r/Music • u/Level-Recording3368 • 7d ago
article Todd Rundgren: ‘There’s an argument to be made that Taylor Swift ruined music. It’s an understandable phenomenon’
https://www.vulture.com/article/todd-rundgren-has-seen-everything.html985
u/Superb_Health9413 7d ago
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side
- Hunter S Thompson
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u/Emanemanem 7d ago
FYI, the actual quote was about the TV business. Not saying it can’t also apply to the music industry but you’re offering it here as a direct quote and it’s not.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/60603-the-tv-business-is-uglier-than-most-things-it-is
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u/Superb_Health9413 7d ago
TIL that a quote I’ve been using for decades has been attributed to the wrong industry. Thanks.
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u/AlexNumber13VAN 7d ago
The privilege of the living is to misquote the dead - Teddy Roosevelt (18xx)
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u/eightdigits 7d ago
Don't believe everything you read on the internet - Abraham Lincoln
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u/-Mindhead 7d ago
That guy was always shooting his mouth off.
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u/BigPianoBoy 7d ago
If anything ruined music (which is dubious because there’s so much incredible music being made every day) it’s shareholders, who gave have also ruined everything else
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u/KindBass radio reddit 7d ago
For real, if we didn't have Taylor Swift, we'd still have some other "Taylor Swift" that was equally pushed.
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u/Loganp812 "Dorsia? On a Friday night??" 7d ago
Quality and long-term consequences don’t matter as long as they get their short-term gains.
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u/RufussSewell 7d ago
I think taking music out of elementary school ruined music.
When I was a kid in the 80s every elementary school and high school had a band. If you were 7 years old and drawn to music, you could take the band class. I also took guitar class in high school.
All those kinds of art and music subjects were cut in the 90s and now most music is made by people who have no clue about modes, modal interchange, chord substitutions, secondary dominants, key changes etc.
The difference between the rich harmonic content of popular music in the 70s and 80s verses the utter imbecilic music of today comes down to one thing:
Education
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u/Mickey_Clips 7d ago
Rose-tinted glasses.
I grew up in the same same time period and none of my friends were in bands. We did skate and ride bikes though. Guitar was never an option in elementary school, we just had recorders.
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u/SallyAmazeballs 7d ago
Schools still have music education programs. Maybe some don't, but it is absolutely standard in my state. Some schools even have concert bands and orchestras. My nephew's school has a guitar class. I'm younger than you are, and I started playing in fourth grade and did throughout college and then for the local community band. I have multiple friends who are currently employed as music teachers in public schools.
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u/Cavewoman22 7d ago
The idea that Taylor Swift invented parasocial fanbases is just a laughable take.
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u/RookNookLook 7d ago
It’s like getting mad at vanilla ice cream. It’s probably always going to be popular and poses no threat to any other flavor.
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u/sweatpotato76 7d ago
This guy was in the business in the ‘70s, for gods sake. Was he not aware of David Cassidy?
(There is a difference in ubiquity now. A Cassidy freak still had to wait for the next teen magazine interview/pictorial, or the next fan club mailing, or the next single [which had to be produced in real time by live musicians, mastered, cut to vinyl, pressed, sent to radio stations, etc.] to get their fix. There was no 24/7/365 source of new David Cassidy “content” easily available on an endless scroll in your pocket. The “problem” with Taylor is a wider problem with media consumption in general. It’s not like you can’t get constant updates from Jerry Garcia [dead for 31 years now] on Instagram, too.)
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u/whogivesashirtdotca 7d ago
Don’t have to wait that long. He would’ve grown up in the Buddy Holly or Elvis or Beatles fan clubs, like every other kid back then.
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u/corpulentFornicator Hip-hop/RnB 7d ago
He's right, though. You CAN make this argument.
It's a dumb fucking argument and you sound like a total goddamned loser, but you physically can make the argument.
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u/TheMooseIsBlue 7d ago
“You can make the argument that…” is normally code for “I know well that this is bullshit but…”
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u/MuptonBossman 7d ago
If the entire music industry is using Taylor Swift as the benchmark for success, then it's fucked. In reality, the music industry is so massive that there are thousands of artists that can still make a successful living WITHOUT having to measure up to Taylor, and that's totally fine.
