I’m fifty now and falling ever more behind in my knowledge of pop culture. What would a twenty-something be astonished that I have no familiarity with?
Not knowing who Lady Gaga is would probably be the equivalent of not having heard of Madonna in the 90’s.
(FTR, I really don’t like Lady Gaga and think she’s a talentless hack compared to Madonna, but she’s here and very popular…Also, I think Stephenie Germonatta is a very talented singer and piano player).
For something a bit more subtle…
A twenty something would probably expect most people to be familiar with…
Gwen Stephanie
P Diddy
Maroon 5
Christina Aguilera
Katy Perry
Justin Timberlake
Beyonce
Justin Bieber
Some of them might mention
Nikki Minaj
Snoop
Jay Z
Black Keys
Adele
Glee
Florence and the Machine
I could probably think of more, but this is just off the top of my head. With the possible exception of The Black Keys and Florence and the Machine, the rest of these people/bands will be heard by having a Top 40 station on in the background at work all day…I say that as someone who’s employees have a Top 40 station on at work in the background all day. I don’t think The Black Keys or Florence and The Machine get played on those stations though, but I know I hear those names tossed around a lot.
If you want to catch up on this stuff, just find the local pop (or Kiss) station and listen to one or two songs while you’re driving. Most of them aren’t bad, it’s just hearing them 14 times a day that makes them obnoxious.
Twilight
I kind of sorta know what you mean here, but not really…
I know Lady Gaga is obviously a stage name, but are you trying to say it’s an entire persona, and S. Germonatta is a totally different person when not in character or on stage?
I get eye-rolls when my disconnect from computer games and gamer culture becomes apparent.
I’m 61 and the only one I don’t know is the Black Keys. Work in a junior high and you will know things that 20 - something’s aren’t aware of!!
Kinda yea.
For example:
Here’s her at the 2011 VMAs…for a Gaga show it’s actually pretty low on the theatrics…high on the shock value, but she actually scaled back the theatrics. I actually thought that was one of her better performances. It required her to rely on her singing and less on a her outfit.
To go back a bit farther…Here she is before she was before she was famous…just Stephanie and the piano.
I’m having trouble finding the clip I was looking for. A while back Lady Gaga was on TV and I remember saying to who ever was in the room with me “Now, this is how I like seeing her. Without all the crap, just her and the piano, she’s a decent piano player and I don’t really care for her voice but she sounds better without all the theatrics…oh, wait, nevermind, she’s got her foot up on the keyboard…the hell with it”
The Kardashians
Jersey Shore
Holy Shit! She is actually good. Still not really my kind of thing. But If I was dragged to a concert of her doing this, I think I would enjoy it.
I’m 66. What would a 50-year-old be astonished . . . ?
Also, IIRC, that was from 2006. Think about how much better she would be with 5 more years of vocal and piano training in that direction. I could see her being more of Billy Joel/Tori Amos/Alanis Morissette/Fiona Apple/Regina Spektor/Alicia Keys type person (depending on which genre she went towards).
Like I said, I really don’t like her voice, so on a fundamental level, I probably still wouldn’t like it, but she clearly has talent, it’s just so over shadowed when she comes out in the costumes it’s hard to see it under there.
Unfortunately, until the first time I saw her with just a piano and less makeup (before I saw the “before she was famous” stuff) was well after I had my mind made up that she was a talentless Madonna wannabe hack with a crappy voice that has no shame marching around on stage in stupid looking clothes for a couple of dollars…and it’s kind hard to turn that opinion off especially when the ‘good’ videos of her are few and far between of her. I do like the VMA one and I know there’s a handful of others, but they’re hard to find.
I’ll be 50 next year, and if it wasn’t for my teenaged kids I’d be completely clueless.
As it is, I’m only mostly clueless.
I can keep up with music OK, since my kids take over the radio in the car anytime we’re out. I don’t mind keeping up on their stuff and don’t poo-poo their tastes. Some of it is pretty good, and although I don’t enjoy rap, I can see the appeal, through the anti-establishment eyes of a teenager.
Television has left me in the dust though. I could bump into any of the newest Jersey Shore, Kardashian, etc. “stars” on the street and wouldn’t have a clue who they were.
After a certain age you give up on keeping up. I hope I die before I get old. Wait…
I’m 42 and though I have heard of most of these I wouldn’t be able to pick them out of a crowd apart from Adele, and couldn’t name you any of their songs apart from Adele and Florence and the Machine.
I’m sure I will have heard some of the other stuff but would never be able to tell you who performed it. But then I just don’t get exposure to their stuff.
I’m 53, and it’s similar for me. I recognize the names, would recognize some of their faces if I saw their picture, but I don’t think I would recognize any of their work.
I know the exact clip you’re looking for as it’s in my youtube favorites. Unfortunately, it has been the victim of a DMCA notice.
edit: Glee’s a tv show, not a singer so if that’s whats tripping you up, cast your mind back to Fox on Tuesdays.
As far as I know, she’s pretty much Lady Gaga 24/7 now, to the point where she sleeps in her getups with obnoxious heels but underneath it all is Stephani Germanotta.
You wouldn’t recognize Justin Bieber?
I’ll throw in LMFAO for a recent one. They’re all over the place now.
I’m not sure if that was aimed at me, but Glee (the cast of the show) has plenty of songs on the radio and I think they have CD’s out and I believe you can download their music on iTunes so I figured they were fair game to throw in with the rest of the pop stars.