Whatever anyone may tell you about hearing music that absolutely floored them that happens less and less as you get older. But it's not because of the music itself.
Some recent studies have found that we connect most with the music we hear at age fifteen. That's what we'll always look back on wistfully, often with good reason. But if you stopped listening after that, it's highly likely you'll hear something new and have that same feeling.
And it's not simply that you haven't listened. It's also that the music has changed over time. One of the reasons it changes is that it's not done in a vacuum. There are artists who will hole up in a studio and seemingly out of left field release something that completely changes the game.
More often, though, it's that an artist releases something that's a little different and listeners respond positively to it. (Let's for the moment forget about the 90% of the time when they react negatively.) The artist is then encouraged to continue to make music in this vein, or even explore further.
Then other artists respond - either through being inspired or wanting to cash in - by producing something like what the first artist did. Suddenly you've got a trend that will either die out or in turn push someone else to try something a little different again, and so on. The music is evolving. (Just call me Jaybee Darwin.)
So what I'm saying is that there is a kind of dialog going on between artists and audiences, with the first group doing something the other group responds to positively. Over time the dialog is such that there are references or even "in-jokes" the artist is confident the audience will get.
And here (finally) is the critical part: If you drop out of the audience for a while, if/when you come back you might be bewildered by the sound. If however, you don't leave you might find these same sounds to be quite natural.
And if you liken it to participating in a conversation, it's like you're hanging out with friends talking and you step away for a while. When you come back it's unlikely they're talking about the same thing as before so you have to listen to get your bearings again.
With music those periods of stepping away can be years, what with life pulling and pushing at you.
And, man, when you come back it's jarring. I had a period in the early nineties when the kids were young so loud music was "counterproductive" to sanity, new music was replaced by diapers and formula.
By then, radio had discovered Classic Rock, and abandoned any pretense of playing anything new except in the strictest chronological sense. The internet was in its infancy. The best it had to offer was "Joe Schmo's All-Time Favorite Albums" on an AOL bulletin board. (Joe, by the way, likes Black Sabbath.) So I read about new music more than heard it.
My absence had an impact - the nineties are highly regarded for grunge, ska, etc. To this day I'm a bit cool to it all. I'm still not crazy about lo-fi guitars or white guys strumming off the beat.
The typical response might be a variation of "Kids These Days". But when you hear yourself saying things your mom and pop said - and I'm sure they were wonderful people - you should know you're in trouble.
But over time I worked my way back into the conversation.
But if you see this guy, don't even try:
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