2. music
  3. 192722-192372

Can we make major musical discoveries at age 50, 65, or 80?

Most if not all of us remember our early formative musical experiences vividly. Maybe it was a first live performance, maybe some new band an uncle played on his stereo, or maybe a staticky pirate radio broadcast of a brand new British song for those who grew up across the pond.

I first heard Abbey Road in my single-digit years. Come Together probably rewired my brains right then and there, for better or for worse. My parents liked classical, and I developed a long-lasting fondness for Brahms.

Later in life, more pressing priorities take over. Careers, raising families, spouses who consider music and the gear it plays on a waste of time and money.

And later, we often gravitate back towards music.

I could have been happy listening to glam-rock and prog-rock forever, but I was always curious about new music and regularly got infatuated with new genres and groups and artists. Some of these infatuations fizzled, like with black metal and post-rock. Some, like Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux, ignited a taste for Latino music and Spanish-language hip-hop that lasts to this day. Then, random encounters with the music of Floyd Lee and Junior Kimbrough reignited a long-dormant love for the blues, for good this time.

And (very) few other artists like F ck Buttons, though discovered well into middle age, had the same transformational effect on me that Eno, Roxy Music, Kevin Ayers and David Bowie had when I was 12 years old. Sadly F ck Buttons is no more, having disbanded after just three towering, monumental albums. To this day I listen to them almost daily, and I will only consider audio equipment that satisfactorily passes the F ck Buttons audition test.

Then just recently, an Audiogon member recommended German band Bohren und der Club of Gore as a gateway to Jazz for folks who don't like Jazz. Since I don't like a lot of Jazz, I figured I'd take a quick listen and not only I loved it, it immediately attached itself to empty receptors in my brains somewhere between ambient / drone / industrial and downtempo Jazz / Classical. The band immediately went into heavy rotation here in my humble abode. It is perfect focus music, too.

Which brings me to this thread. Have you experienced musical revelations later in life that equaled or bettered those from your childhood and teenage years? What were they, and when and how did they manifest?

Thanks and Happy Listening!

 

devinplombier
dlevi67
15 posts
 

For me, it depends on what you mean by "major musical discoveries". I grew up ’Classical’ until my mid-teens, where the need to fit in forced listening to more modern music. I ’discovered’ jazz in my 40s thanks to a gift of a ’greatest of...’ CD as a Secret Santa gift from a work colleague. As time progresses I find that I enjoy a broader set of music types/genres, but never a million miles away from the ’melodic’ tradition of Western Classical music.

I discover ’gems’ that I would not have appreciated earlier, but those gems are in the shape of single albums or at most artists. I can now listen to Michael Jackson and actually appreciate the music, not just find it boring or annoying as I did at 16. Do I like all of Michael Jackson, never mind ’80s pop? Not by a long shot - even just in Thriller there are tracks I don’t particularly enjoy. Is that a ’major discovery’? I dunno. By the same token, I really like Aion (2018) by Anna Thorvalsdottir - but my moment of discovery of avant-garde goes back to 1983, when I heard (and watched) Koyaanisqatsi with the wonderful images by Godfrey Reggio/Ron Fricke and soundtrack by Philip Glass.

@allenf1963 - thanks for the ’Bohren & der Club of Gore’ recommendation. I have listened to a couple of tracks on YouTube, and will be listening to more in a ’serious’ manner once I have again a working system!

knotscott's avatar
knotscott
952 posts
 

It’s allways great to be introduced to new music that sparks an interest.  I'm a lot different than I was 40 years ago, so I appreciate things for different reasons, but they can still be very impactful.  Music should be!

My adult children are all into music quite a bit, and on occasion we’ll have a music and audio night with the speakers pulled out so they can breath, and we listen. My oldest son is a part time DJ, and will put together a music list of things he thinks might be interesting. Some of those songs are absolutely new to me, and I’ve liked quite a few that I’ve been introduced to.....I don’t remember all of the names, but Radio Head, Daft Punk, Tool, My Morning Jacket, Watchtower, Air, Nathaniel Ratliff, among several others. Sometimes it’s modern stuff, sometimes it’s older music from my youthful era that I’d missed. I tend to get stuck in a rut with my music selection, so its’ really nice to get some new material that I enjoy.

sns
3,305 posts
 

I was only stuck in certain genres in my adolescent years, living in an area with  multiple universities meant virtually all genres of music played and performed locally. I might attend classical music concerts and hard core rock concerts all in the same week, recall seeing Black Flag in Pontiac Michigan on same night the Pope was in town for event at Pontiac Silverdome, hilarious watching spike haired, nose ringed persons passing devout Christians on the street. Streaming has  opened me up to even more finds in recent years, virtually every day I find something new.

oberoniaomnia
75 posts
 

Of course! At 57 half of my purchases are from new releases (<3 years old). I frequently pre-order music. Genre-wise, EBM/IDM (Bedless Bones, Zanias / Throwing Snow) and Witch Wave (Ohne Nomen) did not exist back then. Then there is also medieval music (ars nova, polyphonics) and renaissance (viola da gamba consorts) that I did not grow up with, plus instruments such as Tromba Marina that I have learned more about (very few releases out there, e.g. the Mass of Muri). 

There are also some types of music that I did not get back then, but now explore (e.g. Laibach, Tuxedomoon), and music that defies classification (e.g., Mission to the Sun, Snow Ghosts).

I find it sad if people are stuck in their adolescent yummy phase. It is similarly sad as people who still live in the town they grew up [I moved continents]. Go out and explore, it is a lot of fun!

stuartk
2,949 posts
 

@devinplombier

I’d like to think so. As we age, our perspective changes and it’s only natural to seek out art that speaks to us at each new stage. Well, for some, at least.

A lot of people seem to stick solely with whatever they liked in high school for the rest of their lives.

Over time, I’ve learned Individuals differ in their relative capacity for expanding their musical horizons. I’ve been compelled to recognize the fact that my personal taste imposes limitations in this regard, compared to others who seem much more able to freely embrace unfamiliar genres/artists.

I don’t know what, if anything, can be done about this, though.

At 68, I can’t say I’ve experienced discoveries on a similar scale as the shift in focus in my twenties from Rock to Jazz. Lately, I’m finding certain (current) acoustic singer-songwriters particularly relevant. The way this music is speaking to me is deeply affecting. Not sure it qualifies as a "revelation" but it’s a nice surprise and a strong motivation to keep exploring.

@oberoniaomnia

What is "adolescent yummy phase"?

More to discover