Ah, I remember my old teenage years: listening to Pink Floyd, hanging out at the mall with my friends, trying to find a girlfriend, disco dancing … of course, this was all last year. 
And to all those people who diss baggy pants: when summertime comes and your testicles are sticking to your leg on the inside of your tight jeans, you’ll understand.
um Cranky (May I call you that, now that we’ve met?) w/a/d/r (with all due respect) back in the 70’s when I was a teen (and skinny), I remember, low cut bell bottoms that barely covered our asses, skimpy, skimpy halter tops (I even had one that was just two little leather triangles with some feathers…) bralessness of course. The few halter tops that I owned that weren’t simply a couple of well tied bandanas, were so low cut that I’d sit in the front row of class just to see how high my grade point could go ( 
) . I do recall some things that were see through, too. that’s why I kept my hair long 
It’s so interesting to see the various responses to the OP!
I’m not sure when Cranky was a teenager, but I had the same reaction to the post that clothes were always skimpy. I was in high school from 1983- 1987, and our clothes were not skimpy. I even looked back at my yearbook to make sure. As I remember, us girls mostly wore baggy jeans and oversize sweaters down to our knees. If we went to a pool party, T-shirts (also down to our knees) over bathing suits were a must. It’s a wonder we didn’t drown.
I am amazed sometimes when I see girls going into the high school in my neighborhood wearing tight tank tops and low riding jeans. Some of them do look a little on the teen slut side (to my now middle-aged sensibilities), but most of them just look casual. It makes me a little sad to think back to my high school days, and realize that many of the girls dressed the way they did in part because it was the fashion, but also because they thought they were fat, or ugly, or otherwise had to hide in acres of fabric. I’ve been impressed that many of today’s teen girls sport the current fashions even if they don’t have the “ideal” American body type. I’ve been thinking this is an example of improved body image for young girls – have I been being too idealistic?
One thing… I’m a teen (I’m 18 to be exact) and I think some of todays fashions are racy. Now I wear spaghetti tanks with the rest of them but I don’t go around with my bosom hanging out (well I try not to… it’s dang hard to find ones that will fit me nicely without showing too much). I can understand girls wanting to show off but really… it’s a little much at times.
As to music… some of it isn’t bad even though it is infinitely forgetable. It works for a short time. I got over my whole pop fascination thing mainly and now I listen mainly to the Mix or Rock stations. I’m not like most teens though because I get the weirdest looks from people when they see my music collection, even my friends. I have Beethoven, Great Big Sea, Slayer and Blink 182 all mixed together.
Personally I don’t follow fads and the people I hang with don’t usually do that either. Some I will if I think their cool enough… like spaghetti tanks or little flutterby clips for the hair and glitter… I love glitter grins
One thing I’ve noticed though is my generation has been called the ‘Echo’ Generation a few times… I think it fits cuz we seem to be bringing back a lot of old fads… like bell bottoms and, for a short time, swing.
I also know that all the older generations will despise what we have become and complain that they were better. And maybe in some ways they were but everything changes.
In closing I leave you with a quote that fits this totally I think: “That is why we dread children. even if we love them. They show us the state of our decay.” Brian Aldiss
Nice post.
One interesting term I have heard used is the “Scapegoat Generation.” But as has been mentioned in this thread many times, blaming the youngn’s for the ills of the entire society is nothing new.
IMHO my generations biggest problem, I’m 18 also, is that most have a VERY cynical and distrusting outlook on life. Few will trust adults so in turn adults don’t trust them.
As far as clothes, the reason we wear loose fitting pants is because tight ass ones like my dad used to wear AREN’T COMFORTABLE. So if they aren’t comfortable why should I wear them (given they stay on my ass:))! You will have to ask someone else about the revealing clothes that girls supposedly wear but I would assume the answers might follow the same direction. And coming from a guy that hasn’t gotten any action yet, I can’t say the revealing clothing really bother me:).
As far as music is concerned. I don’t think it is bad, just different. Music is different things to different people so it is impossible to compare one to another. Hell, in 20 years Who Let the Dogs Out might be considered a milestone in American music (lets just hope not).
