The Timeless Appeal of Old Music: How It's Captivating a New Generation of Listeners
"If I don’t have the love of music, I don’t think I would exist. I’d be dead because through all the above, the cure was music. It’s the best medicine," record store owner Jamal Alnasr tells me.
In the era of constant innovation, it may surprise you to see a growing number of young people turning to the music of previous generations. Despite the constant release of new music, the raw emotion in old songs continues to captivate youth. From The Rolling Stones to Fleetwood Mac, Radiohead, and more. But why are these younger generations embracing music that was popular long before they were born?
Younger generations are drawn to the music of previous decades possibly for several reasons. Older music has a timeless sound that transcends any music trends seen often in today’s releases. Many songs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, have become classics solely because they speak to emotion that is universally relevant today as it was back then. Older music can offer a sense of connection to the past that is comforting in an inevitably changing society. It has an everlasting ability to build a bridge between two generations.
While an increasing amount of youth are getting access to vinyl, streaming services regardless play a large part in the consumption of older music. With platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music—it is easier than ever to discover music otherwise not heard in a world with less accessibility.
MBW’s analysis showed that catalog music dominated the US music consumption market in the second half of 2021, with an overwhelming 73.1% share. The trend continued throughout the entire year, with catalog music claiming a substantial 69.8% share of Total Album Consumption in the US.
Jamal Alnasr is the owner of a record store in the heart of Greenwich Village. Village Revival Records has long been a hotspot for music aficionados ranging from NYU students to well-known celebrities including Bella Hadid and Lana Del Rey. The raw and tenacious personality of Alnasr manifests in the classic New York aura of Village Revival.
“It’s a tough city, not just in music,” Alnasr says. “If you like what you do, you will survive and if you don’t, especially in this kind of business, I don’t think you will last a month.”
Upon walking into his shop, I was not only greeted by the overwhelming abundance of records leaving minimal empty space but the educated, and aspirational Jamal Alnasr. The warm, soulful notes of jazz music emanated from the record player atop a shelf, filling the confines of the shop with a timeless, inviting ambiance.
Whilst Alnasr’s peers in Palestine were immersed in Arabic music, he diverged from the norm and found love for artists like Michael Jackson. When he arrived in New York at the age of 17, he felt out of the know for the first time. And so, his life mission started: he was going to learn about all of it.
Pulling a random CD from the cramped shelf beside his register in Village Revival, Alnasr explains to me he would read the lyrics inside of the case and wonder what it would sound like—and so he would listen.
Customer interaction is at the top of Alnasr’s tasks in his shop. “They really do know, and they really do dig music and even I start asking myself questions,” Alnasr says regarding his younger customers.
“Sometimes I think maybe they got it from their parents,” Alnasr says. “Not really though; it’s for their own and they did the job by themselves.”
With a primarily youthful demographic, Alnasr reflects on his opinion of why older music is becoming increasingly popular in his young customers.
“The most shocking part is that the younger generation looks for old music on vinyl; that the best thing I’ve seen in the last 30 years,” he says. “That’s because of the technology and communication we have, and they find out more about music through the internet.”
The impact these customers have made on his business is astounding. Without the consumption of older music, Alnasr doesn’t foresee the music industry being alive today. “After we had too much technology in the late 90s and early 2000s, neither vinyl or CD were popular and that’s what made the whole industry on the verge of collapsing,” he explains.
“Having fast access to anything, in my opinion, is why the vinyl came back," Alnasr says. "People started to lose that touch of reality.”
Technology arguably follows us throughout the entire music industry of today. Not only does it influence how we consume music, but how the music we are consuming sounds. The over-reliance on technology in music production can result in a homogenization of sound. Although these are potential drawbacks of modern music, it is important to note that it is not without its own admirable qualities, most of which are arguably rooted in older classics.
“The new music is so enhanced of the older music,” Jamal Alnasr tells me.
It is no secret that the music of each decade pulls things from the one prior. Though, Alnasr seems to see an increasingly low level of originality in today’s music. Looking towards the beloved band Greta Van Fleet—one may be tricked into thinking a 1970s rock band is among them. Regardless, the band of brothers has been heavily criticized since their reign in popularity.
Rolling Stone once prefaced an article stating, “From Imagine Dragons’ overproduced posturing to artists ripping off a whole lotta Led Zeppelin, here’s what went wrong this year,” later alluding to the band of brothers. In an Esquire article titled “I feel Bad for Greta Van Fleet,” author Matt Miller went to bat against the trusted words of Stone.
“Ripping off Led Zeppelin is a rite of passage—a phase that many young, horny, and stupid boys go through in the early stages of playing music,” Miller wrote. “Great Van Fleet just happened to be so good at it that they got a record deal and recorded 11 Zeppelin-lite tunes for the entire world to hear.”
The cherished Lana Del Rey is another artist proud of her roots in older music; with influences including Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen. After the passing of Cohen in 2016, Del Rey took her grief to Instagram in the form of song. The video of Del Rey covering “Chelsea Hotel #2” was adorned by a heartfelt comment reading: “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t kind of break my heart that I never got to tell you how much you changed me.”
