Why Do Old People Hate New Music? By Frank T. McAndrew, Knox College, The Conversation | When I was a teenager, my dad wasn’t terribly interested in the music I liked. To him, it just sounded like “a lot of noise,” while he regularly referred to the music he listened to as “beautiful.”
This attitude persisted throughout his life. Even when he was in his 80s, he once turned to me during a TV commercial featuring a 50-year-old Beatles tune and said, “You know, I just don’t like today’s music.”
It turns out that my father isn’t alone.
As I’ve grown older, I’ll often hear people my age say things like “they just don’t make good music like they used to.”
Why does this happen?
Luckily, my background as a psychologist has given me some insights into this puzzle.
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Read more on this phenomenon here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/why-do-old-people-hate-new-music/
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.
Some People Just Don’t Like Music—It May be Down to Their Brain Wiring
By Catherine Loveday, Medical Xpress
When I ask a lecture theater full of students how they would feel if they could never listen to a piece of music again, most are horrified. Many have been plugged into their headphones until the moment the class begins. But without fail, one or two will shyly admit that their lives would not change at all if music didn’t exist.
Psychologists call this “music anhedonia,” meaning an absence of pleasure for music. And a new paper from neuroscientists in Spain and Canada suggests it is caused by a problem with communication between different parts of the brain.
For many of us, apathy toward music seems unfathomable. Yet, for 5%–10% of the population, this is their norm.
I see it often in my own research and practice in people with memory loss, where I ask people to select favorite songs as a way of accessing significant memories.
It has always fascinated me that some people look at me blankly and say, “I’ve never been that bothered by music.” It is such a contrast to the majority who love to talk about their first record, or the tune played at their wedding.
Recent evidence shows considerable variation in the depth of people’s emotional response to music. Around 25% of the population are hyperhedonic, which is an almost obsessive urge to engage intensely and frequently with music.
. . . . .
Read more about this researcher’s findings here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/some-people-just-don-t-like-music-it-may-be-down-to-their-brain-wiring/
Read the original article from The Conversation here:
https://theconversation.com/some-people-just-don’t-like-music-it-may-be-down-to-their-brain-wiring-263066
This story was originally published on Medical Xpress.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-people-dont-music-brain-wiring.html