Once again ... the kids are alright

I bumped into one of my neighbors the other day, a teenage boy who lives up on the next block. We've known this young man since shortly after we moved into our current condo; his grandmother lives on the next floor up, so we see him fairly often.

Anyway, he was excited to tell me that he'd just gotten his first car, a Honda Accord. I didn't find out what year it was, but it's clearly a pretty early model. It came equipped with a cassette deck, so he got his hands on his first cassette ... just for the sake of having something to play in his car.

And that's how he's just discovered the music of Lou Reed: through a cassette copy of Rock 'n' Roll Animal.

So here I am, working from home today, with the occasional pause as I record the first four Velvets albums to cassette for him.

Ha…well let me balance your tale with one of my own, from just yesterday.

Girl in her early 20’s works in our office. We chat occasionally about current pop music (Taylor and the like).

She mentioned she’d been getting into older, punky stuff lately.

“Oooh, like what?”
“Linkin Park”

How did he discover Rock 'n' Roll Animal? Came with the car?

One of my chums has a 16-year-old son that he's completely baffled by, because "He doesn't like any BANDS!!!" (He's one of those delightful people who speaks entirely in italics.) He generally follows that observation with "Of course, there aren't any bands anymore anyway!" This friend's definition of "band" is "Alice In Chains, Alice In Chains, Alice In Chains, Alice In Chains, Alice In Chains, Alice In Chains, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Alice In Chains and maybe throw in a little bit of Alice In Chains." For all I know, the kid might be grooving his scrawny ass off to bands like Dry Cleaning or the Hu or Haim or Deafheaven or Wednesday or 100 Gecs or the Last Dinner Party or God knows what, and this buddy wouldn't register it, as any music recorded after 1994 (and most music before 1994) is pitched to a frequency his ears seem unable to detect. Pop in a Wet Leg CD and he'll just sit slack-jawed with drool running down his chin, wondering why someone is playing a blank disc. Then he'll emphatically declare "Shit, dude! I just love music!!! I don't care!!!!" (In place of the word "music," insert "Alice In Chains.")

The last time I saw this buddy a couple of weeks ago, he was feeling a little dejected because the son had attended his first concert with a couple of his friends. "i wanted to take him to his first concert..." he observed in lower case italics. "Yes," I replied, "because every 16-year-old boy longs to go to his first concert with his 57-year-old Dad." I have no clue who the kid went to see. I'm sure he told his dad, but if the performer's name was anything other than "Alice In Chains," daddy-o would've just heard the sound of a butter knife in the garbage disposal.

What does any of this have to do with the topic at hand? Fuck if I know. I swear I had a point when I began typing, but that was so long ago now that I get nostalgic just thinking about it. That point has wandered off into a sun-dappled glen and laid down to die, alongside my late, lamented youth.

I think this is a common trait with a lot of older adults who aren't exactly music connoisseurs despite claiming to be. It's like that Simpsons episode where Homer is shocked at his children's tastes when it's clear he's not only out of touch but willfully narrow-minded, clinging on to a view of rock n' roll limited to not just his youth but to the thoroughly mediocre mainstream tastes of that time.

It happens with every generation but it's really sad to see it unfold with a generation that doesn't feel that removed from college. I went to a Wu-Tang show a few years ago and was stunned when half the crowd booed when the DJ asked if they wanted to hear something new. Then they cheered when he asked if they preferred '90s hip-hop. And back in 2011, when Arcade Fire won a Grammy for Album of the Year, I was stunned to see a high school friend post with all seriousness "who the hell is Arcade Fire?" This was a guy who got into classic rock very early thanks to his parents, and when we were growing up it seemed cool that he was familiar with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, etc. before any of us were, but I got the impression he never moved beyond that music despite how much the culture we grew up with was deep into hip-hop, alternative rock, EDM, and at the low end of the spectrum the crappy bubblegum pop at the turn of the century.

It always amazes me how many middle-aged men confuse their decreasing interest in music with an objective decline in its quality.

However, generational attitudes around music have shifted a lot. Now that so many people in their 20s still live with their parents, rebelling against their taste seems less common. I know parents who introduced their kids to classic rock or '90s hip-hop and middle-aged people whose teenage daughters got them to enjoy Olivia Rodrigo or Chappell Roan.

