This video explores a fascinating topic, from many perspectives, i.e. cognitive sciences, musicology, and the art form itself. While there are clear differences in generational experiences of music, Rick is asking the important, difficult and ultimately philosophical question, of what these differences mean for the future of music. The formative experiences of Rick’s and my generation occurred before the internet, and even before digitization. Our parents’ generation, and their parents’ before them, had rich experiences of music in the culture. Pianos were commonplace, musical education was respected and valued, and music was interwoven in society, from experiences in churches to dances to any formal public gathering. Since then, the changes have not only accelerated but have deepened. Musical experience, perception, and understanding all interlace as a kind of weave of resilience that has been weakened, in much the same way that a sustainable ecological system is weakened as its’ biodiversity is diminished. In both spheres, we careen toward disaster; the landscape is bleak. A gen Z’er who never took a music lesson (whose parents didn’t either), who never danced to a live band, whose only experience of music is through a video game or an auto-tuned formulaically homogenized “product” is less likely to notice that the fabric of complexity of emotionally expressive music is unraveling. The minimization of music and the related plague of musical illiteracy in recent generations has given us people whose “sensing abilities” (re: musical perception) have atrophied, like an organ that once served a function, or a muscle that’s no longer used. It’s comparatively like an ecologically ruined landscape, where a rich and varied diversity has unraveled and disappeared to the point where it is all but eclipsed from memory. The rapid rate of technological change has most certainly altered how people experience and interact with music, even changing the human organism, developmentally and structurally, over time. The change has been so rapid that even the most dedicated defenders of the art form are reeling, as evidenced in Rick’s post. Music helps develop the empathetic feeling of the human organism, aids in resonating with the expression that comes from the language of melody, rhythm and harmony, in particularly in an improvisational context. As musical experience and literacy decline, attention spans get shorter. Instant gratification and addiction replace knowledge and any discretionary aesthetic. The discipline which leads to understanding and valuing music as contributing to a healthy, vibrant culture, is lost.

My oldest was born in 2009. I've tried to get my kids interested in music, but to no avail. I usually play Rock, Blues, or Jazz in the truck when we go places and tell them stories about the musicians. Anyway, my boys wanted to go for ice cream the other day and I wasn't playing any music. My oldest said...Dad, put on some Rock and Roll and tell us a story. I was so happy.

I’m a gen z kid. I think it’s interesting to hear your perspective. I think a lot of people my age don’t have as much of a connection to music as other generations did, but it’s still a big part of their lives. The difference is that, on average, listening to music isn’t as active for us. Most people I know listen to music while they’re doing other things or as a background thing. People listen to music while they’re studying or walking home, things like that. I think it’s partially because music is so easily accessible now. It’s not like a ritual to open up a CD or record and listen to the whole thing through like it was for my parents. You just kinda look up what you want to hear and add it to a playlist. That doesn’t mean we aren’t listening to music as much, it just means it isn’t really in the foreground. That’s probably why it seems like we aren’t as passionate about it. I’d argue there’s a lot more passion there than it seems, it’s just manifested in a different way. Cool video though. You made some interesting points.

Video games got me into music. While playing games like Final Fantasy III I would often stop playing just to enjoy the music. This led me to composers like Nobuo Uematsu, which then led me to his influences like Elton John and various 70’s prog bands.

This comment will get buried, but I'll give my take. I'm a gen z (24) band director. I know from my own life that this partly comes from a deficit of boredom in young peoples' lives. Boredom is a valuable thing because it pushes you to make decisions about your future and use your free time for learning or creation. With short form entertainment, every nook and cranny of everyone's day is filled with stimulant. Therefore, the little pushes that happen that get someone to finally explore an instrument have gone down in frequency. I sit for hours on shorts/reels. It is poison. I have a saxophone and want to become a great improvisor, why haven't I picked it up today? That said, I don't think gaming itself is a factor, because games still require focus and practice; it's the auxiliary media connected with gaming and that media's entire ecosystem that is causing the phenomenon that you're witnessing.

I’m gen z and music is one of the most important things in the world to me, I honestly don’t think my life would be the same without it.

I'm a younger gen z and I've always obsessed over music, but I've noticed almost all my friends or kids I talk to aren't all interested in music and I struggle to connect to them in that way.

I’m 27, born in 1996 & I grew up obsessing over music from a VERY young age maybe 4 or 5. I had so many cd’s & cassettes. music has always been a necessity. It’s an escape. I had a very traumatic childhood so I would lock myself in my room & escape with music every single day. It got me through everything. It still does.I also did band through middle & high school. Now as an adult I’ve started a huge record collection & am taking guitar lessons. I can’t imagine going one day without music.I think some people just casually enjoy music & for others, like myself, music is what gets us through life & we live & breathe it !!

Rick, I'm only a year or two younger than you. When I was a teenager there were times I would put on the headphones, lie down, and simply "listen" to an album. I wouldn't do anything else. Simply close my eyes and listen. If I had time, I'd put on a double album (such as the white album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, or Quadraphenia) and lose myself in the experience. Even today, I can simply listen to music without needing to do anything else.

I’m an older Gen Z but video games actually got me into music and into classical music. It made me interested in learning piano as well

There are a lot of people my age who couldn’t care less about music and I could never understand that. Music is my entire life, I couldn’t go a day without it.

Class of 1989 here. As a kid growing up in the 90s & early 00s, I think the majority of kids then were able to balance things out. We love our music, games, tv shows, films, sports, books. We're probably the last gen that went out & explored our surroundings, socialised w/out having social medias. We were there when the internet & smartphones & gadgets started to get big & saw their evolution. Back then, there's something for everybody to get into, or if you were like me; you can get into all sort of things all at once. & it still continues till this day. I play music & I play video games too. IMO 1 of the main issues here is convenience*. When everything's easy, we humans tend to be less interested or less appreciative. Sometimes we even ignore it & didn't even realise it's there. Whatever the thing is. This goes with what Rick is pointing out in this video. "Oh, i didn't realise there's music in this video game" kinda vibe. We've came so far in terms of technology that the game from 30yrs ago only have like robotic generic sounds compared to full audio experiences of today. Kids today will never understand the rush of waiting in line for a new album or new game release. Buying them with the school money that was saved for months. Like, why wait in line when you can order it online with your parents' credit card &have the thing delivered. & watch the review of it while waiting, eh? Or the feeling you had while sitting in front of a tv set waiting for your fav music video to be played by MTV. Now, They have all sort of streaming platforms on demand at their disposal. Or the happiness when you unwrap the new cassette or cd & then proceed to spend the rest of the week playing it & reading the lyric sheets & leaving the rest with your imagination. Kids today prefer visuals. They like their audio with something that the eye can see, like tik tok shorts. This is not a "my gen is better than your gen" comment to the kids of today. On the contrary, I'd like to think I was lucky to be born at the right time & with the right family. I owe my love for music to my family. My mother & brothers listen to many great music & it influenced my upbringing. & I discovered more music with tv shows, wrestling & yes.. video games, too. When I discovered good music or musicians. I dug deeper into what makes it good. One thing led to another. Rock led to blues, for instance. Sadly today, the attention span of most kids is not that long. They like something, then they move on to the next cool trendy thing. We have to accept that music is not the only cool thing anymore, like how it was. It's there. & will still be there when we are all gone. But it falls in the background compared to other hobbies that kids today prefer. Just my 2 cents

There is an intense visual and auditory bombardment not only in games, but also on Instagram, KZfaq and the entire internet. And new generations are growing up in this chaos. That's why it's now difficult to truly experience a masterpiece produced with effort and knowledge. In fact, every second they are presented with "products" that are packaged with ready-made visuals and music, and which are easy to consume. Being surrounded by technology lowers people's attention threshold, and it is very difficult to resist this.

