Tastes in angsty/angry music

Hi everyone,

So I've been wondering lately about how a taste in angsty music develops overtime. I'm at the end of my teenage years and much of what makes up my music taste is angsty music, admittedly some 'teen-angst' songs (among the more mature aggressive songs I listen to).

At the moment I really prefer to listen to loud, aggressive and screamy music that has a good amount of angst to it. I listen to other stuff as well, including different forms of electronic music (particularly chillstep), hip hop, metal, rock and roll, pop music (though I tend to stray from any mainstream material).


I'm thinking that as I get older I probably won't be enjoying this kind of angry music as much, but I was wondering whether anyone older or someone who knows someone older with similar tastes could tell me;

• Does your taste in these types of songs that you enjoyed so much fade away overtime?
• Do you still listen to 'teen-angst' songs and interpret them differently than you used to when you were younger?
• Does anyone think such a musical preference correlates in any way to maturity (or the lack of it)?
• How much can your taste in music really change from this age onwards?

Looking forward to hearing your feedback

 

Obviously one's taste in music will go in different directions. With me, I used to be into that angsty crap like Staind, Evanescence, I can't even stand most of LP's earlier material now. I've found that the side of me that dug the more angry songs like Papa Roach's Last Resort developed into my taste for Black, Death, and Trash Metal, while more slowed down, thoughful songs like Crawling developed my taste for more mellow, laid back, and reflective Progressive Rock. In addition to this, the majority of my favorite bands currently have a sound that is a hybrid of the 2 described above.

TL;DR: Tastes change. It's not a done deal for everyone, but my music tastes sure changed drastically. If you told me at the age of 12 that I would listen to what I considered at the time "screamo," I would have called you a filthy liar.

 

I never liked the word "angsty."
Feels like a way to generalize a lot of music -in a bad way. Just like saying a band is "mainstream." It doesn't really define the quality of the music IMO.
I used to listen to a lot of the so called "angsty" bands - some of them started making other kinds of music like LP(while kind of going full circle now) but most of them stayed the same.
And I would honestly not classify any of them as "bad musicians" (with a few exceptions of cause) because they got me into different genres and heavier/more experimental bands.
There should be a place for that kind of music so teenagers/or casual music listeners can learn to appreciate heavier music - I welcome that shit with open arms.
I am of cause talking about the more accessible "angsty" bands like TDG, Breaking Benjamin, Linkin Park(Meteora/HT), Bullet For my Valentine, Papa Roach etc. etc.

Some bands will stick with you, others won't - but you should still be able to understand the road "to get" where your taste in music is now.
And you don't have to be a dick about it like Gibs ;-)

 

I have no idea what I like.

 

Well i was used too the "angsty" LP music when i started to listen to music, now i am more open for other kind of rock music.

 

I have never liked the idea that listening to angry music is only for angsty people or teenagers. I´ll take an example to explain my view on it.

Do you guys know Frank Turner? If no, he´s a very popular folk songwriter who has made tons and tons of those beautiful ballads on acoustic guitar. However, recently, he went to work on a side project called Mongol Horde, which is pure hardcore music. Very, very heavy and aggressive stuff. And when asked about this surprising move, the guy answered:

"Well, I´ve a mellow side to my character, and also, I´ve an heavy side to it. Though, right now, I just feel like having fun with this heavy stuff. Because in my opinion, that´s what heavy music should be about: having fun."

I find this quote interesting in the sense that it considers heavy music from a totally different perspective than "Yeah, I´m loving agressive stuff because I´m an angsty and depressed person who hates everyone ".

As for myself, my tastes evolved a lot with age, but that was never at the expense of liking aggressive stuff. I simply enjoy a wider range of music right now than back then. But until now, fortunately, getting older and discovering tons of different music styles hasn´t taken away from me the enjoyment of headbanging to great guitars riff

 

I've come to find that these days I'm less attracted to the anger in heavy music than I am to the abrasiveness of it. Punk, metal, and hardcore bands tend to embrace dissonance and harsher sounds more readily than most other musicians, and to me that's what sets that type of music apart and keeps it relevant as I get older. Plus, there are so many different sub-genres that fall under the umbrella of punk and metal that you're bound to find something to suit your inevitably changing tastes.

 

I just checked out ''Make Way'', expecting crap, and I'm surprised at how great that was. Pure agressive gold. That may just be the best lyrics I've ever heard. Catchiest chorus fucking ever. I am at awe of how good this is.

-

May aswell use this thread to ask: could anyone recommend some fast, heavy stuff with screaming. Something like Iowa-era Slipknot or earlier BMTH. Basically just looking for fast stuff with screaming that isn't generic metalcore. Not that I can't enjoy that, just try to choose not to... (No, BMTH isn't generic metalcore before some smart ass points it out.)

