The younger generation...is there any hope (1 Viewer)

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

My step children (both boys ages 13 and 11) grew up while listening to country because of their mom. When I entered the scene about 6 years ago I played a lot of Classic Rock, Heavy Metal, New Wave, Electronica, Country, Classical and what ever else tickeled my fancy. With all of this and our eclectic tastes they are stuck on Rap, Hip Hop and Gangsta Rap and have been for a very long time. I don't know why but they seem to relate to it. They don't even like the Old School stuff, only the newest and I think that's because it's like a fad. Everyone likes it so they like it. I wasn't like that and their mom wasn't like that. We listened to what we wanted to and damn everyone else.

I've been hoping that maybe they'll start experimenting with some of the 300+ CD's I have but nope, nothing yet. Our music, according to them, is "old fogey" music and that the music these days is for kids. They are half joking when the say it but I kind of see their point. Case in point - I remember my dad listening to Johnny Cash. I couldn't stand him but now...I love his music. I am somewhat optimistic that our kids will grow up with an open mind with regards to trying different music styles and genre. Maybe not now but in a few years. *fingers crossed*

 

[Marty M]

I am sure that would be most peoples' reaction today, but 45 years ago Jerry Lee was very popular, right before he married his 13 year old cousin.

 

[Mark Murphy]

I didn't know "Gangsta Rap" existed anymore. All I seem to hear is that Dirty South Crunk crap. I am big Hip Hop fan but I only listen to pre 1996 rap for the most part. Hip Hop lost its edge w/all its "Bling" and obsession w/material things. There are no more MC's (not counting Nas, Jay Z and Em)and the genre has no heart. Its all crappy pop music. Rock isn't much better either. Incubus, Audioslave, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Radiohead are the only current bands that I like. I did like Staind after their first major label album (Dysfunction) but they took the Creed/Nickleback VH1 route and lost me. I don't really like the White Stripes but I do respect them which I can't say about the Strokes. They may be one of the worst bands I've ever heard. So overated. Those whiny bands (A simple Plan, Yellowcard, New Found Glory, etc.) are terrible too. They sound like girls whining because dad doesn't like their temporary tatoos. Good Charlotte is bad too.



That is because that music is great. Some of the Boston stations recently changed their formats to go "semi" classic rock (60's-early 90's) mixed w/the current garbage. I'm assuming its because the older music is more popular than what is coming out now.

 

[John Watson]

"like girls whining because dad doesn't like their temporary tatoos". There's a lot in that thought, "sensitive, whiney new age grunge", sounds like a new niche

Jerry Lee Lewis was great for long after that contretemps. His old albums are still worth listening too, but, now, he's barely holding on, but with the way he lived, I'm suprised he's still here.

Are we talkin' 'bout the same dude?

 

[David_Stein]

Mark Murphy,
I know we briefly talked in that other thread (which should be allowed to die, so i wont bring it back up) but i did think of a group you should check out: The Non-Prophets.

last year they put out a cd called Hope and they are a bit of a hiphop throwback group. not exactly, but one thing you will like is that the MC, sage francis, is constantly paying homage to the hiphop he grew up on (which i suspect is the same stuff you listened to).

heres a link to the pitchfork review:
Hope

 

[Marko_J]

HI..I almost never post here... long time reader etc...

But this is a great topicand I have to share my thoughts. In 1990. I just started highschool and I was 14 and a big big U2 fan (still am I supose), and maybe I'm wrong or my memory isn't good but I remember loving the music on MTV (European MTV), in those days (now I feel old) MTV was full of great rock, alternative, cutting-edge music. U", MEtellica, G'n'R, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Beck, Public Enemy, Tori Amos, Peter Gabriel etc. And all the VJ's showed that they have a great taste in music and they were openly critical to all the teenie-pop music and all the crap that got on air (at least it was so in Europa).
Offcourse, you could see and listen to New Kids on the block, Vanilla Ice and such 'artists' but they were tha laughing stock. Not to mentione that these acts could never come even near the last page, let allone the cover of Rolling Stone or Spin. Ofcourse that Nirvana made money for their company, as well as metallica or U", but it seems to me that today the whole music industry is concentrated on the safe acts in a way safe that they can controle them, and the biggest star today is the producer and not the artist or the writer... Today you can hardly see REM or any new band like them on MTV - it's all about spectacle, tits, toilet humour, sex and reality shows, and there's nothing about MUSIC... On rolling stone you can see Britney, Christina, N'Sync, 50Cent etc... And it's all crap... before the Rolling Stone would never put on the cover Vanilla Ice just because he had a big hit...

