Good question. Absolutely one can - my favorite musical artist of all time is a woman named Kristeen Young, who I never even heard of before 2018, though she's made 11 albums since 1997 (David Bowie duetted with her on a song in 2003, which I read about in a Bowie book) and will have a new one out this year. If I'd heard her '97 debut back then, it would have beaten out 'OK Computer' as my favorite album of that year. I'm 73 now, so I would have been about 66 when I first made that musical discovery. But I've always tried to keep up with newer music, though sadly those efforts have fallen behind the past several years.
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!
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I'm so glad Bohren made such an impact on your musical world. I felt the same way the first time I heard them, oh so many years ago. My gosh...can it be over 25 years???
Growing up, I was weaned on 1960's and 1970's Classic Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Heavy Metal, and most importantly, Prog Rock. In the 1990's and early 2000's, I dabbled with Alternative Rock, Grunge Rock, Progressive Death Metal, and Industrial Rock, but only a few of those bands "stuck" with me and remain in my listening rotation today. However, the bands that did "stick" are very important to my musical journey, and include Opeth, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Mastodon, and Filter, to name a few.
Answering your question, the big musical "discovery" that impacted my buying and listening history over the last 25 years involved a deep dive into the Prog Metal genre (Dream Theater, Sons of Apollo, Fates Warning, Queensryche, Haken, Opeth, Tool, Gojira, Pain of Salvation) and discovering the 2nd Generation of Prog Rock bands such as Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief, IQ, Transatlantic, O.S.I., Riverside, Soup, This Winter Machine, Gazpacho, oRK, Wobbler, Wheel, Elder, King Buffalo, Airbag, Steven Wilson -- I could go on and on!
Prog Rock is alive and well. I, for one, couldn't be happier. |
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! |
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. |
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. |
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! |
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"? |
there was a time when I felt hopelessly old and that "it's all downhill from here" It was then thatI heard Van Morrison the first time in my life (other than Gloria which I thought was a Rolling Stones song for a long time) and I was absolutely stunned. In a week I listened to everything he created which by then was a collection of 30 years of incredible music. My next thought was "omg the dude is so old now, I missed it entirely! Will I even see him live? Why are all my favorite musicians almost dead?" The dude kept putting out incredible music for another 30 years and not done. I was twice that age when I saw him live and he played like he was 27 (the age I was when I discovered him.) We can feel old at any period in our lives and hopefully we can discover "new" music any time and feel young! |
Yes, but don't only consider current Pop/HipHop or EDM it's not the key to unlock the "Fountain Of Youth". There is this genre of music called Classical that seems to evade many so called music lovers and even Audiophiles. Pianist Carol Rosenberger and Soprano Edith Mathis are recent discoveries of mine despite being familiar with many of the the major Classical works since my mid-twenties. Nothing against current Pop/HipHop or Electronic music. Maggie Rogers is the current Queen of Pop singer/songwriters Drake/Kendrick Lamar have worthy recordings and Kygo is at the top of the EDM heap but the talent pool IMO is not as deep as "Classical" music/musicians. |
At age 70 I'm still searching for the next "discovery". At the click of the touchpad I can access music from WAY before I was born to music released yesterday. For me personally as my stereo has improved I'm listening to a much more diverse catalog. I don't rock n roll much anymore and while I still enjoy The Who, Steely Dan and The Beatles my focus has taken a fundamental change and is still evolving. I've discovered Latin and European jazz artists, American singer songwriters and music that was produced in and before my youth. We live in such a miraculous time and I'm so glad I'm able to explore music past my 40 year old album collection. |
@stuartk I have not, thanks for the tip! He is an incredible performer, he gives it all... |
