Do you still listen to the music you did in your teens/twenties, or are finding new bands?

r/

I graduated high-school in ’81 and I find I rarely listen to 60’s & 70’s rock bands I used to. My 17yo just discovered my old record collection (she thinks Dad is very cool now) and I realized I hardly ever listen to those bands anymore.
For example Deep Purple, The Who, Black Sabbath, Yes, Greatful Dead etc.

Has you musical taste changed or are you still rocking after all these years?

Comments

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  2. iTayluh Avatar

    Little of both. Gotta keep the throwbacks to remind you of who you were and what you came from

  3. LifeOfSpirit17 Avatar

    There are songs I listen to here and there but mostly I do not listen to that music anymore. Same genres, yes, but not the same albums all the time.

  4. nickybecooler Avatar

    My music taste has matured as I’ve matured

  5. annoyingbanana1 Avatar

    From Cannibal Corpse and Sepultura (early teens) to Hania Rani and smooth music (30s)

  6. Terrible_Door_3127 Avatar

    Some. Some older, some newer. I’ve always listened to a pretty wide range though

  7. angrysc0tsman12 Avatar

    I listen to new pop music on occasion when there is a catchy beat. But yeah, I still tend to listen to stuff I grew up hearing during the early to mid 2000s.

  8. TexasGrillDaddyAK-15 Avatar

    I listen to everything. Mostly metal though. My son is 13 so I’m enjoying taking him to concerts, throwing him in the pit and throwing him up to crowd surf.

  9. spaceporter Avatar

    Squeeze Box!!!!!!

    I rarely listen to new music. It’s not all 60s and 70s (although I am going to see AC/DC in a couple weeks), but not much I listen to is from the last 20 years. 

  10. JK00317 Avatar

    Both. The soundtrack to your formative years will always have a pull on you. Sometimes nostalgia needs to be indulged.

  11. Pimp_Daddy_Patty Avatar

    I’m 40. I’ll dig into some of them music I listened to 20-25 years ago, but 99% of the time I’m listening to very recent music or actively looking for new stuff.

  12. Terakahn Avatar

    The first one. But my twenties were filled with good music

  13. LovlehKebab Avatar

    I listen to mainly 90’s music which I grew up with, throw in 80’s and some 70’s. I don’t go out of my way to listen to new music but I do inadvertently listen to it thanks to the wife.

  14. BlackEyedAngel01 Avatar

    Both. I graduated hs in the late 90s, Pearl Jan, Led Zeppelin, STP, Radiohead we’re among my favorite artist then, and I still listen to them today, although not as much. Also, I grew up listening the Elton John because he is one of my mom’s favorite, and still one of my favorite artists.

    But my tastes have expanded a lot as I got older. As a kid I listened to mostly rock, and I still love rock, but now I love R&B and soul. I also listen to some hip hop, dance/edm, pop, post-rock, and there’s even a country artist I like.

    There is so much great new music coming out, I feel like it’s hard to keep up with the volume of new music to listen to.

  15. Snurgisdr Avatar

    Mostly newer stuff. When older stuff comes up randomly I still enjoy it, but when I deliberately choose to listen then it’s almost always something newer or at least new to me.

  16. arosiejk Avatar

    I listen to a lot of the same bands I did from from junior year of high school to the decade after that. I don’t mind the ones I don’t listen to anymore, but I don’t seek them out.

    I still try to find new music, and every year I tend to find at least 2-3 bands I enjoy.

  17. symonym7 Avatar

    I listen to music the way teen-me wished he could, though infrequently what teen-me listened to.

  18. Shadesmith01 Avatar

    I still listen to all the stuff I used to, but I also listen to new stuff… and even like a lot of it. The problem is I never remember who the new bands I like are. I figured out I liked 21 Pilots about a year after that suicide squad movie they did the song for. lol

    I just don’t care as much anymore. Used to be, I heard a band and if I liked them I wanted to listen to everything they did. Now, I hear a new band I like and I’m like “Huh.. that’s pretty good.” and I go on with my day. lol Just not as focused on the music.

