While there is a surprising amount of the younger generation’s music that can be enjoyed by all, regardless of age, older people eventually lose their emotional and musical connection to that which is hip and new and they settle down to enjoy the tried and true. But that does not mean that all older people reject all of younger people’s music! Even young people do not accept all of young people’s music.

It is true that, sometimes, the younger generation’s more edgy or niche genres of music can be downright awful and annoying to many, and that is why older generations will lay down the law and will forcibly resist listening to it.

Newer, synthesized music can set the teeth on edge when a person prefers acoustic instrumentation. Screaming of unintelligible lyrics adds to the torture when the hearing is beginning to go.  Artists who are odd or extreme stylistic creations may simply not be romantic figures in the eyes of older people.

Music represents romance, a social statement or something profound in life. The most serious effects of music happen in youth. Youth music has always been about the benefits of knocking down boundaries, gaining independence, exploring love and testing the system. Older people may not be overly interested in testing any more boundaries or in being given too much more wisdom.

Older people lose the ability to hear higher tones. “Bubblegum”, or pre-adolescent music can also have uncomfortable levels of high-pitched synthesized tones and simplistic, poppy rhythms that are more annoying than enjoyable. Having lived through that stage of life, older people are either not  interested in revisiting the simple understandings of life or they find that the younger ones should be free to make their own memories of juvenile life.

There is a natural break between the generations of music. As people progress through stages of life, they progress through stages of the music that they like to hear. At some point, there is a major lack of desire or need to listen to just anything from the newest styles and expressions of music.

All of that being said, there are many, many new and young artists who are creating music that is the best that has ever been done. There is new music in many genres that “older” people love to listen to and to add to their collections. There are young artist who do creative new covers of classic songs and oldies in every genre that will always be a treat for older minds and ears.

So it’s not a total or complete rejection of young people’s music at all. There are just the usual human tolerances, intolerances, likes and dislikes that anyone, including the young, have when choosing to enjoy some music.