there was no internet, and having a sattelite meant spending 6 grand on this 6 foot wide thing that sat in your yard as a huge eyesore, so I didn’t even have MTV.

But now I have so many avenues to learn about new music, and I’ve spent 20 years collecting albums, buying everything an artist ever put out if I liked them. Two mentions of the White Stripes, I think they are one of the best things to happen to rock and roll, ever. I haven’t felt that way about music since Nirvana. I love lively, energetic new music.

My top 3 albums for 2007 were #3 “Icky Thump” by the White Stripes, #2 “The Black and White Album” by the Hives and #1 “Bitchin’” by the Donnas, and I was thrilled to get to see the Donnas and the Hives play together live in February at the legendary First Avenue night club, it ranks up there as one of the more memorable shows I’ve seen.

A couple of newer bands I really like a lot…Louis XIV and Gogol Bordello. Very adventurous, high spirited rock and roll. If I live to be 90 I’ll still be buying new music.

I forgot to mention in my answer I am 39.

My son keeps me young. I’m not always sure who I’m listening to but he controls my radio most of the time. He’s a student at the Hollywood Musicians Institute so in a year or two my favorite band will be a brand new act out of Hollywood!

I’m 41. I don’t actually buy much music (I never did…books take up my disposable income!), but I do listen to and enjoy it. I never understood how people get “stuck” in the music era they grew up in. Don’t get me wrong, a new wave song from the 80s can really get me pumped up…but I’d never listen to an 80s themed station.

I’m 35, and I’ve kind of closed the door on new music, although I don’t really live in the past either. I sort of pick up things here and there that come my way but don’t really try to discover much new. Also, a lot of new acts seem either rehashed or overprocessed (like they’re focus group music).

One thing I wanted to mention is that I stopped listening to The Cure (one of my adolescent favorites) a long time ago, but happened to catch one of their contemporary concerts on TV. A) it quickly brought back that nostalgia, but more importantly B) they just fucking rock, and I had no idea how much so until watching them live.

I’ve also come to appreciate Damien Marley, who is new.

@sueanne, I saw Lucinda last year (or the year before). She’s a curious one. She reads her lyrics from a songbook while she’s singing!

I’m 44 and my (age group) peers tend to look at me oddly and ask “How old are you?” when they hear what I’m listening to. Most of my friends seem to listen to “classic” rock – it’s like they’ve musically arrested at 18–22 years of age.

My XM choices of Squizz, Ethel, and Lucy just baffle them.

at 39, music newer than mid 1990’s does nothing for me with precious few exception, maybe Nora Jones….

Yay for old folks! At 35, I still buy new music…I have a really great way to preview them before I buy, as I pay for a monthly subscription to Rhapsody and have a wireless media player (Ibiza Rhapsody PMP), that can download over wi-fi direct to the player through the Rh servers.

I have been able to use this method to “try out” many new artists, or even artists I like that put out new albums. If I like the album enough, I’ll go over to iTunes and purchase the music (or Rh which can also sell you their DRM-free mp3’s).

Then I upload to my iPhone for “heavy rotation”...my recipe.

I’m 59, and if you looked at my CD collection, it would resemble the Billboard top 100 from 1976. I’ve got, I think, every Stones, Who, Beatles, Pink Floyd, Yes, Eagles, Foreigner, CSN, and Genesis album ever made. I do buy new music from artists I discovered in the 80s and 90s, like Sting, Suzanne Vega, and Melissa Etheridge. My most recent discovery is Porcupine Tree, who I like a lot. Their latest album, Fear of a Blank Planet was released in 2007. Their best is In Absentia, released in 2002.

You know there’s another side to those people who get stuck in their past, I’m 22, as mentioned a billion times before and I like nothing better than some fucking Skynyrd, Doors, Bowie, oh, and pop and rock from all through the 40s – 60s. I live on classic rock radio.

Just sayin’.

@asmonet: Good music is good music…whatever era it comes from. And you listed some good music!

@asmonet, My daughter is 22 and she’s often asked “How old are you?!” because of her musical tastes. This past month a much older friend of hers was playing her some new music. One of the songs she started singing along to and the friend thought she’d heard this new band before. She had to tell him, “No, that song you think is so cool and new is actually a Bob Dylan song from decades ago.”

I like new music and the older greats. I find a lot of newer stuff at festivals and warming up for older groups at shows. I still have a running list of things I want, and that’s looking newer and newer as the older stuff gets bought and fills in the gaps of my collection.

I do have to say that my filter is more discerning now, though. There’s a lot of great new stuff coming out these days, but there’s a lot of crap out there, too.

