Open-earedness refers to an individual’s desire and ability to listen and consider different sounds and musical styling. Research has shown that adolescents exhibit higher levels of open-earedness, with a greater willingness to explore and appreciate diverse musical genres. During these years of sonic exploration, music gets wrapped up in the emotion and identity formation of youth; as a result, the songs of our childhood prove wildly influential over our lifelong music tastes.
On the one hand I have a similar experience. More then ever I love searching for artists with a sound that surprises me and that is engrossing.
On the other hand the top comment of every YouTube video of a popular artist from the past is “there has been no good music since [decades ago]”.