The Demographics of Taste

Jesse Walker | 10.8.2010 3:28 PM

Friday fun link: Last.fm musical preferences graphed by age and sex.

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MP 15 years ago

How is it that The Beatles are still that popular?
1. Jesse Walker 15 years ago
  
  What's really striking is that their fan base skews so young.
  1. New World Dan 15 years ago
    
    I found that true of a lot of bands. I didn't know anyone under the age of 30 listened to Iron Maiden or Rush. The gender balance was generally what I expected to see across the board.
    1. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
      
      I work at a university, and it's certainly not unusual to see kids in Zeppelin, Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden t-shirts. The other day, I saw a guy in a Saxon t-shirt, which really threw me. They were barely worth listening to back in the day.
    2. Ted S. 15 years ago
      
      Really, I didn't think men listened to James Last. Then again, I didn't think anybody listened to James Last any more.
      1. AlmightyJB 15 years ago
        
        Who's James Last
        
        Ted S. 15 years ago
        
        James Last, crappy German bandleader.
        
        Oh my, he's got his own website, and has scheduled another concert tour for Germany and the UK for 2011.
  2. Some Guy 15 years ago
    
    I'm guessing this simply averaged the age of all people listening to X, and there are just way more young people on last.fm.
    
    They should have made one where they corrected for demos.
  3. Pro Libertate 15 years ago
    
    Guitar Hero. My kids picked up quite a bit of classic rock from the games.
    1. Ska 15 years ago
      
      I have no doubt that Guitar Hero and Rock Band in all their iterations have exposed younger people to bands they might not have listened to otherwise.
      1. Paul 15 years ago
        
        I have no doubt that Guitar Hero and Rock Band in all their iterations have exposed younger people to bands they might not have listened to otherwise.
        
        Slash from Guns'n Roses?
  4. Paul 15 years ago
    
    MP|10.8.10 @ 3:33PM|#
    How is it that The Beatles are still that popular?
    
    reply to this
    Jesse Walker|10.8.10 @ 3:39PM|#
    What's really striking is that their fan base skews so young.
    
    When they played their music to the focus group, the kids thought they were listening to Oasis.
2. ? 15 years ago
  
  MP|10.8.10 @ 3:33PM|#
  "How is it that The Beatles are still that popular?"
  
  Maybe the music is good. Just a guess.
hmm 15 years ago

Thanks for confirming I was born at the wrong time.
1. Aresen 15 years ago
  
  Thanks for confirming I was born at the wrong time.
  
  FIFY ;P
robc 15 years ago

Based on my favorite groups listed, Im 31 years old and 85% male.
1. robc 15 years ago
  
  Which is weird because Im 41 and thought YES (and Kings X) would have scewed a bit older, not younger.
  
  I guess its the fact that their listeners are so young. Plus, Rush is sitting in the mid 20s (but, while Im a fan, I dont consider them one of my favorites).
  1. robc 15 years ago
    
    The occupations chart fits my musical age better than my actual age. Huh.
2. Paul 15 years ago
  
  Based on my favorite groups listed, I don't exist.
sloopyinca 15 years ago

How do Rush, Yes and Genesis trend younger than Tangerine Dream?
1. robc 15 years ago
  
  How does Yes trend yournger than King's X?
2. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
  
  I'm also surprised that Tangerine Dream was such a pickle party band. And apparently, fusion jazz is the one genre women hate more than death metal.
  1. John Thacker 15 years ago
    
    Yes, women hate Chick Corea, apparently.
sloopyinca 15 years ago

Haha. U2 suck so bad they didn't even make the list.

Disturbingly, however, is that The WuTang Clan didn't either. I'm calling racism.
1. DG 15 years ago
  
  No Zeppelin on there either, I think, which is surprising.
  1. Terr 15 years ago
    
    This.
  2. Ted S. 15 years ago
    
    Am I the one person who can't stand either Led Floyd or Pink Zeppelin?
    1. AlmightyJB 15 years ago
      
      Yes. Although I know Johnny Rotten hated Floyd. Of course Floyd's very contemplative, and if you're Johnny Rotten I'm guessing contemplation would be quite irritating. Also, my wife doesn't like LZ but she likes pop country so you know her opinion doesn't really count.
      1. Ted S. 15 years ago
        
        I don't like pop country either.
        
        I'd like to beat the shit out of Toby Keith; that's got to count for something in terms of taste.
2. Paul 15 years ago
  
  U2's audience is a focus group.
  1. ? 15 years ago
    
    And sometimes a list is just a list.
Russ 2000 15 years ago

Why is the author surprised that NPR rates so high with men when later he notes that jazz rates higher with men? In most cities NPR is the only radio outlet for jazz.
1. Ted S. 15 years ago
  
  I've got DirecTV, and they've got a couple dozen music channels in the 800s, of which two or three are jazz. (Not that I listen to them; I listen to the 80s channel if I listen to any of them.)
? 15 years ago

It's a graph of how marketing-determined the sexes' consumer preferences are.