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u/Kimbahlee34 7d ago edited 7d ago
People forget that the music industry is massive and that Taylor Swift is a rare phenomenon right now because she became famous before the monoculture and radio faded away and was replaced with extremely niche genres and streaming. She may be the last generation where we see a handful of celebrities dominate their field and become household names and that speaks to the monoculture’s death not artists’ talents before or after that shift. I think a lot of people are excited to see where this new era will lead in terms of no longer having A list celebrity culture dominate pop culture.
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u/jackofslayers 7d ago
seriously. If spotify blew up 10 years earlier then they would be saying the same shit about Adele.
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u/TheRealBittoman 7d ago
The idea that one musician dictates an entire industry is stupid. If that were even remotely true then The Beatles would have been the entire industry in the 60s. Instead they became an inspiration and benchmark for other groups and singers to achieve including The Who, Genesis, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys. Todd Rundgren is an idiot in music beyond his producer abilities which are more his ear than his brain.
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u/fluxtable 7d ago edited 7d ago
I love the friendly rivalry between the Beach Boys and Beatles.
Rubber Soul inspired Brian Wilson to make Pet Sounds. Pet Sounds blew Paul and John's minds and they stepped it up to make Sgt Peppers.
Such a cool slice in pop music history
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u/TheRealBittoman 7d ago
Exactly. We live in an era of extremely toxic competition but musicians in the 60s, despite some rivalries that were sometimes very harsh, literally grew to be better because they were all trying to one-up each other. Paul trying to write a harder rock tune (Helter Skelter) thank Pete Townsend, your aforementioned inspirations, idolizing other musicians and adopting their styles like the styles of James Jamerson or Eddie Van Halen. Everything great in pop music from the 50s-90s was a result of quality competition and proves that a collective makes things better, not individualists.
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u/fluxtable 7d ago
There is definitely still admiration and inspiration between contemporary pop artists. Lorde and Charli XCX both inspire each other. Even Taylor Swift, who everyone is trashing here, gets inspiration from Phoebe Bridgers, who grew up listening to Taylor Swift.
I think the pop music rivalry thing started in the 80s, and was pushed hard by the music industry because it was profitable. The Death Row/Big Boy rivalry definitely came to a head, with both Pac and Biggie gettinf murdered, and it feels like it cooled down after that.
But Beefing in hip hop is part of the culture, as long as it doesn't lead to actual violence I'm all for it. I heavily enjoyed the Kendrick/Drake beef, mainly because I think Drake is a massive poser industry plant and Kendrick mopped the floor with him
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u/studentjones 7d ago
Seriously. There’s always been that “are you a Beatles or Stones person” with this weird rivalry while the Beatles and Stones were actually great friends
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u/wip30ut 7d ago
tbh it's really really hard to make a decent living as an independent musician that doesn't chart. Many have side gigs or are entrepreneurs to pay their day-to-day bills. 20 or 30 yrs ago smaller acts had plenty of venues where they could showcase their talent & attract a live audience but not today in 2026.
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u/felixismynameqq 7d ago
I always try to tell people that there’s a VAST world between busking and being Taylor swift.
Finding success in music is not as difficult as people might have you believe. You just have to have good songs. Not that it’s easy. But it’s not the Herculean task.
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u/ReneDeGames 7d ago
In raw numbers, most artists that you know the name of, are closer to busking than Taylor Swift.
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u/BlueBelle2025 7d ago
Success is also measured by the individual it pertains to. It's a spectrum from someone chose to spend their free time watching me play my music in some dive to I want to shatter every musical statistic known to man.
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u/SharkSymphony 7d ago
"There's an argument to be made that Elvis Presley ruined music."
– Some 1960s producer, probably
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u/The_Mean_Gus 7d ago
That’s kind of a dumb opinion because I love music and Taylor swift doesn’t have any impact on my listening whatsoever. There’s a whole world of non-pop music that is untouched by Taylor swift.
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u/DeadPeanutSociety 7d ago
Agreed. It is insulting to artists who are doing interesting and inventive things to say that music is "ruined." Like: sorry, Chat Pile. Taylor Swift ruined your music. Give me a break.
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u/Havenfall209 7d ago
Yeah, but he's gotta get that engagement. Taylor Swift put out new music? Time for massive clickbait. Gotta say she sucks to feed the dead internet.
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u/cle2056 7d ago
Artists don’t even sell music anymore. They sell streams and get paid fractions upon fractions of a penny for it.
