Researchers* believe they have unravelled how a liking for pop hits such as Teenage Kicks can evolve into a love for the Moonlight Sonata.
They have identified three musical stages that we pass through as we mature: intense, contemporary and sophisticated.
Teenagers favour intense music such as punk and metal to establish their identity, but as they move into early adulthood a preference for contemporary music such as pop and rap takes over. This corresponds to a shift in lifestyle in which we socialise far more in bars, clubs and at parties, where uplifting music tends to be played.
'There is a tendency for young people to prefer music that their parents cannot stand or find obnoxious, so there must be some developmental changes that take place as we get older.
- Teenage years are often dominated by the need to establish identity. Intense music, often seen as aggressive, tense and characterised by loud, distorted sounds has the rebellious connotations that allow adolescents to do this.
- The next musical stage appears to be more about gaining acceptance from others.
- The taste for pop fades in early middle age when more sophisticated genres such as jazz and classical take over. Scientists say this marks a shift to a more solitary expression of our intellect, status and greater emotional maturity. They also found that tastes became less pretentious with far more older people liking country, folk and blues music.
*from a survey of more than 250,000 people, carried out by Cambridge University over at 10 year period
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