Oldies But Goodies: What music do you listen to these days?

Going through high school, heavy metal was the big thing. Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Metallica, etc. I didn’t listen to much of it (except Manowar, just to be different), staying more with progressive rock (Rush, Yes, Moody Blues, Hawkwind, etc).

Then I moved on to punk, hardcore, and thrash.

Now that I’m older (and wiser) I have started listening to the heavy metal bands that I had eschewed earlier. I’m finding out that Iron Maiden is, really, a good band and I’m enjoying their work quite a bit. I’ve also decided to check out some of the black metal and so-called “Satanic” metal, like Venom, Slayer, etc.

It all seems so tame now.

My favorite bands will probably always be Nomeansno and New Model Army, with an honorable mention for Died Pretty.

When I was growing up I always thought it was mandatory to start listening to Muzak or big band music once you reached a certain age, but I can see myself in the old age home blasting out some Rush, Dead Kennedys, or GWAR.

I didn’t grow up in the 50s, but Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You always mellows me out. Pretty sure it was a top proposal/wedding song back in its days, like it still is in the video.

I grew up in the 60’s and came of age in the mid-to late 70’s. I love classic rock, oldies ( 50’s, early 60’s ) bluegrass, jazz, blues and the 90’s produced some superb sound. Nix the 80’s, a few good tunes, but that is one decade that is not very “note”-worthy. lol
My daughter is 24 and she has been turning me onto all sorts of stuff the last handful of years, I have millions of songs and albums on my computer thanks to her. :-)

Although a teenager, I am in love with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Frankie Valli, Percy Sledge, and Sam Cooke. You can’t keep up with them now that they’re dead, but I like listening to them.

I grew up listening to 60’s and 70’s music because that is what my parents listened to all the time. These grew to become my all time favorite decades for music and especially the 70’s…..which I think is some of the best music ever created. Period. I also like some 80’s music because that is what I heard quite a bit during my high school years in the early to mid-80’s. My favorite bands, as an adolescent and ever now, are Fleetwood Mac, Electric Light Orchestra, and the Doobie Brothers. Additionally, I started listening to Jazz later in life because it is something my mother introduced me to and it is now a very appealing genre of music for me.

I rarely buy new music these days because virtually everything I already wanted I was able to find and add to my iTunes and my iPod. I haven’t bought any new CD’s in years because I can play my iPod over my car stereo and through a docking station at home and work.

Paul McCartney just put out an album (okay… a CD…) called Kisses On The Bottom, which is a collection of old standards. I haven’t gotten it yet, but I liked what I have heard so far.

I like just about everything but cool jazz and rap. Grew up first listening to my dad’s Dixiland jazz, big band/swing and music of mom’s like Barbara Streisand, Tom Jones and Herb Alpert, later the older sibling’s music like Canned Heat, The Beatles, Traffic and The Animals, then local bands like the Cars, Aerosmith and Boston, and other classic rockers like The Who, Led Zepplin, Jethro Tull, Foreigner.
These days I listen to an ecclectic mix, like Jason Mraz, Green Day, Pink, Nickleback. Right now I’m listening to Mumford & Sons.

I grew up listening to the rock of the 60s and 70s, which I still like. I love classical music. I love jazz.

I listen to whatever takes my fancy at the moment.

I have worn the tuner knob off my FM radio, while searching for the good music of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. One station, in Nashville, has finally discovered that the only music worth playing is music of the oldie generation. In a recent survey, this station was No. 1 listened to by more people than any other station in my city.

Some people still appreciate the good sounds of my generation, even the youner folks.

Lets face it, there is no good music out there anymore, unless its on an oldies station.

Let’s assume you grew up through the 50’s and beyond.
Born in that glorious decade know as “The 80’s”. What? Twas glorious!

What music do you keep up with these days?
I’m not sure if I keep up with any music. I get what I like when I come upon it and I try to know when musicians and bands I already like put out new stuff.

What music are you purchasing?
The last music I bought was a handful of songs by The Heavy.

What was your favorite band as an adolescent and what became your all time favorite band as an adult?
uh… as an adolescent I was super into grunge, particularly Alice in Chains.
Now, I’d probably have to say Tom Waits. The dude is ten kinds of awesome.

@Coloma “Nix the 80’s, a few good tunes, but that is one decade that is not very “note”-worthy. lol”

I beg to differ, The underground scene in the 80’s is the best I know of. The Birthday Party, The Cramps, Violent Femmes, Big Black, Jesus Lizard, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, Butthole Surfers, Einsturzende Neubauten, Pulp—there’s a lot of good stuff if you know where to look.

@john65pennington “Lets face it, there is no good music out there anymore, unless its an oldies station.”

Not so! And frankly, the music you like best is a massive influence on a lot of today’s music. The Heavy clearly has a boner for Howling Wolf and Screamin Jay Hawkins. Amy Winehouse was classic R&B all the way, Melody Gardot classic jazz and Antony & the Johnsons…well I’m not sophisticated enough to recognize this band’s musical heritage. And Plan B…I mean come on. There’s so much love for old music in today’s music.

God, show me someone that says none of the new music is any good and I’ll show you someone that has stopped looking for good music.