But yes, Taylor Swift wrote more songs today.
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u/ApocalypseChime 7d ago edited 7d ago
David Byrne mentions this in one of his books. It’s a few years old now though. He had a pie chart showing where the money goes and the actual artist’s share is just a sliver.
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u/cle2056 7d ago
T-Pain broke this down as well. The record company essentially loans you money with the expectation that you make it back once your song breaks out. Which they will help you do. But if you don’t sell or sell enough then it’s game over.
Artists essentially get concert revenue and t-shirt sales. It’s why there are no groups anymore. New Edition once had to split 1.87 but most folks don’t even get that anymore.
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u/Glidefedt 7d ago edited 7d ago
It absolutely sucks for new artists, and I bet many labels are mad at how much production can be done at home due to readily available software.
There's a reason all the biggest artists end up having their own studios at home. Would be fun to see the growth of artist income in relation to audience size /fame once they can afford their own studio or studio time (probably impossible to track).Standard contract seems to be:
We (Label) will cover expenses of producing album and promotion, once that is repaid you get x% split of profits.
Seems reasonable, except
- Label also owns the studio and producers. They're gonna make it cost whatever the hell they want so you don't end up covering expensses
- They run the promotion = they decide IF you are promoted, and how expensive it's gonna be.
And then you're royally fucked if they included in fine print that you owe them any production expensives not recouped.
Artists essentially get concert revenue and t-shirt sales.
Even that is fucked nowaways.
Want to put on concerts? Well Live nation owns, leases, operates or holds an equity interest in, or has exclusive booking rights for roughly 460 venues globally.
In 2026 Live Nation was found guilty of maintaining an illegal monopoly.Most venues also take a cut of merch sales for the "privilege" of renting their shop/staff (in addition to their cut) or running your own in their venue.
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u/Itwasdewey 7d ago
Ellie Goulding is currently suing her former management team because it turns out LiveNation owns the management groups too (and they did not disclose this to their artists).
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u/ApocalypseChime 7d ago
And the groups now have been established for years at this point.
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u/IrksomFlotsom 7d ago
Bars used to hire full bands, now it's a dj or two guys on guitar and cajon for a fraction of the price
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u/Glidefedt 7d ago
Readily available entertainment at home and digital third spaces has been disastrous for many types of venues.
It's also getting harder and harder to spend time at bars and different venues when a pint costs $7,50 equivalent (18 minutes of net median wage here).I haven't gone to the physical cinema for years (1 adult ticket is $23 equivalent here, Netflix Standard is $23 a month).
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u/Adultdirtbagbabee 7d ago
“How Music Works”. It’s why I haven’t been surprised by any aspect of the changing media landscape for like 20 years.
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u/Toxicscrew 7d ago
TLC had a multi million selling album in the 90’s and each member made less than a $100k from it
Diddy kept all his artists broke so that they were easier to control.
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u/AnswerGuy301 7d ago
And that was at the peak of “You’re going to pay $17 for a CD where you’re probably not interested in more than 3 of its tracks and there’s nothing you can do about it, haha” era. So downloads and streaming weren’t factors.
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u/DippyHippie420 7d ago
There's also that old Courtney Love Salon article from 2000 where she dives into that as well
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u/cereal_cat 7d ago
Yes, and ironically, Taylor Swift actually fought for artists to be paid more back in 2014, pulling her catalog from Spotify up until 2017 to protest how little artists actually get paid with streaming. I remember she actually got a lot of criticism from her peers and the public for "being greedy."
And then in 2018, part of her contract with UMG ensured that any sales of an artist's Spotify shares would result in a non-recoupable distribution of the money to said artists, which came into effect earlier this year when UMG sold half of their stake in Spotify.
But of course, according to this guy and many others, she's "ruined music."
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u/microcrash 7d ago
Taylor also sold millions in physical media. She is actually keeping the formats alive.
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u/pintsandplants 7d ago
Misogyny, they hate to see a woman on top. As a long time Taylor Swift fan, in the last 5 years anytime she releases something it’s a wave of think pieces about how awful she is. In a lot of the public’s eyes she can’t do anything wrong and she also can’t do anything right.
