Old People and New Music
There’s a lot of talk about the Psychology Today article on old people and new music. Here’s a piece I wrote in 1975 ( and slightly updated recently ) about the topic. This is arguable, and applies to the mainstream not musicians, hard core music fans or most of us in the industry as we all operate on a different musical orbit. So:
*16-20: Historically the music people like before 16 is fleeting. You kind of go through phases based on what’s cool at the moment. Might be looks…fashion…hot trends…peer pressure. Then around 16-20 you go into the “musically formative years” where you really lock into a sound. You get hyper critical. Things you don’t like tend to “suck”. When I was 16, there would be fist fights over who is a better: Cream or the Rascals. Before 16 I kind of went with the flow and, along with my friends was heavily into the top 40 hits of the moment. But come those formative years, music becomes a powerful personal statement. You passionately embrace the movement at the time. In the formative years of 16-20, you are somewhat locked into YOUR sound and movement. You evolve, but your roots are firmly planted in where you were musically 16-20. New music would need to be an evolution of your sound to gain traction. It’s YOUR sound. Take a 60 year old today, if that 60 year old is musically adventurous, I can guarantee you that he or she was into the “Album artists” of the early 70’s. If another 60 year old in 2020 was into Top 40 back in the 16 -20 years that person is likely into AC today. In other words, they didn’t suddenly at the age of 30 or 40 discover adventurous or progressive music if your roots aren’t there.
The musical architecture of a person is designed during those musically formative years. Back in the 70’s, we distributed “call back cards” where whenever someone bought an album we got a card with their name and phone # with the Album they bought. We’d then call them back a week later to find out what cuts they liked…and what they thought of the Album after living with it for a week. This was pretty effective in determining which cuts to play. Several years ago, we called people back (with about a 10% success rate) to see what they were into 20 years later. The 16-20 thing REALLY came into play as it was totally clear about peoples’ evolution musically and the power of the 16-20 years. It also led to the pretty obvious discovery of where certain Classic and oldies based stations on FM has failed itself. A person may have bought an album and really liked 4 cuts or even the entire album. Then it was researched it down to one cut, leaving many once popular cuts in the delete bin, creating the “enough already!” thing, where you ask “Do you like Free Bird?Answer: Yes! “Do you want to hear it again on the radio”? ‘No!–Enough already”–cant you find something ELSE to play by them? Our belief is that Classic Rock is about CAREERS not just SONGS and in many ways Classic Rock is like ANY music form that touches a generation in the 16-20 region. You need to deliver the complete package, not just a taste of the biggest pieces. The 16-20 thing also debunks the “music is for youth” thing. Yes–it STARTS with youth, but music hangs with you for life. I recall a major manager once telling me from backstage that “The kids are really loving the show”….Upon looking out at the audience the average age of “the kids” was about 40!
From a programming viewpoint, a station that targets under 16 is all about the moment…16-20 it’s all about being in the trenches and violently supporting and nurturing the tastes, over 20 it’s about celebration and evolution of the music that a listener is rooted in. Oh, and every generation tends to think the new sound is annoying. Just like my parents thought Cream was noise and their parents thought Jazz was noise. Important to have musical empathy as music is constantly evolving —like it or not. It’s ok because you have YOUR 16-20 and its evolutions just as new generations have theirs.
*Cult/Fringe: Every popular artist has two kinds of fans. Cult members are TOTALLY into the artist. They know the bass players’ name…they may travel 300 miles to see a gig. A Fringe fan likes the artist for the latest single. Cult artists are like Phish. Fringe artists are who ever has a streak of singles.
Then the ultimate commerciality are the artists who have a balance: U2, The Stones, etc… This is of course highly over-simplified but it’s an effective tool in determining the degree of exposure and depth an artist’s fans are best suited for. With a cult artist it’s insane to play “the hits”…these fans want to hear everything. On the other hand it’s doubtful there’s much demand for depth from a fringe artist as those fans crave the hit tracks and are pretty uninterested in the other tracks. The combination Cult/Fringe artists are the ones that you go nuts with across many channels–some focusing on the hits, others delivering the nuggets.
Music programming has in my opinion become this mindless game of numbers. There is SO much more to it. Every artist, every listener, every channel is different. Music programming is a complex issue. THAT’S THE PROBLEM today. Failure to try to understand the complexities involved in the PROGRAMMING of music . There’s a tendency to do everything the easy way–Play the hits…watch the other stations…apply the Top 40 principles to EVERY format. Ouch! That sucks. We may not have the answers yet but it’s a mission to understand what listeners want…knowing how far we can go before we get too cool for the room…UNDERSTANDING as much as we can about capturing the soul of every genre and delivering the goods FAN TO FAN not “Corporate Radio to Radio Consumer.”