We Had a Teen Interview High Schoolers About Their Music Tastes

This is a picture of Noisey’s teen Eli. Photo credit goes to his friend Jake Miller, who we assume is also a teen. All other photo credits go to Eli.

[Editor’s Note: Welcome to the latest edition of Teen Time!, our column by and for teens. Our teen’s name is Eli (he’s above). Eli is from New Jersey, and in the past, we forced him to spend his snow day listening to new wave and he also interviewed his teachers about what cool music they listen to. Today, he’s talking to his fellow classmates about their music taste. Turns out, teens have pretty sweet thoughts about music, which shouldn’t be that big of a surprise, considering they’re the future. Oh, and don’t worry, all of the below teens’ parents have legally agreed to allow their kid’s picture exist on Noisey. It’s teen time, baby!]

I’m in school all the time, which should be obvious considering I’m a teenager. I recently found out that my teachers listen to cool music, so I wanted to learn about what kind of stuff my classmates liked. This is what happened:

Maliik H. (Senior, 18)

“I grew up around hip hop and rap, so that’s pretty much all I tend to listen to. I like rock here and there, like Linkin Park and Green Day, but I’m a huge rap and hip hop fan. I like Eminem, Joey Badass, Action Bronson, and Odd Future. Anything that has huge, knocking-ass bass and eye-opening shit – like KRS-One, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli. I don’t like ignorant, ‘bitches, bitches, money’ shit, you know.”

Eli’s Comments: Joey Badass and Mos Def are consummate lyricists and gracefully implement the bass—especially on “Waves” and “Umi Says”, respectively. Also, I heard Bronson is a decent cook.

Simone R. (Sophomore, 16)

“I go through a lot of phases. I had my ‘real music’ phase where I only listened to bands like The Beatles and Foo Fighters; I’ve had my indie girl phase, which was a lot of Vampire Weekend and Modest Mouse. Now I just fangirl over Mac DeMarco and One Direction, and it makes me pretty happy! I also like trap music—and it kind of helps with homework.”

Eli’s Comments: DeMarco and 1D is a fleek combo.

Chuck S. (Junior, 16)

“I started getting into music when someone introduced me to dubstep. One thing that’s stuck with me is that there’s always these elements in music I want to wrap my head around, like the growls used in dubstep and vocal trapping. Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of the people on Soulection: Mr. Carmack, Esta, Sam Gellaitry. They can go from sampling old-school hip hop to making the craziest sounds. A couple other people I’ve been listening to recently are Kaytranada, Diplo, and Cashmere Cat.”

Eli’s Comments: Fun fact: See below and learn that Chuck is Diplo approved. (Peep that circled track here on his SoundCloud.)

Dan C. (Sophomore, 15)

“Music gives me a sense of empowerment and helps me no matter what. Ninety-five percent of everything I listen to is Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor. However, I’m really into that alternative stuff. I like the Black Keys and Arcade Fire; Interpol are definitely a favorite of mine. Another artist I really like is Weird Al. He’s amazing, and awesome, and perfect, and a god.”

Eli’s Comments: Never forget Weird Al’s NIN parody “Germs.”

Sophia I. (Junior, 16)

“I like a lot of older music, like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. I also like newer music, like Porches. and Frankie Cosmos—I saw them over the weekend. And Blood Orange is cool. I’m a dancer, so I also like classical music sometimes.”

Eli’s Comments: Frankie Cosmos is Kevin Kline’s daughter, which means she was technically in A Fish Called Wanda.

Cooper T. (Junior, 17)

“Some bands that I like are The Arctic Monkeys, The Clash, and Phoenix—not really the stuff that’s on the radio. Those bands have emotion in their lyrics. It just takes your mind off of things.”

Eli’s Comments:

Also, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is a very good album.

Mackenzie T. (Sophomore, 16)

“Right now, I’m listening to a lot of Miniature Tigers. They’re my favorite band of all time. I’m trying to get into Best Coast, Cherry Glazerr, and bands like that because I love the beachy-type sound. I like a lot of music with good lyrics, lyrics that I could think about or talk to people about; I don’t like meaningless, “Call Me Maybe”-type lyrics [Laughs]. I’m also listening to Kitty Pryde. I love her.”

Eli’s Comments: New Best Coast’s got some Slowdive vibes going! Also, Ik Kitty Pryde does some scribbling here.

Thanks for tuning into the latest edition of Teen Time!

Eli Zeger is a Teen so he’s obviously Twitter.