How have your music tastes changed over time?

[Markness]

My music tastes have gone through quite an evolution since I really got into music in my teens.

I used to listen to mainly popular hard rock and nu metal such as Finger Eleven, Cold, Godsmack, and Sevendust but I also liked the classic rock my parents played around the house as well. Near the end of 2004, I started liking the NWOAHM bands like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Chimaira, Lamb of God, and Unearth. In 2005, especially after doing guitar lessons and reading more music magazines, I discovered some 90's metal like Helmet, Prong, Corrosion of Conformity, and Fear Factory that I still hold a passion for these days. I also started losing interest in the hard rock and nu metal bands I used to like because they started to sound boring to me. During 2006, I became really enthralled by death metal for some reason and those kinds of bands started to replace the metalcore bands I used to like. Eventually that music took a toll on my ears as well as my spirit (I have clinical depression and it was particularly rough during that period). While that sort of music did occupy a huge portion of my tastes, I did listen to bands like Mastodon, Clutch, Bad Religion, Godflesh, Melvins, Type O Negative, and Ministry so I started to look up like minded bands and realized they were really what I wanted to hear more of. I also started listening to the 90's bands again and discovered more that I either ignored or didn't hear of before.

So then, what was your musical taste evolution like?

[Avaitor]

When I first started really getting into music, I listened primarily to metal, and mainly became acquainted with the classics. Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, Dio, the big 4, Pantera, Motorhead, that kind of stuff. I didn't have a whole lot of appreciation for hair, and most nu bands left me cold, but I kind of faked a Slipknot phase to fit in with my friends, and I did and still do genuinely like SOAD. I really do like some hair bands now, but nu still doesn't interest me.

As I started to get more into metal in high school, I picked up on some of the more iconic, if lesser-selling bands like Death, Mayhem, and Carcass, and worked my way to death, black, doom, and grind alongside traditional, while my tastes in thrash became a little more narrow. I also became more appreciative of classic rock legends besides Zeppelin and Floyd by digging into the works of Clapton, Hendrix, The Doors, and Dire Straits, while reacquainting myself with some of my mom's favorites, such as the Stones, Petty, and Aerosmith, as well as grunge's big 4. But I didn't and still never got into every classic act- Queen, the Eagles, AC/DC and Joni Mitchell are some legends that I only have a varying appreciation for. I wouldn't say that there's anything wrong with any of these, though, although Mitchell and Brian Johnson's voices are a lot to take in.

I didn't really start getting into hip-hop, R&B, jazz, or funk until near the end of high school, as I really started to appreciate the attention to detail many of the artists in these wide genres brought to the table. For every couple of rock and metal albums that I listen to, I try to add at least one from this range in the scene in, be it something new, or a favorite like Mahavishnu Orchestra, A Tribe Called Quest, or of course Prince. And yeah, like many people, I reevaluated Michael Jackson's legacy after he died, and gladly own and spin some of his stuff on a consistent basis.

I kind of resisted punk and alternative when I first got into music, being strictly metal, but around the same time, this also changed. Although I'm very picky about both, and my tastes have changed. I was into pretty much any kind of alt music from the 80's in high school and early college, but I've grown out of a fair amount of this now. The Smiths, for instance, do just about nothing for me now, but at the same time, I still really like Sonic Youth and The Replacements. Modern indie, similarly, takes a lot for me to get into, but I do have my favorites. As for punk, I ate up as much as I could about the original 70's scene when I first got into it, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I ever liked the Pistols. I had a similar phase with the early hardcore scenes, and I similarly rarely listen to most of it, some favorites excepted. And I just never really got into pop punk.

Nowadays, part of me wants to say that I listen to whatever interests me, but I'd be lying if I said that metal wasn't a big part of my tastes. Aside from nu, industrial, and a lot of thrash, I eat up much of the scene, and try to keep as active as I can. But so far, few of my favorite releases from this year qualify as metal. I liked Megadeth and Sunn 0)))'s latest works, but they probably won't stay too high on my list by the end of the year. So far, my favorite albums are PJ Harvey and The Joy Formidable's latest, and I really appreciate Lemonade. And right now, I'm looking forward to the newest from The Kills, Nails, and SubRosa.

