Nostalga for questionable music

[Aliquid]

I'm finding that as I get older (I was a teenager in late 80s/early 90s)... I'm finding that I have a nostalgic smile on my face when I hear old music that I would have 100% shunned back in the day. Sometimes I go out of my way to listen to more after the reminder.

For instance, in the 80's, I listened to Psychedelic Rock, Heavy Metal and some New Wave. I wouldn't be caught dead listening to Toto, or Laura Branigan... but now if "Africa" or "Gloria" are playing over the speakers in some store, I quietly sing along in my head.

I'm wondering if all the kids these days who shun Justin Bieber will be singing along when his music plays in the grocery store in the year 2040.

[2D8HP]

A lot, and a lot not.

Almost any song from days gone by will charm me EXCEPT for those songs that I still hear day after day, year after year, when I flip through the radio stations, trying to find sonething I can bare.

However....

....if I haven't heard a song in a long enough while, it may become welcome, even if I was sick of it before.

Anyway, here's yet another song from my youth:

Spoiler: questionsble?

Show

[factotum]

I wouldn't be caught dead listening to Toto, or Laura Branigan... but now if "Africa" or "Gloria" are playing over the speakers in some store, I quietly sing along in my head.

I'm wondering if all the kids these days who shun Justin Bieber will be singing along when his music plays in the grocery store in the year 2040.

I doubt it, because Africa is a quality song with a seriously catchy tune, whereas Bieber's output...isn't?

[Vinyadan]

Hard to tell. Right now, the only Bieber song I have heard was "Love Yourself", it came up on the radio today after many months, and it felt slightly better. For the first time, I didn't hear the ludicrous amount of winking it contains. Maybe, in some years, I'll hear the melody. (Right now, it's still as bad as Ed Sheeran).

Generally, however, most of the recent stuff has been bad. Katy Perry's songs, for example, age very fast.

But there have been some songs that I like now, and I didn't like back then. "All the Single Ladies" comes to mind. "Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!", lol.

"Gloria" comes from a good era for Italian music in general, it isn't odd that you like it now.

[2D8HP]

One effect of age and nostalgia besides that of familiar songs from long ago that you didn't care for back then will (if commercial radio hasn't been still force feeding you it for decades and still does! ) sound pleasant to you now, is that your tastes will change, as will the genres.

Part of that is because youth tribal identity becomes less important to you, or maybe we just "mellow" (I have a much greater appreciation for acoustic and pop than I did years ago, for example, I now like https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RbmS3tQJ7Os
which I once would have decried as "boomer").

When I hear the old punk rock ballads of my youth that have been imprinted on my mind for decades (such as Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United

and

Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster), then I have an almost instant emotional response of joy or melancholy, but hearing new punk rock usually just makes me annoyed or bored.

I can tell the music is largely the same, the difference is me.

[Aliquid]

I doubt it, because Africa is a quality song with a seriously catchy tune, whereas Bieber's output...isn't?

To be honest I don't even know if I can name a Bieber song... I just know people always talk trash about him, and at the same time he is somehow popular. Not sure how I have avoided listening to him, but somehow I have (or maybe I have heard his music and just didn't know it was him).

But maybe those weren't the best examples. I just googled "worst hit songs of the 80s", and I l got a good laugh. Now I have a desire to listen to at least half of them... although I guess the novelty will wear off and I will start disliking them again.

"Gloria" comes from a good era for Italian music in general, it isn't odd that you like it now.

No... I think the main reason I didn't like it then was because of the whole "tribal identity" thing, as 2D8HP suggested. I likely would have been mocked by my friends if I liked it.

One effect of age and nostalgia besides that of familiar songs from long ago that you didn't care for back then will (if commercial radio hasn't been still force feeding you it for decades and still does! ) sound pleasant to you now, is that your tastes will change, as will the genres.

Yes, I've explored numerous genres since then, and have a much broader appreciation for music now.

