I'm trying to think back to my tape collection from 1982/1983.

Iron Maiden. Kraftwerk. Tangerine Dream. Journey. Rush. Black Sabbath. Prince Buster. The Enid. Quo. Eloy. Alan Parsons Project. Blue Öyster Cult. ELO. Anthony Phillips. Klaus Schultze. Ultravox.

And with the exception of Maiden (shite) and APP (too saccharine) yes.. I still listen regularly to the others.

criticism of her music tastes until you derided her love of The Bay City Rollers then she went off! That was simply a no go zone.
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

I myself still have a great fondness for Suzi Quatro and Slade. I have Sweet on my ipod! You never lose the bands you really, genuinely liked in your young teens.

I think the only ones you jettison and begin to hate are the ones you aspire to like, the ones you have to force yourself to listen to that people with tastes as developed as yours SHOULD like.

I liked The Who, Motown, Atlatic Soul & Stax, Jazz, Dexys, some Electro, Bluebeat. It was 1985. Contemporary music wasn't to my taste. And I was skinny.

... it was the stuff bothering the charts that winter and through most of 1978 ... treating this empirically, i shall now search the best selling singles of the time, the "number ones" if you will:

Name of the Game, Abba - yuk
Mull of Kintyre, Wings - turgid
Uptown Top Ranking, Althea & Donna - classic
Figaro, Brotherhood of Man - oh dear god no
Take a Chance on Me, Abba - hummable
Wuthering Heights, Kate Bush - oooh, Kate
Matchstalk Men etc, Brian & Michael - no thanks
Night Fever, Bee Gees - tried to despise it at the time, can't help but moving my toes now
Rivers of Babylon, Boney M - memorable for the bloke dancing
You're The One that I want - Travolta & Newton John (see Night Fever above)
Three Times a Lady, Commodores - zzzzzz
Dreadlock Holiday, 10cc - went to see 10cc around then, preferred the guitar solos stuff tho'
Summer Lovin', Travolta & Newton John (see Night Fever above, again)

So in answer to your question, the hits of the year when I was 15 left me with a fondness for Uptown Top Ranking, a crush on Kate Bush, it hardwired disco into me (Abba, Bee Gees, Grease) although I tried to resist because "it wasn't cool" .. I think it's more interesting that the cultural shift properly kicked in soon after because in the months when I was 16, there were no1s by the Boomtown Rats, Ian Dury, Blondie, Tubeway Army and the Police...

1982. 15 years of age. Loving The Police and The Jam. Basically, liking the cool / cred of The Jam while not failing to notice the female interest in Gordon Sumner. Plus, I liked to recreate their blocky logo on available surfaces!

The Who, Bowie, Tull, Yes, Dylan, Free..
..and I still do.
Fuck! I'm a 15 year old girl.

I still like most of what I liked when I was 15 but I'm sure that if I heard it for the first time now I would think it was rubbish. Having said that, my favourite band in 1974 (when I was 15) was Sparks and they're still turning out superb albums and the 1974 stuff still holds up today.

My favourite band was Marillion. The early 80s were dark days.

is that 15 year-old boys listen to things they feel they are supposed to like or things their friends like, whereas the girls just listen to things they like.

so it was all Glam Rock and still sounds great to me.

A few other minor ventures into bands such as Golden Earring have become fully fledged fan-dom these days.

With a bit of death thrown in. That was me as a fifteen year old.

It doesn't give me a warm inner glow, although I did hear the words to Slayer's "Evil has No Boundaries" sung to the tune of something else once on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. That made me giggle.

I was an 80s synthpop fan. And I'd still happily enjoy any of them today - in fact I can't wait to see PSB at Latitude in a couple of weeks. That said, Annie Lennox has rather soured the memories, not least with her appalling cover of Shining Light.

1 year later and the Stone Roses came along and suddenly everything started to seem...different.

It's probably still my favourite musical era and I still love and listen to most of the music I was into when I was 15.

Killing Joke, The Jam, The Damned's "Black Album", The Clash released Sandinista, The Stranglers, Teardrop Explodes, The Beat and the 2 Tone/Mod revival Stuff, Echo & The Bunnymen, Discharge, The Revillos, Dead Kennedys amazing "Fresh Fruit...", XTC, Undertones, Motorhead had "Ace of Spades" out, Stiff Little Fingers, Revillos...yeah, pretty much all on my iPod now!

