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!
Showing 8 responses by stuartk
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. What is "adolescent yummy phase"? |
@oberoniaomnia Yes; I know what yummy and adolescent mean, separately. What wasn’t clear to me was what, specially, you intended to connote by using them in tandem regarding music. It's still not clear, but never mind. |
You’re welcome! sadly, it looks as though the US version of the DVD is no longer available (on Amazon, at least). But perhaps you brought a DVD player from Hungary with you? That Caledonia Soul Music track you posted reminds me somewhat of the longer tunes on "Veedon Fleece", which also dates from 1974.
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When you're young, you're like a piece of undyed cotton. When you're older you're like a richly layered tapestry. Things might feel more intense when we're younger, but they can feel more multi-dimensional when we're older. It's like a single note ringing out into silence compared to that same note played within a complex chord with lots of overtones.
Which is what counts, IMHO! |
Yes. It’s only natural that as we age and go through many different experiences and stages of development, we’ll be drawn to discover music that better matches how we’re feeling in the present and that the music we favored at age 16 or 25 may no longer fully satisfy. In other words, as we grow and change, it’s not surprising that what we enjoy listening to should change as well. The same goes for any art form. This doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll abandon what we once found most captivating, (although this may occur to some degree, inevitably, depending upon what we were initially exposed to), just that we develop a much larger pool of music to dip into.
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