Your Musical Evolution

[Lexi Darling]

Had this idea from a discussion on The Other Site. How has your taste changed over the years? Any particular genres, artists or aesthetics that defined a certain part of your life? I'm very interested to see everyone's musical journeys. For me I'll break it down by school era, something like this:

Early life (1989-1993): Heck if I know.

Elementary school (1994-1999): Kid stuff, Weird Al, Will Smith's Big Willie Style, and whatever was on the radio

Middle school (2000-2002): Nu-metal, pop punk

High school (2003-2007): Mall goth stuff, industrial rock, metalcore, emo, trance, crunk, southern rap, a bit of prog rock toward the end of HS

College (2008-2014): Lots of ambient electronic music, prog rock, 80s synth stuff, basically expanding a lot, especially into older music

Post-College (2015-present): All of the above I guess? I listen to a pretty wide smattering of the music from all throughout my life.

I have to go get started on some chores, so this was a bit rushed. I look forward to your responses!

[Rubber Soul]

Wow, I can almost go back to my infancy on this one.

(1964-1969)- My early years- Sixties music in general obviously. Especially remember liking the Byrds and Donovan.

(1970-1976)- Elementary/Junior High- Became a rabid Beatles fan during this period. Love of sixties became more sophisticated as I got into more psychedelia and folk based rock like Simon and Garfunkel. Contemporary faves at the time we're pretty much the ex- Beatles for the most part.

(1977-1982)- High school, early adulthood- Became a punk and New Wave fan despite everyone else either being into metal or Fleetwood Mac/Eagles. Became a huge Bowie fan during this period and developed a fascination with glam rock in general. Faves included Elvis Costello and Devo among others.

(1983-1991)- My twenties- REM replaced the Beatles as my go to artist of the time. By now my tastes were becoming more defined as I had now developed an appreciation of Bob Dylan and folk music in general. I also began to seriously listen to African American music, particularly electric blues and sixties/seventies soul. Favorite artists of the period included REM and Midnight Oil.

(1992-2001)- My thirties- I began to turn away from mainstream radio during this period and would get into what was known as the indie movement. Along with the obvious artists of the time (Nirvana, Radiohead), I got into Guided by Voices, Elliott Smith, and Wilco among others. I also began to rediscover Johnny Cash and realized that I could get into some old country in particular.

(2002-2011)- My forties- Everything became full circle here as I know longer cared about genres in particular. If liked an artist, I liked an artist and that was that. That bode well for bands like New Pornographers, Flaming Lips, etc.

(2012 and Beyond)- And that leads to the eclectic being that is now me. Yes, I still prefer folk and psychedelia above all, but I can listen to Coltrane or Patsy Cline or Marvin Gaye with the same appreciation as listening to the Beatles or Stones. Heck, a favorite song of mine is the original German cabaret version of Alabama Song by Lotte Lenya circa 1930 so figure that one out

Anyway, that's partly how I evolved musically.

[Marie Monday]

nice idea.
As for me:
Before and during elementary school: the music that was played at home, which was mainly sixties stuff and classical. The Beatles and Bach are by far the most important.
First half of high school, 12-14 y/o: a combination of what I knew from before and whatever music was popular at the moment. The Beatles were by far the most important, the only band I was a proper fan of at that point. The only pop hit stuff I was listening to that has remained somewhat interesting to me is Taylor Swift
Second half of high school, 15-17 y/o: where I slowly started discovering what music I was into. I listened to a lot of the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed and Eels also still a lot of Beatles. I rediscovered Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin etc. and then at the end of high school I discovered Jimi Hendrix and the Doors and that really set things off.
Early university 18-20(?): at 18 I really got into more 60s/70s stuff like the Kinks, the Stooges and David Bowie and such, and I had a Led Zeppelin period. Listening to more hard rock after Led Zeppelin (briefly) was a dead end, but at 19 I got into punk through the Sex Pistols. From that point on, at 19-20 I listened to a lot of classic punk and new wave, some post-punk(ish) stuff (Joy Division and Television) plus 60s and 90s stuff (shoegaze, some Britpop, and Pixies and Nirvana, and later the Breeders).
Later university 20(?)-22 y/o: a twofold big shift when I discovered the Raincoats and riot grrrl punk. I started listening to mostly post punk (things like the Fall), Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney.
Final year of uni to covid, 23-24 y/o: discovery of musicbanter.com. My taste didn't shift that much at first, except I became a little more in touch with contemporary music and other genres. Also, the pace at which I discovered music increased.
covid-present, 24-27 y/o: being stuck at home had a big impact on my listening habits somehow: I started listening to jazz (important were Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Archie Shepp, Anna Högberg, Mary Halvorson), some ambient (starting with Meitei, Terry Riley), and various kinds of world music (mostly African). I also started listening to more pop music, both sophisticated and trashy: Janelle Monae, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kesha, Taylor Swift. I also really got into 60s garage rock. As time goes on I listen to specific genres less and less.

