What do teen-age and young men listen to nowadays?

[Dick Whitman]

I've been thinking about this, having been exploring some new rock acts in recent weeks. There's some good stuff out there. None of it ever seems to hit the mainstream. "Rock 'n' roll is dead." Etc.

Some of you probably have teen-age boys or 20-somethings. What the heck do they listen to? Bro country? Rap?

 

[Moderator1]

My son will be 33 in July so he's probably out of the range you're seeking - but he listens to EVERYTHING and then some, as do all his friends. Current rock, classic rock, bro country, classic country, rap. You name it. He throws his playlist on, there's no telling what you'll get.

I've been to Foo Fighters with him three times and Rise Against once. We've also gone to see The Time Jumpers (Vince Gill and some Nashville studio artists who are excellent) and Asleep at the Wheel. Going to see AATW again in October. He's been to countless country shows and is going to see RDGLDGRN twice in June.

If it is music, he digs it and I get the sense that's the same for a lot of the younger set. Which is a good thing.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

They don't listen to their mothers. You can ask my wife.

 

[JC]

Their dicks.

 

[JRoyal]

I have two teens, one 15 and one 19. Mumford and Sons. Twenty-one Pilots. Coldplay is big with my sons, too. The 1975 is one my son's friends listen to. I've never heard of them, though.

 

[Songbird]

The pink-haired player on my softball team is into Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco etc etc.

 

[dixiehack]

I've only had a teenager (thank God AP dropped the hyphen long ago) for two months, so I don't think he's a representative sample. Pentatonix is his favorite, but mostly he just wants it left on the Top 40 station in the car. Meh.

 

[SFIND]

Mumford and Sons is big with teens around here (they had a huge concert nearby a couple of years ago that shut down an entire town for a weekend, and I mean that literally). Sam Smith seems big now with the kids I talk to, and of course Taylor Swift is (a player on a team I cover skipped a game to go see a nearby concert). I live in a rural area (aka too much country music), and they tell me Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton are popular names I recognize. I find most modern day teenage have very wide music tastes. It's funny when I ask kids about music they like, I never hear any rappers, but I see so many of the kids (including redneck softball players) rap all the time. Of course, they may not tell me because they think I don't know who'd they be talking about (and they'd be right), or they don't want the sports writer publicizing for their family to see that they like a guy who sings about getting high after "forking that bench" (or whatever rappers sing about).

I'm about Moddy's son's age, and I doubt I have 10 songs on my MP3 recorded after 1990. You can probably some up my tastes as oldies and classic rock genre. Lately it's been a lot of The Band... You Don't Know the Shape I'm In, Rag Mamma Rag, Unfaithful Servant, Up on Cripple Creek, etc.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Boys 16 and 14. Green Day is their favorite. The 14-year-old is into Motley Crue right now. Neither has much interest in music from the last three years.

Music doesn't mean nearly what it did anyway. There's no such thing as shutting the door to your room and listening to a new album. It's more ambient noise.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Mumford and Sons is big with teens around here (they had a huge concert nearby a couple of years ago that shut down an entire town for a weekend, and I mean that literally). Sam Smith seems big now with the kids I talk to, and of course Taylor Swift is (a player on a team I cover skipped a game to go see a nearby concert). I live in a rural area (aka too much country music), and they tell me Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton are popular names I recognize. I find most modern day teenage have very wide music tastes. It's funny when I ask kids about music they like, I never hear any rappers, but I see so many of the kids (including redneck softball players) rap all the time. Of course, they may not tell me because they think I don't know who'd they be talking about (and they'd be right), or they don't want the sports writer publicizing for their family to see that they like a guy who sings about getting high after "forking that bench" (or whatever rappers sing about).

I don't think that rappers sing about that kind of stuff any more.

I'm about Moddy's son's age, and I doubt I have 10 songs on my MP3 recorded after 1990. You can probably some up my tastes as oldies and classic rock genre. Lately it's been a lot of The Band... You Don't Know the Shape I'm In, Rag Mamma Rag, Unfaithful Servant, Up on Cripple Creek, etc.

I fell into that rut, too. But finally I was like, "How many times can I really listen to 'Exile on Main Street' and 'Nevermind,' rinse, repeat, in a given week?"

I've discovered some pretty good bands lately, just picking up some of the music mags at Barnes & Noble. There's a band called the Broken Witt Rebels that plays some really bluesy but rocking stuff. A band called Mr. Boogie that is terrific and fast. And a country/Southern rock band named Black Stone Cherry that I'm enjoying, as well.

I was actually pretty surprised at how much good rock is being made right now. I mean, it's all pretty derivative. But at least it's not "Pearl" for the 30th time this year.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Any of you guys listen to Springsteen?

 

[Vombatus]

What do teen-age and young men listen to nowadays?

What is... teenage and young women bitching at them?