I've been making piano tutorials since 2007 across five channels - but 5 years ago I totally switched from making new music and chart song tutorials to making video game and meme song tutorials. It's not that Gen Z don't care about music, it's that the delivery system has changed - and especially pre teens are not listening to the radio at all - the odd global hit gets through but the songs they want to play are mainly from video games or memes (or TV shows).

Games actually broadened my taste. It feels great when game developers put music in the right place. The emotional investment makes the music more memorable.

Gen X'r here. As someone who decided late in life to pursue a side gig in music production, it's EXTREMELY challenging trying to figure out how to approach the industry as a productive endeavor. The point you make is right on mark and the music "business model" is almost unrecognizable to me. The challenge in creating market viability for a song is overwhelming. I guess the fact that, access to music is basically a free-for-all these days might have an impact but I would love to see you do a video addressing that very subject. "How To Be A Successful Gen X Producer In Todays Business Model"

i'm part of gen z and video games were and still are a source of great music for me. i did notice a lot of the games you listed are much older, therefore the range of what's possible for music isn't as extensive as it is today. another point i'd like to make is that there are so many types of games, like ones that allow you time to relax and enjoy the environment and music, where music is even a large focal point. mario kart is competitive and requires focus, so i understand if music isn't in the foreground of one's mind. and given the fast-paced nature of the game i think the music rightfully serves as backdrop to reflect a mood or ambiance. nowadays, i love me some Jeff Buckley or Amy Winehouse, but the calming sounds of zelda or the jazzy compositions of Shoji Meguro are classics i will continually go back to. those were the songs that really kept me playing the piano. one of my first "mp3s" was interestingly enough through a gaming console. before i had my first iphone, the only solution i had to carry my music everywhere was recording clips of a song or piece on my 3ds (the max of one clip was something like 30 seconds) and pressing play each time one clip ended to listen to an entire song. reflecting on how my personal experience may differ from older generations, looking back at my middle school days and beyond, i noticed that when it came to favorite musicians that that was something hard to pinpoint. with how easily accessible music is now, you can listen to a specific song when you feel like it and just play that on repeat, then move on to a different song you added from a different artist, and the process repeats on and on. it didn't even occur to me that listening to an entire album could be a thing. i'm being exposed to so many different songs, whether through KZfaq or a streaming service, that it's easier to become attracted to a sound rather than stick to a consistent artist and dive into their work. there are apps like shazam that make it easier to find a song you like on the spot when strolling through the mall. this leads me to remember a discussion around one tiktoker who had very few fans waiting in line to see her at a convention. it's difficult to build up a fanbase when audiences are watching short after short, where they're exposed to so many creators and there's no emotional connection. our attention span is impaired from the constant binging as well. these factors (exposure to an excessive amount of content which leads to our shortening attention spans and a lack of emotional connection to specific artists) give less incentive to listen and really appreciate a song, much less a full-length album. i, myself, am learning to build the patience to sit down and listen to an entire album because it doesn't have the same instant gratification as listening to a song that scratches an itch. since the topic of your video is centered around video games, i think this problem concerns gen alpha the most. the things you pointed out about kids wanting to be more like gamers were spot on when it comes to my baby cousin. his dream is to become a youtuber and he already has a video up of him playing roblox XD :-: this discussion could be tied with electronic usage in general. look into a restaurant and you can bet your booty there's an ipad kid. i myself am learning to heal from the affects of unsupervised internet usage, but these kids are exposed at a much younger age. their attention spans are already being messed with at earlier developmental stages and that could affect their ability to sit down and really listen to music. at the very least, i hope that those of the younger generation who play games can be exposed to ones with beautiful sounds that intrigue their ear. that's one way that can lead them to appreciate music, like it did for me.

Here's my take on this. I was a music teacher for 31 years. With the advent of iPods and phones I found that my students were always plugged in. Music became background for OTHER things they were doing. Walking to school, doing homework, or just sitting by themselves. And so they don't really actively listen. Later in my career whenever I put on music for them to listen to, they would zone out or start talking. It became a bit of a nuisance, so I cut down on the things we listened to in class. And because music is always available, it becomes disposable as well. Gone are the days of making a trip downtown to a record store to get that one record you really want. Always having access to music and using it as background noise cheapens music.

Gaming actually enhanced my interest in music. Licensed music soundtracks in games like GTA exposed me to a lot of great bands I wouldn't have heard otherwise

I’m so late to this conversation, and I’ll try to keep it short… I hear you Rick!!! So much said is right on point… but… I’m an optimist! As a boomer myself, I can’t predict how music moves forward in the next 20, 50.. 100 years, but as a teacher, nothing works better in my classroom than music. I teach Spanish using my guitar in an elementary school. Over the 14 years that I’ve been teaching in my school, my principal has purchased me a small arsenal of guitars to teach interested students to play… during their recess and lunch breaks!!! Yes.. students give up their recess to come to my classroom and learn guitar!!! It’s beautiful!!! I’ll leave it at that. I believe that kids will always love music.. albeit a little differently than each previous generation 😆

Very interesting point and video! Ties in nicely with our growing tendency to listen to music for even the smallest of tasks. I guess as pop music becomes more formulaic and viral we just become oblivious to it because we're not actually listening-we're using it as background noise. I was born in 2002 and didn't have access to the internet till 15. Never had an Xbox or a Nintendo, let alone videogames on a phone of my own. That translated into me sucking at every single videogame to ever exist, and into me having more traditional hobbies. I got my first guitar at 11 but didn't start playing till around 14, and it was a similar timeline for piano, singing, and songwriting. It all just kind of exploded at that age, which, coincidentally enough, is when I started using the internet at home. I made it a point to get some foundation at a music conservatory, and to always try and learn a piece by ear rather than jumping into the tutorial. I now use my phone every day like everyone else, but it still fades into the background when I'm playing or practicing. So I guess it all depends on what you're fed growing up. I have a 6-year-old cousin who can't sit at the table without watching KZfaq. So of course, if you can't even do that, you're not gonna be able to fiddle and mess with any artistic discipline that takes time to pay off

I think that's really weird because video games definitely helped me get into music. A LOT of video game soundtracks have shaped my music taste

Japanese composers go all out when making music for anime, same for games. And the music is an obvious make or break factor for the overall experience. And everyone knows that. The music is usually what stays with us, takes us back when hearing it again at a later stage.

