Damned kids and their damned music these days

Cafe Society
1

I am so sick of the crap that kids listen to these days.

Years ago, I asked my youngest niece who she was into. “New Kids on the Block, duh!” The next year I asked her if she still liked them. She rolled her eyes and said “No way! Duh! I like Marky Mark now.” Of course. I really needed to get with the times. The next year I asked her again. Once again, she looked at me like I was a cantankerous old fart who didn’t have a clue, and told me about this new guy, Jimi Hendrix.

Last Christmas I asked my youngest nieces what bands they were into. I was showing my age by not being clued in to what was hip and new and cutting edge. Of course they were into Pink Floyd.

My girlfriend was astonished when she asked her teen son’s friends what music they liked. They unanimously talked about the latest sound sensation, Journey. But the son knew better. He knew that Eric Clapton is really where it’s at. And while the adolescent daughter readily admits to being a Hanna Montana fan, what’s most likely to be on her MP3 player is Beatles/Doors/Who.

Damned kids. Get off of my blue suede lawn.

2

My fiance and I were determined to craft a Led Zeppelin fan out of his hip-hop/rap loving 14-yr-old brother. It took some work but eventually he came over from the dark side, and now says they are his favorite band.

Pink Floyd is next but that’s going to take some cleverness, and probably some drugs. :slight_smile:

3

My sixteen year old daughter is Stevie Nicks’ number one fan. Both kids also like Pink Floyd, the Alan Parsons Project, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, the Beatles, etc.

4

My nephew is 15. These are the bands listed on his Facebook page:

AC/DC, Aerosmith, Audioslave, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Bad Company, Brian Setzer, Chevelle, The Clash, Dave Matthews Band, David Bowie, The Doors, Deep Purple, Eric Clapton, Foo Fighters, George Thurogood, Guns n Roses, Janes Addiction, Jet Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Johnny Cash, John Mayer Trio, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Lynard Skynard, Nirvana, Ozzy, Paul McCarteny, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Queen, Rage Against the Machines, The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, Soundgarden, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Stone Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, Tom Petty, U2, Velvet Revolver, The Who, Incubis, Oasis, Dropkick Murphys, Matisyahu, Flogging Molly, The Black Keys, Counting Crows, James Brown, Silverchair.

90% from his parent’s, aunt’s and uncle’s era.

5

As a 17 year old I’m almost moving in the opposite direction. After listening to Weird Al for about the first decade of my life I finally got into some other groups. The pop punk shittiness of Good Charlotte was scrapped for bands like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.
But I’m actually getting a bit tired of the classic rock stuff and am finding some good music of my generation (not the MTV stuff mind you but some of the more interesting groups out there).

But when I’m lonely I’ll always go back to the Hendrix of my earlier years.

6

I love whipping out the first ‘Mats album (Sorry Ma) and playing it for the late-teen/early twenny-something crowd. They invariably like my “old school” thrash.

7

So, name some names; every now & then (usually during Pledge Drives) I get the feeling there’s some good music out there these days, but I can’t track it down.

8

One of my nieces “became a teenager” this year–she completely changed her appearance, so she looks like a My Chemical Romance fan now. But musically, she still prefers her mom’s David Bowie, Pink Floyd and The Clash CDs.
She still woefully lacks context, though. I mentioned that her mom had seen Bowie perform on a tour [in 1990] where he had claimed he was retiring his old songs. She said, “Oh yeah, I heard that show on one of Mom’s CDs.”, referring to Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture, which was recorded before her mom was born.

9

A line from a father-of-the-bride speech at a friend of mine’s wedding: 'You know you’re getting old when your children start stealing from your record collection.’ In this case, it was Bob Dylan.

However, there’s no need to do so nowadays. Between file sharing, Youtube, iTunes, and the internet in general, there’s far easier access to all genres and periods of music than ever before. If I point a pupil of mine in the direction of Joy Division, Stockhausen or Scarlatti, they can be listening to a variety of their music that evening.

And for a slightly bizarre example, I also found one of their violin exams pieces in a Donald Duck film (4:20 onwards).