I had a friend whose daughter told her, “Hey mom, did you know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?”

Ha! Most people have heard that one. Try explaining that you once saw “The Jackson Five” play at a rodeo to someone under the age of 25. :^>

I’m 32, still discovering new music. www.amiestreet.com is a good place to discover indie or more obscure stuff. (BTW, the creators of fluther went to the same college as the amie st people.)

I’m 43, and I buy new music all the time. iTunes just makes it so easy to check out new stuff.
Damn them…

I’m 42 and I still buy contemporary rock music. The main problem is finding time to listen to it. The car is the only place I regularly have time and that is not the best place for me to listen to new music. I have to concentrate on a new album and that is not conducive to good driving. The MP3 player has made a big difference for me.

I am 43, in my late 20’s early 30’s I went through a phase of listening only to KRTH (oldies station), I contended that all the new must was a copy of the old music anyway. I have since seen the light. Now I pretty much only listen to new music, I love The Killers, Kasabian, The Afters, World Party, Fountains of Wayne, Maroon 5, Snow Patrol, etc. Pandora has really broadened my musical horizons as well.

I listen to mostly classic rock, but I do like some of the new stuff too. I don’t buy much music at all tho. What I find interesting is how many people in their 20’s are really into the same stuff I grew up on.

Like asmonet says above, many people her age like our stuff. I guess the best of classic rock really is here to stay! When I was that age, I gagged at my Mom’s music! My daughter’s collection of classic rock is much bigger than mine.

I’m 24, and I love to buy old music (I think is better than some new music) I’m planning to attend Duran Duran’s show next month! So if you are not buying new music, you are not missing much :)

@IchtheosaurusRex I agree that PT was/is a great find.
I’m partial to the “Darkwing” album….

I stopped listening to new music for two years…then I discovered Lamb of God.

edit: tengo 37 años.

Sorry about the horrible question; I was on my iPhone. Thanks for answering.

@cyndy/aug: Hell yeah. I get asked that all the time, or I get wierd looks from people at work who listen to Avril Lavigne, Metro Station, Pink, etc. Nothing wrong with it, people like what they like. But…. one of them heard Freebird, and asked me if it was a new release by ‘one of your wierd indie bands’. Minutes later, she asked me if Black Betty and That Smell were by the same ‘new’ band.

…what.

Ha! My brother was in a southern band who used to have to open their sets by saying ”...and we don’t do Freebird” because there were so many people who want to hear it multiple times when they’re drunk. :^>

I do actually like Pink. I think she gets better and better as she moves more toward a rock sound and away from a lot of the hip-hop stuff. I love her voice when she sings things like Misery. She has a great bluesy sound.

I remember LS, but I think my favorite southern rock is still the Allman Brothers.

@cyndy: If you ever have a chance to see Pink sing live, do it. She’s actually really good, I saw her at the “United We Stand concert“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_We_Stand:_What_More_Can_I_Give for 9/11 in DC. She sang My Vietnam a capella. Blew me away.

AB is made of musical win.

But really it’s all about the CCR

I love music of all kinds. You might find me riding around in my convertable with the top down listening to anything from classical, showtunes, oldies, heavy metal, hair bands from the eighties, the Rolling Stones, jazz… You name it! I have a fourteen year old daughter, so it might even be the Jonas Brothers. I buy a lot of music, and I love it all. I also like jazz a lot and country too! I have music playing wherever I am!

@Asmonet, Credence is a great band, try John Fogerty’s solo stuff too. Some of my favorite classic rock bands? The Who, The Kinks, Buffalo Springfield, The Hollies, CSN&Y, Traffic (featuring Little Stevie Winwood/Low Spark of High Heeled Boys – classic), and of course the one and only Bob Dylan.

I like where this thread went, I keep meaning to get a hold of John Fogerty’s music, but never remember. Thanks! I’ll grab that now.

I recently went to a Vampire Weekend concert. By myself.

my mum is about 40, and i’m 16. she (willingly) listens to most of the music i like. i’m assuming she wouldn’t listen to as much of it if it weren’t for me, but she does like a lot of what i listen to, from like chiodos to bright eyes haha.

At 60, I admit I’m stuck in the 60’s and 70’s most of the time, you know, Beatles, Stones, CSNY, also some of the more obscure, Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Funkadelic, Sly & the Family Stone.

But my tastes in newer music seem to be just as eclectic: Maroon 5, Bela Fleck, Gogol Bordello.

I guess my point is if it’s good, I like it.