Crystal Aura Gaze

There’s a reason why, as you grow older, newer music becomes harder to listen to – meanwhile, music you listened to as a teen or young adult just feels better somehow.

I remember my grandma going on about how “they don’t make music like they used to,” and telling us how great the music of her time was. We all rolled our eyes at her – but she had a slight point.

Listening to new music between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three does not have the same effect as listening to new music past that age range. It has nothing to do with the quality of the sound, beat, lyrics, etc. It has everything to do with your brain chemistry.

Some theorize that it’s completely psychological – that old music holds dear memories that new music doesn’t. There is a little bit of truth to that, but it goes beyond that. Actually, your teenage years and early adult years can be the hardest years of your life. It’s full of constant change and growing pains.

While good memories attached to music can make a huge difference, I would argue that it is more about the chemistry of your brain. In simple terms, your brain is more “spongey” in youth. That’s why language learning is much easier as a child, for example. It absorbs everything more easily – while the mature brain is more concrete and structured.

The young brain is ready to hear new music in a way that the mature brain is not. The young brain quickly absorbs new music, releasing higher levels of dopamine. The mature brain draws more resistance to new music, which does not provide the same quick-reward system.

In that way, new music can feel very addicting to the young brain. It is equivalent to taking drugs. And so, the young brain is thirsty for new songs, new albums, new artists.

Now, what separates an infant or child’s brain from a teenager’s is that the teenage brain is at a sort of “sweet spot” in brain chemistry. It is developed enough to attach to music (in a way that a child’s brain will take in new sound just as quickly as letting it go), maintaining a delicate balance between fluidity and concreteness. The teenage brain develops an attachment to music that the child’s brain is not fully developed enough to grasp onto.

Now, this is not to say that you cannot enjoy new music as you grow older. The difference is that it will take you much longer to warm up to new music. You may have to play a song ten times in order to feel the same effect as a teenager who hears it once for the first time. New music will not give you the same dopamine rush, however by repeating it more times, you can eventually create a link of feel-good hormones to a newer song.

When you listen to music from your era as a teen or young adult, your brain will replicate that dopamine response, not nearly as strong but it will still be there. It has far less to do with the quality of the music, and everything to do with your brain remembering a state of ecstasy.

So, rather than “music was better back then,” the correct statement would be “music felt better back then.” You can still make new music feel good through repetition and associating it with the good memories that you are currently creating.