Part of that is because youth tribal identity becomes less important to you, or maybe we just "mellow" (I have a much greater appreciation for acoustic and pop than I did years ago, for example, I now like https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RbmS3tQJ7Os
which I once would have decried as "boomer").

Yes that is boomer... that's the sort of music my boomer parents played when I was a kid, so I know it well (actually, they still play it)

When I hear the old punk rock ballads of my youth that have been imprinted on my mind for decades (such as Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United

and

Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster), then I have an almost instant emotional response of joy or melancholy, but hearing new punk rock usually just makes me annoyed or bored.

I can tell the music is largely the same, the difference is me.

Good point. Thinking of the genres that I did like as a youth but have grown out of... I bet that if I even grabbed an album from a band that I liked, I would only enjoy the songs I recognized.


As a side note: did you change your avatar?

[2D8HP]

...Thinking of the genres that I did like as a youth but have grown out of... I bet that if I even grabbed an album from a band that I liked, I would only enjoy the songs I recognized.

I've found that to be often true as well.

....As a side note: did you change your avatar?

Yes, Honest Tiefling kindly gifted me with a snazzy new Avatar



that's less pasty and more cheerful than my old one



It's a struggle, but I'm trying to be a little less crabby so I don't besmirch my grand new Avatar.

Anyway, thread topic, there's lots of research that suggests that We Best Remember Events That Happened Between 15 and 25, and it wasn't a sudden effect, but it now takes me far longer to learn new skills,.

On the plus side, in my experience, bad things that happen usually have less of an emotional impact than they did when I was younger.

I think our craving for novelty just lessens as we age, but in general, it seems to me, men crave the familiar more and sooner than women do, but the change happens to both (I'd be curious if there's been studies).

[dps]

To be honest I don't even know if I can name a Bieber song... I just know people always talk trash about him, and at the same time he is somehow popular. Not sure how I have avoided listening to him, but somehow I have (or maybe I have heard his music and just didn't know it was him).

Same here. I don't think I've ever heard one of his songs, but if I have, I didn't realize that it was him.

Anyway, I'll disagree with the consensus in this thread. Generally speaking, songs I liked back when I was in high school and college (I was born in 1962, so we're talking late 70s/early 80s), I still like, and things I didn't like, I still don't like.

[BannedInSchool]

Yeah, there are some songs that were popular at the time, which inclined me to not hold them in much esteem, that I can now appreciate as having some craft in their making.

That reminds me that I recently watched some videos from a music producer lamenting some of the recent state of the industry. So many hit songs use the same four chords right now (I/IV/V/vi, IIRC). He also said that a huge majority of the released nu metal used the same three producers, stifling creativity in that genre. He also griped about digital tools time and pitch correcting everything. Oh, and bringing in people to write songs with the artists. Makes just completely screwing artists backwards and forwards with contracts seem like the good old days.

[Anonymouswizard]

At 23 this has already happened to me, in books as well as music. There's early 2000s tunes that I didn't care for that I know do, and even a couple of late 2000s songs. I suspect this will happen to me with most of One Direction's output, most of the reason I dislike 90% of the songs is my younger sister forcing them on me, those I discovered when she wasn't around are alright, although not amazing. Not sure about Bieber, will give that answer in twenty years.

[Florian]

*Shrugs*

I simply notice how much I've changed with the decades because I still have some friendships that have lasted all the time and we have fun reminiscing how much things changed.

I mean, I've gotten into punk, especially skate punk, pretty early and that was a big part of my initial identity (or tribe, as 2D8HP apply called it). Nowadays, it´s variations of jazz, doom jazz when I'm in the mood (google Kilimanjaro dark jazz orchestra or Fire!Orchestra when needed), as well as simply easy listening and lounge music.

On the pro side, I find myself humming to Nena or Kim Wilde, something I despised earlier, but I've got to be pretty drunk to me more inclined to listen to some old Böhse Onkelz or Rancid stuff.

[arcas]

I remember growing up my parents would listen to Fleetwood Mac a lot, and I hated it, to me it just sounded like more country music. I was into rock and metal at the time. I recently re-discovered Fleetwood Mac though, and wow was I missing out. They rock and it does carry a strange nostalgia for me.

