The Disappearing Generation Gap

[Desdinova]

I read something in one of STR8UP's posts that I've found has been ringing more and more true. The Generation Gap is much smaller, and in some cases is non-existant:

I hang out with women 21-25 all the time and it seems like they know amost as much about MY generation as I do. Seriously.....I fukked a 20 yr old awhile back who loves Journey and all kinds of other 80's stuff. I was shocked that I could relate to her on so many levels

I've had similar experiences as well. I LOVE going to concerts, but my tastes in music pretty much stay around the 1980s. When I first started going to concerts, I noticed that I was the youngest of EVERYONE there. I'd get into conversations with older people and they'd talk about how they saw this particular band back when they were "new".

However, there was a concert of a 1970s-80s band I attended a couple of years ago, and I was absolutely shocked when a bunch of "kids" somewhere between the ages of 18-20 were up in front of the stage partying with me. But it wasn't their age that shocked me, it was the fact that they knew the lyrics to EVERY song that the band played.

As I've been attending these concerts over the last 10 years, I've noticed that there are more and more younger people attending and getting into the music. It's almost as if I'm seeing the statement that today's music is 5hit.

Does anyone else notice the shrinking generation gap?

 

[Kev07]

i think it's just that the 70s and 80s gave birth to some of the best music. ever


srsly, earth wind and fire, michael jackson, to name some off the top of my head, temptations go

i'm 17 and my top played song on my playlist is boogie wonderland

 

[Wyldfire]

If a kid's parents listen to good music the kid will like it. It's not really a closing of a generation gap. I see the same thing with my own kids. I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac and other bands while they were growing up. Good music is good music and the 18-24ish year olds were raised at a time when parents listened to music that spans all generations. This is especially true of rock bands because rock music hasn't really recovered ever since Rap nudged all those hair bands off MTV.

 

[Serialized3]

i think it's just that the 70s and 80s gave birth to some of the best music. ever


srsly, earth wind and fire, michael jackson, to name some off the top of my head, temptations go

i'm 17 and my top played song on my playlist is boogie wonderland

Yeah, the funk and R&B music was pretty good from that era, but the pop and rock was horrible! Disco? New-Wave? Terrible!

And I #%&*@ HATE Journey. Atrocious band.

I think a big part of this is that 80's throwback was popular with kids my age for a few years somewhere around 2003-2004, lots of 80's themed parties, legwarmers, miami vice getups, etc. I think it's sort of fizzled out a little bit now though.

I'm trying to get a 90's throwback revival started. Who's with me?

 

[STR8UP]

I read a whole article about this awhile back. Was it in Details magazine???I can't remember. But it was an AWESOME article.

Up until I read that I hadn't bothered to put 2 and 2 together to realize how it was that I was still able to relate to a different generation.

Music has helped bridge the gap. Really, since the 80's the face of music has changed and there are so many new bands (The Killers, etc.) who draw a HUGE influence from that time period. Hell, I started listening to Gym Class Heroes awhile back, and they sample all kinds of stuff from the 70's up.

Another thing is COMPUTERS. Think about it. MY generation was the first to grow up with a computer in the house. I remember my first TRS-80, sitting there writing code from a book to make a computer game. I don't have stats, but I would be willing to bet that computer use probably drops drastically when you look at people over 40, whereas most people under that age are pretty well plugged in.

I give thanks every day that I live in a time where it makes it EASY to game women who are MUCH younger than I am. I'm sure it was much harder for my dad's generation to relate to women ten years+ younger. Back then when you hit your 30's you started listening to different music and dressing like you were older. Today I buy the same cd's and the same clothes you would see on a college student a no one even blinks an eye.

A few years ago I got into an LTR with a chick who had just turned 21 (I was 31). I will never forget my sister's jaw hitting the floor the first time she asked my girl how old she was. It looked something like this- But the fact that I could manage to spend two years of my life (my longest relationship to date) with a girl who was so much younger just goes to show that the boundaries that used to exist have pretty much been wiped off the map.

 

[Wyldfire]

Computer use doesn't drop for people over 40. I belong to a music forum where most of the members are over 40...some are over 70. Even very old people have and use computers and go online.

[edited: Signature too big]

 

[Bonhomme]

Agreed. Hell, there are lots of new bands that are influenced by the Beatles, rockabilly, etc... stuff that's 40 or 50 some years old.... and a good many older folks who still follow a lot of the latest stuff ..myself included!

 

[Last Man Standing]

No great mystery - music has been dead for the last 25 years - so of course people are going to reach back when music was alive!

 

[Latinoman]

I can say that the BEST Latin Music (Salsa) was in the 70-80s. And the BEST R&B music too (especially with Marvin Gaye).

The other type? I don't know about that as I consider Blues and Jazz better back in the day that it was in the 70s or 80s or even now.

 

[Drum&Bass]

music has been dead for the last 25 years - so of course people are going to reach back when music was alive!

Lotsa great music still being made over seas but American music has definitely gone to SHITE after the 70's (subjective).

 

[squirrels]

The 70s came back in the 90s, the 80s are coming back in the 00s.

I dunno...80s music reminds me of when I was a kid. It was playing on the radio all the time, back in the days when toys were actually original and cool...and life was a lot simpler.

Sometimes I wonder if the late 80s/early 90s was the "peak" of American civilization as far as art and music went. Everything now is so cookie-cutter that I can't even listen to the radio any more. F*ck EMO, f*ck dirty south hip-hop, f*ck 21st-century music in general.

 

[DJDamage]

Sometimes I wonder if the late 80s/early 90s was the "peak" of American civilization as far as art and music went. Everything now is so cookie-cutter that I can't even listen to the radio any more. F*ck EMO, f*ck dirty south hip-hop, f*ck 21st-century music in general.

Today songs are outplayed after 3 months and nobody really listens to them anymore. You know your music is good if your music lasts generations and centuries like mozart or beethoven.

Are people going to be playing Kelly Clarkson or Britney Spears music 20 years from now?? Unless you are in a shopping mall or a mental institution I highly doubt it.

Music today sucks.