Look, if some song or album was popular before you were born, pretty much the only way you’re going to be familiar with it is if your parents play it. My parents are Baby Boomers and music lovers in general and I grew up in a house where the music was always on. My parents love the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, not to mention all the Motown and Phil Spector girl group stuff that was popular when they were in high school. Jimi Hendrix is my dad’s personal god (he’s been to the Experience Music doohickey in Seattle twice). So, I know all that music. But my parents never liked the Beatles, so to be honest, I wasn’t very familiar with their music until I was a freshman in college and had a MAJOR Beatles fan for a roommate. (As a weird side note, when my grandparents had their 50th wedding anniversary, my dad got put in charge of making the soundtrack to the party. He bought tons of albums of music that had been popular when my grandparents were young and as a result I also grew up listening to a lot of Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Andrews Sisters, etc…really, rather an odd combination of genres.)
Because my parents are older than most of my friends my own age (I’m 27), I had different exposure to music. My best friend in high school couldn’t believe I’d never heard of Journey. (Oh, if only it had stayed that way.) Because that was the kind of music her mom played when she was growing up.
Heck, you don’t even have to go all the way to the 60s. Lots of people around my age–early 20s, late teens–watch shows like Family Guy and Robot Chicken, which are chock-full of 70s and 80s references. When most of what you remember watching in the 80s was along the lines of Sesame Street and a few half-remembered Saturday morning cartoons, an awful lot of those references are going to be lost. Hell, I could make a long list purely of pop-culture I’ve only ever heard of because of Family Guy. For that matter, even earlier seasons of the Simpsons are like that. That episode where Selma sings to her iguana–apparently that’s a Murphy Brown reference, which I only know because I listened to the commentary. Why would someone my age know that? The egg guy in the Stonecutters episode–same deal. Now it’s basically just surreal. Jimmy the Greek? Who the hell is Jimmy the Greek? And so on.
Well, to be fair, the girl is only 11, and she’s the daughter of immigrants. Cut her some slack.
Palooka, please tell me that was a whoosh. (Even if it wasn’t, hell, didn’t you read the thread?) Anastasaeon, I’d be willing to bet that you have heard the Carpenters without realizing it. It’s like when I first got into the Beatles, after doing a report on the history of rock in 10th grade. I started hearing all these songs that I had HEARD before, for years on the radio, but I never realized they were the Beatles.
Roseanne Cash is the daughter of country legend Johnny Cash from his first wife. Harry Chapin was a singer in the seventies. Maybe you’ve heard the song “Cat’s Cradle?” And the cat’s in the cradle in the silver spoon
Little Boy Blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home Dad I don’t know when
We’ll get together then, dad, you know we’ll have a good time then
And for those who will inevitably ask, Johnny Cash sang “Ring of Fire” and “I Walk The Line”. That and he’s the origin of the phrase “I shot a man in Reno once, just to watch him die.”* The new movie, Walk the Line is a biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. I like to think of Cash as “Country Goth”.
Oh, and I have it on good authority that Mary Chapin Carpenter choked to death on a ham sandwhich.
*[sub]Which song was that from-“Fulsom County Prison Blues?”[/sub]
Re: The Carpenters - You’re probably right - I’ve done that with quite a few bands. Had to bump into a fan of someone and have them point it out: “You know the song that goes 'dada dada da?” that’s _____." And then it dawns on me.
Re: Roseanne Cash - AHA! I like Johnny Cash, even though I’m not a fan of country music (new, old, or that weird alt-rock country stuff). I just don’t know very much about him or his life. I am interested in seeing the movie that’s coming out about his life, so I can (hopefully) learn a little bit more about him… depending, of course, on how liberally they distribute the facts. Sometimes movies are stingy with those pesky things.
And re: Harry Chapin - Aha! See my first paragraph.
Shut up, you young punk, and keep working to pay into my Social Security. And wear that damn baseball cap the right way. And pull up your pants. No one wants to see your drawers.
How many kids in the '60s could have answered a question about an Al Jolsen song? AFAIK he was the biggest star around in the twenties. Forty years is a long time in popular music terms.
There you go again fighting ignorance. Wouldn’t it be easier to wrestle a buck and snap it’s neck in your bedroom?
Anastasaeon, while I’m generally not huge fan of the tribute compilation CD’d, this is a great way to introduce yourself to the Carpenter’s music. And then realize how much of it you’ve already heard.
True enough, but we’re not talking about some obscure 60s band like St. John Green. We’re talking about the Beatles. Huge difference. I may not have followed politics before Nixon, but I’ve at least heard of George Washington.
On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled olives in your hair
And golden starlight in your eyes of blue
Aaaaaaaaaaarrrgggghh
Close to you
Blaaaaaaaarrrggggghhhhhh
Close to you