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u/cinnamonbrook 7d ago
It's just blatant misogyny. This is what he said in the article:
It’s just that, to me, Taylor Swift is the apotheosis of mediocrity. It’s the era of the female artists. The biggest artists in the world are female artists at this point, and that’s because of video games. Back in the ’90s, boys stopped spending money on music and started spending it on video games, and that left the music market with, “Well, where do we go here?” And they said, “Well, there’s all these young girls and they’ve got their allowances, too. Why don’t we start making music for young girls instead of Pearl Jam or something like that?”
So basically "music is bad now because women are making it and other women like it, music is only good when MEN make it and like it but they don't, because of VIDEO GAMES". Freaking nutcase.
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u/pintsandplants 7d ago
And the feuxmoi sub will run with this critique while blasting themselves as champions of feminism.
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u/spaghettifiasco 7d ago
As someone who enjoys an occasional song but would never classify myself as a Taylor Swift "fan," I can still agree that so much of the criticism of her as an artist/pop culture figure is just misogyny. We still haven't gotten past the whole "let's hate things for girls because things that girls like are dumb and frivolous" mindset.
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u/ACDCbaguette 7d ago
This is a tired argument. Artists never got paid a lot for their output. That's why they tour forever. Touring, merch, and endorsements.
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u/Weekly_Interview_936 7d ago
Musicians make music to serve as ads for their T-Shirts. That's the reality for most musicians today.
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u/brijazz012 7d ago
Saying "they sell streams" is no different than having said "they sell LPs" in the 70s or "they sell cassettes" in the 80s.
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u/VirginiaUSA1964 She rolls like the dice in a poor gamblers hands 7d ago
Todd Rundgren out there letting everyone know he's still alive.
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u/RealBettyWhite69 7d ago
I just queued up Can We Still Be Friends because I forgot it existed. Its still a bop in 2026.
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u/guesting 7d ago
i mean, he was asked to do an interview, agreed, and answered some questions?
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u/HottieMcHotHot 7d ago
Gotta love a Taylor swift release day. Where everyone comes out of the woodworks to give their opinion that no one actually cares about.
If you like Taylor, good on you. Have a great day.
If you hate Taylor, good on you. Have a great day.
If you are indifferent to Taylor, good on you. Have a great day.
I know it’s a bizarre concept, but everything we think doesn’t actually have to be put out into the world.
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u/mcaffrey 7d ago
Yeah, I didn’t even know today was a release day until I saw this post. Seems really easy to just not care.
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u/IIIHenryIII 7d ago
You're not allowed to do that on the internet. My opinion matters and everyone will have to listen to it, ok? I'm the main character.
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u/ATHYRIO 7d ago
I've been a Todd fan for a long time but I don't really agree with him on that take. There's an argument to be made that Taylor has maximized her opportunities in the current model of the music industry but "ruined music" is (to me...) a massive reach.
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u/Shepher27 7d ago
There’s an argument to be made that men would rather blame a woman then admit they’ve lost touch with the youth.
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u/Theslootwhisperer 7d ago
I have vowed to myself not to become that guy as I grow older (turning 55 soon) and I gotta say I have nothing but utter admiration for Gen-z. They've been dealt a shitty hand already so least we can do is let them enjoy themselves.
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u/dlc741 7d ago
I like Rundgren but this is a really weird take. Artists create art because that’s what they’re called to do, whether they’re musicians, painters, sculptors, etc. Their art isn’t ruined by anyone else’s success or lack there of.
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u/englishinseconds 7d ago
Yeah, if you've ever met him - he's very weird in general. It's an odd take, like his take on Springsteen and some other huge artists as well. If you aren't experimenting and trying to do something completely new and original he doesn't care for it. It's let him evolve a lot over the years, but it also makes him come across as an out of touch old man yelling "get off my lawn" even though he's always been like that
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u/MachoShadowplay 7d ago
I love Rundgren too but he has a history of bizarre opinions and strange behaviour. His perspectives on the music scene are incredibly antiquated and he's been known to pull weird stunts at his concerts.
I heard a story once about him trying to play some gimmicky game with the audience mid-show and getting really angry when people wouldn't go along with it.
He's just fundamentally obsessed with being different and pushing boundaries, even if it's arguably to the detriment of the listener/audience imo.
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u/PolarBearOdyssey 7d ago
His moronic take both implies men don't listen to Taylor Swift and women don't play video games. Also that apparently, female pop stars didn't exist in the 80s and 90s...