I really don’t see that much difference. I grew up in the 70’s, and some of the things I wore were a lot more revealing and a whole lot trashier. I, like wring, counted strategically tied bandanas as clothing. Some of the kids today look really stupid (IMHO) in those big ass baggy jeans, but after reading delphica’s post, I remembered wearing my older brothers shirts, incredibly wide leg jeans and “moon” shoes, so I imagine we looked pretty stupid to the preceeding generation. It does bother me that the little girls are dressing just as trashy as the teens. They are trying to grow up too quickly, and the parents are letting them.
As to the music, I don’t think there are really any BANDS that have the staying power that, say, Led Zep, the Stones or Aerosmith have. How many of today’s band will be around and getting airplay in 2030? There is alot of music I like, but you can’t count on buying the CD and finding great music all the way through it. Teens now, I think, are much more diverse in their listening habits. My two teens listen to country, classical, alternative, techno and oldies, and don’t freak when I sing along.
Oh yeah. And for my quote:
While I don’t like the clothing, I don’t see it as a major issue. I’m old enough to remember the fuss about guys with long hair and the 60’s-70’s fashions. Teenage is the one time you can dress like that. Eventually, you grow up and move into the “real world” and start dressing like a grownup.
I don’t like the vulgar language in music, particularly about women. However, I can’t tell you how many times we have young guys in the office talking like that, and when I start talking my way to them, they immediately stop using those words. This shows respect for their elders, and that seems to be pretty universal, and a very good thing.
Since the new video of Jesus Christ Superstar came out, I’ve been approached by a lot of teenagers asking about the show. They might be into what I consider bad music now, but I think eventually their tastes will, if not change, at least expand.
I’m not an adult, so I can’t really add anything in on that level, but can I please just state that it’s not really Britney that’s the teen culture these days? She’s mainly only popular with pre-teens and post-pubescent guys - the clothing, while skimpy like hers, didn’t come about because she wore it. She wore it because it was the fashion.
Although, I do agree on that issue - fashion these days is depressingly slutty. I’ve seen girls as young as 9 and 10 walking around with stomachs exposed and their yet-to-developed chests hanging out. It’s frankly not a good look, and it’s not necessary. But, I doubt anything can stop it. It’s what the shops are selling, it’s what teens are buying - what can you do?
I know there’s a good reason for the generation gap. I’ve given this a lot of thought, because my friends range in age from 18 to 53.
Adolescents seem to think their lives are terribly horrible. Adults seem to think that adolescents are overly-dramatic.
They’re both right.
Adolescents’ lives ARE horrible…and they ARE overly-dramatic about it. I don’t know if any of the “grown-ups” in here have ever gone back and read your diaries from high school, but…yowza.
I actually thought that it cosmically MATTERED if that geek trumpet player noticed me.
I actually thought it was HARD to get up and go to school every morning.
I actually thought I was making a STATEMENT by listening to the Cure instead of Whitney Houston.
I actually thought we were COOL for dancing down the middle of the street at 2 in the morning in January in Michigan. Okay, okay, so that part was cool.
I’m watching a friend who just turned 21 going through these things. She’s been hanging out with the “goffkids” less and less, because she can’t believe how tiresome, self-important, and melodramatic these kids are. I told her, “You’re just jumping the gun on turning into a grown-up. It just keeps getting better.” I say “getting better” to her, because the more inane and drah-matic the adolescents around me act, the happier I am that I am a grown-up.
When an adolescent goes through a relationship crisis, he or she feels like “This is the worst thing that’s every happened! NO one can possibly feel pain like this and live!” The grown-up thinks, “Well, this sucks significant ass, but it WILL eventually be overwith, I will have learned this lesson, and I’ll never have to feel precisely like this again.”
Folks blame the adults for the generation gap, but there’s fault on both sides. Adolescents think that no one else has gone through the same feelings or had the same problems…and even if they somehow did, they didn’t feel them with the same DEPTH!!! that they do. Whereas adults know the kids are full of hooey, that other people have, yes, discovered that their boyfriends were sleeping with their best friends and lived to tell the tale, and that no matter what shocking and daring thing they’re doing, one of us has done it before.
