How old were you when you stopped listening to Pop Music?

[Savonarola]

From one of the debates in the Katy Perry thread; I was wondering how old people here were when they stopped listening primarily to pop music.

I stopped listening to Top 40 radio when I was 16 in 1988 during the glory days of pop metal, The New Kids on the Block and Madonna.  I've never looked back.

[The Brain]

Stopped?

[garbon]

[Savonarola]

Stopped?

I mean for those who have stopped listening primarily to Top 40 radio; or whatever the equivalent is in Europe.

[Martinus]

I actually started listening to pop music after I stopped listening to teen crap like heavy metal or folky thingies (like Clannad).

[Josquius]

Define pop.
I suppose when I was 14 or so I veered away from anything that could be remotely classed as pop and stuck to punk with a bit of rock. When I was 17 I got back into indie and soon after it entered back into fashion so became vaguely pop and...there I am.

But totally manufactured pop- never really. When I was a kid I was a crazy Queen fan.

[Grey Fox]

I'd say 16 or so. The last 2-3 years I've about completely stopped listening to any music.

[Zanza]

As I drive more than I used to now, I guess I actually listen more to pop music than before. Or whatever they play on the radio.

At least I knew who Katy Perry is.

[Tamas]

Around 17.

[Savonarola]

Define pop.

Songs that are currently in the Top 40.

[Martinus]

Well it's not like I listen to pop music exclusively. I guess I have four sources of musical fascination, and each for different reasons.

1. Film music/musicals. I see a movie, like the soundtrack, get it to relive the movie.

2. Indie music. I hear it first on the radio/podcast. Like it for the artistic value, plus usually like the author too (as he or she is being interviewed at the same time).

3. Pop music. I go to a club, have fun dancing to some tune, get it.

4. Classical music. I go to a concert or an opera, or get someone to recommend something to me. I am now on early 20th century composers.

Music 2 and 4 is the kind of music I listen to when I'm home alone, and feel like just sitting down and listening to some music, perhaps while reading a book.

Music 1 and 3 is the kind of music I listen to when I'm traveling, or doing other stuff (e.g. cleaning the flat, preparing to go out, playing WoW).

So I would advance a theory that this has less to do with your musical tastes, and more to your pastimes. For example if you don't go to dance clubs, you are unlikely to get to like some pop piece.

I.e. you are old.

QED.

[garbon]

Songs that are currently in the Top 40.

What if you listened to them quite some time before they were in the top 40?

[Syt]

If you mean by "listening to pop music" following charts and knowing what's "hot" and what's not in mainstream music, then it'll be the mid to late 90s, shortly after leaving school and finishing military service. Probably 1996 or 1997, i.e. aged 20/21.

I still check out new bands (rock, pop, metal), but hardly any of them appear in the charts/mainstream media.

[Martinus]

For example, my current musical library looks like this:

ABBA - The Definitive Collection
Alanis Morissette - The Collection
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Rossini - Overtures
Bronski Beat - Age of Consent
Charles S. McVey - Modern Living
Cher - Believe
Tchaikovsky - 1812
Music from LOTR
Clannad - Legend
Dead Can Dance - Aion, The Serpent's Egg, Towards the Within
Delerium - Karma
Eartha Kitt - The Best Off
Interview with The Vampire OST
Emma Shaplin - Carmine Meo
Enya - Memory of Trees, Watermark
Era - Era
Eurythmics - The Ultimate Collection
Gloria Gaynor - Disco Classics
Johnny Dangerous - White Hot
Katy Perry - One of the Boys
Kylie Minogue - X
Laibach - Jesus Christ Superstar
Led Zeppelin - The Complete Collection
Levi Kresi - The Gospel According to Levi
Madonna - American Life, Hard Candy, Ray of Light
Phantom of the Opera OST
Pet Shop Boys - Pop Art, Yes
Pixies - Wave of Mutilation
Placebo - Covers, Without You I'm Nothing
Queen - Greatest Hits
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Greatest Hits
Rufus Wainwright - Poses, Release the Stars, Want One, Want Two
The Smiths - Louder than Bombs
Solyma - Solyma
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - The Human Menagerie
Karol Szymanowski - King Roger, Concerts
Therion - Deggial, Vowin
Tom Goss - Back to Love
Vangelis - El Greco, Oceanic, Portraits, 1492
Brokeback Mountain OST
Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog OST
Mamma Mia OST
Moulin Rouge OST
Queer As Folk OST
Dracula OST
Lost Highway OST
Priscilla Queen of the Desert OST
Velvet Goldmine OST

[vinraith]

There was only a very small window in my life when I spent any time listening to pop music, basically from the early 90's to the late 90's (so basically my teenage years). I started at grunge and abandoned the format around the second coming of the boy bands. I don't miss it. There's plenty of good music out there, just very little of it on the radio.