And that's why TV sucks.
("FUCK YOU MAN my gf went to the High On Fire show with me and fuckin' dug it.")
Jeff P. 15 years ago

I have alays wondered why more gays aren't outraged by the stereotype that they only enjoy shitty music.
1. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
  
  Have you known any gay men? I remember parking in the garage of the insurance company I worked for, when this rather flamboyant guy came driving in, blaring ABBA.
  
  At the same company, I was in a meeting with a gay friend and another woman who could be somewhat loopy. We were trying to tell her that there was only one instance of a particular problem, and she wasn't getting it. We repeated "One!" over and over, until he launched into "One" from A Chorus Line. I mean c'mon - any straight guy would have gone with Metallica or Harry Nilsson.
2. Paul 15 years ago
  
  Probably the same reason they don't rail against the stereotype that they're totally gay.
3. Tony 15 years ago
  
  Is that so? Why then can you dance at a gay club, but all you can do at a straight club is be annoyed by all the douchebags?
  1. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
    
    Because you're going to the wrong straight clubs? Or you just get annoyed at the fact that none of they guys there want to fuck you?
    
    I should have added to my anecdotes that Joy Division / New Order, Bronski Beat, Depeche Mode, etc., etc., have come out with some good songs. But the Broadway shit has got to go.
  2. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
    
    Here you go, Tony - the British Lady Gaga, circa 2002.
Jeff P. 15 years ago

In my experience everyone, without exception, despises Lenny Kravitz' version of American Woman. It is universally accepted as truly awful.

WHY does this song still get played?
1. GoNavy 15 years ago
  
  Because Lenny Kravitz oozes cool
  1. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
    
    I have to agree with Jeff on this one. He oozes something entirely different on that song.
2. Pro Libertate 15 years ago
  
  I join the "it sucks" vote.
3. B.P. 15 years ago
  
  The worst cover song ever made. When a song is perfectly good, don't bother covering it... or take a steaming dump on in this case.
  1. Ted S. 15 years ago
    
    Worse than the Baby I Love Your Way/Free Bird medley?
    
    I have a feeling some of you might select the Captain and Tennille version of Shop Around, but I like it.
    1. Pro Libertate 15 years ago
      
      You're making that up.
    2. Mikey 15 years ago
      
      You should die in a fire for knowing that pile of steaming excrement exists. And now I should, too. Thanks.
    3. sloopyinca 15 years ago
      
      WHAT.
      
      THE.
      
      FUCK.
      
      Thanks for exposing us to that, asshole.
Spiny Norman 15 years ago

Women in their 20s listen to Etta James? 30-year-olds listen to Abba?

It is a strange and wonderful world.
GoNavy 15 years ago

Is Zappa listed? How the hell can any list of musicians favored by males not include Zappa!

I am sure my 22 & 25 year-ol sons are not unique in their enjoyment of the late 60s & early 70s guitar gods: Santanna, Clapton, Zappa, Greg Allman, Jeff Beck and their ilk. Again my sons will not be alone in being blasted from birth while riding in the car with their dad by the guitar gods (as opposed to their mum always playing whatever the latest chick C&W performer was on the charts).
1. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
  
  The list isn't meant to be all inclusive, or obviously the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson (to name two huge omitted artists) would be on there.
  1. Paul 15 years ago
    
    I'm pretty sure this is "the white folks'" list.
    1. John Thacker 15 years ago
      
      Pretty sure that "white folks" don't listen to Kinki Kids, black gospel, the O'Jays, or Tomohisa Yamashita (????, Yamashita Tomohisa in last name first order) aka "Yamapi," to take a few names on the list.
      
      Perhaps you're only recognizing the "white folks" thing on the list?
2. Ted S. 15 years ago
  
  You know, I don't just not like Floyd and Zeppelin, I find that I dislike most boomer rock.
3. DG 15 years ago
  
  Duane Allman, praise by upon him, is the guitar God. Greg played the piano and sang.
prolefeed 15 years ago

The survey tended to be predominantly transgendered or bi, if I'm reading the graph axis right, so this chart might be more relevant to the feministing crowd. 😉

Seriously, didn't see any groups I listen to on the chart at all -- no Low, or Modest Mouse, or Los Halos, or Acetone -- WTF?
Paul 15 years ago

David Lindley?! I'm supposed to be listening to David Lindley... and Dan Fogelberg? Am I reading this (difficult to read) plot correctly?
Paul 15 years ago

And 20-year-olds are still listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers? How quaint.
dbcooper 15 years ago

Where is the machine music?
1. Paul 15 years ago
  
  In my cd player.
T 15 years ago

Jesus, my age cohort listens to some unmitigated crap. And just about everything I listen to is on the 20 yo axis.