Being a member of the generation, I have always loved music. I was originally brought up with ELO, of which I love. I soon became I die hard Rush fan, and Rush really opened my view to music as I started to listen to Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Nirvana, The Who, The Kinks, Genesis, King Crimson, Blue Oyster Cult, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Blur and Oasis. Recently, I started playing guitar, of which I love, and that arguably had a larger impact than Rush had, as I am now infatuated with the whole metal scene as I started with Metallica, then it bursted into Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Korn, Green Day, Sepultura, SOAD, and now especially Pantera and Slipknot. At least for me, music is very important to me. I have been a guitarist for around half a year and I have learned to play Brain Damage, American Idiot, Passage to Bangkok, and others. Playing an instrument really pushed me into more music and makes me appreciate it more. Also, I now notice that I really have one friend who knows about music, who is my best friend, as we talk about what if Dimebag was in Megadeth and others, but, everyone else I know doesn’t have much of a clue with music.

Being from Gen Z myself I would say that just about everyone my age loves music but I’m thinking of two main differences in the modern era that have made our experience with it totally different. 1. Rock is less popular and Rap is the preeminent genre. If kids today are actually interested in learning “to play” music, most of them would rather do it at home with their computer and make beats/rap than pick up an instrument, which leads to 2. The biggest rock bands have priced out their audiences at live shows; there’s a famous clip of Kurt Cobain gasping at the fact that Madonna charged $50 for some of her tickets in the early 90’s… most kids today have been to literally 0 rock concerts in their entire life, because the biggest festivals and venues have priced out a lot of people. Without that experience of a live show they have no inspiration driving them to be on that stage one day. Funnily enough to your point about video games, I think the video game “Guitar Hero,” especially the 3rd one with Slash on the cover, did a lot to reinvigorate interest in the guitar. Almost everyone my age has played that game and a lot of people I know (including myself) would say it influenced them into learning the guitar and most of all buying into the mythology that is Rock. It would be interesting for you to do a video about that game and its soundtrack in particular because I think its been a massive influence on Genz

I'm GenX and I can't imagine my life without music. It got me through so much. However back then you could see your fave bands for $20!

Real gamers appreciate the music in their games. From games like bloodborne or Zelda where you get beautiful classical instruments compositions based on styles from all over the world, to Doom’s death metal. It’s one of the major aspects you can get from a game, the music.

Gen Z doesn't understand music, that's why performers make more money than real artists. Let's spit the truth.

I love every video you make. I learn so much! Its awesome how much you have grown the channel

The video game that changed my life music wise was Grand Theft Auto Vice City when I was 21. Just driving around and listening to all the 80’s classics just inspired me to search bands and pop artists of that era. It totally expanded my mind and helped me grow an appreciation for music of all eras.

I'm a millennial, and I got into music because of videogames, especially during the PS2 era. And my little sister, she's a Zoomer, 16 years younger than me, she got into music because of anime. Music is everywhere, and people from all times have had different level of interest on it.

As a musician I was talking with a pro football player one time. He said, “you know, all atheletes want to be musicians and all musicians want to be athletes”. I said, “l never wanted to be an athlete”. You are dead on.

You nailed it Rick. I remember the whole mindset was different back in our day... as soon as one of my favourite bands would release a new album we would all sit on the floor of mine or some buddys bedroom on bean bags, get the old lava lamps on and zone out, and just absorb the whole album and listen to it fully.. no distractions like cellphones/social media. listening to music with your eyes closed, and feeling it 100%, everythings too quick now, and has to be in some kind of 'tiktok' format to appease attention spans of the later generations that have somewhat diminished.

As a Gen Zer, music is the only thing in my life that bring me any happiness. My friend and I have already started the planning on creating a band, hell, we almost have an album finished. I thank my parents all the time for listening to the best music in the world that got me so hooked. Video games have always killed time for me but its been wearing off slightly more and more as time passes. Playing guitar and singing are the only things that make me so happy and excited. I dream to be on stage playing for people, whether it will always be a small crowd or a million people, just want to get there. Edit: I will be turning 16 this June

Found this really interesting. I teach kids guitar for a living and have definitely noticed a decline in general passion for music listening (although playing music seems more popular than ever). Being early Gen Z myself, I don't see and difference between my relationship with games as a kid and theirs.The main difference I see is the way that music is consumed now. I caught the tail end of CDs and iTunes, when you still had to know who it was you were listening to and the concept of 'owning' a music collection was still there. Your music collection was a way that you projected identity. I ask every student now who they like to listen to and only around 10% have an answer, having only really listened to playlists on streaming services and never checked the artist names. I think the fact that the concept of 'owning' music is no longer relevant to streaming means that kids don't project identity with music listening anymore.

We filled our days with music, cinema, books, and comic books. Nowadays they barely have anytime left after instagram and tiktok.

I know very few people under 50, who have an interest in learning to play an instrument . I'm 73, my brothers and I all took music lessons as children and grow-up playing several instruments. We loved buying sheet music and listening to all kinds of music. Most houses had pianos even really poor kids and I am still thrilled by soundtracks. I picked up harp and flute since the pandemic and I love having something that can reflect my inner feelings the way playing or appreciating music. I admit that much of the music I listen to now is coming from outside the US. it's just more interesting and not afraid to go deeper.

I am a part of Gen Z, born in late 2003. I, along with all of my friends, love music. Video games are definitely something they enjoy as well but the soundtrack is almost always one of our favorite parts of it. I don't play as many video games as I used too, I tend to watch KZfaq and listen to my favorite bands. But when I do play them, I am almost always listening for the music; it is honestly one of the only reasons I would play a game now. One of my friends and I also have been learning guitar for a while now. I don't know exactly how other people in my generation might feel but for all of the people I know, music is very important.

I'm a gen z kid and super into music. Growing up i didn't get to have all the phones and internet until i was in like 11th or 12th grade because we were poor. Not dirt poor, but poor. My dad is a huge music collector so i had access to all his cds growing up and about 4th-5th grade is when i started to dig through his cds and read the little pamphlets in the cd cases. He had literally most of the greats from 50s-90s in multiple genres. 7th grade i did a huge school project where i made an encyclopedia of "music" and every Letter in the alphabet there was a band/musician and a mini biography of the band/musician that i had typed up. That was around the time when i started teaching myself guitar. I had no guitar teacher (never had a teacher, but my dad knew 3 chords and barely knew how to play.) My dad didn't really have any blues or jazz music. I knew about blues but I didn't really hear any cuz my dad didn't have it in his cds, that i knew of at the time, or anyone i was friend's with did. When we got internet that's when i got into blues and my mind was completely blown away by big bill Broonzy, lightning hopkins, rev gary davis, and john lee hooker. Then i found out about robert johnson. I went into my dad's cds and he actually had the robert johnson cd that's brown and a drawing of robert sitting in a chair on the front. And then i found a compilation album with 3 cds of a lot of the blues greats from the 40s- 50s and i played it so much, even when i had youtube. I have the compilation cd still to this day. So shortly after i "discovered" blues i began researching blues and seeking out new blues musicians, and still do. Anyway the point of that story is i probably wouldn't hold music so dear to me if i never had that experience of seeking and discovering music; that whole adventure hooked me. No one forced me or told me what music to listen to, no device stuck me to an algorithm where i would get the same genre of music and narrowed my "lens." I just did it myself and really listened to what i was finding and it became a personal relationship. I think if i had access to internet and smart phones and unlimited music through my phone when i was young that i would NOT have this deep of a relationship with music as i do. I do not blame video games for the level of a kid's interest or taste in music, but the way kids discover music. And for that i am grateful a small part of my life i got to experience life without all the devices and internet when i was younger because i truly believe that is one of the reasons why i am different than most of my peers. Thank you for reading this if you have. Edit: thank you people! I Didn't realize this would get this many likes, but since I have people's attention; if any old school blues type people are out there you could check out my stuff I have uploaded and /or subscribe to me if you want to support a huge blues fanatic (I will subscribe back and even talk with anyone about blues/rock if they want to) , it would really make me happy and motivate me to upload more. Keep the blues alive ✌️

