I have some friends my age still listening to the same bands they used to 20 years ago, complaining about how music today sounds all the same. However I discover something new almost every day and I’m not kidding.

It’s true that some of my discoveries are bands from decades before I was born, so they can’t be considered new, although they are new to me if that makes sense.

What about you? Still listening to the same tunes you used to listen to when you were a teenager?

  • I actively seek new music (and discover older music that I previously didn’t listen to, just like you described) but also have bands that I’ve been a fan of since I was a kid that I still listen to. I exclusively listened to 60s and 70s rock when I was growing up, Zeppelin and The Beatles are still two of my favorite bands, but I have definitely expanded my palette since then. I agree that the “music these days” take is a tired one; if your only source of new music is the hits radio, of course, it will all sound the same.

    I have this beef with people who say new country music sucks (or any genre for that matter) - sure there are bro-country singers that only sing about trucks and beer, but there are also insanely talented country musicians and songwriters out there right now.

    • I have this beef with people who say new country music sucks

      Aren’t the decent guys calling themselves “Americana” nowadays? Coulter Wall, Tyler Childers, etc? The pop-with-fiddles they play on Country radio is mostly terrible.

      • Honestly, I think most musicians don’t care about the categorization or genre labels. Country and Americana could be interchangeable for the most part, but Americana seems a little broader to me. Per your example, Childers has more of a bluegrass influence, while Wall has more of a cowboy/western country influence. Both of those genres are certainly under the country and americana umbrellas.

        • Fair enough. I feel like people (me) want to differentiate between “guy with a guitar on his porch” music and the highly produced big-stadium-show stuff. Bluegrass, folk, and outlaw country on one side vs top40 Country on the other.

  • Not new bands but new to me. I managed to be a mild metalhead my whole life yet never listened to Iron Maiden. I started on their music a few months ago. I can’t believe I waited until I was in my forties to pick them up. Amazing guitar work and great vocals.

  • I still listen to everything I did 10 years ago, but I’ve added a lot of new music too since then. The rate I’ve been finding new music at has skyrocketed since I discovered bandcamp a few years ago.

    • Reign in Blood

      I see you are a man of culture. I’m not really into the thrash metal scene beyond some albums from Testament or Machine Head, but that album is amazing. What Rick Rubin achieved there was wonderful.

  • I’m a mix. I really enjoy finding new bands, even if they’re not new bands. Recently I’ve gotten EXTREMELY into Lorna Shore (Deathcore/extreme metal band). I’d never heard them, they’ve been around about a decade, but they’re new to me! Last year was the year of Bad Omens (Heavy Rock with some metal core tendencies). I’ve also been liking this synthy band The Midnight lately (like 80s electro pop complete with saxophone solos).

    The way I find most of new bands is usually by either listening to bands I already like or have been into forever and using like “radio” feature on Spotify (Lorna) OR by searching out the openers for bands I like and checking out their music Bad Omens/The Midnight). It’s so fun to come across an artist you’ve never heard and dog into their catalogue and realize they’ve got multiple albums filled with bangers.

    • Lorna Shore might as well be new. They sort of rebuilt around their new singer, who’s and amazingly talented vocalist.

      They’ve also been blowing up like crazy. They’re sort of doing to deathcore what Turnstile is doing to hardcore, and its exciting to be a part of that

      • Even if their music isn’t for everyone (it’s ABSOLUTELY not, 99+% of people probably would hate it), what they’re doing from an approachability standpoint is maybe the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. If you go to their YouTube right now, you can find one-take vocal performances of 3-4 of their songs. You’ll also find high quality drum, guitar and bass playthroughs. Like, as a drummer and singer, being able to watch Will Ramos and Austin Archey play their songs in 4K and observe their techniques up close is AMAZING. I wish more artists did things like that.

        • Yeah they’re not my favorite personally. I’m not super into symphonic metal and their particular brand of it just sounds extremely “noisy” to me, like I’m at a festival listening to a death core band and there’s a power metal band on the next stage whose sound is bleeding over. I’m more of a Signs of the Swarm guy.

          That being said I can’t stop watching Ramos’ one-takes, and I love the bands’ breakdowns (although I’m already seeing their style become trendy and its definitely gonna get old at some point).

          • I feel like their breakdowns are already kind of old, like they force the same half time into half time into half time break for every song. But on the flipside, I love the symphonic blend and how they mix in a lot of technicality and melody into their guitar and drum parts. Different strokes!

  • Youtube has put me onto a lot of Australian stuff lately, such as Smoko (The Chats) and Hertz (Amyl and the Sniffers) as well as some more indie stuff like Wet Leg. I might just be old but these bands are all new to me and I love it.

  • I am super into consuming new and contemporary music (mainly pop and R&B). I traditionally used a subreddit to follow all of the new releases, so I’ll have to see how to stay as current all things considered.

    My listening habits usually revolve around rotating the new stuff ad nauseam until all meaning and emotion is gone, then accepting more new music as it releases.

    I love looking at my yearly top 100 song playlists and shuffling them for some spice.

  • Both honestly. There are plenty of bands that I used to listen to as a teenager that I still listen to now, both their old stuff and new stuff. I also have found new bands making new music and old bands making new music with a great back catalogue.

  • I’ve always listened to new music. I still keep up with bands I’ve always liked and occasionally listen to my old favorites, but there’s SO MUCH GREAT MUSIC coming out all the time I suffer from major FOMO. So I’m always trying to check out new stuff.

  •  leem   ( @leem@yiffit.net ) 
    link
    fedilink
    4
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I used to go out and purposefully look for new music from time to time. Lately I’ve just been playing Spotify radios of artists I like and finding new artists through that. They have a new feature on the mobile app that’s kinda like TikTok. You click on tropicalia or norm core or whatever and it plays you similarly tagged songs. After 10-20 songs, it recommends new related hashtags to try out.

    A good way to find new music if you’re into less popular stuff is to go by the label. If you like an artist, check out the labels they’ve released their albums on! chances are that you’ll find a few other artists you’ll like too.

  • @randomnick@beehaw.org @music@beehaw.org Why can’t it be both? Classic albums are classic for a reason, and there is a ton of new music to get into. I hope I don’t get into the rut of a fixed playlist, though most of my new music comes from online discovery, whereas it used to mates / social.

    Also nothing wrong with exploring the long tail of music history.

    • Yeah both options are the best, I am not even able to pick one or the other. Actually, why would you do that? So many great music that’s it’s impossible to pick just one.

      I was opening the question due to some people saying music “it’s not the same anymore”, when they actually mean “I still listen to the same music I used to”. Nothing wrong with that either, but my point is there is still good music to be discovered.