Why do adults not listen to music as intensely as teens do?
musicismylife78
Posts: 6,116
When we were kids, or teens, it seemed for me, and most likely others, that music helped us deal with the pains of growing up, of dealing with teen issues. Music soundtracked our lives.
Somewhere along the way, most people seem to not listen to music anymore. Or with less frequency than they did as a kid. Maybe its because they get new interests, or they get new passions, they get in relaitonships, get a job, or a million other reasons.
Music seems to be one of those things people expect you to grow out of. Like reading comics, its something kids do, teens do. Its left in the past. Those who spend hours pursuing or listening music or the arts are derided as dreamers or losers or wierdos or slackers.
Music had the ability to describe and pinpoint how you felt. It described emotions you didnt know how to process or deal with. We all can pinpoint those moments. The big ones, like hearing Teen Spirit, the whole grunge scene, but also non traditional "mind blowing" songs. The Verve Pipe's Freshman, or The Wallflowers One Headlight. They both to me are as important as any Pearl Jam or Nirvana song.
And still even today, listening to these songs brings me back and brings back emotions. Feelings.
Does music these days still have the ability to emotionally move you? Can it transport us, to different places, as escapism?
Why do people seem to not care about music when they become adults? I am 25 and I never want to lose this feeling. Music is the most important thing in my life. Thus the username. I dont want to get older and have music mean less to me. I want to be a rare feet, a 90 year old who still goes to rock shows, and still listens to music, current music. Maybe not, but you get the idea.
What about music makes it not appeal to adults? Its like the whole Polar Express idea. Kids can hear the bells, but as we get older we no longer hear the bells. Why do people stop hearing it?
Somewhere along the way, most people seem to not listen to music anymore. Or with less frequency than they did as a kid. Maybe its because they get new interests, or they get new passions, they get in relaitonships, get a job, or a million other reasons.
Music seems to be one of those things people expect you to grow out of. Like reading comics, its something kids do, teens do. Its left in the past. Those who spend hours pursuing or listening music or the arts are derided as dreamers or losers or wierdos or slackers.
Music had the ability to describe and pinpoint how you felt. It described emotions you didnt know how to process or deal with. We all can pinpoint those moments. The big ones, like hearing Teen Spirit, the whole grunge scene, but also non traditional "mind blowing" songs. The Verve Pipe's Freshman, or The Wallflowers One Headlight. They both to me are as important as any Pearl Jam or Nirvana song.
And still even today, listening to these songs brings me back and brings back emotions. Feelings.
Does music these days still have the ability to emotionally move you? Can it transport us, to different places, as escapism?
Why do people seem to not care about music when they become adults? I am 25 and I never want to lose this feeling. Music is the most important thing in my life. Thus the username. I dont want to get older and have music mean less to me. I want to be a rare feet, a 90 year old who still goes to rock shows, and still listens to music, current music. Maybe not, but you get the idea.
What about music makes it not appeal to adults? Its like the whole Polar Express idea. Kids can hear the bells, but as we get older we no longer hear the bells. Why do people stop hearing it?
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I don't know where you get this idea from.... just wait until you're 45 and see if you're asking yourself the same questions.
25, 35, 45, 55,....... if music was part of your life at the beginning, it will stay with you, whatever age. What makes you think that 'adults' don't put music on to 'deal with emotions'?
Just a thought... how old are the members of a certain band who's board we post on? Have they stopped hearing the music (along with hundreds of other 'oldies' bands)?
Youngsters :roll:
I listen to music more than I ever have and I'm 27 and settled down with a wife and kid, with another on the way. It's all about how high of a priority you make it. Music falls just below the people in my life as a priority, whether I'm listening to it or playing it.
Listen to music every day.
Read comic books.
Watch cartoons.
I'm the same as I was back then, I just have a larger income, bills, and a sex life. :geek:
everyone is different.
my dad is in his late 60s and LOVES music...goes to concerts fairly often and listens to music everyday.
that is just one example but the point is you really have no idea....there's so many people out there and yes, there are a lot of people that are in their 40s, 50s, 60s+ that remain extremely passionate about music.
gotta agree here...
I think the only thing we can say is that older people may relate differently to music than younger people and even that is up for debate.
I'd also venture to say that teens today don't have the type of relationship with music previous generations did... I mean... what do they listen to right now? Paramore? Atreyu? or whatever other band is out there... Just seems to me like a lot of crap is in the mainstream for kids to eat up...
Ill probably still listen to music intensely when im an adult i hope so ahaha.
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On the other hand, you can listen to music for those reasons, but also as an appreciation of art, a way to gain inspiration for your own creative endeavors, as a hobby, and i think those reasons would make music last longer into one's life.
Look at how long-winded that was, I should not listen to radiohead while posting.
Now about your comment about people thinking you are immature if music continues to be a big part of your life. Trust me I know what your saying. If I travel to go to a show, which I do often, I always have people ask me if I'm a groupie or say something like why are you doing that. My repsonse to that is normally why not, followed by, and what are you doing this weekend. They get the point. You will always have that but screw them. Doesn't matter.
The reality is that teenagers take nearly everything more intensely than adults in general. You know, breathing, relationships, having a shit, getting overly drunk, feelings, crying, etc.