  19. darkKnight217 Avatar

    Linkin Park, Eminem, Pink Floyd

  20. kurtplatinum Avatar

    I find most of the music from my past reminds me of the person I was during that time. I’m always finding new music that makes me feel something new. There are a few bands that I always go back to every once in awhile, but as I’ve aged my taste has become more refined.

    Usually when I find something that I really really like that makes a connection with how I’m feeling it will cause my spine to tingle and the hairs on my back and arms raise. “Frisson” as the French say.

  21. Northman_76 Avatar

    Everything from Tommy James and the Shondell’s to about to Disturbed. Not much interest in music after 05′ or so, it all auto tuned bullshit after that IMO. My main listening comes from mid 80s to mid 90s. Right in that hair metal to grunge timeline. The sweet spot.

  22. Baldemyr Avatar

    Both! I love listening to 102.1 in Toronto when Depeche Mode or New Order comes on air

  23. Sooner70 Avatar

    I’m pretty damned deaf these days. On the rare occasion I listen to music (probably not more than a couple times per month) I want something I can sing along with…. That means something I learned when my ears still worked.

    I don’t listen to anything from this century.

  24. Both_Wasabi_3606 Avatar

    I listen to the music I grew up with in my teens and 20s (70s and 80s), plus newer material from contemporary singer songwriters. It’s very easy to listen to the old music on streaming channels and youtube.

  25. toast_milker Avatar

    Ska was popular when I was in my teens, so no. No I do not

  26. deignguy1989 Avatar

    I listen music from my youth ( graduate HS 83,) as well as from decades on. I do find the sappy tunes from current artists hard to listen to. They’re all so depressing. No wonder youth of today are having troubles. Does no one like a good beat anymore? Lol

  27. Firm_Accountant2219 Avatar

    I’m still listening to the music I found in my teens and twenties for the most part. I’ve looked for newer stuff (rock) but nothing floats my boat.

    The one exception is soundtracks. I’m a movie and soundtrack nerd, so if you count that, I’m fairly current.

  28. NFLTG_71 Avatar

    Dude, I graduated in 1984 for the most part. I have some of the stuff I grew up on. I’ve got most of iron maiden’s discography. I listen to some older Rock I listen to some newer stuff like my daughter turned me onto LINKIN PARK and they’re pretty bad ass. I listen to some Nickelback listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan But it’s kind of a 50-50 mix of new stuff and old stuff. Not a big country fan, but I got some country on there some Hank Williams Junior, a few Johnny Cash songs like Solitary Man is basically my personal anthem. My kids found my CD collection years ago and that’s why I no longer have CDs because well they lost every damn one of them.

  29. TheUglyTruth527 Avatar

    I’ve actually moved on to newer bands and very rarely listen to the classics of my youth. I still like the older stuff and do listen on occasion, but my tastes have changed a bit over the years.

  30. mishthegreat Avatar

    I’m very much stuck in my ways with music, if I hear a zinger I like old or new it gets added to my playlist but it’s mainly music I listened to up until my 20s. There are modern albums from bands I love that I’ve not even got around to listening to.

  31. SquareVehicle Avatar

    I listen to it all. But overall I probably lean towards new stuff simply because I like discovering new music.

  32. MileEnd76 Avatar

    I’m listening to Riot! By Paramore at this very moment, but it’s really a mix of both. I would have said my tastes evolved a couple of years ago but lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of music I used to listen to when I was younger and it made me fall in love with music again. I feel like I let go of what I would like to be and I’ve been just enjoying shit way more lately. It’s like a sense of absolute and total of freedom that’s new to me, I just don’t give a fuck.

  33. Low-Captain1721 Avatar

    Yes…   I have loads of 80s & 90’s pop playlists saved on Spotify (most of them..). Slightly embarrassing tbh.

    The only more recent music I’ve found which I like are covers & acoustic versions of the above. 