When I was growing up acid house and hiphop were just breaking out over here in the UK. The sounds were so fresh and new that that was part of the appeal but also a lot of the appeal was the community side of it, being out with people my own age all enjoying the same stuff. Really made you feel like part of something new and exciting. Not sure if kids now will have anything like that.

Love your channel Rick!! It seems to me people of all ages these days have such a short attention span and I think that's part of the problem. I am about the same age as you, I used to go to record store with a friend after we made enough money mowing lawns to afford to each buy a record. Then we'd go home and listen to them just hanging out, exactly as you described! Great times ... I am also a musician and it's amazing to me to get someone's attention to listen to anything for more than a minute these days ...

I feel like I have an interesting perspective on this convo… I’m a gen Zer (born in ‘99), but I’m also in my first year of being a music teacher in public schools. I think Rick is right in some ways here, but I think he’s missing out on some insights too. In my experience, I’ve been astonished by how many kids get their music tastes from video games and meme culture. I think where Rick is correct is that their engagement with music looks SUPER different compared to folks in his generation, in that music for music’s sake isn’t as explicitly of a cultural force as is was then. Where I think he gets it a little wrong is in whether kids are interested in music. In my experience, the difference is that music and individual kids’ taste in music is growing increasingly personal and private. Headphones are WAY more common than they were when Rick was a kids, as are personal devices on which kids can access music. I think the result of that is that kids are a lot slower to share their music with one another or with adults than they used to be, but I don’t think music is becoming less of a part of their lives, I think it just looks that way from the outside because music has been personalized so much that it’s not as openly talked about as it used to be. You have to really earn a kids trust over time these days to get them to share their music with you. But once they really do open up, a truly astonishing percentage of the kids I teach are obsessed with music that they engage with through video games and TikTok, and it’s really awesome to see young people start their musical lives with access to such a broad diversity of musical styles. It looks very very different from how it was when Rick was a kid, or even from when I was a kid as an older gen Zer (my formative memories revolve around saving my allowance to buy songs on iTunes and sifting through stacks of CDs at second hand stores). Music is still going strong in us youngins, I promise!

I think Gen Z cares about music, but technology has fundamentally changed their relationship to it. Streaming has exploded the amount of music available, and a Spotify subscription costs less than a CD did when I grew up. Previous generations had to spend money on an album. And because you couldn't buy every album, the ones you chose to purchase became not only a reflection of your personal taste but part of your identity. The internet has blown that up. In previous generations younger p may have been into punk, or rock, or hip hop, or electronica, or any other number of generes, I think most kids now listen to a wider variety of music than ever before. And the (nearly)endless playlists on streaming services means you can listen to hours and hours of music without necessarly connecting to an artist or album in the way older generations may have (I think in some ways that explains the 'background music' that you talk about).

I’m a year late to this topic but I believe it’s more of a Gen-Z male phenomenon. I asked my 26 year old nephew what he likes to listen to and he struggled to answer. My niece said Taylor Swift, Beyoncé. and K-Pop. Music went from glam rock to glam pop. The substance and male appeal is gone. Boys spend time on video games but girls are social creatures and will take time out of their day to be part of the social scene. That might be a reason why there’s no male version of Taylor Swift.

Rick I’d really like your opinion on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s OST considering that’s the game you probably played recently. Nintendo in general especially Koji Kondo is considered to be the GOAT of the industry in terms of music especially his work on the Mario series. The OST of Super Mario Galaxy and Zelda Skyward Sword once they started to use Orchestras are astounding and I think you’d get a kick out of seeing how far they’ve come since the 8 bit era of the original Mario Bros.

As someone who is part of Gen Z I think a big part of is what you mentioned, physical copies. I have tons of albums and songs on Apple Music but no real connection with them other than them being a “moment in time”. It’s hard to make a connection and wanna learn music that you have no obligation to listen to. I think it also is part of why songs and albums are so short nowadays - if you can’t hook someone within 30 seconds, you’re done. Buying an album used to be a commitment.

Hi Rick! Love the channel - but I did want to say: I’ve been a music teacher for almost 10 years now, and in the recent years, I do find that my students will come in excited to play music they heard in games. Some games have really amazing soundtracks/composers - and it’s nice to see kids come in wanting to play music by Toby Fox or Nobuo Uematsu, which absolutely breaks the monotony of pop music. Anyways, just figured I’d chime in as someone whose seen games bring kids to music. All the best!

Let me just say Rick you started a great post I think I’m a little late to the dance but I truly truly enjoy reading so many of the young people posting on here and commenting it really open my eyes as retired musician. My 29 year old daughter is one of the fortunate ones that got dragged to every studio session that I was a part of when my wife was busy in California and Texas. So she’s got to be a part of a lot of old war stories and come up with her own war stories of being in Studios with me like doing her homework/ sleeping till 4am, her snoring during commercial stems, and meeting hundreds of musicians so it made her insight in music incredible. I wish a lot of these young people could experience what she’s experienced being in those sessions… She listens to everything from soundtracks to reel‘s/ shorts…thx for the video…

I had the best of both worlds as in the 1980's, the video arcade that I went was a place where you would hear new music by indi bands & non-top 40 groups. (Sometimes they would play local band demos as well) I would sometimes stop in the middle of a game and pay attention to the music and even run to the counter and ask what was playing. The innovation of music was perfectly aligned with the innovation of arcade games in the early 80's. Now both games and music in 2024 are treading on tired old re-hashed re-done ideas. There's no way to compare the 80's era to what's going on nowadays with both games and music.

Being a gen z kid, hearing that this generation doesn't care about music is a huge shock for me because just about everyone I know loves music, regardless if they're a musician or not.

