Music Changes, How Has Your Taste Evolved?

[Heaven's Cloud]

[color=indigo]Last night I had some late night work I had take care of so I decided to blare a little [i]Nevermind[/i]. While I was cranking out copy and undoubtedly disturbing my neighbors my mind wandered a bit. I started thinking about all of the albums from the nineties that I listened to in the nineties as opposed to the albums from the nineties that I listen to now.

So, halting my work due to this fit of anti-inspiration, I made two top ten lists. The fist was comprised of the albums I listened to like crazy in the nineties, the second a list of albums from the nineties that I listen to regularly now.

Nineties Albums in the Nineties

1. [b]Pearl Jam[/b] â?? [i]Ten[/i]
2. [b]Tool[/b] â?? [i]Aenima[/i]
3. [b]Nirvana[/b] â?? [i]In Utero[/i]
4. [b]Sublime[/b] â?? [i]40oz to Freedom[/i]
5. [b]The Dave Matthews Band[/b] â?? [i]Under the Table and Dreaming[/i]
6. [b]Green Day[/b] â?? [i]Dookie[/i]
7. [b]Bush[/b] â?? [i]Sixteen Stone[/i]
8. [b]Alice in Chains[/b] â?? [i]Dirt[/i]
9. [b]Bone Thugs â??n Harmony[/b] â?? [i]1999 Eternal[/i]
10. [b]The Beatles[/b] â?? [i]Anthology 2[/i]

Nineties Albums Now

1. [b]Nirvana[/b] â?? [i]Nevermind[/i]
2. [b]Nine Inch Nails[/b] â?? [i]The Fragile[/i]
3. [b]Pearl Jam[/b] â?? [i]Ten[/i]
4. [b]The Foo Fighters[/b] â?? [i]The Colour and the Shape[/i]
5. [b]The Smashing Pumpkins[/b] â?? [i]Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness[/i]
6. [b]Curve[/b] â?? [i]Doppelganger[/i]
7. [b]Marilyn Manson[/b] â?? [i]Antichrist Superstar[/i]
8. [b]Alice â??n Chains[/b] â?? [i]Dirt[/i]
9. [b]Elvis Costello[/b] â?? [i]Brutal Youth[/i]
10. [b]The Roots[/b] â?? [i]Things Fall Apart[/i]

It is pretty crazy how different the lists are. Obviously tastes change and evolve over time, but it is strange how that I donâ??t care much for a lot of albums that I loved growing up.

How about you? Jot down a quick list of your favorite albums from 5 to 10 years ago and compare them to albums from that era that you listen to now. If your tastes have changed drastically why do you think they have changed?[/color]

[Pleiades Rising]

When I first become acquainted with a genre or style that's new to me, I just sample everything. As a result, I'm not too choosy at first; I like almost everything I hear (e.g. when I first got into Jrock/pop I liked almost everything I heard, from the most girlish pop to the noisiest guitar freak-outs. So, it wasn't unusual for me to listen to Nami Tamaki and Guitar Wolf right after another). However, once I become very familiar with a style, I start to gain a critical ear, and then select music more carefully. I think that's one reason why my taste in music changes, or become more refined. On to the list!

Then:
1. Oasis - [i]Definitly Maybe[/i]
2. Nine Inch Nails - [i]The Downward Spiral[/i]
3. Green Day -[i] Dookie[/i]
4. Offspring - [i]Smash[/i]
5. Prong - [i]Cleansing[/i]
6. Tori Amos - [i]Under The Pink[/i]
7. Faith No More - [i]Angel Dust[/i]
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - [i]Blood Sugar Sex Magic[/i]
9. Ice Cube - [i]The Predator[/i]
10. Cypress Hill - [i]Black Sunday[/i]

Now:
1. Oasis - [i]Definitely Maybe[/i]
2. Nine Inch Nails - [i]The Downward Spiral[/i]
3. Faith No More - [i]Angel Dust[/i]
4. Entombed - [i]Wolverine Blues[/i]
5. Bjork - [i]Homogenic[/i]
6. Crane - [i]Forever[/i]
7. Godflesh - [i]Pure[/i]
8. Manic Street Preachers - [i]This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours[/i]
9. The Chemical Brothers - [i]Dig Your Own Hole[/i]
10. Aphex Twin - [i]...I Care Because You Do[/i]

Nowadays I don't even like Green Day or The Offspring (the former has been replaced by older punk, and the latter got a bit too gimicky). RHCP also took a step down, but I still like their older stuff. When [i]Homogenic [/i]was released, I barely listened to Bjork, but now I like her quite a bit. Oasis, NIN, and FNM still stand the test of time, however.