And so we have the Who, Genesis, ELP, Elton and the Stones. And the Beatles although they were obviously not a going concern by then. Would still listen to any of the stuff any of them produced at the time. It's not just 15 year old girls who don't grow up.

a chance, then, to conduct 20-30 year experiment to see if this is true. I'll report back here in 2029. At the moment, it's non-stop R&B, but maybe that will change.

I seem to be the exception that proves the rule. The music that my 15 year old self loved (Britpop, Grunge) is still much loved and regularly played, but as to the stuff that was wowing the pop charts then - nah, not so much. Here are the number ones for October 1995 - October 1996:

Robson & Jerome I Believe
Michael Jackson Earth Song
George Michael Jesus To A Child
Babylon Zoo Spaceman
Oasis Don't Look Back In Anger
Take That How Deep Is Your Love
Prodigy Firestarter
Mark Morrison Return Of The Mack
George Michael Fastlove
Gina G Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit
Lightning Seeds Three Lions
Fugees Killing Me Softly
Gary Barlow Forever Love
Spice Girls Wannabe
Peter Andre Flava
Fugees Ready Or Not
Deep Blue Something Breakfast At Tiffany's
Chemical Brothers Setting Sun
Boyzone Words
Spice Girls Say You'll Be There

Not much of this interested me then, and is unlikely to get my interest now - except Oasis/ Prodigy/ Fugees/ Chemical Brothers. Now play some Menswear or Kula Shaker and I'll be up dancing, and singing along word perfect!!

aloof, misguided when I was 10 or 11. That's when the Sunday charts ruled the house, tape recorder at the ready, no talking whilst recording. Abba, Shaking Stevens, Adam & The Ants, The Jam, The Knack, The Barron Nights all shared the same amount of affection.

and I was a dedicated Duranie, with a big crush on John Taylor, so that put Culture Club off limits. My stepbrother tried to educate my tastes by taping me a copy of Hunky Dory & New Gold Dream and I listened to that every day for the whole year.

I also remember owning only 3 albums on vinyl: Oil on Canvas (Japan), Power Station (Robert Palmer & rockier members of Duran) & Flesh & Blood by Roxy Music, bought at the Record & Tape exchange in Notting Hill.

I still have all of them and they get a regular listen, with the exception of Duran Duran. But then they were one of the first bands I listened to when I installed Spotify and I enjoyed it so much I nearly dug out my old trilby.

Oh yes, and I was a girl, in case you hadn't guessed.

and the charts had gone from bad (1985) to worse (86 onwards)

The Smiths I suppose were troubling the charts and I still like them though their peak was in 1985 in my view.
(1986 was the year The Smiths were NOT on Top of the Pops)
Big Audio Dynamite and P.i.L. were in the charts in 86, and the Mary Chain had a hit and I like them still. and there was a nifty reissue/video for Rock Lobster in 86

there were good hybrid dance/rock hits, one offs, but they're not dear to me

can't be doing with The Housemartins or Startrekkin by The Firm though (well, they were OK)

So I don't think it's the age you were that signifies anything, I think everyone just has their favourite chart period, for me it was 1980-1984.

Due to the dearth of imagination and anything decent played on a real drum kit in the charts, 1986 was when looking back to the 60s and 70s began in earnest e.g. CD reissues, 10 year anniversaries of Punk, disco whatever.

conversely I have come to investigate uncertain terrain such as Level 42 or Dire Straits or Queen in recent years with pleasant results. (not sure if that's allowed, my friends are giving my iPod some very strange looks)

when pop was turning into rock, when LPs were starting to supercede singles, that was my year 15. Stuff by Traffic, King Crimson, VdGG, Pentangle, Family, Yes, Tull, and obviously Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Dylan albums were everywhere. And Motown and Stax radio hits. The scene in Ireland also had Taste, Skid Row, Thin Lizzy, Horslips and Planxty. Helluva year actually and suggests there might be something in that 15-year-old girl theory.