I'm rumbling now... what I'm trying to say is that music industry, music editors on radio stations and on tv, all of them forgot to care about the quality and insted they became a big corporation...

But there is a great deal of tereffic new music put there - you just have to search for it. And not only rock but also Rap, Electronics... QOTST, Four Tet, Beck, David Gray, Lefttfield, teriffic DJ's, Jazzanova, White Stripes, The Hives, Coldplay, Underworld, The Doves, DJ Shadow, U.N.K.L.E etc... but you can be sure that you will not catch them on radio or on MTV or on MTV2 which is just another shock-program...

I'm sory if I was incoherent, but sometimes I have a problem with writeing in english...that's way I'm mostly reader here

by

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Thanks for the discussion. I peronally think there's hope. But that's the funny thing though: people still look back at the 60's and 70's music and still like it.

I'll always love Bon Jovi and Def Leppard, but will anybody in the future look on those guys and think of them as cool in the same vein as Pink Floyd or the Rolling Stones? Probably not. But I know my kids will.

 

[Ken Groulx]

A funny aside about the generation gap in music: A couple summers ago, I was traveling with a younger colleague from work, and after a cover version of 'You're All I've Got Tonight' by the Smashing Pumpkins came on the radio, he said he really enjoyed it. When I commented that it wasn't as good as The Cars original version, he looked at me with a confused look on his face as asked "Who are The Cars?" I was only like 30 at the time, but I felt like a grandfather.

It's a funny thing. For various reasons, I don't think younger people are given an opportunity to even hear older music - there's almost no outlets for it. You're certainly not going to see it on MTV, or hear it on the endless drone of pre-programmed radio. Whereas I also developed my musical tastes based on my parents/relatives album collections from the late '70s (Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger), and free-for-all radio stations who were willing to play almost anything, music has been so bad, and so calculated for so long, I can't even begin to tell what younger people consider 'good old music'.

I don't offer much hope for the younger generations' taste in music, but in a way, you almost can't fault them for it; look what they're exposed to. Really great music - new and old - has almost gone underground.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Kinda reminds me of when I went to a Duran Duran concert here back in 93 or 94; this was just after their "revival" with Ordinary World being a big hit. There were lots of teens in the crowd, who went bananas when the band played Ordinary World, but were somewhat subdued during "oldies" like Hungry Like The Wolf -- when the twentysomethings like me went crazy.

At their recent concert here, I don't think there were any teens in the crowd at all, or certainly not many. Mostly thirtysomethings now, and a few seats along my row there was a couple who looked like they were in their mid-40s at least, if not early 50s, who apparently were from Birmingham as well.

Another "generation gap" example: the teens and twentysomethings think Clapton's "Layla" is a nice soft beautiful unplugged ballad. Humph, give me the raw power and fury of the electric guitars on the original's first half followed by that haunting piano and slide guitar coda anyday...

 

[joe goswami]

I agree. with the all of you. My son is only 3 and I make sure that he get an earful of "classic rock" and I don't mean what the radio plays over & over again. Also expose him to Jazz whenever possible.

Is there hope for the younger generation? Nope. I too missed out on being a teen in the seventies (by a decade). During the 80's (ugh!), I discovered in high school that there was more to YES than Owner of A Lonely Heart & more to ELP than Lucky Man. I also discovered that Peter Gabriel was the original lead singer for Genesis.

Kids nowaday's have no clue. I even have friends in their mid twenties that haven't got a clue about what "good" music represents. I am an avid hater of Rap music. It is a poison we don't need. I want my son to learn music - not how to run a sampler & a drum machine.