[PiroMunkie]

[color="#006400"][font="Arial"]I was actually fairly sheltered as a child, it took me a while to really discover music on my own. My parents were never really big into music, and so I was basically left just sort of getting 'hand-me-downs' from my older brother. I get a bit jealous when people say they've been listening to what took me most of my current life to discover since they were kids. From when I was really young, all I really remember is a [i]Ghostbusters[/i] soundtrack on record, and somehow I came across Michael Jackson and liked his music a lot. I even think I still own that movie of his, [i]Moonwalker[/i], on VHS somewhere (though no means to play it obviously, lol).

Outside of that, everything I was exposed to trickled down through my brother, which for the most part was rap and hip-hop (from Kris Kross to 2 Pac, lol) with some mainstream bands (I recall having a GreenDay [i]Dookie[/i] cassette at one point). Eventually that turned in to Top 40 radio (yeah, shamefully there was a time when I enjoyed N'Sync). It's kind of funny to think how long it took me to figure out where a friend of mine got this crazy "Blinded by the Light" song he would sing on occasion, lol. I think there was another song he used to sing, but I don't remember what it was ... probably something from Journey.

My first CD ever was the [i]Men in Black[/i] soundtrack, lol. The oldest albums I still own today are probably some Weird Al that I got from my brother when he didn't listen to them any more â?? [i]The Food Albums[/i], [i]Alapalooza[/i], and [i]Even Worse[/i]. Actually I'm not sure if I still have [i]Alapalooza[/i], but I wish I did.

That being said, when I finally got really into music I was in high school and a friend of mine introduced me to punk rock/hard core. I spent a lot of time in that culture. Pretty much most friends I made in high school had the same general interests. So I sat in punk/hardcore/ska for a long time. There was a little alternative/metal/classic rock exposure, but not much.

I don't know when I got the Smashing Pumpkins' [i]Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness[/i], but that pretty much sealed the deal for the rest of my life. There was a time when I pretty much listened to the Pumpkins exclusively. When I can't decide what I want to listen to, I know I can always fall back on them.

I still don't really actively follow the music industry or anything, I'm rarely impressed with what I hear anyhow. I'm always trying to dive back in time and really experience music from past decades. Like, I know of Led Zeppelin, but I've never taken the time to really listen to their music in depth. Same with Pink Floyd. Rush. Queen. Dio. And others I'm sure.

My iTunes has a pretty wide variety of stuff on it, including random hip-hop or rap songs I remember from my childhood. Some catchy Mexican music I was exposed to when I worked at Taco Bell, lol (I swear every song has the same beat, but some are really catchy). Though the vast majority of it fits into some variety of alternative/punk/classic rock. I can put it on random and never really feel like opening it up to change the song, unless it happens to land on a lot of long songs repeatedly (I'm looking at you, Dream Theater).[/font][/color]

[Magus]

Instead of giving a list I'll just come out and say that almost everything I used to listen to back in the 90's was rap and comparing that to now, yeah, my taste has changed pretty drastically. I hardly listen to rap anymore and if I do listen to rap, it's mainly for either reminiscing or relieving anger. Back then I used to own quite a few albums ranging from Bone Thugs N Harmony (bout the only rap group I'd listen to on a regular basis nowadays) to Eminem, while now I don't own any cd's at all. Ever since I've gotten my hands on an mp3 player along with discovering some places to get music from I just haven't felt like spending money on cd's. (I know I should support the artists and whatnot but until they kill off downloading I'm gonna continue to be as cheap as possible)

Now as far as what I listen to now, heh, mainly gospel (I know, drastic change, right? =D), r&b, and Michael Jackson. I suppose you can say I'm slowly creeping in to rock but that's only Evanescence and Nickelback (bout 3 songs anyway).

