Hey, Ho! You’re Old!*
By Glinda
In my heyday, my musical tastes were cutting edge. Kasey Kasem’s Top 40 never blighted my refined ears, lest I instantly become unhip due to a few bars of “Jump! (for My Love)” or “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Both of which I viewed back then with a thinly veiled contempt. Well, I must confess that the contempt is there even now.
No, I was all about New Wave, Alternative, Punk, and Post-punk. I wore black, although it was really more for show than anything else. I didn’t have that simmering rage a lot of my friends had. I just liked the music, and if I didn’t wear the black, well then they might mistake me for someone who would enjoy listening to the songs above.
As I have aged, I have kept up with musical trends. I know the music (and in most cases even like) of bands such as Weezer, Death Cab for Cutie, the Killers, and many others. My teenaged cousin’s eyes practically popped out of her head when I mentioned I liked a song from Vanessa Carlton. What? I could see the gears churning. A person over the age of thirty knew who Vanessa Carlton was? Perhaps she would have to dump poor Vanessa off her playlist since someone such as aged as myself knew who she was.
But really, who am I kidding? The Munchkin is only five. It takes a lot of work to keep up with all this new stuff, and to be truthful, I’m getting tired. Can I really do this for about seven more years? Can I possibly still be interested in new bands after I hit forty?
I have a feeling that by the time the Munchkin is in his teens, I’ll be content to be in my rocking chair, listening to The Ramones.
*You must be familiar with the songs of The Ramones, or else you will think I am referring to myself as a ho. Which I most assuredly am not.
June 19th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Sometimes I try to make an effort to keep up but honestly, there’s a lot of crap out there. When I was in high school I was all about funk and soul, and then rap came along and I loved that too. But it has morphed (or evolved) into something that makes my ears bleed. I actually didn’t really like what is now considered “classic rock” back when it was contemporary, but it sounds good to me now.
June 19th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I am a major music fan. My taste in music is eclectic, if not bizarre and I started instilling an appreciation for every kind of music in my son at a very early age. I think that people have a very deep emotional attachment to their music, no matter what form it takes. It is the soundtrack that accompanies our lives. I have always made it a strong point not to disrespect anyone else’s music, even if it moves me to tears (and not in a good way). I made it through Twisted Sister and Iron Maiden, but there were occasional rays of hope shining through the clouds of head banger music.
I believe that I can directly trace the reason for bearing and nurturing offspring to the day that my son stood in line to get Grateful Dead tickets for himself, his friends and his Mom. It brings a tear to the eye. This, I realized, is why we have children, so they can stand in lines in the wee small hours for tickets when we are too old and feeble to do it for ourselves.
Hang in there Glinda, and for Pete’s sake step away fom the rocking chair. I see many concerts ahead for you and the Munchkin.
June 19th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I’m in the opposite situation. I don’t necessarily worry about keeping up with musical trends; however, I don’t want to be thought of as listening to “teeny-bopper” music. On the other hand, most of the teenagers nowadays have pretty sophisticated tastes in music.
June 19th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Ha! I wouldn’t feel bad about missing the bombastic pop warblings that populate the radio now. American Idol has a lot to answer for in my opinion.
But I’ve always been deeply unhip. In school, I idolized the Beatles (you could do worse: my friends were all about the Golden Earring, the Poppy Family, and the Lynyrd Skynyrd) who were already broken up at the time. I remember a few (many?) years back I bought a CD on the way to work and proudly played it, remarking that I was happy to have some new, contemporary music.
A twenty-year-old looked at me with pity and said, “raincoaster, this is Billy Idol, and it is fifteen years old.”
Now I’m on a Nine Inch Nails kick; have you heard them? These kids are talented!
June 20th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Hey Ho Let’s Go!
June 20th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I made a little end of the year DVD for my 5th grade class. The pictures were accompanied by tunes from Phil Collins, Styxx and the Beach Boys. My husband pointed out that this was not necessarily the most appropriate sound track for my audience. I informed him that I was exposing them to classical music. When my poor cousin comes to visit later this summer she will also be exposed to “classic” music. I’m not hip, I’m not cool, and I don’t care!