If you'd been born 30 years earlier, would you have the same taste in music as your parents? Spotify's attempting to answer that question with a new site called Taste Rewind .
The site asks you to pick three of your favourite contemporary artists and then automatically builds playlists from previous decades based on your selections. And if my brief tests are anything to go by, Spotify has (thankfully) revealed that dad's LP collection isn't in need of a dusting down.
On my first attempt, Taste Rewind asked me to pick from a selection of artists I'd barely heard of, let alone rated. However, the site appeared to get its acts together by my second visit, offering up a variety of bands and performers who regularly appear in my favourite playlists.
So, based on a stated preference for Blur, Radiohead and Jeff Buckley, what does Spotify think my music tastes would have been like if I'd been born in my father's era? Well, in the 1960s I'd have been listening to Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground and Leonard Cohen, among others. Not many of those featured in dad's record collection, if I recall correctly.
By the 1970s, Spotify says I'd have graduated to David Bowie, Lou Reed and Roxy Music - which isn't a million miles from my current taste in music! In the 80s, meanwhile, I'd have swerved the New Romantics and the Top of the Pops fodder, and instead opted for Kate Bush, The Stranglers and Billy Idol.
I start to lose faith in Spotify's algorithms by the time we reach the 90s - the decade in which my teenage music tastes were formed. Pearl Jam, Mercury Rev and The Divine Comedy are among Spotify's suggestions, whereas my tastes were distinctly more mainstream Brit Pop. Spotify seems to credit me with better taste in music than I actually have!
In short, it's a bit of mindless fun that gives you a new selection of playlists to listen to... and some comfort that you're not a closet Neil Sedaka fan.
