Why do we stop listening to new music as we get older?

@ahuvia How do age-related neurological changes affect one’s propensity to seek out new music?

I beg to differ, I'm older and listening to more varieties of music than I ever have! Well except rap.....

I don’t ...

but yes, most people get "stuck" on the music they listened to from about age 15-22. Seems very limiting. It possibly has to do, at least somewhat, with personality types. I’m a Sigma (I’m sure people have heard of Alphas and Betas, but they may not know there are also Sigmas, Gammas, and Omegas ... and some researchers might include Deltas). Sigmas are never standing still when it comes to interests and curiosity. However, Sigmas are only 6% of the population. The vast majority of my music library is 2000 to now, even though my "stuck" period should have been the 70’s. I believe, like with most things, in general music has greatly improved since my "stuck" period. Again, in general, instrumentalists, singers and songwriters are more talented, and have built upon the foundation of the previous artists. The one thing that is lacking is originality. There are no more Beatles or Elvis Presley or Led Zeppelin or Van Halen or *Yngwie Malmsteen popping up.

Also, some people seem to think that new music is all pop, rap and hip hop. But there are tons of new and old genres available, and many of these genres have morphed into better versions of themselves.

* Non-musicians probably won’t know Malmsteen, but 40 years ago he caused a seismic shift in the way rock guitar is played that continues to this day.

Of the 6,000+ LPs that I own, about 800 are from that 12-22 years old age window (for me, more like 9-25 years, 1963-1979, more or less), which included rock n roll, rock, folk, psychedelic, and some classical, jazz, gospel and blues.

In my 20s, I explored other genres, including but not limited to: zydeco, reggae, bluegrass, swing, Afro-pop, Latin American folk, bossa nova, tango, world, modern and a lot more classical. Also punk and new wave.

in my 30s, I got into Afro Cuban almost exclusively.

From my 40s onward, I built my collection up fairly evenly among a variety of things.

I have to say, sadly, that though I do listen to current musical artists, I don’t do it much because I find that the stuff made after the year 2000 simply does not engage me. A fuss was made of Rihanna’s so-called comeback performance at the Super Bowl. I found it cold, sterile, musically simplistic.

I do have some early rap music from the 60s-80s: The Last Poets, Gil Scott Heron, Grandmaster Flash, Notorious B.I.G., a few others. As a general rule, I think rap is extremely limited. It’s all anger and misogyny, little in the way of music. I see others in this group also don’t care for the genre.

I have added very few LPs to my collection over the last 10 years. It’s all I can do to listen to the ones I have.