One of the greatest and most beloved musicians of the last century, Louis Armstrong, described the new swing music he was playing later to be known as jazz like this, “if you don’t feel it, you’ll never know it.” Music bridges the generations bringing young and old together, it has the power to soothe and to inspire us. 

Age Range

Music genres are musical personalities that develop as you age. It can speak a lot for a person’s preference and being.

The most tedious part of learning more about musical preferences was, almost obviously, collecting the data. When beginning to collect data from our peers at Northbrook Senior High School, we were honestly seeking some music taste that was interesting and different from the school body’s status quo– but found nothing like that unfortunately.

The largest preference at Northbrook was Hip Hop. This all is predictable because of the type of people and age group that attend Northbrook. Younger people predictably listen to stuff that’s “on trend” but there was only a fraction that listened to the good oldies. 

Styles of Music

It’s pretty amazing that there are so many genres of music created.

There are many individuals that believe each style of music was born in the right era and does an exemplary job describing the time and feeling of each specific generation.

At Northbrook Senior High School, the most commonly favored genre of music was Hip-Hop. Our group found this to be a very accurate result because of the type of people that attend Northbrook. We also also noticed that the second most popular genre category is other? This was sort of disappointing because other is unknown, other is not a normal or casual genre.  

Music Platforms 

When it comes to choosing where to listen to your top favorite songs, there are plenty of options.

At Northbrook High School we took a poll on all the different platforms students listen to music on, with the results we got it was clear that Spotify is the most popular platform for listening to music with 60% of Northbrook students. Spotify is a digital music platform that has million of song options, Spotify is available on a lot of different devices making it easier for students/people to listen to what they like on the go.

Music Consumption

What is the best way to listen to music?

Northbrook students would say Online streaming is the best.

With today’s music most songs don’t come out in disc or vinyl anymore so online streaming has a bigger variety of music and you’re able to play songs you like over and over again. There are some students that would argue that listening to music on vinyls  is the better choice, but like stated before it is getting harder to find any music on vinyls.

When on the road there are some who enjoy listening to on the Radio, but sadly if you miss your favorite song there is no button to press back to it.

Times to Listen 

Science reveals that music,  when listened to at certain times of the day, can have an impact on a person’s psychological response to life.

Whether you are completing stems from being angry, sad or sluggish, music can alter that state of existence. There are many benefits to listening to music.

Music has the power to recall memories, change the way we think and influence the way we behave. So  choose your style of music carefully and wisely. It could mean the difference between a successful day or   

Turn It Up! 

Some people say that they were born in the wrong generation when it comes to style, people, and most of all music.

Forty-seven percent of faculty and students think that the 2000’s has the best music compared with the other five most recent decades.

Next in order is this decade (20 percent) tied with the 1990’s (20 percent), 1980s (6.7 percent), the 1970s (3.3 percent) also tied with 1960’s (3.3 percent). The 70s had conventional rock and disco, the 80s had pop and new wave, the 90s had hip hop, alternative rock and grunge, and the 00’s in spite of the hip hop dominance, along with Southern hip hop which lasted for most of the last decade, rock song were still famous, significantly alternative rock, and in particular genres along with grunge, pop punk, emo, metalcore, and in some cases indie rock.

Many students and faculty are predisposed to feel nostalgia for the tunes and songs of their youth.

Time Travel

So, in which decade would you use your DeLorean time machine to see a band perform ?

Well according to the individuals at Northbrook, approximately forty-two percent said they would choose a band not from the list, which would include bands like Foo Fighters, The Smiths, The Cure, Aerosmith, Queen, KISS, ACDC, and even My Chemical Romance.

Twenty-seven percent would go back to the late 80s to see Nirvana, fifteen-percent would drag themselves back to the psychedelic 60s to see The Beatles, twelve percent would also flash back to the 60s and watch The Rolling Stones, three percent would travel back to the “old school” days to visit Guns N Roses, and two percent would also join those “old school” days to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Gallery • 7 Photos

Range of students from freshman to faculty at Northbrook High School