    I know it must sound like I’m getting old but most music released after 2000 ish sounds like insipid talentless shite too me. 

    Feel free to shoot – I can take it ..😅

  34. ViagraAndSweatpants Avatar

    Surprised you included the Dead in there. The reason I still listen to them vs other classic rock is I can always find a live show that has something different with their music.

  35. professor_buttstuff Avatar

    This may very well depend on how over 30 you are.

    I love music, but I think everyone holds this opinion. In reality, I’ve noticed heaps of people don’t actually like music and shit on it constantly.

    Imagine being a self proclaimed sport fan but openly admitting that your team is so crap you only watch their performances from like 20 years ago and refuse to engage with any modern output. You’d rightfully call them disengaged and not true fans.

    I still listen to music I have always loved, but I am always trying to find something different

    I

  36. Less-Being4269 Avatar

    Hybird thery will forever be relatable to me. Sadly.

  37. Rillist Avatar

    Not really. The boom-bap mid nineties new york hiphop scene will never been seen or heard again.

    Modern rap isnt hiphop anymore and finding that classic sound is really hard. LL’s latest comes pretty close for mainstream but still missing that ~rubs fingers together~ grit, I guess.

  38. Vgcortes Avatar

    90% old, 10% new

  39. kalelopaka Avatar

    Both. I still love the music from my youth and teenage years, but I’ve continued to enjoy music of different genres all my life.

  40. opusrif Avatar

    I still find new music and listen to my old friends.

    Mind you most of my new groups tend to be more in the folk genre…

  41. thumbdumping Avatar

    My taste has expanded into new sounds, new artists, new genres. I’ll never stop listening to the music I loved when I was seventeen.

  42. guyako Avatar

    I’ve never understood people who only listen to the music of their youth.

    My tastes changed a lot from Middle School to College and have continued to evolve. I still listen to some stuff from my 20s occasionally, but rarely anything from my teen years. I’m usually on the hunt for new sounds. Sometimes those “new” sounds are old.

  43. INFPinfo Avatar

    I listen to a lot of what I listened to in my 20s still, at 40. I am always on the look for new music but at the same time I don’t have the resources to just sit and listen to 10 new bands this year either.

    What I listen to from my teens are songs that really mean(t) something to me. I like how I read it on someone’s blog from 15-20 years ago – If Blink 182 ever regroup (again, old blog post), it would be an eye roll to listen to “What’s My Age Again” – but I’d kill to hear “Stay Together For The Kids”.

  44. suggestedusername88 Avatar

    Yessir! Parents always had music playing at home when I was a kid, so I heard stuff like Queen, Prince, Tears for Fears etc a lot. When I was about 13 I was introduced to metal and punk at school, and we had Sky at the time so I tuned in to Kerrang a lot, opened so many new avenues. 37 now and my main Spotify playlist is such a bizarre mix, haha. Can go from Mike and the Mechanics to Meshuggah in a beat on shuffle!

    Always picking up new things I like, phonk is a very recent genre I’ve found and really enjoy (can almost see my dad shaking his head and being confused/irritated at that as he was with my Korn/Slayer phase), I really electronic dance as well, great when I’m on a run.

  45. ME-McG-Scot Avatar

    I listen to what i grew up listening to late 90’s and the 00’s. I like the 80’s and some 70’s as well. I don’t listen to new music, not that into music that id go on a search for a new band and I like what I have already heard.

  46. RicKaysen1 Avatar

    I did keep up with new music up to a point. Then it all just became repetitive, techno, computer generated background noise with no actual musical talent involved.

  47. Elated_copper22 Avatar

    I’ve listened to the same music since I was 12, it’s now called “divorced dad rock” and I’m not changing a damn thing.

    However some Sabrina carpenter sneaks in, or random emo music periodically.

