At what age did you begin developing somewhat of a more sophisticated sense of taste in entertainment?

[bloke]

During its short-lived tenure as a TV show built around her and other incredibly talented guests - and with an amazing band, when Bonanza would come on my Dad's newish/reliable black and white portable 19 inch TV in our newly-built den, I would migrate to the room where our old blond maple cabinet vacuum-tube-powered television was located (which required constant fiddling with the antenna, as well as with the fine tuning knob) and watched this weekly television show instead.

... I was 6 to 7 years old.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/182jANciJQ/

...Vic Damone, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Steve Lawrence, Count Basie, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, Mickey Rooney, Ethel Merman, Liza Minnelli, (even) Ray Bolger...

[bort2.0]

I got my first cassette player when I was 8 years old, and used it to listen to the classical radio station, wbjc, and some cassettes of Bach and Beethoven that I bought with my own money. Later that year I bought a Canadian brass cassette

Soon after was a PDQ Bach cassette. I thought it was the funniest damn thingm

Sophisticated...?

[prodigal]

I got my first cassette player when I was 8 years old, and used it to listen to the classical radio station, wbjc, and some cassettes of Bach and Beethoven that I bought with my own money. Later that year I bought a Canadian brass cassette

Soon after was a PDQ Bach cassette. I thought it was the funniest damn thingm

Sophisticated...?

I love wbjc, I'm at the end of their range, but I still get pretty good reception.

[bort2.0]

^Cool! I still listen on Internet radio. And I still miss Reed Hessler.

My first job after college was for a company up on TV Hill in Baltimore. The first day driving in, it was the typical Bmore blight, poverty, squeege kids, abandoned houses... And then I drove past WBJC and was like "oh sweet!"

[prodigal]

I started becoming interested in challenging music in about 7th grade, thanks to my British-American grandmother. She had an extensive library of cds of good music from Bach to Mahler, but she also introduced me to the music of England, Elgar, Holst, RVW, Butterworth and the like.

I then loved playing the Suites in band, I was thankful that those men wrote music that we could play in HS band.

[bort2.0]

I then loved playing the Suites in band, I was thankful that those men wrote music that we could play in HS band.

YES! And compared to the leftovers from the 1950s that were dreadful to play, it really inspired some joy from an inherently tough crowd of cynical teenagers.

PS, speaking of RWV and WBJC, that was where I learned at an early early age that his name was pronounced "rafe."

[Bassboner]

I don't know about "sophisticated", but I had different tastes as a kid. My house had a lot of classical records sitting around. My mother was a music teacher. Scheherazade, Copland, Beethoven, Van Cliburn, Horowitz, Segovia etc. But then we also had Elvis, Neil Sedaka, Carpenters, Helen Reddy and then Louis Armstrong, Herb Alpert. This was all pre-high school years. The soft rock probably scarred me more than anything. And of course the weekly session with Lawrence Welk. You really couldn't mention that you loved LW at school - lots of funny looks.

The strangest influence was when I was maybe 15, my girlfriend's father gave me a bunch of cassettes of Canadian and Empire Brass as well as some old recordings of Purcell's Tempest and other odd Renaissance type stuff with recorders and harpsichord and whatnot. I guess he was trying to forestall the testosterone effect on his daughter.

My dad was fiercely anti-rock and roll, so of course I had to tune in to the nearest hard rock station (came from Montreal) at night and learn to love Rush, the Police, Cars, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Genesis, the Who.

Later in life I pushed a little to the fringes with Social Distortion, Deftones, Primus, Presidents of the United States of America, Nine Inch Nails, and then later again I came back mainstream with Phil Collins, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Cranberries, Lemonheads, Garbage, No Doubt.

These days I can't really tolerate anything after the late 1990s. My wife listens to kiddie pop in the car and it drives me nuts. I keep adjusting the radio "Damn thing's broken again, keeps spewing noise"... Y'all will tell me when I start sounding like an old man, right?

[Schlitzz]

At age 14, I saw a trombone masterclass on orchestral excerpts. Bolero has its challenges, and I discovered the viola part. 6 week beginners could play that.

[bloke]

medium-long reminiscence (ie. You've been warned.)

Everyone was crazy about the Beatles - when I was the same age: 7, and I watched their first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show (same worn-out blond maple TV (winter of 1964), and judged them as "raw" (through the screaming, I could hear that their voices were out-of-tune, and didn't really understand that they couldn't hear themselves). What they began evolving into (with only a couple of years) kept me listening to them, buying some of their 45's and a few of their LP's.

