In depressing news of the week, a new study shows that when it comes to music tastes things are as unbelievably predictable as boys liking Eminem and girls liking Rihanna.
The research by Echo Nest, who provide music data to key American radio stations, analysed the listening habits of 200,000 people to find out which artists were most popular and how tastes differed between the sexes. As expected, Justin Bieber featured heavily among women, whilst he was absent from the artists that men prefer. Interestingly, though - Kanye West (despite being popular among men) didn't make an appearance on the women's list. Other than that though, the the list is pretty boring: leaning heavily towards pop and hip hop.
But how about back when we were Bieber Fever aged; when even the mainstream musical acts could still divide teenagers into tribes. Yeah, now you've got the Directioners and stuff but really they're just as likely to listen to Rihanna as they are to dress the same as a Beyonce fan. Rewind just a few years however and you might all have been listening to Scott Mills on Radio 1 but there was definitely a weighty difference between an Evanescence fan and someone going gaga over the Ja Rule CD they just bought from Virgin Records. Here's what your favourite mainstream bands from our teenage years said about you.
The Libertines
No-one got you at school. People mistook your boozing for hedonism when really it was a much-needed outlet for your ostentatious artistic notions. Luckily you had a plan: to escape (once school finished) to a place where people would really ‘get’ you and your poetry/art/music. That magical place? It was called Camden.
**50 Cent
**
Contrary to Fiddy himself, you and your friends were most likely white, middle class and big fans of bomber jackets with fur-lined hoods. One time you cut the waistband off your jeans to better allow your thong to be visible to the red-cheeked public school boys you so badly wanted to snog.
Green Day
‘Sorry can’t talk, trying to untangle the tassels on my Punkyfish trousers from this bush that I sat behind to avoid having to speak to anyone else in my year.’
James Blunt
There's just so much FEELING to be done as a teenager, right? Back to Bedlam really helped with that. Especially *Goodbye My Lover - *it's almost as if James was speaking directly to that boy from maths class you snogged at the disco who now refuses to look in your direction.
Black Eyed Peas/Pussycat Dolls
Notions of attending dance school and eventually winning the Wade Robson Project stuck with you all the way up to the time UCAS applications were due in. Then you chickened out and went for Geography at Kent.
Kaiser Chiefs
Reading Festival was fun, that one time. But after your tent got burnt and a boy threatened to drown you with the blood of Satan, you suddenly understood why your Lamb Of God-loving friend complained that your ‘mainstream’ musical heroes had no business playing at a rock festival.
Jack Johnson
Thailand 2006 guys. #neverforget #memories.
Kooks
Festivals were your THING man! Summer 2006 saw Glastonbury, Bestival, Reading, Latitude, all with the same straw trilby, all on your parents' credit card.
McFly
T4 on the Beach? How about we refer to it by its official title as 'The UK's Highest Bastion Of Cultural Awareness'? Plus, £45 to see McBusted: The Ultimate Supergroup in 2014? Total bargain.
Crazy Frog
57 million views on YouTube? You contributed to that. You were just the worst. The absolute worst.
Follow Jess on Twitter @jess_commons
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.