 

[BrianB]

No, they just don't like the same music you do. Why is it threads like this always degenerate into "classic old rock" is best? Why is it threads like this always ignore all the good music out there right now & lump everything released today as "crap rap & Britney Spears"?

If posters honestly feel that's the only music out there, they need to broaden their horizons just a little. Take out a sub to CMJ or something.

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

I don't understand the fascination with the 70's classic rock scene, either. For all the things people say about todays music, I'd say the same for classic rock. To me, it seems dull and unimaginative. Of course, not ALL of it was but I couldn't sit down and listen to The Eagles or Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd or the other 20 "big" bands which dominated the 70's music scene.

Now personally, I'm a big band/swing fan so perhaps that shadows my view of classic rock. But, I won't deny I'd rather listen to a long stretch of Edith Piaf or Georgia Gibbs or Paul Whiteman or Billie Holliday or Louis Prima than ANY other music.

Bruce

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Way to go Joe! Keep on feeding him the 'good' stuff!

Brian, although all of us won't agree, there isn't nearly as much 'good' stuff to listen to today. The commercialization has really screwed it up, and the few beginning and end clips from American Idol that I have seen are just as strange.

I catch all of the award shows every year to see what has come out that is being recognized, because what I really don't like is to buy a CD for a new singer/group, and then have them fail. I get stuck with all of these CD's that are all from different groups. Fantastic music, but it leaves me screaming for more, which isn't going to happen.

Radio would just drive me nuts. It isn't that I want the 'good old days', but ok, I do.

When rock was only on AM stations people complained that the DJ's would sometimes talk over the beginnings and the ends of the songs, and thus FM was born. It was so nice hearing just the music until it ended. We even had one FM station that would play 40 minutes of songs by just one group, with no interruptions at all, or play an entire album side.

From the little that I have heard today, that isn't going to happen anytime again soon. And hearing something like - It is now 14 minutes after the hour only begs me to ask, and how many times zones is this idiot talking to? (Ok, how about - look at all the people the company that owns that station has put out of work).

Glenn

 

[Steve Crowley]

Skitch Henderson and the Tonight Show Orchestra album "Mame"
Now that was some great music. Or how bout Ray Stevens? Ahab the Arab, bet that won't get played on radio. Frank Zappa had some pretty wild songs. Bobby Brown, Catholic Girls and Big Leg Emma. Anyone remember Kraftwerk? Or Triumvirat, Focus or UK? I was always into european music after being stationed overseas. There is some good music today but the radio stations in Houston are ClearChannel and all they play is crap. Thank goodness for college radio.Cheers.

 

[PhilBoy]

Filesharing has nurtured a disposable, who's got the most attitude toward music.

Back when I had to save up for a new vinyl release (took about a month), I was pretty discriminate and protective of what I bought and what I listened to.

Seems like now it's; "Katlin, I have 1257 songs in my music folder."

 

[Mike Broadman]

It's been super commercial since the early 70s. American Idol is a "reality" show which has nothing to do with music.

This kind of talk would be like me bashing the 70s because it's all just drugs, big hair, and bell bottoms.

I hope when I hit 40 I don't sound like this.

 

[David_Stein]

haha, thats such a small mp3 collection!

 

[Ken Groulx]

The term 'good music' is as subjective as it gets, but I don't think the term 'mere performer' is. Unfortunately, that's the banner far too many acts fall under these days, and ultimately that's why so many people lament the decline of self-styled artists of the 1970s, including me.:frowning:

 

[StephenA]

I definitely love older music best. I'd pick it over most of today's stuff any day. Doesn't matter if it's from the '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, or '70s, or whatever century. I love big band, jazz, clasical, folk, country, blues, classic rock, etc. I never really followed the trends while growing up. I always followed my own path with my musical tastes. I'm 24 and my favorite singer is Nat King Cole and my favorite band is the Moody Blues, so what dioes that everyone.

 

[Holadem]

If it doesn't fit into your narrow definition of music, of course it isn't... right? Somehow, you probably find Heavy Metal (constant screaming and screeching) to be more "musical". I fnot you , many here do. If that doesn't give you some perspective, I don't know what will.

--
H - who often enjoys the "poison we (who the fuck is "we"?) don't need".