Question for the DU youngsters

[jandrok]

Does it get your knickers in a wad when old folks like me (I'm 41) listen to your tunes? One of my friends has a 15 year old son, and he just looks at me like I'm nuts whenever I mention liking one of the contemporary bands, like System of a Down, or Jet. He seems to think I need to stick with classic rock or something.

It's not isolated to him. My neices and nephews give me the same looks.

Granted, I don't much care for a lot of the rap-rock hybrid stuff like Linkin Park, and the dance-pop stuff leaves me cold, but I still like a lot of newer bands.

At what point did it cease being "cool" for me to listen to the latest new music?

[Bouncy Ball]

1. I don't care WHAT they think of me listening to it.

I'll listen to whatever I damn well please, that's one of the great things about being an adult, right?

[jandrok]

3. Tru dat, BB.

In a way it's kind of fun getting the reactions that I get.

It's interesting, actually. A lot of the music sounds a lot like the stuff I was listening to 20 years ago, but the kiddos think it's all new and fresh. Yeah, I know, every generation experiences that to some degree.

Seriously, though, I like System of a Down because they sound like the Dead Kennedys mating with Metallica in a dark alley somewhere.

Guess it's just a teen thing.

[iconoclastic cat]

5. Listen to the music, sure...but for the love of God, drop the "tru dat"!

[jandrok]

6. BUWAHAH HAHAHAH!!

Guess "dat" is too much, eh wot?

[Jokerman]

2. I'm a middle aged white man that listens to Hip-Hop.

I get an occasional strange look but mostly from other middle aged, white people.

[Left Is Write]

4. My nearly eighteen-year-old daughter has no problem with

my listening to some of the same music she listens to. And I have no problem with her listening to the 80s music I liked when it was new.

[MuseRider]

7. My kids buy me new stuff.

Some I like, some I don't. They have to keep the old lady current you know? We are all musicians so I doubt there would ever be a reason for them to think it was odd. Their friends say it is cool so I don't know why another kid would think it was odd.

[leftofthedial]

8. you are sick. what's next, a nose ring?

:-)

I'm the same way. I'm even older than you and my teenaged daughter is always partly amazed and partly grossed out when she finds out I like "her" music, or worse yet, that I've worked with the producer or one of the songwriters or something.

[jandrok]

10. Maybe a tattoo or two.

One of my theories is that rock music has last most of it's shock factor. It was kind of fun knowing that my parents didn't care much for the music I listened to growing up (well, my Dad didn't anyway, my Mom was ok with most of it). Rock music "belonged" to my generation and those that immediately preceded it. That's no longer the case. I can't be shocked by Marilyn Manson or Mudvayne 'cause Alice Cooper and Twisted Sister had 'em beat by decades. The profanity is more intense nowadays, and the anger is more inwardly directed, but the music and presentation remain unchanged for the most part.

Maybe that's it.

[leftofthedial]

11. lately, the musicianship is better, but the songwriting is weaker

IMHO

I sometimes feel badly that the next generation has no musical component to their natural rebellion. We had it all--long hair, rock music . . .

[jandrok]

12. But very few great guitar players today.

There are a couple of shredders out there, but the guitar solo has largely gone the way of the dinosaur.

You're hit it on the head. Outside of gangsta rap, which is becoming more packaged and mainstream everyday, there isn't much of a rebellous component to modern music.

Hard to shock a generation that grew up with Vietnam, and Nixon, and Reagan, and on and on.....

[leftofthedial]

14. the guitar solo has been packaged, trademarked, chewed up, swallowed,

and regurgitated into a digital effects box.

Kids don't learn to play (generally) on crappy equipment and bad tone, which forces them to learn to play the notes and put emotion into their playing. Instead, they just turn up the "Eddie Van Halen" knob to 11 and regurgitate some scales. They also are addicted to sixteenth notes. I'd rather listen to a Neil Young one-note solo with soul than a sterile flurry of sixteenths.

these kids have the bushturd and his gang and the rise of fundyism. What does that do to their creative spirits, I wonder?

[jandrok]

16. Well, the theocratic movement is all about conformity....

...and encourages a turn away from creativity and original thinking. Knowledge and freedom of artistic expression are to be discouraged in the new world order. Rote mechanics and lockstep uniformity shall rule the day. You can see the trend towards homogenous entertainment gaining speed every day.

There again, loss of shock factor, COUPLED with too much background noise. Even the people who are saying something more often get drowned out in the din. Lotsa channels, not very much choice.

[leftofthedial]

20. as players and listeners, we need to insist on better

and we need to educate others.