[Algeh]

As a kid, my parents pretty much never played the radio, but instead bought records, made tapes of them, and played those. I listened to the radio for a few years from 4th-7th grade, but mostly missed out on the cultural music of my agemates (we also didn't have cable, and this was when MTV showed music videos).

I basically grew up with an ear for my parents' music, which was mostly 60s and 70s stuff with lots of folk guitars. I can probably sing every single Gordon Lightfoot song.

I eventually bought "Billboard Top Hits" CDs for every year from 79-93 on impulse from Costco (they sold them in three-packs at the time - I used to impulse-buy a ridiculous number of cd compilations at Costco), and got an overview of the music I missed growing up. It was interesting, but ultimately I pretty much went back to listening to Gordon Lightfoot some more.

I also got into some more political local folk music in the 90s, and some of that is kind of weird to listen to now just because the political conversations have shifted over time.

Then I got into filk via mail-order catalog, and eventually found it at conventions, then got into helping run those conventions. At this point, I'm completely out of the loop on what everyone else is listening to, but I spend most of my spare time on things related to my own specific little nerd music niche.

If I ever have kids, they're going to have some REALLY CONFUSING music nostalgia...

[factotum]

As a kid, my parents pretty much never played the radio, but instead bought records, made tapes of them, and played those.

Why on earth did they do that? They're converting a high-fidelity random access medium (because you can just pick up the tone arm and move it over to a new track) into a low-fidelity sequential one. Unless they only ever listened to music from a Walkman while jogging, or in the car stereo, I genuinely can't think of an advantage to doing that.

[razorback]

Why on earth did they do that? They're converting a high-fidelity random access medium (because you can just pick up the tone arm and move it over to a new track) into a low-fidelity sequential one. Unless they only ever listened to music from a Walkman while jogging, or in the car stereo, I genuinely can't think of an advantage to doing that.

You saw Guardians of the Galaxy? Mix tapes, my man, mix tapes. Take the gems from several albums and you could rock for half hour or so before having to flip the tape.

[Aliquid]

Yes, Honest Tiefling kindly gifted me with a snazzy new Avatar

that's less pasty and more cheerful than my old one

It's a struggle, but I'm trying to be a little less crabby so I don't besmirch my grand new Avatar.

Oddly enough... when I look at this website on my phone, it shows your old avatar, but on the PC it is your new one.
Keep up the good fight against being crabby, I know the struggle.

Anyway, thread topic, there's lots of research that suggests that We Best Remember Events That Happened Between 15 and 25

Unfortunately I want to erase 19-25 from my memories...

Anyway, I'll disagree with the consensus in this thread. Generally speaking, songs I liked back when I was in high school and college (I was born in 1962, so we're talking late 70s/early 80s), I still like, and things I didn't like, I still don't like.

So you don't tap your feet to Terry Jacks' "Seasons In The Sun" now?

I remember growing up my parents would listen to Fleetwood Mac a lot, and I hated it, to me it just sounded like more country music. I was into rock and metal at the time. I recently re-discovered Fleetwood Mac though, and wow was I missing out. They rock and it does carry a strange nostalgia for me.

This is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about.

You saw Guardians of the Galaxy? Mix tapes, my man, mix tapes. Take the gems from several albums and you could rock for half hour or so before having to flip the tape.

Even better than that. I would typically get the blank tapes with 45 minutes per side... and many cassette players would automatically flip sides. So, you could get an hour and a half of music without having to get up (three hours if you have a double deck). There was a big convenience factor compared to records.

Besides... considering the quality of my stereo receiver and my speakers at that age, I highly doubt that the fidelity of a record vs tape would make much of a difference in the quality of sound.

[razorback]

Even better than that. I would typically get the blank tapes with 45 minutes per side... and many cassette players would automatically flip sides. So, you could get an hour and a half of music without having to get up (three hours if you have a double deck). There was a big convenience factor compared to records.