  48. mr_roost3r Avatar

    I still listen to my old emo/screamo bands, depending on which band. Some bands just can’t get into anymore. But discovering new music is always a plus, mainly listen to EDM shit now a days but I have been discovering a lot of rap that younger me never would’ve listened to.

  49. GotWheaten Avatar

    Mostly still 80s & 90s music with some 60s/70s thrown in

  50. Playful_Procedure991 Avatar

    I continue to discover new bands and have found some great stuff my entire life. I still listen to the music I grew up with in the 70s and 80s and still love it, but listen to it a lot less now. I’ve been listening to those songs for almost 50 years now. Some of the new stuff I’ve only been listening to for a couple of months, so the new stuff gets more play, just like the old stuff did back in the 70s and 80s.

  51. Western-Time5310 Avatar

    I keep a lot of old music in my rotations, and only add a few songs to what I like.

    I also have a lot of covers of old songs too

  52. OG-Giligadi Avatar

    I grew up listening to stuff like Coil, Skinny Puppy, and the like in the mid eighties onwards. Because it was stuff I had to actively seek, I think i may have a different relationship with it than some. I definitely continue to add new music to the rotation, but that foundational stuff is buried deep and bears frequent re-listening.

  53. cammotoe Avatar

    I grew up in the 80s, and I still enjoy my 80’s playlist. I still have a few records from then, too. Some I listen to more than others. But yeah, I listen to more modern stuff nowadays

  54. PfedrikTheChawg Avatar

    Both for the most part. I still can’t get with mumble rap and have noticed that even some singers are starting to mumble sing; Kehlani comes to mind.

  55. Unusual-Caramel8442 Avatar

    I graduated in 2006, and I listen to stuff from all eras, although 80s stuff is fairly limited. I grew up with 60s/70s rock and 90s alternative and rock, and I listen to a lot of stuff still that was coming out when I was in HS in the early 2000s

  56. sipmargaritas Avatar

    The new shit i find has to be in a style i know i like. If you got any boom bap and minimal techno from 2025 i’d want to hear it, otherwise no thanks

  57. Ambition_BlackCar Avatar

    My music taste is all over the place. I started out with nu metal, metal, shock rock, industrial, ebm/synthpop, alt rock, grunge as a teen in junior high/highschool. Older teen and 20s I got more into classic rock, prog, jazz, trip hop, some post punk/goth. Mid to late 20s mostly metal. Mid 30s I got more into post punk/goth and darkwave. Late 30s same, mostly goth/darkwave stuff.

  58. Ghosto8o Avatar

    I’m still listening to the old bands

  59. AppState1981 Avatar

    Graduated HS in 1976. I was a prog fan, then Southern Rock, then mainstream. Since I upgraded my stereo a couple of years ago, I have started listening to more jazz and classical.

  60. sevenlabors Avatar

    Early 40s guy here. It’s a bit of both. The rise of streaming music like Spotify has changed a lot of how I discover me artists and bands. 

    The kicker is when I stumble into bands that I really dig that I missed when their albums came out ten and fifteen years ago. 

    That said, I’m still listening to largely the same genres I always is l have. 

  61. TieStreet4235 Avatar

    I left high school in ‘74 and still have most of my old records and cds, although have culled a few questionable selections. In the late 70s/80s I developed a more refined taste in music, largely shunning mainstream rock/pop but went through phases of listening to punk, ska and reggae. I regularly listen to post punk, alternative rock, psychedelic rock, psychobilly, even a little bit of country rock and have discovered a few bands I missed back in the day like The Cramps. Favourite genres still 80s-90s alt Australian guitar bands and Dunedin sound (New Zealand) I guess. Less inclined to go to bands I don’t know unless recommended by a trusted source these days or be a dude in his 60s in a 20s crowd 🤪

  62. hu_gnew Avatar

    Still rockin’ AND listening to new/different stuff. Lots of genres from big band to bluegrass to world music to etc., etc., etc. No disco, of course.

  63. TunedMass Avatar

    Both. I also listen to music from decades before I was born

  64. Significant-Bike2356 Avatar

    Yes, and more of similar and heavier modern metal too.