By 1965, I started noticing Simon and Garfunkel, and learning some of the acoustic guitar licks that Paul Simon (I would assume) used to fill in on sustained vocal notes. Of course, I immediately stole Paul Simon's intro (and finger-picking pattern) to "The Boxer" in 1969. (I was in 7th grade, was beginning to notice girls more, and noticed that girls REALLY liked Simon and Garfunkel - as well as sitting close and singing when I played their songs.)

I mostly stuck with acoustic guitar (and - as I've mentioned many times - eventually migrated to nylon string guitar playing).

I never bothered covering Carpenters tunes, because they were all female lead and - well - my peers (in high school - in the jazz band, etc.) made light of them (making up off-color lyrics to their songs, etc.)

...so I didn't delve very deeply into the legion amazing rock bands that emerged (when I was in elementary school through high school).
but anything Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Arlo Guthrie, (and all of those types, along with some of the unplugged BALLADS that the big rock bands recorded which became hits) that I could play BY MYSELF on the guitar - that was what - through tenth grade or so - made up my so-called "repertoire". (I could tell that garage bands would get me nowhere - neither $$$ or girls).

When I moved over to nylon strings, it was more for money than attracting girls. I mentioned this MANY times before, but...I played arrangements of movie themes, elevator music, and bossa nova at private (and a few public) cocktail parties. My parents had no idea...

CLASSICAL music...??
Not really. "The tuba" (I considered to be) a "class" at school...no real interest in it (other than NOT looking stupid next by my one-year-older prodigy/band-mate/ tuba-virtuoso high school friend...so I didn't know much about "classical" music...THOUGH I DID have a classical "sampler" L.P. (the purpose of which was to coax people into joining a classical music record club...so there were 30-second to 1-minute EXCERPTS of a TON of classical works)...and (yes) I played that a WHOLE BUNCH. When in the 11th grade, I found - behind a high-end audio store - a (no cover...a few scratches) LP of LAPO/Zubin (yes, Bobo was on the recording...I had no idea, obviously) playing Zarathustra. I listened to that a TON (the whole thing), and THAT LP was my "jumping off point" into classical music...
...OTHER THAN the Bach lute suite transcriptions I was assigned at my nylon string guitar lessons.

That "jumping off point" happened simultaneously with (12th grade) the local symphony guy (when it was my turn to make 1st chair in the All-State Band, and I decided to get a little bit of coaching) heard me play (again: lessons) and started hooking me up with some "tuba gigs" - including subbing for him. (If - back then - you played tuba at my high school - and did NOT achieve 1st seat in the All-State Band when it was your turn - you would be considered a FAILURE...and NONE of us failed. I'm not sure how far it went back (probably a decade...??), but the tradition survived a couple of years after I matriculated (new band director/school districts shifted around/etc.)
I (based on the prodigy that I sat next to for two years) had absolutely NO idea that anyone might consider me to be a "pretty good" tuba player (because - though I could play most of the things that my prodigy friend could play - I could NOT play with ANYWHERE CLOSE to as much grace/beauty), much less good enough to play symphonic music and record jingles and LP's. (Of course, when the money started flowing was when the guitar was slipped under the bed, and - just like a whole bunch of the rest of you - I bought a 186 and started hitting the books with that (cleaning up my tuba playing, incorporating "phrasing" etc.) oh...btw...Tuba is much easier than guitar, but some of you are free to believe whatever you choose to believe.

Though not emphasized above, my motivation of "music" has not primarily been "the love of it", but (for a decade or two) "the money of it".
My Dad (wisely) never gave me any money, and (when emerging into my mid-teens) I realized that playing for cocktail parties (and a few locally produced musicals, USO meetups, and other misc.) was MUCH easier and MUCH more lucrative than collecting 3-to-5-cent pop bottles, working at an Exxon car wash (12 hours Sat. and 12 hours Sun.), throwing newspapers, or (even) selling $2-per-carton Marlboro cigarettes at school for 5¢/stick (average: a carton per week).

[UncleBeer]

I grew up with professional classical musician parents, so got exposed to all sorts of egghead music, early & often.

I've always had a touch of insomnia, and got into shortwave radio as a kid, so would listen to all sorts of exotic music from around the world through the night, when reception was best.

As a college undergrad, I DJ'd the NTSU radio station during the summers, waaay back in the era of LPs. It was a jazz station then (no longer though; grrr..), and I had free rein regarding what was played. Depending on track length, I'd have X number of minutes to find the next track. That was a challenge, and really tuned up my ears to jazz.

Nowadays, I'll admit to enjoying listening to streaming stations while I'm doing repairs in the shop. 99% of the time, their clever 'algorithm' misses the target pretty badly (trying to guess my interests, even though I actively 86 stuff I didn't want to hear), that one percent which I wasn't expecting is often a wonderful ear-opener that makes me wonder why I'd never heard it before. Those are a real joy!

