Music tastes: Nature vs Nurture

[Martin-O2]

Hi everyone, 

A recent research by O2 and Westminster University reveals that the music children hear as they grow up is linked to their openness to new activities and experiences in later life. 

 Listening to a wide variety of music as a child, with an emphasis on reggae and classical music, is linked to being more open to experiencing new things later in life!

The research, conducted by O2 in conjunction with Catherine Loveday, Neuropsychologist at Westminster University, showed that children exposed to a variety of music when younger are more likely to be more adventurous as adults.

If you're interested in reading more details from this study, have a look here ⬇️

More info

What’s more, the research revealed that the extent to which people were willing to try new things varied depending on the different types of music genres that they listened to whilst growing up.   Over a quarter (27%) of people whose parents listened to reggae would be open to trying new things, with a fifth (20%) of those who listened to classical music at an early age also open to new experiences, such as sporting activities, different clothes and even hairstyles. 

But those who heard music genres such as heavy metal and soul around the house as a child seem to be far less adventurous as adults. Only 4% of people who heard these genres while growing up said they are open to trying new things and experiences now. 

However, the impact that music can have on shaping our outlook extends beyond music genres with the research highlighting how the age at which we experience our first live gig also has an influence on how adventurous we are as we get older. Over half (57%) of the millennial age-group went to their first gig or live music experience by the age of 13 – with a third (33%) doing so in the care of their parents. This is compared with just 15% of those aged 55 and over who went to a gig by the time they were 13, with almost half (46%) waiting until they were over 18.

The ages of four to six are significant, with a third (33%) of those who went to their first live music experience in this age bracket saying they often try new things, compared to just 9% of those who waited until they were over the age of 22.

They are also more likely to want to attend regular gigs as they get older, with four in five (81%) of those that experienced live music at a younger age wishing they could attend gigs at least once a month now. Conversely only a third (34%) of those who waited until they were over the age of 22 to experience their first gig are keen to regularly attend live music events now.

Reinforcing the concept that the earlier we listen to music, the more adventurous our music palette is likely to remain as we get older, the research showed people are at their most “open eared” between the ages of 24 and 35, with nearly half (45%) of that age group saying they are now very likely to listen to a wide range of music. 

The range of music you listen to when you’re younger also has an impact on the music you’re most likely to listen to in later life. For those who say they heard a diverse range of music growing up, their top 5 genres today, across all ages, are:

Hip Hop (82%)

Drum and Bass (81%)

Reggae (80%)

Punk Rock (79%)

Dance Music (77%)

Whilst for those who said they had only a limited range of music played growing up, their top 5 genres today are:

Folk (27%)

Classical Music (26%)

Rock (25%)

Pop Music (25%)

Soul (23%)

What are your thoughts on this? Did you grow up listening to a wide variety of music, or did you explore more genres later on in life? Can you relate to the findings of this research?

Let us know in the comments!

[liggerz87]

I'm 31 listen to jazz classical and metal lol and also open to try new things only because I would class myself as a fetishist lol

[Cleoriff]

When I was growing up I listened to all sorts of music...(some of which caused raised eyebrows by my parents)

I was into all genres except jazz and country. I am totally happy that now I have a wide ranging eclectic taste in music.

It also helped that I had two sons whose taste in music was extremely wide ranging. As they grew, so did my musical experiences.

Luckily they were never into extreme heavy metal but did like weird and wonderful stuff. This included dubstep, punk rock, some rap artists (mainly Eminem) PWEI, GBOA.

It was through them I grew to love The Prodigy. Friends of my age think I'm mad, but I can safely say, I'm not stuck in the 60's

I would totally agree that children who attend festivals are more open minded and willingly to try new things. My grandaughter is 7 and has been to Glastonbury twice and Bestival. She is so willing to try everything.

Not sure I agree with the last set of findings. I cross over between the two. The ones highlighted in red, are those I like best...(So maybe I can't be categorised?)  For instance, age has to be a factor in these findings. I am quite/very old (lol) and I don't think the study considered that?