Great points but gonna have to disagree. Video games are what got me into music. I learned guitar so I could play Pokemon songs and now I've made a whole career out of reinterpreting video game music as rock and metal songs. It's not even just games, one of my earliest memories was trying to play the Star Wars theme on a cheap Casio keyboard because I liked the movies. Music has always had a visual element to it from live concerts to soundtracks, but video games have done something that no other media has been able to do. Video games allow the audience to control and interact with the music itself! Doom Eternal changes the arrangement based on controller inputs and what's happening on screen! It's soundtrack has introduced a whole new audience to Djent to the point that Djent is now referred to as Doom music. Video games have evolved what music can be and I'm super excited to see where it goes from here!

Um vídeo muitíssimo importante. Congratulações Rick! 👍🏻

I’m a Gen Z(1995). Music has always been one of the biggest parts of my life and video game music also had a massive impact on me and it still does to this day.

Mario Kart 8 has some of the classiest music I've ever heard in video games. As a Jazz enthusiast and musician in that style, I absolutely adore its ost. As someone who plays both music and video games, I've developed an ear for how music is composed and used in all kinds of games, and it's certainly a discovery to be had.

As a (late) gen z kid myself I completely agree with you. Like, I mean I myself am _totally_ obsessed with music. It's like the fabric my whole day is made of. But when I want to share my love for music, none of the others care about it. Like, once I had to play guitar and sing in my music class. And I really wanted to do it because I like it. But once I got out my guitar and plugged it in my classmates just looked awkwardly at me and asked why I'd put so much effort in music. _It's just music_ they told me, _stop caring so much about it._ and i think that's quite frustrating and sad. But still, I've got friends who are as engaged in terms of music as I am (not at school but in the choir). That saved my music centered life, I guess.

I'm a 93'er, so maybe not quite a zoomer. I grew up with the popular music and music video TV being all about the latest 2000s pop songs and modern rock like Linkin Park and everyone I knew liked Metallica on some level. Interestingly enough, what got me into music as a gamer-nerd who didn't like CD music, was stuff from the games. Rayman 2 on N64 was the first time I noticed music had an effect on me, because the N64 version has an intro segment that builds up into a title reveal that to this day i still super badass. Later I would feel the shift in mood in Halo games, and as a result of things like that I started listening to real music, and I started playing the guitar, and I became a huge Tool and Maynard fan, and Radiohead fan and many more. I think music still has a role but I think there's oversaturation in the industry and Spotify has commoditized music in a way that makes it less unique than it used to be. "Service" products do this generally speaking, even video games.

Rick I think you made a great point about the financial investment in records - it gave an incentive for kids to replay and understand every nuance of the music, and maybe even a feeling of ownership that encouraged them to share with friends and become an 'ambassador' for their chosen artist. These days a lot of incredible music is just background for other forms of entertainment that we know we could listen to in detail anytime but never get around to. That being said, regarding videogames, as an example I remember one of my early memorable exposures to what we might call rock music being the boss battle theme in Final Fantasy VII. Maybe an issue today is, as you mentioned, kids doing several things at once and not being as engrossed in one particular activity as we once were.

I'm 23, born in late 1999, i grew up with my mother (single mum), born in 1969, who really had great taste, i listened to alot of alternative rock, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, nirvana, jamiroquai, the smiths, curiosity killed the cat, some oasis, etc, but on the weekends i'd spend time with my grandparents (both born 1942) and they'd play me buddy holly, clarence ”frogman” henry, elvis, the beatles, the kinks, abba, queen, all the hits from their youth. That combination of the classic roots of rock, together with the then still pretty "modern" 2003-2007 sounding rock, as well as the odd new thing that'd come out, razorlight, kaiser cheifs, really set me up to have a great appreciation and intuitive feel for music. When i was about 9 i really got into hip hop and rap, and in my early teens i REALLY get into house music and electronic dance music, even started producing my own stuff. I am a Gen Zer (i think), and i just couldn't live without music. There's a song for every possible emotion, and no two songs make me feel the same.

Great topic. As a middle school teacher and college professor, I think the issue is that appreciating music requires being actively engaged with the material -- aka "listening" (as opposed to simply "hearing"). Music lovers actively pay attention and think about what they are listeing to in order and engage in and appreciate the artist's creative choices. It's the same with reading. For non-readers, reading requires too much effort. But people who love reading and love music are actively engaged with and emotionally invested in the material.

Thank you for bringing this up, this was very interesting, and as someone who is and has been obsessed with music since practically my inception in 95', who is an has been a musician for many years, and is currently doddling between the choice to pursue a Audio Production degree vs a CompSci degree ~ firstly this sounds great, as to me it basically sounds like less people my age caring about music and its creation which could potentially mean more job opportunities in my head (which is why I cant decide on what to major in bc stability is important), however, I also dont play videogames anymore for various reasons but mainly related to my desire to not waste time and put more time into music (which is what it always feels like anymore, yet thats not to say I didnt grow up playing the crap outta videogames) but all that keeps coming up in my heads while listening to you is ~ even though kids/people dont care about the "music" or "sound design" they technically based on our human experience have to be at a minimum subconsciously aware of the fx, foley, design, music, etc. And Id imagime so much so that if all that was taken away from videogames (or movies for instance) we (genZ) would quickly become aware that something is missing from the overall content or experience of the "thing". Im not saying that your wrong by any stretch, my girlfriend and friends make it evident to me that they dont care about the technical musical side of anything regarding music, its creation, manipulation of it, etc. they just care that its there, and/or available "on demand" as some have mentioned, but then I also kinda think thats potentially the general difference/gap between a professional preforming or working musician/audio tech/sound desginer/foley artist etc. of any genre or type of work involved with sound vs someone who is just a listener an always will be bc the technical interest is non-existent.

I'm one year older than you Rick and I can't imagine my life without music. Music inspires me, moves me emotionally. comforts me and stimulates me to explore and experience life more deeply. Few things are as exciting than hearing a new (or old) song performed by an unknown artist(s) and getting that indescribable thrill that all music fanatics crave. It is an art form that unfolds in real time but always in a different space under different conditions and thus (i think) is always changing and evolving and unfolding to show us new ideas. This makes it unique among all of the fine arts. Even a captured (and static) recording can evoke different feelings and emotions depending on the listeners and the situation that it is being played. A song can be performed live and be transformed into something completely unexpected from it's original form. I find it endlessly fascinating and I'm always on the hunt for something new and exciting. And I regularly go back and listen to music from all genres and eras. I CANNOT imagine my life without music. I have to listen and concentrate on music - I can't have it playing in the background - it's distracting and annoying. I have to LISTEN to it. Maybe this might be the reason why more recent generations don't value it like others - it's just another stimulant or distraction that diverts their attention from the barrage of info that we all experience on a daily basis. Yet the digital age allows me to literally have any music I wish at my fingertips in my pocket - that blows my mind on a daily basis. But it also makes me sad and worried that the love of all things musical is being watered down by the digital assault that permeates EVERYTHING! You have wonderful topics and discussions that make me stop and think - and then go find the music and LISTEN to it! Fantastic! As always, thank you!