[The Tentacle]

One thing I've noticed is that all of the songs I absolutely hated back in the day really appeal to me now.  All the stuff I listened to when I was growing up now holds a certain level of nostalgia for me so even the songs I didn't want to listen to back then just sound better these days.

I think everyone goes through phases with their tastes in music.  My listening preferences have evolved over the last twenty or so years and change on a regular basis.  

[Claire]

I wasn't conscious enough in the nineties to actively listen to any music. I can only remember listening to what my dad did, which was country, The Beach Boys, and plenty of classic rock stuff; and also Radio Disney, which basically played every generic pop star available then.

The first CD I ever bought by myself was N'Sync's Celebrity. It's still hanging around my house, somewhere.

When I really got into music on my own, I somehow started by falling in love with Avril Lavigne at age 11. Then I started listening to the local rock radio station and watching FUSE, which only played rock music videos at the time.

7th grade: Mostly pop-punk (Simple Plan, Green Day, Good Charlotte), maybe still Avril Lavigne a little bit. Favorite band was AFI.

8th grade: All goth (Rasputina, Bauhaus, Dead Can Dance, Siouxsie and the Banshees). Favorite band was Nightwish. Very elitist about music. Love pretty choral pieces.

9th grade: Still somewhat goth. Favorite band was Rasputina. Introduced to indie (The Smiths, Sufjan Stevens) and punk (Adicts, the Misfits) scenes. First Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.

10th grade: Punk scene and more. Tried to distance myself from past tastes. Favorite bands AFI, Circa Survive, the Misfits, TSO.

11th grade: Not much changed. Favorite bands AFI, Circa Survive, The Academy Is, Calabrese, TSO.

12th grade: Massive shift in interests. Getting into indie scene. Favorite band Tegan and Sara. Also getting into She and Him, Uh Huh Her, Band of Horses. Interest in choral music resurfaces big time. This year's Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert is still my favorite memory.

First year of college: Same interests. Favorite band Tegan and Sara.

Second year: Pretty much the same. Favorite band still Tegan and Sara, but right now I'm obsessed with Florence and the Machine.

Current top favorite bands:

1. Tegan and Sara
2. Florence and the Machine
3. Elliott Smith
4. Neutral Milk Hotel
5. Fleet Foxes
6. She and Him
7. Brand New
8. The Beatles
9. The Ink Spots (this spot is basically occupied by any music from the 1940s and earlier, all the way back to the Baroque and Renaissance periods)
10. Trans-Siberian Orchestra (I get radically obsessed with them once or twice a year, usually close to their annual concert here, and I only really enjoy listening to them live)

I wish I still had the same Last.FM page from high school, because that would be hilarious and informative. Edited October 13, 2010 by Tonks

[John]

Oh man.

There was a period during my childhood where my dad only allowed me to listen to Christian music. I didn't really obey that, of course, but a lot of that stuff still got into my musical diet at the time. I'd make a list of albums, but I grew up during the Napster heyday, so most of what I listened to was on a song-by-song basis. Major artists of junior high included Creed, Five Iron Frenzy, PAX217, Linkin Park, P.O.D., Ghoti Hook and Pillar. That was pretty embarrassing to write out.

It was actually old OBers who turned me on to a lot of the music I love today, and they're probably largely responsible for the fact that I even love music considerably at all. A combination of that influence and my own natural curiosity led me towards listening to a lot of stuff like Pixies, Modest Mouse, Deltron 3030, and Soundgarden into my Freshman year of high school, but there were two specific events that year that had a huge impact on my life musically.

