Short term memory loss

I am afraid to say that I have a form of short term memory loss..but it affects only my ability to recognize and remember "new music" i.e. those that came out after the 90s.

I still remember the lyrics and/or the melody of all the songs I used to hear when I was a kid - Harry Belafonte, Matt Monro, a bit of the Beatles and the Bee Gees, Perry Como, Kenny Rogers (my mom and dad's choices, if I may just be allowed to disclaim) - and when I was a little older - Madonna, Martin Nievera, Tears for Fears, Michael Jackson, Prince, Rick Astley, Wham (otherwise known as Friday Magic Madness for today's generation).

When it got into the 90s, only a few acts stuck in my head, but I could still hum a tune or two.

Nowadays, I set aside days and make it a point to listen to radio stations which play the new songs and promptly forget about the songs after. I watch the top 20 shows on Myx and MTV and come away with nothing. Some particularly good songs or artists (or infamous ones) manage to make their way to my consciousness, but only after a few years or months. Thus, for example, I now know one or two songs of Coldplay, Dave Matthews, Nelly, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Usher and Justin Timberlake. There's Bamboo and Imago and Radioactive Sago. There's also a nice song called "Umbrella" but I can't for the life of me remember who sang it. I only know Jay-Z because he is part owner of the New Jersey Nets.

It has gotten so bad that when I bring up a new song discovery to a friend who is very updated on this matters, she looks at me in horror and says "but that is so 2 years ago!" And I wonder what I was listening to 2 years ago, and why I never learned the song then.

Come to think of it, my parents can hum along to Frank Sinatra and the Cascades, but never learned Material Girl and Beat It. Maybe with age, I've lost the facility to learn new things. Maybe when you're tired from work and the stress of adulthood, it is much more comforting to listen to the familiar.

Or maybe this generation's music just sucks. Hehe!