I so wish I had a CD player, cassette deck, and Apple CarPlay in my car. I could get so much more use out of all my different formats.

Saw Djo a few weeks ago. Crowd ranged primarily from teenagers to 30-somethings. 50/50 male/female, with plenty of they/thems. I cannot remember the last time I saw a crowd this excited and engaged from start to finish, including the opening band. If you know Djo, it's a fun mix of pop, rock, new wave, etc. Joe Keery (AKA Steve "The Hair" Harrington) was actually in a proggy/psychedelic rock band before he became an actor, so he had his old band, Post Animal as his opening act. Keep in mind, Djo's biggest hit is End Of Beginning, which is this slow poppy ballad that blew up on TikTok. So that's the gateway song for 90% of these kids. I would have bet money that the Post Animal set would be half-empty. Nope. I don't think these kids knew any of the songs, but the place was packed from the opening riff and they went bonkers from start to finish. I've seen lots of opening acts surprise people and build up momentum over the course of their set, tearing the roof off at the end. But not right out of the gate. I got the sense that these kids felt like it was their obligation to be on time and enthusiastic. Djo chose this band and therefore deserved their time and attention. They acted like every Post Animal song was their favorite hit. And this carried all the way through to Djo closing number, an absolutely ripping hard rock jam - the complete opposite of End Of Beginning. My 18 year old daughter was going bananas. I said, "Do you know this song???" She laughed while jumping up and down, "NO!" I literally thought, "The kids are alright."

When I was shopping at Target a few days ago, I heard a young lady (late teens, I believe) singing along to "I Got My Mind Set On You" by George Harrison streaming from the over head speakers; I asked her how she knew about the song and she said "Oh, it's a classic!" I then proceeded to tell her "You have restored my faith in the generations of tomorrow, ty!"

Ok, so that was a bit hyperbolic on my part, but I do worry that yesterday's music is slowly being consigned to the dustbins of history, even with all the platforms out there for discovering music. I truly don't know if younger generations are listening to the music we were raised on (especially TP artists) since I don't have a lot of contact with the younger generations and I get little input from my patrons who go to my sets because they tend to be 50+. I do try to encourage younger folks to listen to music from the (distant? Am I that old?) past, I see the members of this forum as preservers of the legacies of artists who no longer get acreages of press coverage. but still remain relevant due to their contributions to music and their influence on modern day artists.

I wish I were still teaching at a university, I would love to pass down the knowledge I have accumulated over my life about music to my students. I do advertise the TP website to attendees of my sets, hoping they will pass it along and so on.

Me, upstairs, my teenage son, downstairs.

The morosely grandiose strains of Morrissey singing, "Heaven knows I'm miserable now" ringing up from the living room.
"Elliot, are you listening to the Smiths?"
"Yes, now shut up, I'm doing my work."

Just a follow-up ... I saw my neighbor yesterday, along with three other teenage boys. He introduced me to them as the guy who recorded the Velvet Underground tapes for him. The three of them were instantly excited, giving me the thumbs-up, apparently having enjoyed the tapes in the car. (Or maybe he has a boom box at home, I don't know.) They started talking about other kids they know, whose musical taste (or capacity for such tastes, for lack of a better word) doesn't apparently pass muster with them. They mentioned one guy they know, saying, "All he listens to is 'Chris Cornell.' He doesn't even know enough to call it Soundgarden."

Yet another follow-up: my young neighbor was excited to tell me, earlier this week, that he'd gotten a ticket to see Iggy Pop and his band last weekend.

If you've seen recent onstage photos of Mr. Pop ... well, what else is there for me to say? Of course, asking Iggy to put on his shirt would be like asking Robert Smith to comb his hair. But my neighbor said he thought it was cool, that Iggy would dare to go shirtless onstage, at his age.

This hits close to home. I bought my Grandson a stereo system for his high school graduation present. (Decent turntable, speakers, and receiver.) What vinyl did he want from my collection?
The Smiths-The Queen Is Dead
Joy Division-Unknown Pleasures
YMO- cannot remember the name- It was a Japanese import.
He loves King Crimson, Yes, and Radiohead too.
When he mentioned what he was listening to, I felt obligated to buy him a decent starter stereo.

