Did you listen to new music by young people in your youth?

[BluMunk]

I was a child of the late 80s early 90s (born in 1980). I've listened to music all my life. Growing up, my parents had an extensive record collection of all the 60s/70s music you could want to get a solid grounding in the music of the era (man, that King Crimson album cover spooked me for years before I got up the never to put it on the turn table). When CDs arrived, the record collection disappeared, but much of it was replaced with CD.

 

I was always into music, as my parents were. But, I realize that I was rarely listening to the music my peers listened to. Oh, I heard a lot of contemporary music, but it was often by artists who were mid/late career. Really, the stuff by artists my parents would have liked in their 20s who were releasing great albums 10-20 years later. "New" music to me in the late 80s/early 90s was Graceland, Ten Summoner's Tales, Achtung Baby, Brothers in Arms, Traveling Willburys, Full Moon Fever, Tunnel of Love, US/Secret World Live, Invisible Touch, We Can't Dance, Bat Out of Hell 2, Automatic for the People, etc etc etc . . . all albums at least 10 years into the careers of their respective artists.

 

I was exposed to plenty of then current music by young artists (and really, the late 80s/early 90s was a pretty exciting time for music in many ways), but for the most part it was secondary to the music I was really listening carefully to (and we had in the house).

 

I'm curious about other people's experiences.

[cp-the-nerd]

Born in 1987, I was exposed to a wide range of great music growing up thanks to my dad: classic rock, funk, prog rock, *good* pop music like MJ, etc. My older brother is also a life long musician (drummer) and music enthusiast that had a broad range of music tastes that skewed more modern like RHCP, Spin Doctors, and 311. However, I just didn't learn to appreciate or enjoy music until I was probably 13-14 years old, despite the fact that I was playing piano/keyboard from a young age. It's weird how that worked out.

 

Come to think of it, I also used to go with my dad to his auto shop some saturdays to be his assistant when I was around 10, but didn't get into cars until adulthood. I guess it's just a personality trait.

[Konnector]

I think I've always listened to "new" music - at least up until the last few years. Not into the current pop / electronic music these days, so I've all but turned the radio off.

 

These days, YouTube is my radio, as standard FM radio programming is pretty grim.

 

I started eagerly listening to the radio probably when I was 5 - 6 years old. That would have been 1963/64. The early British invasion (Beatles / Stones, etc.) caught my ear along with other artists. The 60's psychedelic rock / hard rock really hit home for me.

Cream, Iron Butterfly, etc. Led Zeppelin's debut album totally floored me as a kid. Became a huge Zep head instantly, along with ELP, Deep Purple, early Blue Oyster Cult, Yes, Zappa, and a host of other artists that were "happening" at the time.

 

The "new wave" 80's trend was good for awhile as well. Mid/late 80's from what I recall wasn't very good. (for my tastes anyway) The 90's brought in grunge which was ok for a few years. Beyond that, I've found that I like individual songs as apposed to entire albums these days.

 

(Obviously I'm not a jazzer, but I do listen to/buy certain types of jazz every once and awhile....along with the occasional detour into classical.)

[MuzikTeechur]

Yes, in my youth I listened to lots of music by young (teen and pre-teen) people:

 

Wayne Newton

Michael Jackson

Donny Osmond

[MAJUSCULE]

I'm thinking I started listening to music created by my age group around the same time I started checking out local music and attending shows by myself. 14-15-16ish.

[GovernorSilver]

In my youth, broadcast radio had not been ruined yet by Clear Channel. Stations were not so hyper-segregated by demographic like today. It was typical for a local station to play Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down To Georgia", then a ska tune by Madness, then Van Halen, then Michael Jackson, then Human League, then Prince, then Def Leppard, then Art Of Noise, then John Cougar, etc.

 

I didn't really listen to music by people in my own age group though until I got into college and made friends with people who were part of the local punk scene.

 

Oh wait, I guess Musical Youth ("Pass the Dutchie"), New Kids on the Block, Debbie Gibson, maybe some other child/teen stars might have been close to my age.

