It's funny when I think about it now, but most genres (dance, rock, R&B, new wave) basically all blended together for me as a kid since it was all pop music. There were loads of fun and catchy songs in the '80s so that was all I noticed. If I got used to it early, like by my parents or friends listening to it and it was on our mixtapes or just on the radio...I just associated it that way and lumped everything together. Hell I didn't even differentiate classics (i.e. the Beatles) from current stuff. ;)

Probably about starting around 10 and moreso by 12/early teens I started realizing what was what, because I'd listen to the radio and started understanding the music certain stations played, or just what certain people tended to be into (like teens being headbangers).

Before 1993/94ish I didn't think anything about all the co-existing styles of music I liked. What's interesting though, is that I do remember hearing certain things my dad would play and thinking "ewww" or just that it was boring (i.e. classical music or certain jazz stuff), so I guess even then I had some preferences.

15/16

Probably around the age of 9 or 10 for me. Some I did on my own, others I learned from watching music award shows like the Grammys and American Music Awards.

The earliest distinction I could make was when I was six or so.  My father listened to classical before he went to work in the morning.  My mother played rock 'n' roll when I got home from school.  I liked classical and I didn't like rock 'n' roll. 

I enjoy most kinds of music, but to this day, I'll still choose Beethoven over Led Zeppelin.
8)

It's funny when I think about it now, but most genres (dance, rock, R&B, new wave) basically all blended together for me as a kid since it was all pop music.


   Same here.  I was oblivious to genres and classified music into two groups:

   Group 'A' - Rock...
   Group 'B' - Everything else...

   I don't know how I resolved these two groups in my head - chord progressions or something...

   I was never any good at the music genres thing.  It's a non-issue IMO, unless you're a musician or a marketing exec...

^ Well I just do it because I tend to analyze stuff I'm interested in and I notice things - with me it's out of love. :) But I basically agree, even if some singers might be in a different genre, especially in the 80s it was all supposed to be fun, catchy pop music.

Here's alot of the stuff I liked in my childhood, that I pretty much lumped together just because I was used to hearing it in the same company (like on mixtapes):

Lionel Richie
Madonna
Starship
Phil Collins/Genesis
Tears for Fears
Huey Lewis
Janet Jackson
The Cars
the Police
Michael Jackson
Bon Jovi
Men at Work
Billy Ocean
Prince
Bananarama
Bruce Springsteen
Hall and Oates
Whitney Houston
Kool and the Gang
Crowded House
Tom Petty
Stevie Wonder
Rick Astley
A-ha
Jackson Browne
U2
Heart
the Jets