"The range of music you listen to when you’re younger also has an impact on the music you’re most likely to listen to in later life. For those who say they heard a diverse range of music growing up, their top 5 genres today, across all ages, are:

Hip Hop (82%)

Drum and Bass (81%)

Reggae (80%)

Punk Rock (79%)

Dance Music (77%)

Whilst for those who said they had only a limited range of music played growing up, their top 5 genres today are:

Folk (27%)

Classical Music (26%)

Rock (25%)

Pop Music (25%)

Soul (23%)

[gmarkj]

I had a limited music set from home but wider through friends.
Of those genres listed by @Cleoriff, I would say only reggae, folk and classical are ones that I would actively avoid (ie, change station/skip song) while the rest are ones that I would choose.
For instance - I have a USB stick in my car that has music by One Direction (Pop), Black Stone Cherry (Rock), Cinematic Orchestra (similar to classical), Prodigy (Drum and Bass/Dance), Skrillex (Drum and Bass) and Queen (Rock) on it.
This is not an exhaustive list - I think there are > 3,500 songs on it...

[Glory1]

Growing up I heard the likes of Perry Como, Sammy Davis, Jr, Dean Martin plus real down home country music from The Grand Old Opry. Also gospel music, thanks to my dad.

When I was about 10 came rock'n'roll which I took to like a duck to water. Then there was soul and r&b. When I got to age 12 I heard, and actually listened to, my first classical piano concerto. It was during a class in school and so began my love of classical music  

I can't say when I first heard New Orleans and 20s jazz but I was quite young and fell in love with it too. Modern jazz leaves me cold, I'm afraid.

At some point in my life, again when quite young, musicals entered my life. Love'em.

Then came the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and the whole British music scene which lead to my love of all things British. That finished with my eventual move here nearly 50 years ago!

Later came Reggae, Rock, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop, and Rap, to name a few.

So basically I grew up with music, with my tastes broadening as I got older and heard more. I love music from classical to rap and just about everything in between. Nurture certainly played a part in my loving music but I think nature played a bigger part in broadening my musical tastes. I love music and always, always have some music on during the day; even when I'm posting on here 

I should also mention that the choice of music you could hear on the radio and TV was more limited when I was growing up in New York in the '50s/early '60s. Though amazingly I did get to watch Oh Boy in New York when about 13/14. How we got a British Pop show I've no idea but we did and I became a Cliff Richard fan from that show and remain one today!

[Mi-Amigo]

My early memories of music are my parents playing old 78s classical music on a wind-up gramophone!

From what I can recall, this bored me rigid.

When I was 11, due partly to my begging and pleading, my dad bought be a little Dansette record player for my birthday and my mum and gran bought me some 45s. I found out, having saved up my pocket money and buying an album, that the record player was too small to play it.

As for musical taste? That grew through two major influences - The Beatles and the music played on Radio Caroline. As I got older, I started listening to music which influenced the Beatles and new sounds on the radio. I "identified" with the whole hippy era, and got into rock music, which led to me going to gigs and festivals.

Whether the music I listened to, and still do, has had an effect and made me who I am, I will leave for others to judge.

A very interesting subject.

[Cleoriff]

I must admit I disliked classical music when I was growing up (as I said earlier)

However, when 'new' composers started to write film scores, I liked a lot of those.

Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lone Ranger, Batman etc etc etc)

John Williams ( Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, ET, etc etc etc)

Brian Tyler (Iron Man 3, Avengers Age of Ultron, and of course the new F1 theme song)

[Martin-O2]

I'm the same as most of you. I've found my musical tastes have broadened as I've got older. In my teenage years it was mostly drum and bass/hiphop but these days I listen to dance, rock, classical, movie sound tracks and pretty much every genre depending on my mood. 

[welshsteve76]

I grew up listening to all sorts, but mainly guitar based music.  My uncle would listen to Black Sabbath, classic rock stuff such Free etc, Ultravox, Visage, Pink Floyd, as well as glam rock such as Sweet, T-Rex etc. So I was exposed to a lot of that kinda music growing up.  My mother would listen to Moody Blues most of the time.

