I used to love AC/DC - "Problem Child" was my theme song, ya know? Lately I find that a lot of the music I liked when I was younger just annoys me - or sounds terrible - or whatever. The same with books - authors that I used to love seem trite suddenly. What's up with that? Getting old or getting curmudgeony?

Catherine

-- Catherine (catherine@cmjcom.com), October 21, 1999

Answers

Hahahahahaha!

I hear that. My inner child has taken over the fortress, I fear.

Catherine

-- Catherine (catherine@cmjcom.com), October 21, 1999.

Well....no. And that's just as scary. I still enjoy what I liked to read (comic books, OZ books, immature fantasy and sf) as well as branching out to new more mature stuff. It seems like I SHOULD let go to the old stuff, but I don't.

The same is true with music. I still like listening to some of the old STones, Fleetwood Mac, King Crimson, and Yes stuff I loved as a kid---but I also like listening to Goo Goo Dolls and Limp Bizkit and more modern stuff. I keep on adding new favorites.

I'm a continuum, and my Inner Child is still in full control, and that's kind of silly in a 45-year-old man, right? I'm still waiting for my Inner Adult to take over.--Al

-- Al Schroeder (al.schroeder@nashville.com), October 21, 1999.

I had a young woman working for me once...she was in her late 20's. She once said *very seriously* that she really feared turning 40, because it seemed to her that everyone she knew who had turned 40 almost instantaneously started to like only classical music....

I'm 55 now, and I admit I can do without Led Zeppelin, and music of that ilk, but ocassionally I do go on a nostalgia trip for about 5 minutes....and then wonder why the heck I ever liked that. I still am hooked on the really moldy oldies though... Mo-town and Rock and Roll. And I do like people like the Mc Garrigle sisters...Iris DeMent, Anni DiFranco...

To relax, really relax, I definitely prefer the soothing sounds of classical music.

As for reading...I tend to favor books about relationships, or non fiction about social issues or history...hard to say, really, as I will read almost anything...or at least try. But the funny thing is, since I spend more and more time on the computer, I read less and less...it's getting embarrassing, especially since my spouse is now a book dealer, and one of my free lance jobs is to organize a couple of book fairs.

-- Jo (jmerchant@interaccess.com), October 21, 1999.

When I was younger I liked the music of the 60's-Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Beautiful Day, The Band, etc. . . I still like that kind of music but I mainly listen to music played on college radio or non commercial radio-these are some of the CD's I have recently bought- Macy Gray, Nine Inch Nail, Matthew Sweet, Godsmack, Atari Teenage Riot,Marshall Crenshaw, Mike Ness, Death In Vegas, The Inncence Mission, Jack Kerouac, Luka Bloom, Gomez, Underworld. . . When it comes to Books I still read the same kind of books I did when I was young-I am now 47-I have been a student of Jack Kerouac since High School-I still read 19th century American writers-Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Whitman, Melville-I have a large library-since I was educated to be a Presbyterian minister my library is mainly one of a preacher-for years I collected 16th century literature-English Puritans-Reformed Theology-Biblical Theology-New Testament Theology- Old Testament Theology-Church History-Christian Mysticism-Christian Spirituality-commentaries on books of the Bible (I have a B.A. and a M.DV. degree)-I have been a bookworm since a boy-love books-libraries- bookstores-So I still listen to the music of my youth and read the same kind of books-but I like music that is Now-do not like classical rock-when I am driving around I listen to classical music-I mainly listen to music in the evenings-when I am writing or wasted from work- I usually read 10 books at a time-I get bored easily-well time to go write in my journal-Jonny

-- Jonny Ray Keen (jonny@freenet.macatawa.org), October 21, 1999.

yes and no...certain books and music I will never let go of..example of music are all my Kate Bush..Dead Can Dance...Nick Drake..Tom Waits and Pentangle cd's, they are timelss ..I can no longer tolerate the crap MTV spits out and commercial radio, forget it.....and if the lyrics are not "deep" and somewhat well writen and mention life in some way and how to live..I get restless...

books..some will stay..I read a lot more now..but find conentration more difficult..maybe that would be a topic for the depression..

turning 30 was not noticed and turning 32 has been rather scary...But I have been reading many autobiographical books and found fantastic journeling sites over the net which have been very comforting...

recent discoveries: Beth Orton, Waterboys..author Lily Tuck rediscovering Joseph Campbell

-- cris (catnun31@yahoo.com), October 22, 1999.

Now that I'm nearly 41, oh yes, I do tend to like more classical music than I used to, especially light classical, such as Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel and such. But even in the early twenties, I liked classical music, so it's not a total shift. Radio fare is boring. I've heard the same ol' same ol' they play on 'Contemporary Adult' stations all my life. So I'd rather hear folk music, good choral music, etc. THE BOBS, Chanticleer, Steeleye Span, Clannad, Andy M. Stewart, and even the occasional pop diva like Celine Dion. VARIETY, I like variety...even more so than ever.

-- Joan Lansberry (gallae@casagrande.com), October 23, 1999.

IN-NER-CHILD! IN-NER-CHILD!

Um, seriously? No. The stuff I listened to/read but didn't really CARE for, was just killing time, is ignored (eg Casey Kasem's Top 40, or Christopher Pike books). The rest of it is still very much in favor. Not that I ever really *had* musical/literary tastes to begin with; I'm all over the map. The music/books I tend to push on other people have changed though. I mean, I might still *listen* to New Kids on the Block, but I'm not going to go around insisting that my friends should try them out. You know.

-- Marianne Aldrich (marseillaise@hotmail.com), October 24, 1999.