What music from your youth do you still listen to now? Of this music, which ones do you listen to primarily for nostalgic reasons? Which ones seem like they’ve stood the test of time–i.e, you feel like the music is actually good in some “objective” way?
I’d like to know your response to this prompt first before I offer mine.
Music that I still enjoy
Hall and Oates. I must say that the performances from Live from Daryl’s House is a big reason for this. That is, I might be choosing them specifically for the performances on the show, more than the original songs.
Toto
Michael Jackson (mainly music from Off the Wall and Thriller)
Al Jarreau I’m really liking the music that didn’t get a lot of air time.
Others: Anita Baker, Sade, Basia.
Music I don’t listen to
Billy Joel, Madonna, Lionel Richie
Actually, I was more interested in your responses to the follow-up questions: Of this music, which ones do you listen to primarily for nostalgic reasons? Which ones seem like they’ve stood the test of time–i.e, you feel like the music is actually good in some “objective” way?
I didn’t know you listened to Madonna when we were in high school. What would you have called peak Madonna?
Honestly, I don’t spend a lot of time listening to music for nostalgia, but I have a playlist of 80s songs, I go to when I want that. In general, I would choose songs that I don’t have a desire to listen to on a regular basis. Off the top of my head, I’d say groups like Nu Shooz, Expose, Bobby Brown, Go West, might be a few groups that would be on there.
I think a lot of the music I listen to now (i.e., the first list) would qualify.
“Listened” in the sense that I enjoyed her songs on the radio, not in the sense of buying her albums and really being into her. Of her music I like the (dance) stuff in the mid-80s, more than the later stuff (e.g., “Like a Prayer,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” etc.)
I’m interested in what you had in mind with this topic, which is why I asked for your response first. How interested are you in re-examining this music? I know you resist nostagia for its own sake (and maybe for other sakes as well), so what inspired the question?
For the music that you think has “stood the test of time,” you give a few examples but it’s just a short list. Are you interested in exploring what that’s about? I’m here for it, since it’s kind of in my wheelhouse, but I’m reluctant to go into a deep dive if you’re not going to go there first.
Do Billy Joel, Madonna, and Lionel Richie make the second list because they haven’t stood the test of time, or is it that they’re not “objectively” good? Or have you changed as a listener?
I’ve been listening to, and liking, Al Jarreau lately, and started checking out Chaka Khan. The degree to which I liked the music stood out, and that’s partly what made me think of this thread. By “re-examination” I don’t mean a rigorous analysis–just a discussion about the music we grew up with, involving the music that we still listen to and the reasons for this. To what degree does does this involve the “objective” quality of the music? Etc.
Sure…although this seems like a loaded question, as if you have some other meaning–e.g., forensic dissection of the topic. I’m interesting in talking about the matter–that’s why I started the thread. ?
I’m not sure about the first two questions. With Joel, I have a harder time judging the objective quality of the music. Madonna and Ritchie–some of the music just doesn’t seem as objectively good to me.
That’s definitely the case. But whether my listening/tastes have improved or not–and that’s the reason I don’t like some of this music–that’s another matter.