  65. ThePolymath1993 Avatar

    Bit of both. I got into the lairy end of metal when I was at school, I still listen to most of the classic bands from that scene but I’m always finding new ones too.

    I remember getting sloppy drunk seeing Suffocation for the first time when I was 18 (2011ish), I saw them again this year and they’re just as crunchy as they’ve always been. Quality.

  66. JP36_5 Avatar

    Most weeks I listen to radio shows that feature 60s, 70s and 80s music. I do listen to a couple of Harry Stiles tracks on my Youtube playlist.

  67. slwrthnu_again Avatar

    Yes. I still listen to the music I listened to from my teens and twenties but I also usually listen to between 300-500 new albums a year.

  68. fadedtimes Avatar

    I don’t listen to those bands anymore because I can’t relate to the music. There was a lot of angst and emotions in the music. So I found new music I can relate to 

  69. Standard-Judgment459 Avatar

    Been listening to the same music since I was a kid no new music at all never will Change. 

  70. Downtown-Bass8133 Avatar

    Majority of the music I still listen to is from the late 80s to early 2000s. Dream Theater, Queensryche, Sepultura (with Max & Igor), Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam (with Dave Abbruzzese), Temple of the dog, Mad Season, among others. These discs are still in heavy rotation.

    Most modern stuff are recommended to me by word of mouth.

  71. 20124eva Avatar

    Yes and yes. I find new bands by listening to Spotify on radio mode. The old stuff I listen to more for comfort. But it’s fun to go back and hear how ahead of their time some of my favorites were.

    A lot of the production techniques in the 70s are really impressive. And now what can be done at home on a computer is really amazing. I think the old musicians had to be better at performing in the studio. And I think the newer performers have the ability to showcase nuance and be more experimental in their recording techniques. I don’t think one is better than the other.

  72. max_power1000 Avatar

    Yes, my main playlist is still mostly mid-00s pop punk.

  73. Vegeton Avatar

    TL;DR – I infrequently listen to music from my teens (2000s). Most the music I listen to now in my late 30s is a mix of newer tracks found from movies and TV or from my wife and nostalgically listening TV and cartoon theme songs when working or cooking. Often listening to podcasts or YouTube videos (in the background) about movies and/or games.

    When I was a little kid I mostly only heard music my Dad would listen to like The Beatles, Bee Gees, KISS, Alice Cooper, Eric Clapton, The Band, The Who, Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, and other bands primarily from the 60s and 70s.

    When I was in my teens I listened to a lot of Metallica, Eminem, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, KISS, Alice Cooper, and Fall Out Boy.

    Throughout my 20s I started to lean more heavily into music from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. Anything and everything from Earth, Wind, & Fire, AC/DC, Tears for Fears, Michael Jackson, The B-52’s, Tupac, Smashing Pumpkins, Gravediggaz, Alanis Morissette, to Marilyn Manson. My tastes were all over the place trying to discover more music I liked, more often exploring past decades over current music which I listened to less frequently.

    Now in my late 30s I find that I more often listen to a mix of everything. But comically my biggest comfort listens while working or cooking are TV and cartoon theme songs, it’s nostalgic and fun, those or Bo Burnham. Some newer singers and bands I like I’ve learned from my wife or from movies, acts like Billie Eilish, Future Islands, and Mother Mother. A favorite recent track from a movie is ‘You Might Be the Killer’ by Harlo, which is oddly only in the end credits I believe even though it’s a great track.

  74. raccoon-overlord Avatar

    Graduated in the early 2000s I’d say 50% of my playlist is 90s-2000s, 25% pre 90s and then the rest is 2010s onwards

  75. PurpleWhatevs Avatar

    Always evolving

  76. 50plusGuy Avatar

    Both. I still like, what I liked but am aware that I overdosed it by now, so I’m diving into different stuff, (both newer & older).