I have a kind of contemptuous compassion for teenagers. I’m contemptuous because they’re generally so goddamned ungrounded, but compassionate because I know they THINK they are. Strangely, this makes many of them feel that they can talk to me, because I don’t feed them bullshit.
I’m trying to figure out the pattern here. I’m 31, and when I was a kid in the late seventies until about '81 or '82, my mom allowed me to show a lot of skin, technically speaking. Like strapless summer dresses and sunsuits that showed my midriff, and bikinis.
All this was okay until I started to develop. The clothes I got for my new height and measurements had to be long and high-cut at the neck; sleeveless was out of the question. And if I’d even tried to show my midriff, I would have been asked if I was insane. (I converted two of the strapless dresses into long skirts.)
In the early '90s, young women my age and younger (but not younger than 16 or so) were wearing little-girl dresses and child-size t-shirts. My understanding was that we were wearing what we wore when we had been Good Little Girls…but we didn’t look Good in the elementary-school sense of the world. This was somehow tied in with the riot-grrll movement, although I never fully understood the connection. At any rate, like LDG said about Ms. Spears, Courtney Love was a purveyor of this style, but she did it because it was in fashion; it wasn’t in fashion because of her.
I date the “tween” phenomenon from 1997/8, around the time the Spice Girls were popular. Again, I don’t say that they started it; just that they were pretty difficult to ignore. Consequently, they were loud enough to attract the notice of girls 10-12. The age at which female children start paying attention to pop culture used to be 12-14, but now it’s been moved up (down? You know what I mean.)
So now we have 10-12 year old girls, most of whom don’t have anything, wearing stuff that would be suggestive on 16 year olds…but not on them. It’s looped back on itself: first little girls could wear little-girl clothes. Then they had to wear young-lady clothes. Then the young ladies chose to wear little-girl clothes. Little girls saw young ladies wearing little-girl clothes, so now the little girls are wearing little-girl clothes.
can i move to your neighbourhood? i certainly haven’t noticed girls dressing like this. damn!
and wait… oversexualizing teenage girls… i thought that was the point… i mean, what’s the point in dressing up all sexy when you’re 40 and no-one’s going to care any more. you’re, like, as cranky as on old man!
and besides… wasn’t the sixties like, the age of mini-skirts or something?
yeah, i hate this too… it’s unfortunate that gangsta has taken over the popular face of rap, but there’s still plenty of good fresh hip-hop around, if you look. for anyone interested, try handsome boy modelling school, ugly duckling, de la soul (yes i know they started back in '89, but they’re still making good shit), jurassic five or black eyed peas.
if you call ‘getting airplay’, ‘being played on your local classic rawk station’…
but even so, here’s a list: beastie boys (assuming hip hop is not just a 20 year flash in the pan), radiohead, smashing pumpkins, red hot chili peppers, etc, etc.
oh, and my gripe? limp bizkit. and eminem. what is with that?
Hamadryad I am a teenager and I was never like that. Then again, I don’t really hang around kids my own age that much.
here’s how to solve the problem of ridiculously dressed teen agers…
school uniforms
no. wait. that won’t do it. still ridiculous.
well skimpy clothing could be solved by…
school uniforms
no. wait. my school skirt was a mini and i wore my blouse 3 sizes too small with 2 buttons undone. and i went to a girls school.
let us get on with it. in 10 years (when we’ll be wearing g*d knows what) we’ll look back at photos of ourselves and laugh.
My nephew wears really baggy clothes and has deified Tupac Shakur. I just don’t get it.
But then, I’m also afraid of Britney Spears.
Well, I’ll just say this about that.
As long as teenagers are experimenting with mind expanding drugs in a consequence free enviroment, I’ll be as snug as a bug, baby.
No, seriously, this thread was old before it got started. Not a single new point was made that hasn’t been around for 50 years. The music sucks. The girls dress like whores. The kids have no respect (sorry, but I think it is better to have a little less respect for people than to blindly respect everyone that is older than you just because of their age. It is the old assholes who start wars and kill babies and rape Japanese women)
Anyway, I dont think teenagers are any different now than they were in 1901, just more blatant and open about who they really are.