From my memories of my own attempts to morph into Cro-Magnon Man As Personified By The Rolling Stones Circa 1966 statements like Teenagers are not scary would have been greeted with Not scary? Then I’m not trying hard enough.
Girlie Stuff and Mating Rituals form a sort of continuum, starting off from whatever the Music Industry is throwing at the pre-teens and gradually moving into more sophisticated stuff. The Mating Rituals part slots in at the point where a young bloke’s hormones start to kick in. The girls want to dance so the guys, more or less, have to follow along.That category morphs pretty comfortably into Mass Market and Mainstream as couples pair off, settle down and are happy to accept what the Music and Entertainment Industry keeps churning out for them as they gradually grow older.
Unless, of course, they’re into something that falls into one or more Niche Markets. They may, for example, develop a liking for some genre like, say, Country, and that’s as far as their taste goes. Alternatively, scattered around the globe there are areas where some particular Regional Specialty comes into play.
Finally, there are people who’ve worked out their own mix of personal favourites that come under the heading of My Thing, which may cover a mix of genres and styles or be drawn from a specific subset of a given genre.
Further exploration of those categories to follow as my thoughts return to such themes, but first an examination of consumers and the way they approach what’s on offer.