Um, I was only allowed to listen to Country and Christian music growing up..
I tell you that I love Joan Jett. More than..most things.

I was going to say anything, but I decided to keep that in reserve, just in case.

@LezboPirate My sympathies. My mom use to wake my sister and I in the morning to contemporary Christian music. It’s pretty bad to start with but add the irritation of having your sleep disturbed by it every day and you’re now culitvating a deep abiding hatred.

I was born in the 50’s, and yet I have kept up with the music and not let myself get stuck in the past. Right now, I love “Dem Jeans” and “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” In the 80’s I loved Abradabracadabra, Walk Like an Egyptian, Wild Wild West. And in the 90’s I liked the 90’s music, just like I had favorites in the 60’s and 70’s. Remember “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.” And “War” (huh! What is it good for – absolutely nothin’) I guess I just love any music that has a good beat.

@fundevogel . . . way in to rain dogs right now

FTR I went to high school in the eighties. I was the long hair listening to Zeppelin, Floyd, and The Beatles while everyone else was growing their bangs and nodding to The Cure. I did really dig The Dead Kennedys at that time.

I never really cared for Bob Dylan when I was younger but have begun to listen to him and finally “get it”. I have also gone back to CCR, The Zombies, Buddy Holly, Simon & Garfunkel, Sly and The Family Stone, James Brown, Al Green, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and Captain Beefheart to name a few.

The Cult just came out with a new LP. I heard one track so far and liked it.

@Jude The Cult? Or Cults? jw!

@Blondesjon Excuse me if I’m trying to pick your brain I’m just super intrigued because I do like the Cure but I didn’t grow up on them. Were they the “cool” band to listen to when they came out?

The Cure (as well as Depeche Mode, The Smiths, and New Order) was cool when they came out because they weren’t Poison, The Scorpions, or a million other “let’s rock & roll & fuck & tease our hair” bands that were so popular at the time. I didn’t really start to listen to them until I went back in the early 90’s to see what I was missing. Turns out I was missing a lot.

@Blondesjon I see, were you raised in America? I wonder what it would have been like to have a bunch of new wavers from England invade the American radio! For me, I had to follow bands through the internet to get what I liked, the closes thing to a British invasion for my generation I’d say were the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Amy Winehouse to name a few… But all different sounding. Cool man, appreciate all your answers all!

I buy zero music, and rarely listen to any, either. It may be because I am slowly going deaf, and I can barely hear my family talking to me.

Born in the nineties, here! Lately, I’ve been on another Pink Floyd kick. I got the Wish You Were Here boxset as a gift and have been listening to it quite a bit. It’s never sounded better, and the alternate takes and unreleased songs are killer. I don’t listen to a lot of modern music, I was mostly raised on 60’s and 70’s rock. The only bands I keep up with are The Shins and Foster the People. And I recently hopped on the Odd Future bandwagon.

I was born in ‘96 but I love older music, it’s truer. My favorite band is either the Doors or Nirvana (depending on what mood I’m in). I LOVE Buddy Holly too. My favorite era for music is the Vietnam era, specifically ‘68. I really like Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, Jefferson Airplane, Motley Crue, and a bunch of others. I’m not really into modern music, a lot of it is way too fake and computer generated.

@likipie You know there’s a pretty rich folk and alt-country scene right now.
There’s also folktronica. oh yeah.

I like a lot of new folk music, newgrass, and all sorts of acoustic music. Alternative is another term that includes things that are hard to categorize. Things that are hard to categorize are usually more interesting to me.The lyrics are important to me. I listen to some jazz and some classical but not as often.

Some Oldies I like: The Eagles, Crosby,Stills Nash and Young, The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, The Byrds, lots of soul and Motown too numerous to mention.
For Jazz I love Keith Jarrett’s newest album, Changeless, Melody Gardot, Norah Jones, Sarah Vaughn, and McCoy Tyner.

For alternative groups I like Freelance Whales, Angus and Julia Stone, Alela Diane, Blind Pilot, The Civil Wars, Augie March and my newest purchase Lana Del Rey. There are many more!!!
I even will admit to liking some country such as Lucinda Williams and Bonnie Raitt.

I tend to listen to the new music more but now and then I am in the mood for oldies. I love finding new artists!
I totally agrree with what fundevogel said above:
“God, show me someone that says none of the new music is any good and I’ll show you someone that has stopped looking for good music.”

I was born in the Nineties, but I grew up listening to whichever music my mom and sister played (they usually compromised with The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel, and N*Sync and Britney Spears, so i had a pretty conflicted childhood), and then eventually grew into my own rhythm of music with psychedelic/progressive groups like Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues and The Doors, and folk rock, like Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Neil Young, and then there’re other assorted genres like the jazz music Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the classical music of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Bach, and then bands-I-like-despite-their-respective-genre-being-only-alright like Nirvana and The Beach Boys; also, holy fuck, this is one sentence.

@fundevogel I have been looking into the more modern folk like music and indie as well. I really like the Avett Brothers. And I like Bon Iver too, although I’m not really sure what I would consider his music to be.

@likipie excellent, I’m glad you’re finding stuff you like.

@fundevogel Thank you!