Listen to music.

That’s one of the reasons I spend a lot of time in forums like this. To keep up with the latest stuff.

But then the latest stuff started being hella weird and I still couldn’t follow it even knowing the origins and context of popular trends and now I’m grumpy about kids on my lawn. 😬

I just take older bands/artists that I like, and look up “artists similar to…” On Google, and start from there. Easy enough.

I think the difference is that as a kid music is forced on you from all kinds of sources: parents, friends, radio, etc. So you don’t realize how much time you actually spent just listening to new music.

As an Old, you probably don’t have nearly as much random exposure, i.e. you control when you listen to music now. Which means the answer to your question is that you have to consciously set aside time simply to listen to music. It may feel like a “waste of time” for each track you think is shit, but that’s just part of the process.

Good luck, and thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

You can only sort of ever keep up.

The main issue preventing you an Old, from finding more about people who are Young, is that the Young don’t exactly love the old filling up their spaces, trying to remain hip.

This is exemplified by the slow death of social networks as they grow in popularity. A new social network pops up, its quickly populated by the youth. Slowly, as it becomes more popular, Olds start creeping in, until there are so many Olds that the youth want to go somewhere else because they no longer have privacy.

When Mom and Uncle Jim are in the conversation, everything is suddenly less cool.

Happened to MySpace first, and it’s happening to Facebook right now. It’s basically ghost towns of people who will be dead soon.

We are limited because the youth will always want their own private spaces where they can truly be themselves without their weird expectations of the older generations. If you’re older with zero expecations for the youth, congratulations: you’re unusual, so don’t hold it against the youth that they assume you’re just another boring old person who is going to judge them for something. Most adults are out here judging them, so give them a break on assumptions they might make about you.

I used to keep up with music through YouTube channels, but even the ones I used to follow are aging up and soon enough those people I was listening to are Old now too, and they’re doing the same thing as me, trying to keep up with what’s hip and good.

I understand the desire to do so. New music is often so good, and I really get sick of people who act like the music they grew up with is the best in history. It’s not, and it never will be. Music is always growing and making music is more accessible than ever, which means its really exploding and evolving. There’s never been a better time to love music.

However, as Olds, we’re just going to miss a lot of what’s cool with the kids simply because we’re Olds. So much is just going to naturally be hidden from us.

https://everynoise.com/engenremap.html

I’m in my mid-40s and I love searching for new (and old) music. It makes me happy. Maybe I start with an artists I like and just go thru the rest of the label. You just have to break the habit of listening to the same thing and challenge yourself.

Honestly, just follow some Instagram meme pages or browse SoundCloud’s rap playlists. As a young person™️, this is how I’ve always found stuff, including xxxtentacion and lil peep when I was younger and they were both still around. If you’re worried about “invading” our spaces like the other comment says, I think that sentiment is changing. I’ve befriended some older peeps online just for having anime pfps and stuff lmao.

Bandcamp is nice, they have a curated genre section that updates frequently. College radio stations as someone mentioned, then just Shazam or whatever or look at their playlist online. I hate Spotify because it just gives you pop shit and doesn’t do anything niche or indie. There’s also SoundCloud, they make curated playlists of new stuff frequently. Sound cloud also has labels on there which curate some of their newest bands. It’s super easy to find niche indie labels I think. Lastly, look at lineups of local music spots. I used to listen to Deezer for finding non-US artists, but haven’t used it in a while since Bandcamp is kinda great about covering everywhere.

just let the algorithm feed you the cultural gruel

Switch to Classical music.

Just my opinion, but I feel like you’re far to concerned with being “current”. No offence.

I’m 48 and when I was younger I swore up and down that “I wasn’t going to be like my parents, stuck in my ways musically, blah blah blah.” But you know what, it doesn’t actually matter. Literally at all. It’s vapid pop culture stuff that in adult world, no one actually cares about. Your friends aren’t going to be your friends simply because you like the same music as them. You’re social circle isn’t going to rise and fall based on how “current” you are because outside of highschool, literally no one gives a damn.

Like what you like. Listen to what you want. and don’t worry about staying “hip” because the entire concept is subjective and meaningless in the actual day-to-day world. No one is going to shun you for not knowing what’s happening between Kendrick whats-his-face and The dude from Degrassi. And if they do, they’re not really the kind of vapid social media obsessed people you should be associating with at your age anyway.

Again…just my opinion.

Start dating a 19 year old.

You can’t, it’s over, let go.

Never take a break from culture. As soon as you take a year off you will be irrelevant. If that sound exhausting (it is) then congratulations; you have discovered why older people are never on top of pop culture.

Just listen to what you like, don’t be a creep