 

Check out these records:
The Fall Of Troy - Doppelgänger
Protest The Hero - Scurrilous (Or really any of their records)
Trivium - Ascendancy
Machine Head -The Blackening
Mastodon - The Hunter
Lamb of God -Wrath

But none of them really sound like BMTH(thank god )

 

Musical preferences will continuously change throughout your entire lifetime just as music itself is always changing, and that is the correlation, simply being introduced to new forms/artists of music that will soon appeal to your future tastes, it has nothing to do with heaviness = punk ass kid. Musical interpretation is something that everyone experiences differently at whatever age, that would be for you to find out.

- It was around 13 years of age that I began to really focus on music, primarily "angsty/angry" style just like so many others. It was because of Linkin Park that I expanded into that and soon found myself listening to bands like Chevelle, Evanescence, Ill Niño, Breaking Benjamin, Disturbed, Red, etc. That lasted a few years, but I began to transition into other forms of music by the time I was a sophomore in highschool. Since then, I have listened to this style of music minimally compared to others, but just to clarify, I have no problem with it, just not as interesting to me anymore.

- Around 15-16 years of age, I started listening to mostly Alternative Rock, pop, electronic music, and occasionally other genre. You'd often find my playlist filled with Linkin Park, 30 Seconds To Mars, Adam Lambert, Michael Jackson, Armin Van Buuren, Owl City, Fall Out Boy, Panic, BSB, Skrillex, Mix of Monstercat artists, DBS, etc. These were definitely the days I had a wider variation in terms of what I listen to and can still be found on my playlist today, to some extent anyway.

- Starting at 19 years of age, I had stuck through pretty well with the music I previously listed and even expanded to classical music (listening to composers like Mozart, Bach, Stravinsky, etc) and jazz (Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra). I'm currently 20 years old and within the last year, my musical tastebuds have jumped onto heavier bands, primarily within the metal/metalcore realm (Bring Me The Horizon, Periphery, Issues, Asking Alexandria, Of Mice and Men, and yes still Linkin Park).

All in all, your taste in music will be jumping around from place to place, some artists may just disappear off your playlist, others will stick through for the long run, its natural and is an experience many go through........(except people who seem to only give a fuck about Hybrid Theory and Meteora )

 

We're the same age, and I still like LP, even their old stuff (Meteora is still my favourite album, as cringy as some of the songs on there are). I'm finding that songs about relationships which teenagers would be into are less appealing to me know, the only songs in that realm that stick with me are mainly LP's old stuff.

It seems based on what you're saying, that one could still be listening to 'Papercut' or 'Points of Authority' in their 40s
I guess you're right, some artists will stay with you in the long term, and your taste in music can expand form in weird ways.

But what about the fact that the musical landscape will be fairly different in the future? How likely are you to fall into the habit, which many have fallen into, of holding on to the music you listened to in your younger years and neglecting or disregarding the-then modern material?

Can you reconcile both and enjoy them equally or will there be too strong of a connection with your older music that will make it difficult to embrace newer genres and sounds in the future?

 

Honestly I think this whole idea that high-energy(I hate the word "angsty") music is for teenagers, why the fuck can't I rock out to Skillet or Breaking Benjamin for the raw energy that they bring? When I got into LP at age 12 it was for songs like Numb and Crawling rather than One Step Closer and and By Myself (a song I just learned to like this year), but as I got older *gasp* I began gravitating toward slightly heavier music like the all-metal bands I listed above. Very recently I've been getting into a bit of classic rock (which I can probably attribute to Chester joining STP) and old-school punk. I'm 19 and have never been in a serious relationship so I rarely listen to any serious music for the lyrics. However I have a group of friends who are slightly older than me and they all like what you guys call "tweeny" bands like The Story So Far, Neck Deep, Of Mice and Men, State Champs, etc. (Basically every band you'll see on Warped Tour except the "screamo" and death metal bands, and yes, we did go to Warped Tour lol) and I thought I was "too old" for that stuff at first but I got into it, once again, late into my teenage years. Although I DO recognize that music as stuff that's more appealing to younger people, it's mostly just about rocking out and having a good time. Who says you have to stop doing that because you're older? I think the point is that as you get older your life stops changing for a bit (I.e after you get married, get your own house, have kids, etc.) you kind of settle into life, so you don't feel as much of need to listen to the type of music to "change the pace" as often.

(P.s Why the fuck couldn't someone listen to Papercut or Points in their 40s? LP is about to hit their 40s and they still have a great time playing those songs. What's Chester's favorite song again?)

 

Agree with everything LP_Evan said.

I also don't believe Angsty music exists. I believe it was a word made up by people who like to be haters to a certain type of music that they claim is for teens and emo when it really isn't. It's just generalization. Anyone can listen to anything as they please.

 

Why is the Warped tour generally viewed as the worst thing to happen to music? I would enjoy the fuck out of it if I could.

 

Because Warped Tour is filled to the brim with shitty bands.

Angsty doesn't necessarily carry a negative connotation, or supposed to be a "put-down."

 

That's all I see people use it as


Also, let's not forget that Warped Tour was once way better than it is now. It started as a punk show.

 

You definitely would. The crowds are downright insane. Made me really hate the crowds at LP shows lol. If only that wasn't a one-off show...