This Is Why You Don’t Like New Music Past Your Teen Years

14 February 2018, 11:35

There is a reason why you still turn up your fave tracks from when you were in high school - and it is not just because they are all bangers.

If you are anything like us, you have probably had the same playlist of songs on repeat since you were 16 and have absolutely no intention of changing it any time soon.

Well, apparently there is a scientific reason why this happens. And its not just because they are all stone-cold bangers...

The New York Times recently published a piece using Spotify data which found that the average woman's musical taste is formed between the ages of 11 and 14 while the average man's is formed between 13 and 16. These ages are also, of course, when your brain and body are still developing too.

According to the article by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, we also experience a brief extra change in our music taste in our early twenties but this is only about half as influential as our teen listening.

In terms of specific songs studied, people around 40 years old have an affinity for 'Creep' by Radiohead which came out in 1993 while 60 year olds will happily get down to 'Let's Get It On' by Marvin Gaye from 1973.

The Killers - Mr. Brightside

Which explains why, for 28 year olds like this writer, it will forever be 2003/4 in our hearts. Now, somebody turn up 'Mr Brightside', 'Hey Ya!' and Take This To Your Grave.

What songs from your youth are you still jamming out to in 2018? Let us know over in the Facebook comments.