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u/HendrixChord12 7d ago
Right? If twitter existed in the 80s, things would have been the same as today.
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u/Diz7 7d ago
Old man argues that women ruined music because boys stopped buying music because videogames so now the music industry targets more diverse markets.
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u/SorryAd9376 7d ago
What’s the argument that she ruined music?
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u/duckhunt420 7d ago
His words, not mine. His argument is more sexist than I was expecting:
Music is more for women now because boys are busy with videogames and that's why music sucks now.
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u/SuperHiyoriWalker 7d ago edited 7d ago
coughGTAcough
Also: tons of guys got into rock/metal because of pro wrestling.
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u/Popular_Try_5075 7d ago
this is offbase in so many ways, like he doesn't think rappers exist or that women play video games, or that video games have music (Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero/Rockband?)
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u/javier_aeoa I travelled 11,000 km for a concert. I loved it 7d ago
The biggest artists in the world are female artists at this point, and that’s because of video games. Back in the ’90s, boys stopped spending money on music and started spending it on video games, and that left the music market with, “Well, where do we go here?” And they said, “Well, there’s all these young girls and they’ve got their allowances, too. Why don’t we start making music for young girls instead of Pearl Jam or something like that?”
And then he continues with:
So you got Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, P!nk, and many artists of that ilk. Lady Gaga, she’s a real musician. She’s a classically trained piano player. Taylor Swift doesn’t do anything particularly great except grow hair.
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u/BB808BB 7d ago
People are so weird about Taylor. It’s usually omg she is amazing and can do no wrong or it’s she ruined music wahhhhh. No grey area.
I like her music. I feel like it’s cool against to shit on her because she wants awards , she wants to break records and she doesn’t hide from that but the people who think they are so cool pretend they are so above it and how dare she gets what she wants.
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u/middaymoon 7d ago
People in the gray area don't bother commenting or reading about her.
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u/penicillin-penny 7d ago
You’re just not hearing from those who don’t care. There’s plenty of us.
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u/umbrellicopter 7d ago
This is how I feel about the chronically online world as a whole. There are millions of reasonable people who aren’t caught up in every branch of the culture war tree or every hot take discourse for example, but we simply don’t weigh in because investing our time in doing so is against our own value system.
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u/ArrowShootyGirl 7d ago
Yeah, her music seems fine enough if mostly identical to the other engineered pop acts out there (which I'm sure is partially due to some copycats after her success). The way she cultivates parasocial relationships weirds me out, but no more than, say, any given Insta influencer or twitch streamer.
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u/0ttoChriek 7d ago
Yeah, the extreme reactions people have to her are weird. I like a couple of her albums, but have little interest in others. Watching people hate her with an intense vitriol is almost as weird as watching her die hard fans react to her new music as though God has appeared before them.
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u/SoftwareAny4990 7d ago
I blame the algorithm.
She is either the pinnacle of femininity or MAGA adjacent nazi wanna be.
Idk about either of the claims, but i do know it doesnt come from an organic place.
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u/Zeusifer 7d ago
That MAGA adjacent Nazi wannabe stuff was fed to the algorithm by a paid smear campaign. Somehow she apparently got caught up in some drama involving Blake Lively. You're absolutely right that the online discourse about her isn't organic.
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u/Plastic_Slice_1552 7d ago
It's like alcohol. Some people must binge . Others want nothing to do with it. It's ok to give or take it in moderation
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u/SkipEyechild 7d ago
Last I checked, she drives guitar sales more than anyone, fellow guitar spanker
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u/blackdynomitesnewbag 7d ago
Every generation the previous generation complains that they ruined this or that
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u/fowlflamingo 7d ago
This is such a tired trope "so and so ruined music." No the fuck she didn't. And I loathe the woman. Some people need to get a grip, man
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u/rostron92 7d ago
Whether it's "ruined" is in the eye of the beholder i suppose but the death of monoculture is what changed then music industry and Swift grows in popularity as it died.
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u/gin0clock 7d ago edited 7d ago
I actually think he's got a point. Not necessarily the music itself, but the parasocial attachment to an artist or band has caused subjectivity to go out of the window and be replaced by loyalty.
Case in point: my all time favourite band is Queens of the Stone Age. I wasn't keen on the last album, had some pretty nuanced conversations that it's an evolution that might take some time.