I grew up in the 80s, and also watched TOTP a lot so lots of stuff like Human League etc, and 80s rock (Bon Jovi, Europe, Whitesnake)

In my teens I got into metal, along with mates, then into indy rock and bripop stuff when I started learning guitar (easy to play along to). 

As I've got older my musical tastes have broadened, and my phone is full of all sorts of stff now.  From Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd, through classick rock and metal, 80s stuff (see above), mod stuff like the Jam. Dance stuff liek Prodigy, Fat Bay Slim etc.  But my main love is heavy rock, metal and blues or southern rock (Metallica, Alter Bridge, Trivium, Black Stone Cherry, Cadillac Three, Black Sabbath, Slipknot, Foo Fighters etc)

So I think nurture is a lot to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Family Favourites on the wireless which lived in the dining room of my family's home underneath a boxy Phillips tv ... I still have that tv table in my home 

Pick of the Pops on a Sunday afternoon on the newly formed Radio 1

Started taping music off those radio programmes on a big reel to reel Phillips tape recorder ... my dear dad Roy showed me how to fade in and fade out trying to eliminate the disc jockey's blurb over the beginning and particular ending of a song 

Started dancing aged 7 ... 1st dance was the Veleta to 'The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen' by Jimmy Shand & his Band

Dad bought a stereogram for the lounge ... so ... was able to play lp's ... mainly dancing albums eg Bert Kaempfert + Joe Loss & his Orchestra bought by my dad for all the family to practic / se to

1st album I bought was the Beach Boys Greatest Hits ... = ... Barbara Ann was a track on it = we danced the jive to it at Jayne Tomelty's School of Ballroom Dancing ... at the dancing school, because it was a venue in the evening particularly on a Friday night for popular dancing of the day eg Rock & Roll we danced to lots of pop music as the slide control could be used to alter the tempo ... most often us little kids in dancing class on a Saturday morning gathered about the large blood stain usually in the centre of the ballroom whilst George the caretaker buffed the superior wooden dance floor for us to glide upon

Baby Boomer that I am = 60's Music is my favourite naturally ..... I have only 1 classical lp = Gustav Holt: The Planets ... My husband introduced me to the likes of Cream / Led Zeppelin / Pink Floyd / the Moody Blues (Days of Future Passed) ..... heavy rock jarred with me ... however ... the Moody Blues were / are quite another thing altogether ..... I'd already bought (& still have) the Beatles: A Hard Day's Night lp in Mono ... = ... luv their early music the best ... discovered I like soft rock music most of all eg Eagles / Hall & Oats / Crosby Stills Nash & Young / Gordon Lightfoot (Sundown is my fave song of his) ..... ..... ..... My Go-To album to play when just need to put my feet upon the coffee table & slob on the settee would be To Our Children's Children Children by The Moody Blues ..... still have to buy cd of Blue Jay Way made by a collaboration of Justin Hayward & John Lodge formerly of the Moody Blues, they still tour but separately & no doubt will be excellent 

I havn't mentioned my love of trad jazz / swing / 50's music ..... you can rock & roll or quickstep to it ..... all because a once female friend asked me to accompany her to a local band in a big old barn of a town pub playing music that all sounded the same, I was perched in the middle of the room on a low stool, very uncomfortable evening all round ..... however after being introduced to Bradford & Ilkley Jazz Club by same former female friend, I got an ear for the music, it was beaty music which i can easily dance to given some half-decent male partner, my days of dancing as man are well over now but att this so-called friend made me dance as man due to her very limited dance ability 

Never been to the 100 Club in London ..... however, @Bambino / @Glory1 may have at some time

I became scribe for B&IJC for the international Just Jazz magazine, writing up the gigs, came in for some serious 'flak' from the mouldy old figs as I was considered an upstart (youngest at the club) but I could dance them all off the floor when partnered by Mr Colin Priestley, an old Jazzer (fan of trad jazz etc, not Cool jazz)

Both nurture & nature for me ..... they go together

*DANCING TO LIVE MUSIC BE IT TRADITIONAL BALLROOM & LATIN AMERICAN DANCING / ROCK & ROLL - WHATEVER TYPE IT IS, BRINGS YOUR SOUL TO LIFE*