The first happened one day during weights class. Boy, that was something--being corralled into this concrete room, walls covered in inane, bold-faced inscriptions about giving 110%, having to pick up heavy things and put them back down for reasons which my fourteen-year-old brain just could not grasp, everything you touch is covered in some foul-smelling grime built up from all the winners who gave it their all before you got there... wasn't my scene. The radio was always playing either someone's Lil John CD or the local classic rock station, and today it was the latter. I think I was heading towards the fountain for one of my very frequent water breaks when "Starman" by David Bowie came on. Bowie Bowie was one of the artists that most of the guys in my OB circle were just crazy about, but I hadn't really heard any of his stuff before. There in the weight room, though, I just stood there listening, dumbfounded but certainly not knowing the long love affair that was about to ensue. I think I'd still call him my favorite musician today.

The arguably more important event, though, happened during the first week of English class. It was the teacher's first year on the job, fresh out of college, and the first thing he decided to do was a week-long unit on popular music that had absolutely nothing to do with English. One of the assignments during that week was to pair up with someone and do a short oral report on a band assigned to us by the teacher. My partner and I got Pavement, and we didn't listen to any of their music, but we did laugh a whole lot at the name. Some time the following summer, however, I was starting to get bored with my music library, and I remembered that band with the stupid name. On a whim, I downloaded several of their songs and played them in the background while I was playing a game or browsing myO or something. At the time they really didn't make any impact on me at all, but they kept coming up all throughout the next few weeks when I'd shuffle my music. They grew on me slowly at first, but then at one point, all of a sudden, "Shady Lane" just hit me across the head like a brick, and the rest of the songs quickly followed suit. I got on AIM and asked Shin if he listened to Pavement, and if he could send me an album by them with either "Stereo" or "Shady Lane" on it. He sent me Brighten the Corners, which had both, and don't think I listened to anything else for at least five or six weeks straight. Bowie was great, but I dunno, something about this album had a much more powerful effect on me. It was one of Pavement's two most commercial-sounding releases, but coming from a background like I had, you could still tell instantly that these guys were coming from a musical world that was totally off the charts of anything I'd ever known before. I think that's mostly what set me in the direction of everything else I would start listening to from then on.

I moved to a different town that summer, so I never had another chance to talk to that teacher about music or the huge influence he had in my life. I would think about it every now and again from then on, and I tried a few times to see if I couldn't look him up online, but he was impossible to find. I gave it one more shot a few months ago, though, and finally managed to find his Facebook profile, which was scant on information and totally unsearchable from within Facebook but no match for my internet stalking chops. He's now living in Korea, apparently. I shot him a short message, he replied in kind, and that was that I guess.

Sorry that wasn't in a list, but... yeah. If I had to make a current top ten, it'd probably be, loosely, something like this [REDACTION: I can't do a top ten. Tiers are the best you're gonna get.]:

Top Tier:
[b]Hum[/b] - Downward is Heavenward

Second Tier:
[b]Purplene[/b] - Purplene

Third Tier:
[b]Nullsleep[/b] - Unconditional Acceleration
[b]David Bowie[/b] - "Heroes"
[b]Gary Numan[/b] - The Pleasure Principle
[b]Mission of Burma[/b] - Vs.
[b]Fugazi[/b] - Red Medicine

Fourth Tier:
[b]Servotron[/b] - No Room for Humans
[b]Dan Deacon[/b] - Bromst
[b]Starscream[/b] - Future, and It Doesn't Work

[nightscapture]

When I was a little kid, I didn't listen to any kind of music at all until I was about ten or eleven. The only thing I listened to back than was like, Q-102, but don't ask me to name any songs, cause I seriously will NOT remember. Though I'm pretty sure that I was addicted to Avril Lavine and Brittany Spears...

Looking back on it now, I seriously wonder about what the hell I was listening to when I was in fifth grade, because now my list of top ten consist of something like this:

1. The Howling-Within Temptation
2. Bring Me To Life-Evanescene
3. Kiss with a Fist-Florence and the Machine
4. Amaranth-Nightwish
5. Pain-Three Days Grace
6. Waiting for the End-Linkin Park
7. Paralyzer-Eleven Finger
8. Dance with the Devil-Breaking Benjamin
9. Seize the Day-Avenged Sevenfold
10. Violet Hill-Coldplay

Just compare it! Can you really imagine that this is the same person?