[Markness]

I liked some hair metal songs but it didn't last very long. What partly killed it for me was seeing that VH1 documentary "When Heavy Metal Ruled The World" and they only featured the hair bands and nothing else. Not even Iron Maiden, Dio, and Judas Priest appeared on there, IIRC. They also bitched and griped about grunge killing metal when metal did not die at all in the 90's since bands like Metalica, Pantera, KMFDM, Fear Factory, Ministry, Helmet, and so many others were popular during that decade. They also claimed hair metal was about having a good time when it was really about indulging in vices to forget about your troubles while bands like Prong and Corrosion of Conformity were about pushing through the walls.

I had a resistance to punk and alternative myself. I had a metal elitist outlook and some other metal elitists on music forums and some magazines would say punk sucked so I thought I was supposed to think the same but I later realized that it's up to me to decide what I like, not other people. The fact some bands I liked had punk influences helped me figure this out. Swans, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Black Flag, and Husker Du pulled me out of a musical slump in 2010. I personally think Johnny Rotten's post-Sex Pistols band, Public Image Ltd., are much better musically.

I don't care for hip hop/rap aside from certain old school tracks like the Humpty Dance and Rump Shaker. R&B never caught my interest. I've listened to some jazz albums from the library and, aside from War and Sly and the Family Stone, I've never heard a pure funk band, just bands who dabble into it like Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Infectious Grooves, and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Why do you not care much for industrial? Just curious.

[Avaitor]

Why do you not care much for industrial? Just curious.

The general sound doesn't do much for me. It's too crunchy, maybe?

I get annoyed by industrial acts more often than not, although I would say that there's some Ministry that I do like.

[Markness]

I saw Ministry on their C-U-LaTour when they came through Austin and it was a pretty damn good show. Al can't seem to decide whether he wants to retire Ministry or keep it going but I'm always up for new Ministry.

Give Godflesh and KMFDM some shots. You might like them.

[Avaitor]

I forgot to mention Godflesh? They're fantastic. KMFDM doesn't do much for me, though.

I did almost mention Neurosis, but I don't think that they really qualify. They're one of my favorites, though.

[Markness]

Late reply but whatever.

Neurosis are usually considered crossover/sludge but they have a similar attitude towards sound like industrial bands do. I actually finally got a copy of The Word as Law for relatively cheap ($50 but hey, that's better than paying $200 which was one of the other prices!) and it's a very underrated album. 1990 was a really interesting turn of a decade. It sounds like bands of that era were really trying to prove themselves and make something new.

[Mustang]

The good ole rebellion days I was listening to nothing but rap (with a splash of Michael Jackson). That was probably back when I was about 13-14. Growing up in Detroit and having a little clique (I won't say gang because it was only 6 of us. 3 boys : 3 girls) was a common trend back in the mid-late 90's so me and my boys were listening to a lot of Bone Thugs n Harmony, No Limit Records, Cash Money, Timbaland and Magoo (I don't recall if they ever had a group title when it was them, Missy, Ginuwine, and Aalyiah). I think we also dabbled into Ruff Riderz, Jay-Z, Outkast, Twista (I wasn't allowed to listen to 2-pac at the time lol)

I think when I got into high school I started opening up to a little more. While I always listened to Usher, he didn't really get played a lot until I got in the 9th grade. 10-12th grade was all Bone, Eminem and Cash Money. Yeah, my taste in music wasn't so great lol. I didn't really have much of an ear or appreciation for lyrics until I turned 25. There's a huge gap from 18-25 because I pretty much just stopped listening to music altogether. The rap game fell off (and my neighbor got a little more dangerous) and so I started going to church more and got into gospel music and opened up to a little bit of rock. I've always listened to R&B (never mentioned it because back then R&B we considered it to be a part of hip hop).

Being 32 now I listen to a bit of, umm, I won't say everything, but I am open to new things. However, this new stuff is just unbearable and I've grown to have a much deeper appreciation for old school music. So going from just rap to now my playlist consist of :

Gospel music (everything gospel I'm open to)
Michael Jackson (GOAT. I grew up listening to him)
Prince
Alicia Keys
Eminem
Ciara
Beyonce
Madonna (I think I have one of her songs)
Bon Jovi
Arianna Grande (2 songs, something bout her voice entice me, but shes not that good lol)
Black Eyed Peas
Outkast (Andre = GOAT)
T.I.
Run DMC
Sugar Hill Gang
LL Cool J
Ludacris
Hoodini
MOTOWN (growing up in Detroit and having no motown music is blasphemy. Anyone you can name I have at least 1 song of theirs)
Angela Bofill (can't remember if she was apart of motown)
Phyliss Hymen (oh man, her voice)
2 Pac
Mariah Carey
Bone Thugs n Harmony (it was a wrap when I first heard Thuggish Ruggish Bone. Also GOAT)
Evanescense
Fall Out Boy (maybe 2 songs)
Justin Timberlake
Usher
Chris Brown

