Generation Gap – New Music/Artists are WEIRD!

So the Grammy’s were on the other night. And that means it is time for me to lament on the state of the world via music. If anyone under 30 is reading this, yes I admit that makes me out of touch and a real Altakaker. (Yiddish for old person) Maybe I am an old fogey and I finally grew into who I thought I could never be. (Not that I don’t appreciate current music that is good – see below)

I have to admit though, I watch the Grammy’s every year and this was at least one of the more inclusive ones in recent memory thanks to the oldies they plugged in for performances: The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, and two of my very faves – Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen.

Speaking of Paul McCartney, my son sent me a twitter feed strand of clueless teens tweeting “Who the Hell is Paul McCartney.”

To that I say “Parents of Tweeters on that site – You have FAILED big time!”

My kids, who were strapped in and captive in my van for years and years through all kinds of carpooling, were FORCED to listen to oldies. This was in between kiddie music of course – I alternated. So my kids grew up knowing and appreciating The Beatles and lots of other great bands and artists from the 60’s and 70’s.

In fact, my children knew I revered the Beatles, as many of my generation do. And they have a similar reverence. My son and his Bar Mitzvah partner chose a Beatles Theme for their Bar Mitzvah party. “A Hard Day’s Night – After a Hard Day of Reading Torah, they deserve a Hard Day’s Night!” Here is the photo we used for the party invitation. The poem inside had loads of Beatles songs and lyrics in the wording.

Yet, here is what today’s kids think of Paul McCartney – WHO???????

It’s a sad commentary when they know who a singer is that wears a giant MICKEY MOUSE head that lights up and calls himself DeadMau5 is, and they don’t know a Beatle!

Speaking of DeadMau5, I couldn’t help but analyze why he, Katy Perry, and Nicky Minaj had to resort to “Performance Art” instead of just singing a song. First of all – this card says it all.

Second, it’s not like you could appreciate their lyrics either. This is what we had, this is what Nicky Minaj offers.

They have to distract us with profane and just plain bad lyrics, weird costumes, weird hair, light pyrotechnics, and other weird stuff.

Then of course there is Adele – a breath of fresh air who sings real lyrics – and just uses the power of her gorgeous voice to draw attention.

Imagine that?

6 comments

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  • Arlene you are so right kids today listen to any music top 40 radio feeds them. there is no catchy melodies on the radio now.were not old cranky people we just were blessed to grow up with real music The Beatles were before my time but i have every album with my mother leaving the oldies station on as a child they influenced me as a musican till this day to aim for the great songwriting they had, they were not the best players but there songwriting will never be equaled something today’s singers or bands can never achieve we won’t rememeber any of them 50 years from now like The Beatles Elvis Michael Jackson Prince etc!

  • Great Arlene! It’s so true.

  • Linda Freedman Block

    Ah, I do miss some of the best songs…. all the Beatles songs and Barbra Streisand and Time in a Bottle (sung at our wedding in 1976) and Leavin’ On a Jet Plane (especially meaningful as I went to Israel for a year and missed a boyfriend!)
    Those were the days – when songs made sense and touched your soul.

  • Great column, as usual, Arlene! A friend on Facebook, said it best, after watching the Grammy’s – “The longer we live, the closer our world gets to the bar scene from Star Wars!”

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