So this is what I think. When it comes to music, back in the day everyone wanted to play the guitar, because it looked cool, because the lead guitarrist could steal the atentiton, because you could bring the guitar to the party and jam and be the center. The guitar gave you that status. I noticed that kids now focus on beat making. Urban music now has the place rock music had some years ago. Is now focused on production and sound making, not so much on music theory and scales but rather finding interesting sounds and textures. Neither is better than the other, but the later is novelty, and kids now want to produce beats or rap because it will get them the attention or status, just like the guitar used to back in the day. When it comes to music, I think the motivation is the same, the attitude, the status, but the medium has changed. I think is very interesting.

There are kids that are very much into music, going to shows, buying and listening to records, etc. I include myself in that group. There are, equally, so many kids I know who don't really care about the music they listen to, or just listen to their dad's favorite old rock music. A lot of that stuff is good, but it doesn't get kids interested in all the cool music that's happening underground today because there's less of a pipeline from mainstream stuff to more interesting music.

I am Gen Z, a lot of people I talk to my age, and even above, when I ask them what kind of music they listen to, they seldom give me a straight answer. What bands do you listen to? I ask. "Uhhhh...bands? I just listen to songs, like spotify or whatever, my list of liked songs is huge you should see it!" I hear this sort of reaction a lot and I can't help but feel, disappointed by it. I like having conversations about genres and how they compare. Which albums I've been listening to, and what bands I've been obsessed with. A lot of the time when I try to bring these sorts of conversations up, the answers I get are...lackluster. Also, on the topic of video games and music, Rick theorizes that games have torn away the attention for music from young folk. But, Game music itself is extremely popular. I sometimes find myself listening to game OSTs rather than actual bands or artists. A lot of young people like myself do listen to music, sometimes entirely because of games.

I’m a gen alpha who collects records and CDs and music has helped me through SO MUCH

You mentioned needing to save up $15 to buy an album when you were a teenager. The record industry was so afraid of the internet they decided to restructure for streaming which not only hurts artist revenue but made the next generation view the product as valueless. Kids have to put their money elsewhere and their hearts follow.

I’m 29, I have memories buying cds, laying on my bed and listening to whole albums front to back with a good stereo system. Unfortunately, the last time I did this I was probably 14-15years old. Once music became more convenient to access via iPhones and streaming services, it became too convenient to appreciate on such a deep level. I think when you purchased a physical recording, it was a much more visceral experience because that item was your possession, you felt a connection to it. On the one hand, I love how music has become so convenient that I can listen to Mozart one second, and Smashing Pumpkins the next, but I do feel like something extra was lost in this modern transition.

What you mentioned about having all these online tools but never playing together spoke to me. I have a kid in my 12th grade class who's great guitarist when he has a song memorized. But you ask him to just busk a simple, 3-chord folk song (from Puerto Rico) had him stumped, because he's not used to just hashing out a song without a tutorial.

I think entertainment has simply become wider. There used to be just things like storytelling, then came books, concerts, for Rick's generation came music records, for Gen Z (including me) comes videogames, the Internet. Everything is still there, but each type of entertainment doesn't have as much room anymore to exist. Although obviously some are particularly easy to catch on to

Here's an alternative angle: you didn't register the music whilst playing the game because your brain was fully engaged in just trying to play it (basically because you were no good at it), the music is able to be appreciated once the game isn't as challenging. I've always loved the music aspect of video games.

In my humble opinion as a music lover who grew up playing video games, music doesn't appeal to kids because mainstream music today lacks melody. It may be fun to dance too, but isn't enough to really spark the love for music. The music industry needs to focus more on the art and less on the industry. Every song sounds the same, nowadays

Hello Rick! I am a Millennial, 1992, but I also grew up with video games since I was 3 years old, basically. I am also a musician, I currently play pirate metal with my band The Anchors. My style of songwriting is influenced by video game music so much that we decided to open our gigs with the opening track of Banjo-Kazooie for Nintendo64. I basically discovered music THROUGH videogames, without them I wouldn't have been so obsessed with it, and the passion grew for both games and music. Even now I find myself alternating gaming sessions and writing ones. It might be just a case, but I think that with the right motivation even a kid who's absolutely obsessed with video games can grow a real interest for music too

I'm a millennial. I used to sit and watch my brother play Nintendo and Sega Genesis games. I loved listening to the music. Some of those old 8 bit games have amazing music. My parents were divorced. We'd visit my dad on the weekend and he'd play The Beatles and other bands from the 60s records all the way through. The music in video games can get kids interested in music.

Personally, I became a professional Music Composer almost solely because of the music I heard in games growing up, and know many other musicians and composers who had the same origin story. Videogame music is severely underrated man!

For me it was a videogames that got me into music. I loved a game called little big planet when I was younger, the point of the game was to make your own levels and share them with other players. It allowed you not just to make the level but the music through a simple little built in music sequencer. That videogame was what got me really into making my own music and what really gave me a passion for it. It also gave me a lot more respect for videogame composers who are in my opinion the most underated music makers in the industry. But yeah more kids need to listen to more music, in fact I think everyone should have a bit more music in their lives

I often ask myself "what is good taste and do you aquire it". I think music is a step in this direction and we are constantly drifting away from this.

as a 14-year-old right now yeah, I've been so interested in music, I've been so absorbed by the world of music and it's huge in my life and I care about video games but I literally focus on the music mainly, I listened to a track that I like and I instantly start checking the game out, I'm so absorbed into all the little things that make a track and what doesn't I'm seen as weirder than everyone else

I was born in 2002, I’m 20 now. Music from videos games is actually what motivated me to seek music and play instruments. Rhythm and music games like Guitar Hero really introduced me to music like nothing else. Can’t forget about the iconic music of Mario Kart, Halo, Zelda, Forza, Doom, Animal Crossing etc. These game soundtracks are part of the reason I kept going back to these games. I believe game OST’s and the game itself go hand and hand.

As someone in their mid teens I totally agree with this video. I used to clock in hours of gaming every day but unlike music it doesn't have the same emotional connection. Once I got out of that and picked up the drums, my life changed drastically and I couldn't be more grateful. So many of my musician friends feel the same way and I am praying that more people get adopted into this fascinating culture.

As an '03 kid I grew up going to karaoke all the time, then later i got myself into the drumline at my highschool. back then it was so easy to grow as a musician. But now that i have other responsibilities and no energy left to get myself out of the house, its really hard to do anything but learn from the internet. The thing is live shows with local bands just aren't really a thing anymore either. my mom was just talking about that the other day. I listen to music all the time though, actively, too. I try to listen to albums the whole way through. It just takes so much time and effort that its hard to justify over digging through a playlist. especially if im new to that particular genre. Also the younger you are, the more there is to be "caught up" on. Like boomers were brought up in it so all of the popular songs are all already familiar and you know all of the artists names and even band member's names. but as gen z, i didnt know who any of the songs were by, i didnt even know most of the song names, i just knew the melody. I still hear songs i feel like ive known forever every time i go somewhere or watch a movie. and i have to look them up on the spot lol, guessing the name. Heck, i go through the "what makes this song great" playlist all the time to find more songs. it seems like everyone should know most of the songs and artists on that playlist, but i only recognized a handful the first time i looked through it. but then i look up the song and most likely i already knew it lol.

