Boomers becoming "our parents"?

[donnellbw]

Is it just me, or, like the candid post about the Beatles (2 doors down), did REAL music stop some time ago. When I go into Guitar Center on a
Saturday morning and witness the the over-tatooed Goth-dreg shredders who look like they are wearing what they slept in, and who are playing
rapid fire arpeggios faster than i ever will, I begin to hear my Folks" "you call that music?" floating around in my head. Was their Big Band music
really the equivalent (to them) of Cream or Quicksilver Messenger Service live?

Why is it that Eric Clapton never played with his shirt off or felt the need to jump on stage in some faux emotional "aerial" pose? Why are late teens and early 20 year olds spending cash like water on stomp boxes that promise to give them their heros' tone? The gear set-ups that are described on
Harmony Central guitar reviews seem like obsessive compulsive disorder run rampant with enough pedals to "conquer the universe". Has hearing been
genetically affected by too many video game tones mixed with too many "boost" sodas?

Have these young heir apparents ever listened to "Crossroads" or "Mona" or watched Rory Gallagher get it strictly from his head and fingers? Have they
ever played an old tube amp (say 30 watts) that would overdrive nicely? Do they really understand what to do with a Bigsby B-5 as opposed to only a
Floyd Rose?

Do they even think to create they "own" signature style and tone? Do they really think that great sound comes pre-engineered in a box without any
creative fingering technique to get it right?

Is different really better? Where are the new "classics" that will be turned into Muzak forever? There seems to be an accepted conspiracy that digital
"pre-sets" and sampling tones = talent. Many new bands pass off cacophony as clever.

Yes, I like Roger McGuinn's, and Mick Taylor's, and Eric Johnson's, and Lesley West's, and the 2 guys in Dragonforces's sounds - but I do not want to
BE them, only incorporate bits and pieces. Not steal, just learn from. I love that learning part with all its little frustrations and incumbent limits.

I don't want to dismiss a newer generation. I just want them to know and appreciate the "whole" story of this music, which, sorry, did not start
with Kiss and Creed. My Dad used to have me listen with him to his favorite Big Band stuff, but he would take the time to explain why he liked or didn't a particular singer or instrumentalist, and which line ups of musicians created what sound stylings.

I learned to not write off his music, and he learned in kind to listen to mine and my thoughts. If I'm "becoming like my Dad" its only because I want
the Guitar Center crowd, if they are really passionate about making good melodies, to WANT to know it ALL - not just everything that was written
on a Charvel or PRS and what followed. ("Leadbelly?.....hmmm, did he play in Social Distortion?")

Do these young lads realize how much they all sound unremarkably alike in their quest to be genuinely interesting individuals? The "rush" to fame by kids
who feel a sense of"entitlement" without doing any research beyond the last issue of Guitar Player is scary.

Anybody else a Boomer / observer?

[wj350]

Scanning the local "hit" radio stations, I can only come to one conclusion. Our parents were wrong, but we're right.



Bill

[scotty]

Great post Donnell,I think it becomes one of these moments in your life when you think hold on here and step outside the bubble and take a look at whats been going on.I found the "over-tatooed Goth-dreg shredders who look like they are wearing what they slept in" quite funny and get strangely true.I think we all go through period of Oh no im turning into my dad.I accepted mine a few years ago when my Son started to listen to hip hop and I had the intense feeling of the "Turn that down blues" as someone once said "every generation throws a hero up the pop charts" and the older generation has to endure the consequences at the time.I personally dont think kids who want to play the guitar want to understand where it all began.It all comes down to what genre you are into at the time that ultimately affects your playing style.Sometimes its better to light the fire and put on your slippers and shred your rickenbacker,Laugh and Smile at Adversity cause kids will be kids and if they want to trash at the devil nothing is going to stop them. And why not?

[shamustwin]

As a boomer and the parent of a really young kid (5.5 yrs), I see another side of it. What she's exposed to is the Miley Cyrus/Jonas Brothers/Drake and Josh/Naked Brothers/High School Musical music, which is very bland and predictable music. This is a land where being a Rock Star is just another career choice for which one's parents would happily pay the tuition for Rock Star School.

