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Time Travel Via the Music of Your Most Formative Years

Emily Woodbury
Charity Nebbe picked the 1983 single "The Love Cats" by The Cure as the song she listened to most in her youth

When you put together your perfect playlist, how much of the music comes from your youth?

A new study says that most people stop seeking out new music around age 33, and some people believe that our most important cultural tastes are set in our teen years.

"When we were that age, [music] was just a part of life, but now when we reflect back, we associate that music with that certain stage in life - the coming of age period - with all the intense and formative experiences we had during that time," says Zlatan Krizan, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University.

On this edition of Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe tests those theories with several panelists who reflect on music's impact as we age. They also share the songs that defined their adolescence.

  • Mark Simmet, senior music producer at Iowa Public Radio - Elton John “Levon” (1971)
  • Bob Dorr, host of “Backtracks” on Iowa Public Radio - Chubby Checker “The Twist” (1960)
  • Bob Herrington, owner of Ragged Records - Kiss “Rock n Roll All Night” (1975)
  • Zlatan Krizan, ISU associate professor - U2 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (1987)

This edition of Talk of Iowa originally aired on June 4, 2015.

Charity Nebbe is the host of IPR's Talk of Iowa