Much more that I can't remember off the top of my head. For the most part I don't listen to much rap these days unless it's old school or you have a story to tell. So that pretty much eliminates about 95% of the rap game today. If Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole, T.I. or Pusha T (man, I have to rant about this guy) puts out something I'll give it a listen, but everyone else I'm passing on. I also try to listen to music that calms me down (I'm heated a lot these days which is why I have a lot of female singers and gospel)

[Markness]

I guess we are products of our environment to certain extents. It looks like you heard a lot of dance oriented music while I, on the other hand, heard more stringed instrument oriented music. I am from Texas after all. However, I can't stand modern pop country at all but Texans think it is God's gift to man. 

How do most people discover the music they like? Myself, I would read music magazines (Thank you, Guitar World! ) as well as do Google searching.

[Avaitor]

I check out magazines, as well. Decibel and Terrorizer are my personal go-tos, with the former being my favorite and my subscription. Terrorizer has some great articles in it, but like a lot of UK publications, gets a little too Euro-centric for my tastes, and can be ambivalent to American artists (Khemmis' new album, one of my personal favs of last year and Decibel's #1 album of 2016, didn't even crack their top 50, for instance).

I read Metal Hammer as well, but they're a little too mainstream for my tastes, and I question some of their choices (BMTH isn't metal...). I give them credit for their years of service, and that they do have a section for more extreme music. I also feel like we're on similar pages for classic acts- they do still feature Metallica heavily, but they're more interested in Maiden and Faith No More, which same. They're at least better than say, Revolver.

I also go through Iron Fist, but they're more interested in the legends than anything else. Which I am too, and they do talk about new acts, but most of them are retro-minded like Ghost or In Solitude, both bands that I love, but they're in there for a reason. That said, I've talked to their senior editor, and she's pretty cool. The staff seems fine, but I'm ultimately more interested in checking out what's new in the scene, rather than another tribute to Thin Lizzy or what have you.

I'll also check out New Noise, which focuses a bit too much on pop-punk and emo along with metal and punk for my tastes, and Guitar World, which has a couple of cool articles, but doesn't do as much for me, since I'm not a musician.

For non-metal prints, I don't read much. My taste in hip-hop doesn't always fit the critics, so I don't check much out in that regard, and I don't even bother on anything that focuses on top 40 stuff, Todd aside.

[Mustang]

I guess we are products of our environment to certain extents. It looks like you heard a lot of dance oriented music while I, on the other hand, heard more stringed instrument oriented music. I am from Texas after all. However, I can't stand modern pop country at all but Texans think it is God's gift to man. 

How do most people discover the music they like? Myself, I would read music magazines (Thank you, Guitar World! ) as well as do Google searching.

Nailed it lol.

In terms of discovery, when it comes to gospel my church brings in a lot of gospel artists and they sell their cd's and whatnot. Everything else is through Youtube.

[Commode]

Mostly listen to pop and country music these days.  Got really tired of listening to rock, so I rarely do anymore.  Really got immersed in country though, everything from Waylon Jennings to Tanya Tucker to David Allen Coe to Garth Brooks to Tim McGraw to Billy Currington to Brad Paisley to Maren Morris(my latest obsession).  There's just something about it I find relaxing, it's so chill.  Love putting on some country and drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette and kicking back.

Toby Keith can get fucked though, can't stand that dude.

[Foggle]

RED SOLO CUP I FILL YOU UP LET'S HAVE A PARTY

[Kiddington]

I unironically enjoy Ariana Grande -- 10 years ago, maybe even five years ago I wouldn't have dared. And for the most part I still don't really get into pop acts of that ilk, but I think she's fantastic and I will not hear otherwise (picture Avaitor/Demi, ala 2012). Go figure, the older I get the less refined my musical tastes become.

Other than that not a ton really, although there are a number of things I enjoyed as a kid I just find boring as hell. I went through an 80's phase at one point, and now stuff like AC/DC and Crue just put me to sleep. I still like a lot of 90's rock though. I don't feel like I'll ever tire of Pearl Jam, they're an all-timer for me.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I mostly listen to rockabilly and good '80s pop music (IE not Madonna and that sort of stuff) these days. A lot of early '00s rock music makes me cringe if I listen to it now.