  77. Ok_Pangolin_180 Avatar

    I still predominantly listen to music from my late teens/college era. Brit pop, post punk, new wave 80’s/90’s stuff. But I’ve also picked up on new bands and music along the same genres

  78. demdareting Avatar

    97.3 BOOMFM 70s,80s,90s.
    I used to listen to contemporary music, but the newer music has no soul. Imho

  79. justablueballoon Avatar

    As a adolescent I listened to grunge and alternative rock. I don’t really listen to the grunge bands anymore as I find it depressing.
    These days, I try to listen to new music. I don’t want my music taste to be completely stale and in the past.

  80. SDN_stilldoesnothing Avatar

    It hasn’t changed much. I was born in the mid-70s and was a hiphop/rap guy and caught the upswing in rap from 1988 into the 2000s.

    The groups and artists that I really liked then are still putting out stuff today. Wu Tang, Tribe Calls Quest, De La Soul, LL Cool J, Redman, Nas, etc etc. I will listen to their old stuff and listen to their new stuff.

    But in the HipHop Rap music realm I like some of the new stuff as long as its from the lineage of 90’s and early 2000’s rap. Don’t like the new rap/hiphop.

    and I never really got into the other genres. Rock, Dance, Folk,

    But for some bizarre reason I like listening to Elvis, Little Richard, and other 60’s blues.

  81. GlossyGecko Avatar

    The range music I listened to when I was younger was pretty narrow and I had this closed minded belief that everything else was lame and sucked.

    I still really dislike overproduced pop, but I listen to all kinds of shit, not any one genre occupies my master playlist. It’s a big variety of stuff.

  82. lunarbanana Avatar

    I graduated in the 90’s and still listen to the same bands I did back then. I don’t listen to the radio or anything like it so I dont get exposed to new artists anymore.

  83. tolgren Avatar

    I just went to a Slipknot concert last year, I discovered them in 1999. Then a bit later I went to a Master Boot Record concert, I discovered them middle of last year, they started in 2016 and it was their first NA tour.

  84. Medium-Jello7875 Avatar

    Mostly both but some of my fav bands are still bringing out music like Blink and ADTR etc.

  85. DisastrousZombie238 Avatar

    I go through phases where I only listen to stuff I grew up with. Then there’s days where I fall down the YouTube rabbit hole of suggested videos.

    That’s how I found tech n9ne, dua Lipa, Hi Ren, dream perfect regime, that mexican ot and a few others.

    I guess what bothers me is stuff “new” to me that’s already been out for years. Like I missed the hype train at Times.

  86. bob439 Avatar

    Hey, also graduated in 81! For me it was hair bands all the way. Then the 90s hit and I got attached to grunge and punk. Left the hair behind. Especially punk and I’ve been there since awaiting the next wave.

    My 20 yo son discovered metal and he keeps bringing me new stuff. I don’t like most of it but there have been a handful. Now he’s my concert buddy and it’s awesome. He dragged me to some small venue metal bands and to be fair it’s been fun. The theatrics are great!

    So I feel like I’ve been devolving instead of evolving!

    So no,I don’t listen to much I loved on the 80s. But I still have the CDs!

  87. manicmender76 Avatar

    Both, I still listen to what I did back then and I’m always looking for new stuff.

  88. Ok_Orchid7131 Avatar

    I am 54. Still listen to the stuff I did when I was a kid, a teen, in my young adult years and I am always looking for great new music to hear. I love it when styles come back around, like I’m loving the shoegaze revival, some really fun bands. Going to see Whirr, Nothing and Swervedriver with my 20 year old son in a few weeks. I can’t wait.

  89. Routine_Mine_3019 Avatar

    I still like the classics – basically the best of the best from the 70s and 80s. I’m sharing those with my kids.

    However, I’ve found that having an open mind about music makes me feel a lot younger. I’ve discovered EDM in my 60s and I’ve been to some festivals and had a great time. I’m older than almost everyone there, but being around young people makes me feel great and invigorated.