You’re waiting at a red light in the drivers seat of your new Tesla. You used to hate red lights but now that you have a Tesla, they don’t seem to bother you. Everything feels like it’s clicked into place since you started making payments on this incredible piece of modern technology. How did you live with combustion engines for so long? Then it happens. Another middle-aged guy pulls up next to you on a Harley Davidson.
Clack-did-ee clack-did-ee clack-did-ee clack.
It’s repulsive really. The raw, barley controlled, cacophonous sputtering of the motorcycle’s engine stands out like a sonic monument to toxic masculinity and wars for oil. We have Teslas now, yet this caveman still prefers to get around on that. You know who he voted for. And is he listening to… Motley Crew?
I’ve noticed that most people don’t seek out new music. At least most adults don’t. Teens seek out new music but they have two huge reasons for doing so:
1) They are forming an identity. Music comes with a host of prepackaged associations to identify with. These associations can be conveniently advertised via blue tooth speakers, car stereos, phone speakers, etcetera.
2) There is a vacuum of preferences in their lives because they haven’t built a complete identity yet. Music is just a part of that. Fashion, politics, food, speach, they’re all grounds for exploration in a game of “Who Is Me”.
As adults, we have fully formed identities and preferences. We generally know who we are and what we like. So why would we look for new music when we’ve already found the music we like?
One reason is because of the Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. It’s the idea that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. 80% of sales come from 20% of clients, 80% of productivity comes from 20% of the workers, and so on. But this concept plays out in music, too.
Many books about songwriting stress that you want 80% of a song to be predictable with 20% of it being novel or surprising. The listener wants a song to feel familiar enough to be comfortable but novel enough to be exciting. Indeed, most games that are fun to play have a similar ratio of ease to challenge.
The thing is, what’s challenging to one is easy to another. We’re all at different levels so capturing a wide audience with a song requires the songwriter to write songs for the listening ability of the average person. I’m willing to bet that the average adult is generally more familiar with music and is harder to impress with novelty since there is less that they haven’t heard. For this reason, the normal popular music that floats around stops grabbing us like it did when we were kids. The hits may be new but they sound just like all the other hits, right?
That’s why adults don’t listen to new music. The easy access stuff gets boring and finding new music that gives you the correct 80%-20% ratio of familiar to novel is not what’s readily available on the radio or in the store. You have to seek it out. And the motivation for seeking is diminished in adults because they’re instincts aren’t driving them to create a new self-identity with music anymore.
More often than not, adults put on music that reminds them of when they were young and excited about music, listening to songs that give them the memory of excitement rather than new excitement. After all, you can hit play on an old favorite and feel good right now. Why search for days or weeks on end to find a new artist you might eventually fall in love with?
Finding new music (or at least new to you music) as an adult is more challenging. Here are three good ways to go about the search:
Ask friends what they are listening to.
Look for side projects from the band members of your favorite bands.
Check in on the events calendar of a reputable [enter genre] venue, even if you are in a different locale, and investigate the acts that sound interesting.
Note that I didn’t mention using apps. Playlists are okay for breaking into a new genre as a listener because they can introduce you to the staples of a cannon. But after that, forget it. “Your Daily Mix” playlists, or any playlists for that matter, come with all kinds of baggage. Either the algorithm is trying to guess at your 80/20 or the playlist is rigged. I find them to be frustrating.
However you decide to go about it, I think finding inspiration from new music is one of the best things in life. It’s a shame that so many grown ups seem to forget that. Instead, they derive pleasure from making payments on Teslas and Harleys. If that’s you, I mean no disrespect. I’m just saying that you could double your pleasure by listening to something new while waiting at the next red light.
(“Girls, girls, girls,…”)
I am lucky enough to have friends that are older and younger than I am. They recommend and curate new music, art, film, and television for me. It’s great!