| | Joe,
I have a hypothesis -- a poor one, I immediately admit -- on which I'd like your feedback.
I've noticed in myself and others a tendency to enjoy music that reflects an era with which I (at least temporarily) identify.
As a young teen I enjoyed some rock. Later I re-discovered (first discovered Bach in 6th grade) Baroque and later moved on to Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saens, Ravel, Debussey and others, with whom I stayed for a long time. (While still enjoying, but listening less to Baroque).
Then I didn't listen to music very much for several years.
Later, I became a huge fan of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and others, less so.
In each case, to an extent, I identified emotionally with the era from which the music came. For a year or so as a young teen I was very much 'anti-establishment'. Later, I loved the rationality of the Baroque period, the romanticism of late 19th early 20th century Rach, etc and then later came to enjoy many of the movies, etc of the 40s, 50s, early 60s.
Probably this is entirely unoriginal, but I've not seen it much discussed. (Granted, I read almost nothing to do with music criticism, history, etc.) by the way, music was almost entirely absent from my home life growing up. Occasionally my mother would play a Mantovani or Andy Williams record, but I survived with a love for music firmly intact. In fact, in my late teens/early twenties I learned a couple of instruments, sang extensively -- even performed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion with a large choir, and later did some off-Broadway musicals in New York.
Your thoughts?
Jeff
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