There have been several studies that show, the vast majority of people stop searching out new music when they reach the age of 30, some studies show 33. Their tastes become set at that point. Here's one: This may not be as true for many here, since people that post on audio and music forums are not a typical sample of the vast majority of music listeners. It seems that nostalgia becomes a big part of this, and people want to listen to the music that was the "soundtrack of their youth". For me, I have almost no feelings of nostalgia associated with music, so when I listen to music, I listen based entirely on the attributes I love in music. Those attributes hold true for new music, as well as older music. Those attributes are, in no particular order: very high levels of musicianship, complexity, (usually) long form songs, deep and broad emotional and/or intellectual content conveyed, avoidance of verse>chorus>bridge song format, no need for a hook. The genres that most often meet most or all of those attributes, are: Prog, Jazz, Classical I discovered prog in my early 20's (King Crimson, Yes, Univers Zero, PFM, Genesis, Anglagard, Henry Cow, Magma, Eskaton, etc) I got into jazz in my late 20's, early 30's (Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Keith Jarratt, Oregon, Anthony Braxton, Coltrane, Steve Coleman, Allan Holdsworth, etc). And finally, I didn't get into classical music until my late 50's. But the classical I am into is almost all from post 1950 up through the current era. Atonal, serial, avant-garde, Spectralism, New Complexity, etc. So, I got one of the most "challenging", complex, thorny sounding forms of music at the ripe old age of 57-58. And within all 3 of those genres I mentioned, I am in a constant search for new music, bands, musicians, composers. I get almost as much of a rush at discovering new music at the age of 65, as I did when I was in my 20's.
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@dlevi67 -- Glad you enjoy Bohren. Definitely give a listen to "Catch My Heart", their remake of the Warlock song from 1985. Warlock was a German band very popular in Europe, fronted by one of the original metal bad girls, Doro Pesch. On Bohren's version, Mike Patton (Faith No More) joins them on vocals. |
@allenf1963 Will do - new DAC is on order, should be with me in 10 days or so. Thank you again.
I use to joke that music-making stopped sometime in the 1800s, and since then we have made noise. Your thought never occurred to me - please don’t take this an expression of disrespect; it’s just an other example of how varied music and musical experiences can be. |
thanks @stuartk ! Magic! I always wonder how can a pale white man have so much beat! One of my favorites is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ecN3rOoFQ No disrespect at all @dlevi67 we are probably the same age, but I always lived in the past :) |
I mostly listen to college or community radio stations. Very refreshing at times. Decent new music is introduced to me every week. Damm those college kids. I am 66 years old so I am going to say yes. Some of my recent favorites: Khruangbin. I have followed this band all the way to Texas and back to California (where I live) to see their shows. Thee Sacred Souls, Thee Sinseers, The Altons. Last 3 groups have brought back oldie styles. Give Khruangbin a try. Very different but you know it them in the first 2 notes. |
@stuartk adolescent: approx age 15-25, frequently a formative period for music taste. yummy phase: easy digestible/ingestible ware. In food it is Mac 'n cheese, pizza, schniposa & coke. In music it is Beatles, Stones, PF, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik etc. Nothing wrong with either, but I would hope that with age one would progress and include a bit more variety and novel items. Does not mean mandatory durian/free jazz, but a bit of a refinement of the palate/ear. Just yesterday, I was at Sorrel in SF, enjoying some venison with quince, pine nut puré and grilled endives complemented by a splash of Bandol as one of the courses [and Sorrel is better than Quince, was there the night before]. See above re musical refinements. |
@simonmoon there is also a saying, we don't make lasting, strong friendships after 30. Proved very true, I made one good friend at 35, for the exception |
For me, the grave reset came when I stumbled into this: Note the date on the tape.... Noise you could dance to, as opposed to an art film soundtrack...and one of the first examples of 'sample & hold'. Later, refined by The Art of Noise..... This with that glorious piano mic'd so well... Since, a wonder wander through most of all of the pending genre', sampling many keeping that which Stuck....all tend to trigger memories of varied natures, good, bad, ugly, and fugly....played on the gear du jour, sometimes with that which gave even the oddest of the odd lot a certain majesty..... Yup, another self-imposed long strange trip, like no others. Always thus.... 👍
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They say every day is a school day and I concur with a lot of the bands listed by @allenf1963 Just to add another band to the list Esbjorn Svennson Trio. |