Besides... considering the quality of my stereo receiver and my speakers at that age, I highly doubt that the fidelity of a record vs tape would make much of a difference in the quality of sound.

I honestly don't remember that far back. Maybe 45 minutes, without Googling. I was an early adopter of CD's and just had a ton of tapes in the car but can't remember the length.


Back to the original question, I remember Billy Jean when it came out but never listened to it unless someone else was listening to it (I was a multi-class Metal/Punk skater kid with a single level dip in New Wave). As I left work Friday and it came on the radio and I was listening to it without being aware until the very end. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it for what it was but more for some of the memories it illicted, especially since my cousin from LA was up for the whole summer right after it came out and he was big into Michael Jackson. I'll occasionally flip through that station, the iHeart 80's, but most of it about the memories associated with it rather than enjoying the song in itself.

[factotum]

So you don't tap your feet to Terry Jacks' "Seasons In The Sun" now?

He'd have been 12 when that was released, so maybe not quite in the right age demographic for the song? Also, it's not really a foot-tapping sort of song in the first place, especially if you actually listen to the lyrics...

[BannedInSchool]

Even better than that. I would typically get the blank tapes with 45 minutes per side... and many cassette players would automatically flip sides. So, you could get an hour and a half of music without having to get up (three hours if you have a double deck). There was a big convenience factor compared to records.

My parents would put stuff on reel-to-reel in addition to having cassette tapes for the car. That's also a couple or few hours of near uninterrupted music if you're wanting quantity over quality on the lowest speed. I don't think I ever disliked their music. Simon and Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park was big on their playlist along with some of the studio albums, and I dig most of that. Now stuff like S&G, the Mamas and the Papas, Dire Straits, and Kenny Rogers (hrm, doubtful I'd still like Kenny) I knew who they were at the time. Later it was strange to listen to Pink Floyd and Rush on my own and realize I'd heard it before.

[Cespenar]

I think with the rate of creating, sharing and consuming of knowledge having become what it is in our current era, nostalgia will somewhat lose its effect. It won't go away, because your childhood is always the best, but at least it would be less tied to a feeling of "era" like it did each decade until the 00s.

Still, I wonder as well about which songs will be more remembered in the 2040s or -50s. I'm guessing proper hipsterdom will be even a greater thing, since there'll be so much stuff to listen/watch to (and in greater quality) from 20-30 years ago.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Why on earth did they do that? They're converting a high-fidelity random access medium (because you can just pick up the tone arm and move it over to a new track) into a low-fidelity sequential one. Unless they only ever listened to music from a Walkman while jogging, or in the car stereo, I genuinely can't think of an advantage to doing that.

Because if you accidentally scratch a record, that's it. If you copy it to tape you can play the tape 'till it wears out, then re-record if required. The record is exposed to much less risk.

... Plus the cars and walkman - we used to play a lot of tapes in the car.

[Algeh]

Because if you accidentally scratch a record, that's it. If you copy it to tape you can play the tape 'till it wears out, then re-record if required. The record is exposed to much less risk.

... Plus the cars and walkman - we used to play a lot of tapes in the car.

This, mostly. Records wear out a little tiny bit each time you play them, so we've always had listening to records more as a "sometimes" thing down on the good stereo (which, back then, was a quadraphonic system with lots of chrome and switches - I loved the look of that thing) when we had time to properly appreciate them, and tapes for when you want to play some music in the kitchen while you're washing dishes. (Or to hand to the small child - I'm not sure I'm officially allowed to touch my dad's "good" records even now...they got me a kid's record player at some point in elementary school and a bunch of kids records to play on it, and I eventually accumulated a bunch of real records to play on a proper stereo once I got old enough to go to used record stores and buy stuff in middle school or so, but it's much less annoying when a six year old ruins a recorded-from-a-record tape than when they scratch a record.) The idea is that the records were a lifetime investment/archive, and you'd listen to the tapes, wear them out, and make new ones as needed.