I guess my wife is right. I never grew up.
1. Paul 15 years ago
  
  I resemble that remark.
Invisible Finger 15 years ago

This assumes the age data is accurate. On every free internet site I register on, I'm 14 years of age. Last.fm thinks I'm 17 now.
Warty 15 years ago

I like the Soilwork-Slayer-Iron Maiden-Metallica stack there. Soilwork is sort of tolerable, but it's kind of stunning that they're popular enough to be on that list.
Lowdog 15 years ago

I don't see any EDM on there, so they're obviously missing a huge section of the population.

Never heard of last.fm anyway - I produce my own music, download from beatport, and have xm satellite radio, so I don't have to listen to the same music that came out almost 40 years ago.

But different strokes for different folks, of course.
1. Paul 15 years ago
  
  I don't see a shitload of artists that, whether I listen to them or not, is irrelevant. Unless there's something I'm missing here, let me take a stab.
  
  There's this "Usher" fellow I've heard of. Seems to be popular. I don't see him on the board. But "Kings X" makes the board.
  
  This Last.fm outfit must draw predominantly white men who can't find certain things in print or on the regular radio anymore, and thus go to Last.fm.
  
  Or something.
  1. John Thacker 15 years ago
    
    You're partially right, but I think wrong about the "white men" part. I see bands like Kinki Kids in the second graph. That's a Japanese boy band. Also various Korean and Chinese bands as well.
2. Ted S. 15 years ago
  
  Hey -- one of my favorite genres is music that came out a quarter millennium ago. Give me Bach, Vivaldi, H?ndel, and the other baroque composers any day.
  1. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
    
    Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 400 times. Kind of like The Ramones.
Paul 15 years ago

Also, why do womyn after the age of 40 not listen to music?
1. DancingWithDogs 15 years ago
  
  Oh Oh! I can answer that. Because by the time we hit 40, we just want a little peace & quiet (ahhhhhh phone rings NOOOOOOOOOOOO)
  
  except at 5 AM when you wake up rarin to greet the new day & it's Bush, Aerosmith, Metallica & Green Day 2 notches below full volume
  paybacks are a bitch
Paul 15 years ago

What's also interesting is that certain bands seem to maintain their age demographic.

Suggesting that people grow out of their sound and move on, with new listeners moving into their audience, then growing out etc.

Take Metallica. Popular with young men of the late teens early 20s set.

ORly? Metallica has been around since before I was in high school and I'm supposed to be listening to Dan Fogelberg, according to the chart. So that should give you an idea of my age.

Why isn't Metallica moving down-chart with their aging 40+ yro fans?
1. AlmightyJB 15 years ago
  
  Because this chart is total bullshit. That's why. Just sayin'
  1. AlmightyJB 15 years ago
    
    I mean seriously, how many 35 year old women can be listening to Donny Osmond? In fact, I can't imagine more than a handful of people listening to many of these artist on a regular basis. Catain & Tennille? Really? If we have that many woman in this country listening to Muskrat Love, we should all be very concerned.
    1. John Thacker 15 years ago
      
      Not *that* many of either, since in both cases the fonts sizes are kind of small.
Paul 15 years ago

Saffron from Republica... the only woman in the world who can rock a mullet and still be sexy.

That is all.
J 15 years ago

I still don't understand how last.fm works.

I have trouble believing that anybody in their mid-20s listens to, let alone remember, the Murmurs.
1. John Thacker 15 years ago
  
  Last.fm: You listen to stuff, or else just tell them what you like. They recommend things that are supposed to objectively sound similar to what you listen to, and things that people who listen to the same things as you listen to.
  
  Pandora: Similar, except that they don't try to use software to objectively measure songs. Instead, they have a bunch of human musicologists do the same thing, and recommend songs similar to what you like.
  
  They both try to do complicated things like figure out exactly why you like A, based on the fact that you also like B and C. (For example, people can like the Beatles for lots of different reasons, and it doesn't easily predict what else you'd like.)
SIV 15 years ago

I hate those charts. I can't wait for the whole "visual presentation of information" fad to pass.
1. Pro Libertate 15 years ago
  
  Pass? Don't be silly. Next up is 3D presentation of information.
Dello 15 years ago

Did anyone else notice that women pretty much STOP LISTENING to LastFM after about 30?
1. Pendulum 15 years ago
  
  Yes. That was the most amazing datum presented.

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