I'm part of Gen Z (born 1997) and I got into games when I was roughly 12 or 13. Video game music was my main source of music for a few years until I discovered Queen, and after that was Pink Floyd, but Led Zeppelin was the first band I really got into. i started learning guitar when I was 16 and got my first job when I was 17 just to buy my first proper guitar. Music has always been a big part of my life, and I don't really understand when people say they don't really listen to music. It would be interesting if Rick reacted to some video game music, since I think a lot of it is amazing.

I think you've made an excellent point about how younger people experience music today, but its also fair to note that many kids don't have as much free time as we did growing up. For us it was "get out and be home by dinner, don't be late and I don't care if you don't have a watch!". Today's kids are shuffled from activity to activity, and when they do get together they're gaming at someone's house. So they've lost their autonomy compared to what previous generations experienced, and that plays into the social elements you bring up. I've taught guitar since 1990 and I've always encouraged my students to bring me their music so I can show them how to play it. There is no dominant trend among them at this point, everyone likes something different. Also, music is cheap now, even free. Three hours work at Culver's pays for your spotify subscription for the month with money left over for lunch, instead of just getting you one album that you're going to agonize over as you choose it. So with limited time, little social reward, and little required commitment music has become more of an accessory, not something they are openly passionate about. They don't really know that the option exists, merely liking it seems enough.

As a millennial with a gen Z brother, this topic is super interesting to me. Growing up, I had a very limited exposure to music I was limited by whatever TV channels I was watching, my peers, my location and language and probably my social class played a huge role on which music I was exposed to. I of course also lived with the internet later on and so I had the opportunity to discover all types of music, I'm not anymore limited by location or language. My brother learned a lot of new music from me when he was a kid (we're 16 years apart), from the beginning he was exposed to all sorts of music. Now, he and his friends listen to music from all over the globe. Like he introduced me to awesome songs I've never heard of from Georgia (the country). It's so interesting to me how he and his friends are so 'global' musically. It's fascinating. I'm interested to see how that will effect his relationship to music when he's my age.

Spot on Rick, I feel your pain. Yet some of the Indie music/songwriting coming through to our station, is really awesome and leaves me with hope 🤞

I was born in 1951, I am now retired having made my living as a musician and sound engineer. I started playing guitar long before the Beatles came on Ed Sullivan. Music was a huge part of my life. My father had classical music playing in the house almost constantly. The Beatles were my number one band. Buying records and then CDs was definitely part of my budget since a teen and well into middle age. My musical taste was at that time quite wide. My guitar collection is substantial. I kept up with what was new, even playing works by Eric Johnson and Joe Satriani on my guitars. It was about 15 years ago I suddenly became bored with the radio. Classic Rock stations, Oldies, and other radio formats became the same songs over and over again. Much of the newer music felt to me as way overproduced formulaic unremarkable stuff. For a while I turned to KZfaq and listened to unsigned artists. But it all became boring, I just do not listen to music much anymore. It is constantly playing at stores, on TV shows, in movies. I just got tired of it. Often it is irritating. I love the silence. My wife watches The Voice and I just leave the room. These days I never listen to the radio in my car, I have not touched a CD in years, I do not even have a radio in my house. These days if I am listening to anything it is an audiobook or an independent news KZfaq channel. I did listen to the Beatles recent release, Now and Then, it brought tears to my eyes. What a powerful and beautiful song! But part of why I cried so much was because it made me realize this was not just the end of The Beatles, my all time favorite band, it is the last song I have deeply enjoyed listening to in over a decade. I realized I am burned out with music.

As a “Zoomer” (17): You make some good points but Gen Z does care about music. We ALL notice video game music! We've grown up in the digital world where processing fast-pased visual/aural info is the norm. Music’s function within video games varies WIDELY--acting as a motif in RPGs like "Undertale" or painting a setting in sandbox games like "Minecraft", songs from which we all recognize (and most love!). Your observations about kids emulating their favorite gamers are true, but this mostly phases out once kids get to highschool. The vast majority of highschoolers listen to music daily - hip-hop to pop to indie - via streaming. Music is important, it's simply even more individualized and cliquey. We find the most valuable musical connections with fellow fans on social media. Zoomer musicians still exist and care, following some combination of three routes: 1) Classically trained 2) Rock/pop/indie via KZfaq and programs like School of Rock 3) Producing hip-hop/pop tracks in DAWs.

Mr. Beato, I love your channel and I agree with much of your reasoning. I understand that this is a transitional period in American music, and that many people your age look back to the '60s-'90s as a kind of lost golden age. The infrastructure and the culture surrounding music has changed. But I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with many of your main points. As a member of Gen Z, I grew up listening to my family's country CDs, from Johnny Cash to Shania Twain. My dad's iPod and speakers filled the house with Stevie Wonder, the Commodores, and Ella Fitzgerald. When I was old enough to have my own Pandora account, the tunes just played. I remember the thrill, the discovery of creating new "channels." It was the greatest thing in the world, like a radio station just for me. It felt like a treasure and a miracle. I remember distinctly when I fell in love with 2010s indie pop. In place of liner notes, I would look up the lyrics and dissect them with my friends. I remember being introduced to rock, rap, metal, funk, and punk -- each genre, individually, is associated with different people and ways of thinking for me. I could tell you to the day when I first heard Fleetwood Mac's Rumours AND Lorde's Melodrama. Most of us have access to most of the music ever made, and we were never limited by accessibility or affordability. That makes music cheaper, yes, and that has its own consequences. But I don't think cheapening music takes away its power. For me and my peers, music is still vital, even if we're a little bit less precious about it. You lament the demise of singer-songwriters. I say my peers' heroes, their icons, are singer-songwriters. From Lana del Rey to Hozier even to new names like Chappell Roan, singer-songwriters flourish outside of the Top 40 and often within it (just look at Taylor Swift and the legions of fans who dissect her lyrics as well)! I could also tell you about how much we adore video game music as its own art form. A good video game score does more than fade away into the background. I would compare it to a film score. No one argues that a film score is somehow lesser music. When I hear the opening notes to the soundtrack of a story-driven game, I tear up just the same. Your friend is not the only person who actually listened to the music in Mario Kart. There are people who value that type of music on its own enough to sell out concerts, same as people performing the work of John Williams or Hans Zimmer. You say we want to emulate video game streamers. I don't know if you're aware of the immense, often incredibly generative, fandom around KZfaqrs and streamers, as well as video games themselves. There is creativity there, and some of it is indeed musical. Music is changing, as all art forms do, with the introduction of new technology. Some things will be gained, and some things will be lost. But frankly, your own social circle cannot represent all of Gen Z. We are here making music and we always will be, every and any way we know how. Your generation has left us a treasure trove of influences. Look for talented musicians who don't remember 9/11. You will find them.

I think a big element of it is the stratified nature of our culture. As people have a far more diverse array of cultural options to partake in, everyone is finding their own niche. It used to be that music was far more widespread and culture was far more widespread because it was far more homogeneous. And so music formed a central part of that culture. Whereas now these subcultures are spread out all across the globe and are orbiting around fandoms such as TV shows and other things of a similar nature.