Among those that sing songs inspired by bands of the past, are normal individuals that deeply appreciate what was different about music from before the 2000s.
Peculiar Pub, amidst Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village is a magnet to the younger crowd of New York City. The interior is a mix of old and new, with an electronic jukebox perched in the center of the bar that plays a mix of both classic hits and modern songs. A myriad of bottle cap art adorns the walls, adding a touch to the classic wooden booths.
Madison Fishman, a New York City college student, was originally unaware her music taste fell primarily before the 2000s until I approached her at Peculiar Pub. Fishman says some of her favorite artists are Jeff Buckley, Fiona Apple, and The Smiths.
“There’s more substance to these artists lyrics,” Fishman says. “Whereas today a lot of the sounds are repeated; not as versatile.”
Fishman is not alone in her appreciation of old music. Many young people are discovering the sounds of previous generations and falling in love with the depth and complexity. The shift reflects the desire for authenticity in a culture that often values instant gratification over substance.
The growing accessibility to the sounds associated with a subculture of older music buffs is being utilized by younger generations to highlight the numerous values of this community. The younger generation within this culture is not solely collecting vinyl, streaming on Spotify, and continuing their education on music. They are creating tribute bands, using music at protests, creating groups online to share appreciation, and more.
While it was once assumed masses of fans for bands in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s would fade with their age—Phoebe Hennessey is one example of the opposite. Thanks to the continued interest of younger generations, the community around older music is still thriving today.
16-year-old vinyl collector, Phoebe Hennessey, spends her minimum wage paycheck at the record shop, REB Records located Bel Air, Maryland and most of her time listening to Fiona Apple, Mazzy Star, Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, and Radiohead. With a collection of over 100 vinyl’s ranging from the 60s to 2023, she reflects on her experience as an avid older music aficionado.
For many, including Hennessey—collecting vinyl is not about owning a physical object, but about connecting with the community that has surrounded the music for decades.
Phoebe Hennessey has found her community in record stores. “I talk to the strangers I meet in there like we’ve met before; it is a crazy connection that even involves the owners of the record shop,” she says.
“When I was eight years old my grandmother bought herself a bright blue Victrola record player and opened all of her old bins of vinyl to play,” Hennessey says. “I played all of her records and recall dancing to Blondie in her kitchen.” At the end of the day, her grandmother gave her the record player and a couple of vinyl’s including Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones. That was where her journey to stocked vinyl shelves began.
Hennessey sees vinyl as a way to connect with her parents, grandparents, and most of all, reality. “Listening to albums on vinyl is 100% a different experience,” she tells me. “I feel a sense of accomplishment when I get to play a new vinyl because as a collector a good part of my records have been hard to get a hold of.”
The chase of finding records and the reward of absorbing sounds seems to be Hennessey’s favorite thing about vinyl collecting. It is no secret that the appreciation for music has gotten raveled up in extreme fandom at times. But there seems to be a lost purpose of listening to not only vinyl, but live music as well. By slowing down next to a record player, she remembers what music is about.
“People getting trampled and fainting at small concerts is not what I want to think of when I appreciate music,” Hennessey says, alluding to a Phoebe Bridgers concert she attended last year.
The energy back then seemed surmounted by a community much more positive than todays. To her, it seems like 21st-century-artists have fans “in competition with one another” rather than “a shared appreciation.”
“I would want to see the 1982 Ozzy Osbourne performance where he bit a bats head off on stage,” Hennessey says. “Knowing the weird, crazy stuff is what interests me most in the older music I consume; I wonder what people’s reactions would be to something unique like that happening today?”
The political and social significance of songs from a time rattled with fear, activism, and deep emotions hold true in today’s world. “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday grapples with the presence of racism in 1939. “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan is a protest calling for peace. “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye addresses poverty, police brutality, and further violence present in the 70s.
With the light shown on these issues in the 21st-century, there is no doubt the unfortunate relatability factors into an uprise in older music.
“Older music addressing political and social issues from long before I was born is resurfacing in ways larger than a vinyl in my bedroom,” Hennessey tells me. “Protests blare these songs on speakers, and they are the background sounds to activism on social media regarding racism, war, violence, and inequality.”
“Whether it shows how far we’ve come or how far we are from the end of this fight, I personally hear these songs and take it as a wake-up call,” Hennessey says. “The message still applies and songs like “I Shot the Sherriff” by Bob Marley and the Wailers, written almost 50 years ago, still apply.”
In an evolving world, there is something powerful about the timelessness of music. An emotional connection that people of all ages can experience speaks to the universality of our human experience. Younger generations discovering, learning about, and embracing older music is a testament to artists who created the classics.
The love of these artists, albums, and songs have continued to provide solace for years past their release date. As Jamal Alnasr says, “It is the best medicine,” and perhaps songs of the past are what’s needed to connect a world often found disconnected.