[bloke]

If anyone is willing to go with the presumption that I've developed some sense musical taste, what I believe I find appealing is the very best of all sorts of styles. It seems as though a lot of classical musicians turn their noses up at country music, but the very best of it is quite good, and even has a few extra chords.

When I discussed watching the Judy Garland show every week at age 7, none of that was classical music, and only a little bit of it was what would be classified as jazz, but it was (other than perhaps one lightweight thing tossed in weekly for the masses) very good.

I met Willie Nelson face to face as I've mentioned (and passed him a note which prompted him to release a cover song only two months later - which became an instant hit), but - very rushed situation - he and I didn't speak. I have several friends who are close to him (such as the Blackwood gospel family - as I went through elementary school with them). He's an example of remarkably good country music, and there are others in the country music realm who create really wonderful music. Patsy Cline would have gone on to create much more remarkable music had she lived. (Of course, Willie Nelson composed her greatest hit...)

My only real point (in this reply) is that "more sophisticated tastes" aren't buzzwords for "ONLY classical music and jazz", and it can also be said that there's a good bit of so-called classical music and jazz which is not particularly sophisticated, anything but interesting, and - therefore - which doesn't particularly appeal to sophisticated tastes.

[20IV2]

1960s-1970s: Watched TV. No real interest in music outside of playing trombone/euphonium in school band in the 70s/early 80s.

1980s-1990s: Listened to 60s/70s rock, now called 'classic rock.' I was sheltered and unaware of punk, even in college during the early/mid 80s ). What a waste of time.*

late 90s to early 2000s: Listened to a lot of jazz, which eventually gave way to avant-garde/free jazz. Played euphonium/tuba at the time and saw Gravity as well as Bob Stewart with Lester Bowie. Stopped attending live shows (too loud due to hyperacusis) and let it fall by the wayside. Listening to recorded jazz seems to miss the entire point.

2000s to present (recordings only): Proto-punk (e.g., NY Dolls, Stooges, The Dictators, MC5, Rocket from the Tombs), punk (e.g., X, Pere Ubu, some Ramones), hardcore punk (e.g., Minutemen, Blag Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks etc.) and post-hardcore (e.g., Fugazi) to present (e.g., Soul Glo and the brilliant Amyl and the Sniffers). Also a fan of 80s/90s bands Mr. T Experience and Angry Samoans, punk-like and somewhat difficult to classify. Cynical, angry and fun. A lot of late 70s/early 80s 'new wave' is also fun. All far too loud to hear current bands in-person.

2010s to present: Music composed before 1750. I attend a fair number of live performances (e.g., https://gemsny.org/calendar/), which is easy living in NYC within walking distance of a subway station. This is my main focus, day-to-day. I'm retired, so all my time is free time, and there is just so much to learn, but I won't live long enough to even scratch the surface. I'm also studying baroque trumpet (no vent holes). I don't spend a ton of time with Classical or Romantic music.

*Though I do listen to recordings of early/mid 70s (peak period) Grateful Dead shows from time to time, usually while on the treadmill.

[bloke]

You made a good point about amplified music concerts being too loud.
I hear really well balanced recordings of great rock music or even jazz or even bluegrass bands, and then go to the concerts and their jacked up so loud that all I can hear is my ears ringing.

sound men: (in general, except for the few sensitive ones)
Turn everything up until it feeds back, and then dial it back 1/4th of a number.

[20IV2]

Too loud is too common, but it took a while for me to recognize that my own hearing damage (thanks to years of playing bell-up euphonium) was contributing to 'too loud.' With hyperacusis, I can't attend small-group early music performances without ear protection. Fortunately, the latest Apple AirPods Pro have a variable noise reduction feature that makes attending live performances just tolerable if I choose my seat carefully, usually the back row of a church. I don't think they'd be adequate for a concert hall, jazz or any large group performance. The AirPods in full noise cancellation mode work great in the subway.

re: sophisticated
I forgot Frank Zappa(!), a constant over my years of listening. Watch out where the huskies go...

[Heavy_Metal]

re: sophisticated
I forgot Frank Zappa(!), a constant over my years of listening. Watch out where the huskies go...

Hey there people, I'm Bobby Brown.....

I'm a Dancin' Fool.....

Might be movin' to Montana soon, just to raise me up a crop of dental floss.....

And of course, the father-daughter moment that is Valley Girl.

FZ could usually make me laugh, which is not always easy.

[20IV2]

My favorite Zappa album is The Grand Wazoo. Nice trombone work throughout.

[Stryk]

I'm almost 70 and haven't gotten there yet! I seem to get bored with a steady diet of any kind of music. However, when I was 16, got my first car and installed a new 8 track player - I discovered Switched on Bach. I couldn't stop listening to it! SO, I guess it was 16.