10

Jordan’s just shy of 12 now; he was 8 when his family bought the Shrek DVD. And he got into the music from it, and was absolutely delighted that his ancient Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb knew the songs from his generation.

Like “I’m a Believer” and Cohen’s “Hallelujah” :smiley:

11

Hey, the big bands are coming back too! :dubious:

12

Don’t any of these kids like good NEW music?

Most of the teenagers I know are all into finding quality music from new bands. What’s wrong with these kids, they are the ones supposed to be pushing it forward! It’s a sad day for youth culture when the only options are New Kids on the Block or the Rolling Stones!

*I’m not talking about the general rubbish you hear on the radio I’m talking more about new music scenes like dubstep and things like that.

13

If in 20 years’ time my children ever start listening to MY music, I’ll throw them out of the house. Let me listen to my golden oldies 90s tunes in peace, without pretending YOU discovered them :wink:

14

All music is new the first time you hear it.

15

I find it bizarre that all the 20-somethings I work with listen to 80s music. Growing up in the 80s, I thought 90% of it sucked back then.

16

It’s ridiculous the extent to which some kids my age are derivative. And I’m not even talking about the clueless guys with the classic rock band shirts and a first act starter pack guitar–it’s the strange air of elitism with kids who think they’re the first dudes EVER to trip to Pink Floyd or wake 'n bake to Marley or even to shoot up with Kind of Blue on. To me it’s one thing to appreciate good music, and another to just plain lack originality (oh you’re into every cliched and pseudo obscure 70’s punk band here and you HATE today’s music? You’re so very anti establishment for projecting an image that was revolutionary to your parents).

17

I find it quite surprising how my youngest daughter (23) and I share a very similar taste in music with only a few divergences.

She often accompanies me to gigs - Heather Nova, Cowboy Junkies, Melanie, Tinariwen, Athena Andriadis, The Kills and Patti Smith among the recent ones.

The main clashes are me liking Mylene Farmer and her The Pogues and never the twain shall meet.

I do very often have to search the house and her car for my treasured CDs but usually pre-empt her and burn a copy.

The same goes for films/DVDs - we both share an appreciation of Chinese, Japanese and French films. My latest one is missing and I haven’t seen it yet. She has buggered off to America so it could be some time until that reappears, along with a couple of Tom Waits and Fiona Apple CDs.

With the elder four my music collection is quite safe.

18

Oh, come on. You’re giving them way too much credit. They’re not being revolutionary against their parents (that’s SO '70s!), they’re revolting (snicker) against American Idol and High School Musical and the obnoxious overmarketing and hype thrown in their faces by manufactured crap.

And my friends and I were just as certain we discovered The Smiths, The Cure, The Sex Pistols and The Ramones in high school. I started high school in 1987. :rolleyes:
(And yes, I recognize the irony of railing against “manufactured crap” and then bringing up The Sex Pistols as if they weren’t exactly that. Shuddup.)

19

Agreed.

I went through the exact same phase in middle and high school, and a lot of it is a “Look how unique I am because I don’t watch American Idol/listen to Mariah Carey” thing.

“Look at all those sheep listening to Fergie and Flo-Rida. I’m sooo much deeper because I listen to this deep and challenging artist who they’ve never even heard of: The Smiths/The Cure/The Clash/Led Zeppelin/The Doors/some other pop group from the 70’s or 80’s.”

Doesn’t mean that they don’t really like that music, of course. I listened to a lot of old-school punk all through high school, and I did and still do like it a lot. It’s just that it’s easy to understand how “rebellion” and “standing out from the crowd” can take the form of liking music that your parents listened to when they were 17.

In my case, I got over it late in high school when I stopped caring what anybody thought about my taste in music. The music I listen to now is almost all current stuff; lots of indie rock, pop, and hip-hop, along with whatever’s on MTV. My last ten or so album purchases have all been brand new albums.

20

I sometimes suspect that the love for classic rock has less to do with being rebellious and more to do with the fact that music – and the times – were unique in human history. The magic environment in which that music was created will never happen again.