Everything except important stuff. :P
I miss being a teenager
I remember how important my music was for me when I was in high school and college. I went to shows. I had tons of T-shirts. I'd spent my free time down at the CD Warehouse, poring over $50 bootlegs. I bought posters. I blared the music. I sifted through lyrics. I mean, every waking minute was spent on something music-related, it seemed.
I don't do any of that anymore. At least, not for any band other than Pearl Jam. In fact, I haven't really liked a new rock band since about 1998 ... about the time I graduated college.
I don't know why that is. I just don't feel like every song on the radio is about me anymore. I used to feel that way. I used to feel that way intensely.
I was reminded of this on another thread on this forum, the one about Our Lady Peace. I used to love that band, way back when. I saw them three or four times in clubs during that time. I'd be the first in line when a new album came out.
Now, they are like an old friend with whom I've just lost touch. I don't know how many albums they've put out. I can't name a song since "Superman's Dead." And what's more, I don't really care. Not that much. It's like this old friend comes back from oblivion, and though you used to love the guy, you realize you don't really have that much in common with him anymore anyway.
It's kind of sad, really. But I think it's all part of growing up. Pearl Jam is really the only band I care as intensely about now as I did 15 years ago.
for the least they could possibly do
Honestly, I think this is probably the right answer.
We grow up. We mature. We realize that, no, Eddie Vedder isn't taking my private thoughts and putting them into his songs. And maybe, you know, maybe my life isn't quite as fucked up as that Jeremy kid's. Maybe I don't really hate my parents. Maybe I was just going through a phase.
I think that's probably why I still like Pearl Jam. They seem to have matured right along with me. They aren't writing about that "teenage wasteland" anymore, and if they were, I probably wouldn't be able to relate to it. Honestly, I relate more to a song like "Sleight of Hand" than I do to "Black" at this point in my life.
for the least they could possibly do
That said, I still think I am partly right.
We as kids are told: be anything you want to be. And kids often come up with answers like astronaut, firefighter, pilot, doctor, nba player, football player etc...
But at a certain age, we are expected to leave all that behind, and get real. And thats sad to me. It shouldnt be like that, and I will never be like them. Them as in those people who think success and status are happiness. people who think that making money and fame and having a huge house and fancy car is something to strive for.
As kids, when we listen to music, the sky is limitless. Music saves us, takes us away, inspires us, makes us pissed off, makes us happy, makes us cry. And at a certain point people begin to turn to other things for said ways of feeling.
Kids are allowed to spend hours dissecting lyrics and feeling like music speaks to them. If they feel and act this way, it is excused by saying, "he or she is a teen" "he or she is a kid". But at a certain age, spending hours and hours dissecting lyrics and feeling like music speaks to you, isnt looked at as justifiable. Its called laziness. Its the actions of a slacker. People are told to get real jobs.
I guess its a matter of opinion, of values, of ideals. Some people seem to think having a job, makes a man out of you. It shapes you into an adult. That it somehow forces you to grow up. That you learn important skills.
I disagree and until my dying breath will disagree. For me, the act of going to work each day, at a job you hate, which is what the majority of americans do each day, for 40 plus years of their lives. Think abut that a second. Most people, spend the majority of their waking hours, and the majority of their adult lives, doing tasks for money, that they hate and despise. I dont want that life, and I never will.
At this point in my life, music is the deciding factor. Its the most important thing. I get more out of going to a show or listening on headphones to a good record, than I do out of most activities. work especially.
"Vinyl or not, you will need to pay someone to take RA of your hands" - Smile05
424, xxx
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huh??
I agree with alotta this, mainly b/c when I started settling down a bit my parents would ask when I was gonna quit wearin band shirts everywhere. When I asked them "what's the difference between band shirts or various sports team shirts?" I think they got the idea that I prolly wouldn't be changin my wardrobe anytime soon.
absolutely agree with this statement.
I don't think so. I think it's subject to fall by the wayside as a hobby as anything else.
Because when you get older and get real problems you realize the angst you felt as a teen was pretty absurd. You don't need a song to get through lameness. You realize your job is a dead end because everyone's job is a dead end and why spend your life moaning about it when you've got better things to do?
Listen...no matter what anyone has said, (and there have been a lot of different opinions)...
just look closely at the original statement being made here, which is:
"Adults do not listen to music as intensely as teens do."
Okay, bottom line, there is no way you can make that call!
That is a complete generalization to say adults don't listen to music as intensely as teens do.
No matter what ANYONE says, only YOU know how intensely music speaks to YOU and there are billions of people in this world, many of whom are bound to be older adults that love music very much and make it a part of their lives.
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbours start to gossip and drool
He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
And his tears fall and burn the garden green
I agree with this post 100%.
Are there not astronauts, firefighters, pilots, etc? If that's what you want to be, that's what you get to be should you pursue it (assuming you have the skills). When does a kid whowants to be a doctor has 'to leave it all behind and get real'? Is it wrong to want success? Is it wrong to work in order to have a nice home for your family?
To me looks like the problem with you is not music, but adult life in general!
Bingo. And threads like these are transparent generalizations attempting to rationalize his failure to grow up... so he dismisses anything he perceives as adult as some kind of soulless compromise. If it doesn't conform to his notion of how everyone should live, then it is wrong.