The Millennial Mindset: The Music Divide
BOSTON (CBS) - How much music do you listen to?
The Entertainment Retail Association broke down time spent listening into age groups, and found millennials, not boomers, listen more.
Read: 'The Millennial Mindset' Series
The survey found 46-percent of millennials listened between 3 and 6 hours a day, compared to 28-percent of boomers.
Ken Zambello teaches a history of rock course at Berklee College of Music. He also performs with the Reminisants, an oldies and request band that plays around Boston.
Zambello sees a common thread running through every generation. Favorite songs cement during your teenage years.
"That's when your brain is being fully formed and that tends to be the music that sticks with you or maybe influences you the most," he told WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
There are always artists who span the generations, such as Bruce Springsteen and the Beatles.
But some would like to transition to something different, like 28-year-old Ben Kelley, a promotions coordinator at WBZ.
"I think they're good but I just think, like, enough with Beatlemania," he said. "It's been going on for, what, over 40 years now, hasn't it? I mean, I don't know, I just think like, enough, let's move on. There are so many other groups and artists who have done great things as well."
Kelley's favorite artists include Michael Jackson, Adele and Justin Timberlake.
Zambello says music has always pushed the envelope.
"The think I remember in the '70's is you always knew what the hip radio stations were because the really good stations would play the entire version of "Nights in White Satin," or they would play "Only the Good Die Young" by Billy Joel, without editing out the references to Catholics," he said.
Zambello likes to quote Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals when he teaches rock history.
"The older generation is not supposed to understand the younger generation's music. That's the whole point," he said.
In the final part of our series, finding common ground between the generations.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Mary Blake reports