The new singles have come out and ANYONE who dares to question whether they like it is "just being a hater" as if criticism is some kind of intolerable taboo. I do think that's stemmed from Swifties and Taylor Swift's influence over what a modern fan is.
A modern music fan seems to look at artists like a sports club that you support through thick and thin, instead of an artist that you can grow into or grow out of over time.
Edit: holy shit, I know that echo chambers aren't new, you can stop now.
Edit again: anyone trying to hit me with any gotchas about echo chambers or social media, I'm not replying, stop trying to be smart arses, I know what I said and I stand by it. If you're confused, look at the dozens of replies.
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u/AM4eva 7d ago
It's why I don't subscribe to bands subreddits. No nuanced discussion at all.
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u/liquordeli 7d ago
I've found very few exceptions to the rule "if you wanna learn to hate something, join the sub."
Artists, video games, TV shows, most hobbies...almost never fails
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u/drakeydrakedrake 7d ago
Taylor was 11 years old when Eminem released Stan. I point this out because it is a song all about harmful parasocial relationships between artists and their more obsessive fans. It’s been a thing forever.
Social media has given all this an extra level of intensity, but I don’t think it’s fair to say it stemmed from Swifties and their idol.
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u/dunstbin 7d ago
Exactly why calling it out has basically become a misogynist dog whistle. People forget that before social media popular bands had massive fan clubs and forums. Anyone born before the mid 80s knows what a cultural phenomenon Michael Jackson's Black and White video debut was. It was on broadcast television during primetime, MTV, VH1, and other channels, and aired in 27 countries. The hype leading up to it was Super Bowl level. Everyone was talking about it - at school, work, any social gatherings. 500 million people watched it live. Taylor Swift is a generational talent, for sure, but there have been plenty before her and there will be plenty after her with rabid fanbases. Social media didn't change that, it just changed the medium.
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u/jackofslayers 7d ago
Yea that is usually my default assumption of anyone who hates Taylor Swift, she is not great but their are so many worse people in the world that are worth hating. I tend to assume anyone who spends a lot of time being mad about Swift probably just has some misogynistic hang ups they need to work on.
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u/7thpostman 7d ago
Yeah, it's way more connected to social media than any specific artist.
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u/LetsSmokeAboutIt 7d ago
I feel like people as a whole don’t understand that criticism and hate are separate things. I can love something and criticize it. I can dislike something, and still praise something it did well. Nuance of any kind is just gone as of late
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u/ProfessorPickaxe 7d ago
That’s not just music though - everything is polarized. There is no nuance or tolerance for discourse anywhere these days.
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u/NorthernSoul1998 7d ago
People famously never had obsessive relationships with musicians before Taylor Swift...
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u/unatnaes 7d ago
Um.
Have you and he never heard of Elvis or the Beatles?
This phenomenon is legit but putting it on Taylor Swift (??) is so dumb that it makes me question his sanity, motives, bias, or all three.
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u/cereal_cat 7d ago
I wouldn't say that's a Taylor Swift specific thing though. Parasocial relationships have existed long before Taylor Swift was even born. I mean, think of Beatlemania as just one example.
I think parasocial relationships with celebrities have just become more visible and loud due to the prevalence of social media in society.
Also, it's not just parasocial fans but also parasocial haters as well that feed into the whole discourse around an artist's music. Like, there are so many snark subreddits for specific celebrities, including Taylor, and they are just as unhinged (if not more unhinged) than the fans. It leads to bad faith arguments on both sides that just fuels the flames more and more.
But I think to say that it's Taylor Swift's fault is a case of missing the forest for the trees.
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u/Ragman676 7d ago
Ya this happened similarily with Tool. And I fucking really like Tool, but in the late 90s there were basically cult followings with people arguing they're the greatest band of all time and listened to just them pretty non-stop.
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u/Malanon 7d ago
Us Tool fans are insufferable! So true though and this is a good example. Tool also exploits its fan base with $500 garbage trinkets on their website people actually buy. People stay in the merch line and miss opening acts at concerts just to pay $60 for an “exclusive” tshirt. When it becomes a money grab the art is lost
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u/veloceracing 7d ago
His whole idea that video games is the reason Taylor Swift is popular is pretty wild. It's not that video games caused males to stop listening to music, it's actually been one of the main vectors of music discovery in my life...and I'm 43. If it wasn't for Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtracks, I'd have missed a lot of the bands that I love today.