[Docbop]

See others answers I'd have to say no I didn't listen to people my age when I was young. I didn't listen to teen groups and definitely not pre-teen. Everyone I listen to was older, but still young enough to be cool. I'd say once I became college age then I started listening to music of people in my age group and older.

 

For the most part I just listen to what I liked. I didn't have any siblings so until I finally got a hand me down radio from my grandmother my listening was influenced my my parents listening and some things on TV. That radio was my chance finally listen to what I wanted early 60's R&B and rock.

 

Today I listen to a lot of what I call young music I'd say musicians in their 20's to 30's as well as the masters. I figure one of my biggest heroes in music Herbie Hancock is still exploring new musicians and sounds I should follow his example. I laugh at all these classical nerds who think everything is only to be played like the legends wrote it. No, if we could go back in time and get Bach or Beethoven or any of the others and bring them to today they would be disappointed people are putting themselves into their music and experimenting to keep things moving forward. The old masters were pushing boundaries for their day and would be doing the same if here now.

[wd8dky]

Yep. The Police and U2 were just getting started and were only a few years older than me. I guess I got lucky with the timing.

[ElmerJFudd]

I loved listening to local bands, making friends, getting an invite to jam with them. Forming new bands with some of those kids and new ones weed meet.

[KuruPrionz]

I was 9 when the Beatles were broadcast on Ed Sullivan. Family of 6, we all watched all 3 shows.

 

So yes, I was listening to young people creating music when I was young. Roger Miller, The Rolling Stones, Motown, etc.

[Baldwin Funster]

There were no young people in my youth. No wait, every body was young back then.

[Biggles]

You Youngsters know nothing.

 

With an older Brother who was into Rock and Roll I grew up listening to it every day in the fifties, then the sixties came and the world changed.

 

Then came manufactured pop and exploitative dross, talent shows where they all sound the same, Rap (the least said about that the better), Boy and Girl Bands that rely on strutting around rather than musical content, all in all not good.

 

Then there are the gems, the Youtube Stars who do their own thing and produce great sounding music where they actually play their own instruments.

 

What goes around cones around

 

Rock On

[cphollis]

Yes, I listened to a bunch of youth music as a youth. Not through intent, more happenstance I think.

 

I'm 61 and grew up in the Palo Alto/Los Altos area. Peer-age-group music was everywhere at the time. All my friends were in at least one band. We had high school concerts by yet-to-be-famous Journey and Pablo Cruise to name a few. Later in college, I roomed with a bunch of musicians, and we'd go to see new bands with strange names like Green Day. Later, one of my friend's bands got to open for Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Keystone long before they got big. We'd make time to go see our friends' gigs. And so on. That's in addition to all the incredible music that was pouring in from everywhere else.

 

As my kids were growing up, I'd listen to whatever they were listening to. Lots of drek with some cool bands mixed in. I still put on Cake once in a while, as an example. Not to mention Jet and Evanescence. Went to see them all with my daughter back when.

 

These days, there's not a lot of "young people music" that drags me in. I listen for a while, and get bored quickly. But I do give it a go.

[mate stubb]

Hell yes. My parents music was Lawrence Welk. We had Beatles and Stones on AM radio, and then the newfangled FM stations were playing whole albums by Jethro Tull, ABB, and other soon to be greats.

[drawback]

When I was a kid, I listened to music from my parent's records â Ella, Duke, Clooney, Nat, Mercer, Gershwin, Carmichael.

Pop radio music was by people maybe 25 years older than me â Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee.

I was 12 when The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan and everything I listened to from then on, at least in the 60s was from people 10 years my senior â Beatles, Van Morrison, Clapton, Brian Wilson, Motown, Dylan.

In the 70s the music I dug was mostly made by people 5 years older â Fagen/Becker, Yes, TOP, AWB, Boz.

By the time Knopfler & Sting arrived the curve flattens. Michael McDonald is my age.

 

And nowadays the music that inspires me are the kids from my parent's generation. Go figure.

[Outkaster]

No believe it or not I was listening to 50's and doo wop when I was really young.