[Lexi Darling]

As time goes on I listen to specific genres less and less.

I feel this. I forgot a bunch of stuff I listen to, like 1930s-50s jazz, and I also love contemporary pop music, but honestly my shuffle will go from Morbid Angel to Ariana Grande to Benny Goodman and I'll jam out to all of it.

Electronic and ambient music and less "song-based" stuff gets its own playlist, but everything else is basically a free for all.

[Janszoon]

Childhood (1977-1987):
Heavily influenced by my parents' and older sibling's taste, as well as the popular music of that era. I liked stuff like the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Dire Straits, the Eagles, Willie Nelson, Pink Floyd, Rush, the Cars, the Police, Talking Heads, REM, Devo, U2, etc.

Preteen (1987-1990):
Started frequenting the local rollerskating rink and also discovered my local college radio station. So my tastes were split between the likes of Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Tiffany, and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack on the one hand, and stuff like Bob Mould, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Love & Rockets, and Jane's Addiction on the other.

Teens (1990-1995):
Like most people, my friend group influenced my taste a lot during this time. Thrash and death metal were early influences, then I graduated to hardcore punk, goth, and industrial/electro-industrial/EBM. I fell in love with Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. I got into world music, new age, ambient electronic music, a little bit of hip hop, and second and third wave ska during this time. In a bit of musical foreshadowing, my love of the first Mr. Bungle album lead me to to check out an album by a fellow named John Zorn, who I couldn't quite get into yet.

College (1995-2000):
Early on in my first year of college, the Swing Kids soundtrack turned me on to swing music, which lead me to bebop and to acid jazz. I dove deeper into industrial, new wave, and post punk. I was introduced to digital hardcore, trip hop, IDM, and post rock. I started listening to a lot of rock en Español and west African music, as well as some bluegrass, blues, and zydeco.

Post-college twenties (2000-2007):
This was the only time in my life where I went to clubs a lot, so I was exposed to a decent amount of stuff like house, trance, and drum & bass. I also got much more into trip hop, IDM, grime, and hip hop. I was also very into electroclash, neo post punk, and lo-fi indie. Toward the end of my twenties I started getting more into tropicália, exotica, Ethiopian jazz, post metal, and grindcore.

Thirties (2007-2017):
This is when I joined MB and I think that was one of the biggest influences on my taste at least for the first half of my thirties. I got very into doom metal, sludge metal, grindcore, cybergrind, powerviolence, mathcore, experimental hip hop, and aggressive jazz during this time (remember that John Zorn foreshadowing?). I also started getting into krautrock, mento, aftrobeat, funaná, East Asian classical, Mongolian throat singing, third stream, and modern western classical. Toward the end of my thirties, I got into breakcore, lolicore, mashups, French pop, African electronic music, newgrass, disco, bossa nova, MPB, and dub.

Forties (2017-present):
So far in this decade of my life I've been getting into a lot more jazz: jazz-funk, soul jazz, free jazz, yass, and dixieland jazz. I've dug deeper than before into soul, funk, first wave ska, rocksteady, lover's rock, reggae, calypso, mambo, chicha, and 60s and 70s pop. I've surprised myself by actually starting to like quite a few musical theater soundtracks and klezmer music and vintage proggy synth stuff. Lately I find myself buying a lot of drone, noisy black metal, and experimental music of various kinds as well.

As I post this, I'm listening to a Sting record from the 80s that I bought yesterday, so full circle for me too I guess.

[robhr]

Early childhood (1987 to 1992): Whatever my parents listened to. Most notably Simon & Garfunkel.

School age (1993 to 1998): Crappy 90s pop music. Most notably Savage Garden.

Middle school (1998 to 2001): Gangster rap and nu metal. Most notably Limp Bizket and Eminem.

Early high school (2001 to 2002): Still nu metal and gangster rap but now also pop punk.

Grade 10 or 11 (2003ish): Queens of the Stone Age and Radiohead.

Grade 11 or 12 (2004ish): Indie rock and some experimental stuff.

University until a few years ago: All over the place but mostly experimental stuff. Industrial, IDM, post-rock. Dabbled in a lot of genres though.

Now: Ambient, post-rock, psychedelia, IDM, shoegaze, post-hardcore, "post-metal" and way too many other genres to list.

[Psy-Fi]

I'll go by decade...

1960's - Whatever my parents were listening to which was rock, psych-rock, pop, soul, funk, jazz & some country.
1970's - Added blues-rock, hard-rock, prog, & punk.
1980's - Added post-punk, ska, blues, film scores, avant-garde, rap & hip-hop.
1990's - Added surf-rock, grunge, Krautrock, math-rock, & folk.
2000's - Added exotica/lounge, heavy-psych & space rock.
2010's - Added Afro-beat, Tuareg, Latin music of various genres, and some ambient.
2020's - Can't think of any genres I've started listening to in the past 3 years which I haven't been into before. 

I might be forgetting a genre or two but that's pretty much the timeline of how my discoveries and tastes have evolved (so far) over my lifetime.