Ironically I never liked the Smiths. I had no idea he even knew who they were. But like all kids these days he picks up on stuff from social media or video clips and then spontaneously adds some songs to his playlists.

Right now, he's gotten into the fun Minneapolis band the Bad Bad Hats, because he heard a song or two. I'm hopeful he can spur a micro-Bad Bad Hats craze among his DC friends...

The Smiths is definitely a band that grew in stature with younger listeners beginning in the '00s. I realize it was a cult band here in the U.S. - though it had its champions, the large majority of American coverage I've come across expressed a lot of reservations or deep skepticism even when they were positive - but they continued to draw younger listeners in the '90s and exponentially so in the '00s. I see this now with Pavement and the Pixies whenever I go to their shows, the audience isn't aging out, it still gets replenished with high school and college age kids. I guess there's a long tradition of this happening with cult acts, where their reputation grows much bigger than what it was in their heyday, and they find themselves playing to the same age range decades later even as they've gotten much older. (Big Star's another good example.)

Belfast wrote:
I guess there's a long tradition of this happening with cult acts, where their reputation grows much bigger than what it was in their heyday, and they find themselves playing to the same age range decades later even as they've gotten much older. (Big Star's another good example.)

Holy jeezus and Mary Jo, belfast posted those words @ 2:09 pm, by the time I read them I was halfway through their #1 Album/Radio City CD. I did the math, and as near as I can tell, I hit the play button simultaneous with your post!

Melefresh Wrote:
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> Joy Division-Unknown Pleasures

He saw the t-shirts, now hear the album!

This is no exaggeration. I went to a small get-together organized by one of my partner's close friends, and the husband was wearing an Unknown Pleasures T-shirt. I immediately said, "awesome! Are you a big fan?" And it turned out he didn't know what I was talking about, he never heard of Joy Division and just thought it was a cool shirt.

My son, a 17-year-old in a diverse urban city, confirmed that Black and Hispanic kids at his school wear Nirvana shirts because they like the imagery, and may not even realize it was a band.

He does not like Nirvana, fwiw, but neither did I.

Yeah Michael, I see that same thing here at the old Hotel where I work. The Hotel is half dorm rooms, home to about 80 scholarship Freshmen and Sophomore athletes. As a matter of fact, I just took one Freshmen that was moving in for the new semester up in the elevator last week with a Nirvana shirt on. I was going to ask or say something band related, but what's the point? They're gonna say, "I just like the way the shirt looks" or give me a blank look.

Side note: We had a kid playing baseball here, about fifteen years or so ago, that pretty much went straight from our dorms to the Toronto Blue Jays (that's the team ira's Yanks are chasing right now) starting rotation, Jesse Litsch.

fwiw, my initial reaction to hearing Nirvana (way back in 1991) I remember well, Kathleen was there with me, I said to her, "this is supposed to be the latest thing". She said, "It doesn't sound new."
I thought, "Exactly!" After all, it wasn't anything we hadn't already heard before, i.e. Mission of Burma, Replacements, Melvins etc. etc. etc.

Side Note#2 - What band (er, uh...two guys with a drum machine, that is) really impressed the future Mrs. STEVE at the time? CARTER THE UNSTOPPABLE SEX MACHINE



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2025 05:45AM by STEVE.

> Side Note#2 - What band (er, uh...two guys with a
> drum machine, that is) really impressed the future
> Mrs. STEVE at the time? CARTER THE UNSTOPPABLE
> SEX MACHINE

One half of Carter is still going strong. Les Carter's band Abdoujaparov has put out some pretty good albums, the live one being the best. He's also the guitarist for Ferocious Dog and one of the many coming and going members of Keith Top Of The Pops & His Minor UK Indie Celebrity All-Star Backing Band.

Carter USM's Jim Bob Morrison is also still putting out records pretty regularly, under the name Jim Bob. Not sure if he's the only non-archival artist Cherry Red is releasing new albums by these days, but he seems to be the one they make the biggest fuss over. I can't say I've invested a ton of time in listening to them, but when I have, they've sounded pretty good.