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14 years ago, I was listening to a buncha emo/HC shit. Glad I grew outta that. And I'm glad so many of those bands and musicians grew out of it, too.
When you're a teenager, music is often an important part of your identity, and it goes hand-in-hand with style of dress. If you're into punk rock or metal or hip hop, there was a certain type of clothing you'd wear to put up a sign: "THIS IS WHAT I LISTEN TO." If you were a new face at a new school, it's how other kids might decide to let you hang out with them.
If you found gateway bands like the Cure or Nirvana or Soundgarden in the 90s, surely that might seem refreshing compared to the ubiquitous Whitney and Paula and NKOTB, Poison, Winger, etc., but for kids that stuck with "alternative" music (in the strict Webster's Dictionary sense nd not the 90s advertising buzzword sense), how much deeper might they dig? It depended largely on their own self-initiative and level of interest in music, plus the accessibility of portals to a wider world of music than what they knew and what their friends knew from MTV or reading Spin or Alternative Press.
Most kids (and adults, actually) need new music to be spooned to them by a trusted source, be it the media or influential friends. There are casual fans who rate music's importance in their life below other hobbies, and there are dedicated crazies out there (like a lot of us!) who perhaps rate it #1 even about our jobs and personal relationships. Some crazies are content just to collect every album by Madonna or U2 on every possible format. But some, once they are into the portal to "underground" shit get curious about how far it goes, and by age 14, most people aren't even into the portal yet.
I know that for me, I was very lucky to find one of the world's very best freeform radio stations by accident while looking for something to breakdance to, and I wound up falling in love with Wire and The Fall that day, and then the next carrot on the stick was Crispy Ambulance, which taught me the important lesson that the record stores at the local mall didn't have every record and cassette ever made.
I also saw a picture in a Thrasher magazine of Ian Mackaye screaming into a microphone, and he was extending the mic toward the crowd, and about six kids were lunging toward the mic to shout together, and Ian's eyes and their eyes were fixed together with so much determination, it was very intriguing to me. It seemed so different than the live concert footage you might see on MTV, where the audience was separated and relegated to idol worship. I became curious about live music a more democratic experience because of a picture in a magazine.
So, to answer your question, I think it depends on your circumstances and experiences growing up and listening and finding new music, but I can only guess that for most people here (and especially the most opinionated people here), your taste in music will revolutionize in your 20s and leave many teen favorites in the dust. And if you stick with it into your 30s beyond the casual observer level and keep an open mind and keep striving for that next fave, you'll keep finding it, and even more of your archive will become obsolete.
Music is so often such a socially divisive thing as a teenager. I know that at my school, the tables kids ate lunch at were segregated into musical appreciation societies as much as anything else. Even subgroups of jocks and brainy kids were divided that way. Kids I talk to today say it's much the same way at school today. But a serious music fan will learn eventually that all the music under the sun shares some kinda common ancestry. And the more you understand about where music's been, the better you can figure out where it might be going, and the better prepared you are put new music in a perspective. Surely, many fans burn out into their 20s, 30s, or 40s and get jaded, and perhaps they quit listening to new music altogether, but if you keep finding new music to please you, you will recognize when we are in the midst of another one of those halcyon ages. And I do believe we're in the midst of one right now. While rock music will never be as dynamic and exciting as it was between 1965-1968 or maybe 1977-1980, the last couple of years have been the best time I've enjoyed as a rabid record collector and compulsive show-goer.
With understanding comes even deeper appreciation of old faves that remain strong. Wire and The Fall are to this day very important to me. They sounded cool to me when I was a kid, but now I really know that they are great.
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