[vmarshall23]

Wow. Other than Metallica, I don't own an album by any of these people, and other than Metallica and Michael Jackson, I don't think I'd be able to name a single song by the few others that I do recognize the name.

Oh, and I'm using the word "album". That probably explains it all ... :-)

[jbob2000]

Their analysis is biased. Young people predominantly use digital services to consume music, whereas older generations still use CDs and the radio.

As an anecdote, the older I get, the less music I listen to. It used to be a big part of my identity, but now I just listen to music if it sounds good or if I need something to drown out the noise around me.

[thanatropism]

Anecdote applies to me.

I experience some headphone fatigue nowadays too. Once upon a time I must have been listening to music for 60-75% of my waking minutes.

Also somehow I feel much more tranquil in just walking and listening to my thoughts and feelings (even unwelcome ones). I think I listened to a lot of music to experiment with different identities and ways of feeling, and approx. since I turned 30 I started to develop my own in a much more interesting way.

[coldtea]

>Their analysis is biased. Young people predominantly use digital services to consume music, whereas older generations still use CDs and the radio.

If you mean people in their 70s yes.

Because even 50 and 60 year olds use YouTube A LOT, and I'm speaking in all around the world, including much less developed areas.

[batiudrami]

I mean most of these are names you would have heard had you made any effort to follow music in the last decade. You don't have to love modern music but what is the value in commenting that you don't know it?

[hammock]

You're using the word album, you're referring to "owning" music, and appears you're unfamiliar with any new music from the last 20 years. Time to switch to spotify.

[CharlesW]

> You're using the word album, you're referring to "owning" music, and appears you're unfamiliar with any new music from the last 20 years.

"Album" is just a collection, and applies whether or not you own it. The word is used all over Spotify, iTunes, and other online music services as an organizational unit.

Fun fact: "Record album" used to mean a literal album — a bound collection of sleeves containing records. This was necessary since 12-inch 78s only held about 4-5 minutes of audio per side.

[coldtea]

>"Album" is just a collection, and applies whether or not you own it. The word is used all over Spotify, iTunes, and other online music services as an organizational unit.

Yes, but it's not that relevant today. They still exist, but youngsters mostly care for the hits.

[excalibur]

I'm in almost the same boat. (I can name some Linkin Park songs, but I'm not thrilled about it.) I have of course listened to plenty of new music in the past 20 years, but at this point I rarely pay attention to anything other than new releases from bands I already enjoy (and limited attention at that). Today I primarily listen to Pandora, which I naturally have tuned to my own tastes.

While it's surely attributable to me getting older, my experience remains valid, and in my experience the overwhelming majority of new music is shit. I'm not completely unaware of Bruno Mars' existence and poised to be blown away when I sit down and listen to his stuff, because I've heard it, and it's terrible. The same goes for quite a few (but by no means all) of the acts mentioned in the article.

[throwaway91111]

Ehh if you look back a lot of the music from any decade is crap. It's just easier to forget.

[coldtea]

>Ehh if you look back a lot of the music from any decade is crap.

Not necessarily true. Some decades stand out while others do not. Like the 60s for example vs the 90s. People in the 70s and 80s still cherished 60s icons, but few in the 00s and 10s care for 90s music (there's more interest in 80s music).

[throwaway91111]

Hmm, interesting—from my perspective, i have similarly strong intuition for love of decades, but mapped differently. For instance i know virtually nobody into 80s music, but 90s r&b and hip-hop are reliable favorites.

My point being: give me a good band, and i can list three at the same time that people don't bring up anymore because they suck. I firmly believe this is nostalgic bias at work, although i dislike taylor swift and justin beiber as much as the next person. Or likely much more. I don't believe it means anything about the decade, just what labels decided people want to hear.

Or to put it another way, my beloved music from the past wasn't even "mainstream popular" then.

[coldtea]

>For instance i know virtually nobody into 80s music, but 90s r&b and hip-hop are reliable favorites.

If you've grown in the 90s then that is probably skewed (from nostalgia etc), but I'm not talking about that (observations between personal friends etc of the same generation).

I'm talking about later generations insisting/obsessing on some previous decades (that they weren't even alive or old enough to experience). So statistically speaking (based on releases that "recreate" that sound, shows, movies and books about the era, re-releases, fashion, etc).

[santaclaus]

> I have of course listened to plenty of new music in the past 20 years, but at this point I rarely pay attention to anything other than new releases from bands I already enjoy

What??? There is tons of interesting rock music coming out these days. 2017 has been a great (I would say possibly the best since maybe 2009) year for everything from indie pop to metal...

[DKnoll]

What bands do you enjoy?