My millennial little tidbit: video game music is arguably one of the most underappreciated mediums of music there is. Koji Kondo and Nobuo Uematsu are genius composers up there with Hans Zimmer and John Williams - just to scratch the surface.

As a Gen X parent raised on the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and various other groups and musicians, I’ve been able to pass the love of music on to my Gen Z daughters. It also helps that they’re both musicians as am I, with music constantly played in the house/college apartments, which I think has been the difference for them.

@rickbeato, Around the 8 minute mark, you start talking about what video games have that music doesn't. I think that's the key to understanding this phenomena. From a purely phychological perspective, music serves to provide a dopamine fix - any way you want to describe it, that is what is happening when you 'enjoy music': you are experiencing the effects of a neurotransmitter that gives you the experience you are having.This is the chemical process of enjoying music. Regardless of the personal preference of pastimes (be it music, gaming, painting, hunting humans on Billionaire ranches, whatever...), the neurological dopamine fix is what actually makes the activity enjoyable and fulfilling to the individual. The next concept to understand is the fact that neurons that fire together, wire together. That is how you learn things, and develop muscle memory. This means that the conditions of your upbringing, what was available to you as you grew, your entire developmental paradigm, forms your personal preferences. Yes, there is neuroplasticity that allows new learning and enjoyment of new things, but you need to develop those neural pathways the same as the rest, and is also why it is difficult to unlearn some things. Finally, layer on top of that, the fact that today, children are born into a world where technology is front and center in all aspects of life. High tech tooling is as prevalent and influential to today's children and their development, as bicycles were for you and I. This informs the child's developmental paradigm to the extent that wholistic sensory input becomes the defacto source for dopamine. That, in a nutshell, is what I believe video games have, that music doesn't: a younger, more neuroplastic audience who has never experienced a lesser-tech world, and who is exposed to an unprecedented life-experience of wholistic sensory input (the rumble of the controller, the graphics, the music). Asking them to enjoy music the same as they do video games is like asking someone who eats a lot of salt, to cut 90% of their salt out, and enjoy the food to the same extent - over time it will be possible, but you have to develop those taste buds in order to learn to enjoy the other flavors that are now detectable. With gaming, they have to have something to replace the sensory input that they are now not receiving, in order to ejnoy the music. Perhaps this is why stimulating the brain with theory or taking up an instrument - something that stimulates the brain in other ways - can help speed that up. It would also explain a heightened level of 'boredom' and frustration in today's kids, when they are not perfect at something, right out of the gate. IMHO.

i agree with your observation. But I would like to include the idea of Marshall Mc Luhan "The Medium is the message". The media differ. Music and video games. I would argue, that video games as a medium offer more "escapeism". It's very easy to flee from the struggles of the world with games (have done it myself, being a "millenial"). topics like climate change, crisis of capitalism etc etc are very real for young people and its easier to flee from these than to takle them. Also: Young people are often denied the chance to really have an impact on these topics. So... I love music as well. I am a musician. What to do? 1. Give young people an agency. 2. get better at "Vermittlung" (a german word meaning teaching, but also introduction) of culture. In my region in germany there is a program for young kids in school, where every child is introduced to music and everyone gets an instrument. And the opportunity to play in an orchestra. Will they all be pros? No. Will they all be amateur musicians? No. But sometime in their lives, someone opened the door to the joy of music. And that's, what you call good "Vermittlung" :D

My kids love playing videos games, watching others play videos games, and even want to MAKE video games. And they're constantly listening to the music that they're exposed to watching and playing these games. I also teach them how to play some of it on the piano. Maybe it isn't the entire picture, but games are a great vehicle for music, just like Anime and movies. Have you heard the music from Minecraft? It's beautiful!

Rick, I also think that "being a musician" was part of a lifestyle change that gave young people freedom - they would have rehearsals and gigs that got them out of the house without their parents. They would eventually go on the road to support larger acts and maybe get some studio work or become roadies or technicians that set up for shows. Young musicians got more independence, and if they started earning money with their music, even more independence. With the cost of living now, most young people can't achieve independence no matter what they do. Most families don't have a space a kid could practice much less have a band rehearse (you need at least a garage for that). If kids can do it alone in a room with a computer, they do it, but if they need the space and money to connect IRL with others, it just doesn't happen. Also, parents have conditioned the recent generation to be more afraid of meeting people IRL. You can't be like that and be in a band.

I'm so glad that my niece likes music. She's into musical records and she likes drawing on her tablet. She definitely is a different breed and that's why I want to give her opportunities for discovering the beauty of art. When she visited me and I put my planar headphones on her head, she would light up from joy. She was just sucked into her own world. That made me decide to get her some nice IEMs along with my old Bluetooth DAC for Christmas. I hope she will love them.

Mega Man 2, Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, even Mario World had AMAZING music! Informed my tastes and understudy of composition

As a Gen Z-er, I would describe my experience as the exact opposite of the trend that is going on today. I started out 2013-2016 loving video games and youTube streaming my Markipiler, Pewds, Jacksepticeye etc, and then, Spotify became a thing, and put on Beethoven's Appassionata and Moonlight Sonata, and that blew my freaking brains out about what music could do, the expressivity, directness, and profundity. I have quit gaming since, for better or for worse :)

As a clinical psychologist, I completely feel that this is the number one reason (well, maybe after social media), kids and teenagers today feel so isolated; feel so disconnected from their peers; and feel that they have all these emotions that “nobody cares about.” It’s like John Cusack asks in the movie High Fidelity: “Did I listen to pop music bc I was miserable? Or was I miserable bc I listened to pop music?” My point being that music is an amazing tool that helps us work out what we’re feeling, how we’re feeling it, and most importantly, how we can express it. Music provides an outlet, a message that you’re not the only person who’s ever felt this way, or been in this situation, or has experienced the highs and the lows. Music is one of the best therapeutic tools there is. Music lets you experience passion, purpose, confidence, exhilaration, and pain. Sometimes all at the same time. Music makes you feel not so alone. Music can give you a voice, even if you’re growing up in a household in which you have none. xoxoxo ♥️

I was born in 1971... Metal music changed my life completely, so much so that I devoted an entire thirty years to running an online music magazine. Did an online radio show for 17 years... Most kids these days don't understand that burning flame and passion... Even though I don't do much with the music magazine or radio show anymore, I never stopped loving the music. Still discovering new bands to this day. Now I am a lead singer in a band mixing the older traditional clean sung doom metal with Nordic black metal from the early 90's and beyond... Broken Trinity was born out of my wanting to do something different, to encompass different genres I came to love over the years... You wanna interview someone, I'm game... Just lemme know the when and the how (probably via phone or messenger chat)...

I'm a Gen Xer and when I was a kid, music had, and still has a huge part in me, defining myself and my strong sense of individuality. I still search out new artist and I have been an active guitar player and songwriter since I was 15 years old. Music is an essential part of each day for me.