the sun sets for a music snob

Recently I've lost interest in music.

It worries me a little, because I think I've climbed up and over a once-in-a-lifetime musical zeitgeist, and now I face the slow descent into squareness. I'm resigned to a fate of combing through my dearly-beloved CDs (yes, CDs) of the late 90s/early 2000s, and thinking over and over that Alice in Chains were maybe the best band ever?

But seriously, if you look at your parents, they probably went through their own period of musical discovery from their teen to college years (i.e., the 60s and 70s, boy music was really good back then, wasn't it?). And all the music that's come out since then has been, well...crap (what the hell do kids see in this soldier boy whatsihoosit?). Save for a few exceptions, of course: some new music is palatable (oh, who didn't like Coldplay) and some older folks continue to be receptive to new music (Dad, I don't want you to come to the concert!).

So, documented on this blog for the first time, a cold, hard look at the ups and downs of my musical heyday - that is, All The Music That Ever Really Mattered, And Will Ever Really Matter, To Me.

• 1995 - 5th grade - Obsessed with the angry, yet slumpy-shouldered and flannel-bedecked world of alternative and grunge. Remember the Violent Femmes? And Bush? And Stone Temple Pilots? And... (yes, yes, Nirvana. Whatever.)
  
• *1997 - Jr. High - Brought back to mainstream hip-hop by that indomitable trio Biggy, Puff Daddy and Ma$e, and their persistent attack on school dances.
• *1999 - High school freshman - For some reason got really into electronic music here. Trip-hop, trance, drum and bass, whatever, you name it. Maybe the allure of the rave scene? Or those really big pants that looked so comfortable?
• *2001 - Jr/Sr in High school - Forced to get into local music and some heavier rock/metal outfits by the highly elitist band guitarist boyfriend of that time. I still cannot let go of A Perfect Circle and the Deftones even though...what the hell have they done since then?
  
• 2003 - College - No longer under the thumb of a band-boyfriend, needed something to fill the elitist void. Took college-indie influence from my roommates and got really into finding new indie rock, underground hip hop, and electro(clash?). Thank you, internet. Got very into full-album downloads.
• 2005 and on - Quite listless. Have resorted to downloading the year-end best album lists from pitchfork and the like. The last albums I really liked were from The Knife and Spank Rock, sigh.

* periods that I'm not real proud of.

Anyway, it looks like my personal Golden Era of music was '95 - '05. I'm hoping that by writing this I'll inspire myself to stay open, but honestly all the new music I'm listening to this year is falling on deaf ears. Then again, I've been listening to pretty obscure stuff...maybe the pendulum is just swinging back to the mainstream? I mean, I can't get enough of that fucking umbrella song!

You know, if I became a legitimate cognitive researcher, I could run fun side experiments on trivial issues like these. Or, if I actually wanted to make some money, I could ask: does this decade-long zeitgeist (that I think a lot of people share) coincide with some kind of cortical developmental period? Hmm.