Of course, the "free market" is saturated with so much crap that few can tell the difference now.

[Lannes]

9. The only rap/rock hybrid I ever liked was Faith No More

All the others are just imitators.

Its funny because I talk to my friend's kids about hip-hop and all they know are the big names.I mention Talib Kweli or Saul Williams and they go blank.Unfortunately alot of them only get their music from clear channel or MTV during the 5 seconds a day they actually play videos,thats a whole other rant right there.With all the file sharing going on you would think that they would be exposed to a broader range of music.

[flvegan]

19. Mike Patton ruled.

I loved that band, saw them 4 times in concert, etc.

I can't believe that they aren't familiar with Talib Kweli. I saw him earlier this year with the Beastie Boys. Very, very talented.

[CanuckAmok]

21. Not a huge hip-hop fan, but Saul Williams is great!

I first came across him during the NION movement. Wow!

BTW, I'm 38 next month, and I find I'm still drawn to the artists I was listening to 20 years ago...even if they've moved on stylisticly. I'd rather listen to a new Nick Cave or Beastie Boys album than a new album by someone I haven't heard. I guess I'm comforted by the familiar.

System of a Down, Amen, Anti-Flag, Queens of the Stoneage, etc... Love 'em!

[BlondieK143]

13. Absolutely

not. :D Hey, I think it's cool. Listen to whatever you like to hear and do whatever you want to do.

[sakabatou]

15. As long as you old folk don't sing it publicly

We're fine.

[jandrok]

18. Awwww, man! But I can sing that Weezer song JUST LIKE....

...the guy! Here, lemme show ya....

BEVERLY HILLS! THAT'S WHERE I WANNA BE!!!!!

See? Pretty good, huh?

[Richardo]

17. My 22-year-old niece digs it when her geezer uncle (48) can discuss music

...that she can relate to. Same with the 14-year-old nephew (he was very impressed I knew (and liked) Green Day.)

[LSdemocrat]

22. Does it bother you if I listen to the Beatles, Beach Boys, etc.?

[jandrok]

26. Not at all! I appreciate that you can enjoy the older stuff

I think my post is less about music than it is about the reactions that I'm getting from my mid-teen folks. I think that it's normal for teens to want to have their own scene, away from the adult scene. Music has traditionally been a big part of that. Thing is, my generation likes a lot of the same musical styles that are in vogue today. That sort of takes away music as a big factor in the perfectly normal phase of rebellion that tenns go through.

I'm just wondering if it's that I've truly hit the stage in my life where I'm "expected" to be uncool, or if something else is going on.

[njdemocrat106]

23. I'm 24 and I mostly don't care for newer stuff

I like mainstream 70s and 80s rock, pop, and r&b stuff the best.

[jandrok]

27. That's cool. Those were good days for music.

It all sounds fresh to you. You haven't heard "Stairway to Heaven" over and over and over yet. I mean, I liked that first Boston album, too, the first million or so times that I heard it. First album I went out and bought with my own money, that was. Changed my life, but I digress.

And in all fairness, most of the newer stuff just harks back to older styles. Ain't many new bands doing anything original. The production is better, but System of a Down isn't doing anything that the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag and Metallica weren't doing 20+ years ago.

[lildreamer316]

24. HELL no! Mor power to ya! n/t

[El Fuego]

25. I only like newer stuff.

I am sooooo sick of classic rock. I never need to hear those songs again in my life.

[jandrok]

28. Amen, brother!

I really just can't listen to most of it anymore, either. Some classics will never die, most could and I'd never blink an eye.

[El Fuego]

29. I blame clear channel radio

The same "classic rock" songs over and over and over.... Let them die, already!

[rockedthevoteinMA]

30. Not at all. My dad (47) listens to Eminem and Green Day, and all

else that's new... I think it's pretty cool. He got me into Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, and Bob Marley... so we've just continued exchanging music.

[realisticphish]

31. Not at all

hell, i listen to "your" stuff more than "my" stuff anyway. My favorite bands are Phish, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, and the Who.

Music has no age restrictions. As long as you listen to it because you like it, and not because you want to seem "cool", you're good to go.

and jet sounds like classic rock anyway ;)

[jandrok]

32. Yeah, Jet is a throwback for sure.

They're unoriginal for sure, but they play the old school with joy and gusto, and I guess that's why I like 'em.

You made a great statement, that being that music has no age restrictions. Leastways, not anymore.

Keep digging through the older bands. There's a lot to like, and many to avoid. A lot of it is truly classic. Some of it is truly classical shit. Much like today's music scene....hmmmmmmmmmm. Guess some things really don't change.