# Everyone's beef with new age **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyones-beef-with-new-age/215990 "2003-11-30T00:14:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyones-beef-with-new-age/215990/21 "2003-12-01T16:14:25Z")
Swede Hollow makes a point about how New Age has become a catch-all category. It has also gotten mixed up with Soft Jazz, an abomination in the eyes of the Lord if there ever was one. We’re back to (was it Ellington’s?) the two kinds of music, good and bad, though we probably need a third category for Yanni and his ilk, bland but well done. And there are other forms I like just fine, especially Space Music, which is great background when you are trying to sleep. It’s also easy and fun to make, even (especially?) if one lacks musical skill and talent to the extent I do. Guin, McKennitt is indeed New Agey (I spent a half hour Thursday wading through three-minute hammered dulcimer and synthesizer intros to find a song whose title I couldn’t remember) _but that does not automatically make her bad!_ But as for SOME of her “old European ballads and poems,” a personal fave (“The Highwayman”) just SOUNDS real old. I always figured it to be from the mid-19th century and was surprised when I read that Noyes died in 1958. That poem was one of several totally ruined for me by the Mad Magazine version. (Will Elder? Harvey Kurtzman? It’s been a while since I saw it.) ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyones-beef-with-new-age/215990/22 "2003-12-01T17:08:37Z")
Even Frank Zappa made ‘new-age’ music. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyones-beef-with-new-age/215990/23 "2003-12-01T17:10:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Davidbw1 \* > **Whenever I tell people that the only concert I have been to is Yanni, it is treated like it’s the funniest joke they’ve ever heard.** It’s because you’re a guy. I mean, when you think about “new age” _anything_, the first things that come to mind are stuff like Yoga and Astrology. Which gender enjoys Yoga the most? **Women.** Which gender reads the astrology column in the daily newspaper? **Women.** Therefore, whoever decided to name this kind of music “new age” music must have been targeting the primary market segment for existing “new age” material: _ **women.** _ So it’s okay to like “new age” music if you’re a woman, but if you’re a man it’s like telling your friends you like to watch the Lifetime Network or keep up with Oprah Winfrey. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyones-beef-with-new-age/215990/24 "2003-12-01T18:58:49Z")
I beleive it has less to do with gender than it does with the fact that it is the _only_ concert you have ever been to. Consider: "The only book I ever read was _Who Moved My Cheese_ "The only movie I ever saw was _Dude, Where’s My Car_ People think: You’ve only seen one… and you chose _THAT_ one?! Chuckle. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyones-beef-with-new-age/215990/25 "2003-12-01T23:12:47Z")
I was just at Border’s the other day, and I see they’ve changed the name of that section of the CD department from “New Age” to “Lifestyle Music.” ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyones-beef-with-new-age/215990/26 "2003-12-01T23:49:42Z")
New Age is sooooo 5 minutes ago…:rolleyes: Seriously, I saw Yanni and wasn’t impressed and some dude named Benoit as well; My wife and I left early on both occasions. There is some type of unappealing disconnect when an artist doesn’t sing and just sticks to his instrument instead of singing and interacting with the crowd, or feigns interest in talking to them between sets. Now Enya, on the other hand, does sing and does instrumentals and has a great voice, I WOULD go see her in concert although I guess it takes more than planets aligning to see her. I’m not sure if she qualifies as a New Age artist because she does sing most of her songs… As for the New Age movement as a whole (sans artists), it’s just another method of extracting cash from consumer. Funny…Lifestyle Music? Wouldn’t that section have EVERY artist there?:dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everyones-beef-with-new-age/215990.md?page=1)