[El Lobo]

I think I was about 14 when a family friend came to visit and she brought something that she thought my 3 brothers and I might enjoy. They were 45 rpm records with the big hole in the center. And the music on them was rock 'n' roll -- Kansas City (Wilbert Harrison), Bill Haley & the Comets, I'm not really sure any more what was on those records, maybe Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry ... anyway I was hooked. Been hooked ever since. The summer I was 15, I stayed at my grandparents's place on a lake in Canada. With some others my age, we went to a teen club where a band was playing. I looked up at the sax player on the stage and I wanted to be that guy. A couple of years later and I was that guy. Been that guy ever since. Played sax and rhythm guitar in rock bands. Later in life I took up keyboard. Been playing sax and keyboard ever since. It was those little records that started me down the path of sin and degradation. I've enjoyed every minute of the ride.

[BluMunk]

Interesting answers all. I ask the question because there's a narrative woven into the fabric of rock that the most authentic rock music is by and for young people. As a young person I certainly listened to music by young people . . . but it was albums by folks who were in their 40s when I was alive and old enough to listen to what they were doing in their teens and early 20s.

 

I find the concept of aging, relevance, nostalgia, and the myth of permanence of time and place as captured in recordings to be fascinating. Clearly I've been cooped up at home for too long, as my strange brain musings are leaking out into the keyboard forums.

[David R]

I got into music so early in my life, I clearly wasn't listening to other toddlers! Coming up, I was always the youngest in my peer group, so in my teens I was looking up to musicians in their late-20s/early-30s at the youngest. I guess when I got to university and started discovering fellow musicians is when I started finding musicians my age. Aaron Parks' Invisible Cinema was a big record, for someone close to my age to make a debut album masterpiece.

 

At this point in my life and career, my peers and new artists younger than me inspire me all the time. Terrace Martin, Snarky Puppy, Bixiga 70, Amaro Freitas, Fabian Almazan, all those guys are around my age. Younger than me: Jacob Collier, James Francies, Joel Ross...

[GovernorSilver]

When my 5 year old nephew visited me, he was frequently browsing through Youtube. The one musical artist he wanted to listen to was Marshmello, who of course has a Youtube channel. I think it's safe to say that Marshmello is well north of 5 years old though.

[nursers]

Definitely listened to new music in my yoof. Some standouts for me were 'Til Tuesday's debut (Voices Carry), My Friend The Chocolate Cake's first album and Crowded House's first effort

[Canoehead]

Born in 1967, during my teens and early-20s I was a big fan of classic rock and hard rock bands (with members 15-20 years older than me) and hair metal bands (with members 10 or so years older than me). I still enjoy listening to these bands in addition to many other genres.

 

Cheers,

Canoe

[David Emm]

In my youth, the young people were ELP & Pink Floyd, so any comment I could make would have to bend towards that gravity well. The old people were Leonard Bernstein, Bach, Richard Rodgers and Robert Russell Bennett. Then I discovered the Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band and the two worlds collided head-on.

 

Buick Le Sabre Dance

[MathOfInsects]

I listened to everything. Still do.

[Mykhailo]

Interesting answers all. I ask the question because there's a narrative woven into the fabric of rock that the most authentic rock music is by and for young people. As a young person I certainly listened to music by young people . . . but it was albums by folks who were in their 40s when I was alive and old enough to listen to what they were doing in their teens and early 20s.

 

I find the concept of aging, relevance, nostalgia, and the myth of permanence of time and place as captured in recordings to be fascinating. Clearly I've been cooped up at home for too long, as my strange brain musings are leaking out into the keyboard forums.

 

The narrative you speak of is a deliberately crafted corporate strategy that has been in place since the dawn of the baby boom. Even the concept of the teenager was a product of this mechanism. Rock n roll, rebellion, voice of youth culture, this paradigm was exhausted and exploited from Elvis right through until Kurt Cobain. Post 90s, teenage rebellion ceased to be a viable marketing strategy simply because there were not as many people having kids as there were during the baby boom, so 'the powers that be' simply continued to market to the boomers, who at this stage could afford things like whatever the price of a pair of tickets to an Eagles/Stones/Fleetwood Mac concert go for, or a sirius satellite subscription for your favourite 'all Grateful Dead all the time' station...

[drawback]

The narrative you speak of is a deliberately crafted corporate strategy that has been in place since the dawn of the baby boom. Even the concept of the teenager was a product of this mechanism. Rock n roll, rebellion, voice of youth culture, this paradigm was exhausted and exploited from Elvis right through until Kurt Cobain. Post 90s, teenage rebellion ceased to be a viable marketing strategy simply because there were not as many people having kids as there were during the baby boom, so 'the powers that be' simply continued to market to the boomers, who at this stage could afford things like whatever the price of a pair of tickets to an Eagles/Stones/Fleetwood Mac concert go for, or a sirius satellite subscription for your favourite 'all Grateful Dead all the time' station...

 

[video:youtube]

[RABid]

I never had much choice when I was young. Lived in a small rural town with one radio station. Actually, I lived 6 miles outside of town. That was very relevant. During daylight hours I listened to the same radio station that everyone else listened to in the small SE Kentucky town. At dusk, law dictated that they reduce power on the transmitter. If you lived outside of town you could not pick up the radio station after dark. My older sister and I listened to WOWO radio out of Ft. Wayne Indiana, 7 hours away. Yep, because of regulations, after dark I could listen to a radio station 7 hours away, but not to the local station 6 miles away. Anyway, WOWO did popular music back then. Seems that it was a major station in Eastern United States so I was listening to the same music as most of the country.

[Docbop]

I never had much choice when I was young. Lived in a small rural town with one radio station. Actually, I lived 6 miles outside of town. That was very relevant. During daylight hours I listened to the same radio station that everyone else listened to in the small SE Kentucky town. At dusk, law dictated that they reduce power on the transmitter. If you lived outside of town you could not pick up the radio station after dark. My older sister and I listened to WOWO radio out of Ft. Wayne Indiana, 7 hours away. Yep, because of regulations, after dark I could listen to a radio station 7 hours away, but not to the local station 6 miles away. Anyway, WOWO did popular music back then. Seems that it was a major station in Eastern United States so I was listening to the same music as most of the country.

 

 

Sounds like my youth living in L.A. and the radio station Wolfman Jack was on could increase it's power at night. It was a urban myth as to where the station was actually located many said it was in Mexico and they could legally transmit at a higher level than U.S. station. People said you could get Wolfman Jack all over the Midwest and even in L.A. broadcasting from "The Mighty XERB Baby!". Later Wolfman Jack moved to a L.A. based station. His show was great lots of rock, rude comments and jokes. Everyone in school would try to imitate Wolfman Jack's voice. Great times.

[Ockeghem]

I've gone through phases. They seldom corresponded exactly to the year, and my age seldom corresponded to either.

[KuruPrionz]

Some perspective since "youth" is not defined by the OP. When I was under the age of 10 I listened to the current hits on AM radio - we had 2 stations side by side so it was easy to switch when the ads started. Mom loved Roger Miller, The Brothers Four, Joan Baez and some rather dreary Brahms. Somehow I discovered Chet Atkins, I think my Dad told Mom to get a Chet Atkins record because he liked his music. Oh, and Mom LOVED the Smothers Brothers, we listened to them all the time. I love them too, all of the above.

 

In my teens, my older brother put a pretty OK hi-fi stereo system together and started bringing home anything but popular music. Early Blues, Jazz from all eras up to Miles Davis Live Evil, World music including monks from Tibet chanting, Turkish Village music, story songs played on m'bira (thumb piano) and sung by groups recorded live in villages in Kenya, experimental synthesizer music, etc.

 

I am eternally grateful to him for opening up my mind and my ears to the wealth of musical creativity that exists beyond what the record companies were pitching as popular music.

 

Through both of those periods we saw many acts on Ed Sullivan, Red Skelton, the Johnny Cash Show, the Smothers Brothers Show, the Glen Campbell show. These shows did broaden my horizons in regards to popular music and also performance since most of the acts performed live. I was watching the night Keith Moon's kick drum exploded, just for one.