Fortunately, my daughter prefers to listen to Beatles' CDs. I'm sure though, in her teenage years she'll go along with the prevailing trends in music.

[scotty]

Jerry everytime my back is turned its Hanna Montana and Zack and Cody. ARRRHHHHHHHHHHH!

[whojamfan]

Yeah, those darn whipper snappers, turn that **** down, learn how to play, what did ya spend the night in a graveyard, are you on drugs?

"SSSSHHHUUUTTT UUUUUUUUUPP!!!!"

I'm sorry, what was the question?

Yeah, I'm afraid so. I remember my daughter listening to Blink 182(who should be strung up and shot!) and trying to clue her in on what some real punk is, and her response was, "Dad, those guys are like so not cute." What do you say to that? Oh well, I guess I never thought of it that way, how insensitive of me. I should of, "like you know, chosen a band, who like, is way cuter Daaaad, like I'm so sure.....By the way, Dad, why do you like still have those record album thingys?"

Yeah, my dad used to tell me how much the Ramones sucked while he listened to Bob Seger. Funny thing is, they have a song that sounds a lot like a Ramones song, chord progression wise, and when I took my guitar and showed it to him, I immediately was asked why I wasn't working as hard at school.

[antipodean]

My kids just aren't up to scratch. Around 85% of what they listen to is ok by me. My 14-year-old son stole my Red and Blue Beatles compilations and the Ramones Anthology to put on his mp3 player and is usually rummaging around my collection to see if anything takes his fancy. Also I find myself listening to their Gorillaz or The Killers CDs and thinking that's cool, and a lot of the other stuff they play is at least tolerable, with the noted exception of Avril Lavigne. Either I've brought them up wrong or I'm suffering from some terrible cognitive impairment...or maybe both?

[lennon211]

Speaking for myself, as I'll let some of the other younger members join in if they wish, I take pride in not playing **** when I'm trying out gear in a shop. At 26, I get into a lot of gear discussions with the boomer crowds in my local shops when I'm trying out something. I also get a lot of condescending looks from those my age (26) and younger who are shredding their way through stuff, as I'm playing clean tones with no pedals. I'd rather go in, grab something like a Gretsch or Tele and start playing something that sounds like a real song with some soul to it as opposed to something that sounds generic and, well, like ****. That's great if someone can shred their way through arpeggios, but can they play rhythm? I'm in the minority among many of those who I see in the local shops and that's good to me. I'd much rather be the one that plugs into the Vox and pushes it to its sweet spot jamming on "Gloria" than the guy that gets half a dozen pedals out, plugged into the Marshall stack and has the staff in a frenzy.

[shamustwin]

Jerry everytime my back is turned its Hanna Montana and Zack and Cody. ARRRHHHHHHHHHHH!

Yes.

Talk about the Star Making Machinery, some of these musicians have shows on Disney Channel, songs played on Disney Radio, merch in Disney Stores, etc etc.

It's like some futuristic science fiction story, only the future is now.

Antipodean, you have given me hope.

[chuck_king]

Kids up through their tweens will for the most part choose their music based on what is cool in their circle, with little if any regard for musical merit. Between a natural tendency to carve out their own niche, and pop culture brainwashing urging them to rebel against whatever their parents like, to a certain extent that will include music (or "music") that their parents will dislike. So for boomers, it is inevitable that stuff you don't like will be popular, because if you liked it, it wouldn't be popular, if you see what I mean.

The way artists are recruited and marketed now is different than it was a generation or two or three ago, and as a consequence less music with any artistic merit seems to make it through the corporate gauntlet and onto radio etc. But that's a different issue and only coincidentally generational, i.e., it's not a function of kids hating good music; they're just not being offered much of it from the outlets that serve their market.

[ajish4]

"SSSSHHHUUUTTT UUUUUUUUUPP!!!!"

...................."Thank You"

[qwezirider]

I smile when my four year old sways back and forth at the dinner table to Paul Potts (opera), or nods her head snappily to Brian Setzer Orchestra, or dances around the room to Mark Knopfler. I hope it lasts.

[drumbob]

Terrific post. very thoughtful and accurate. I am encouraged when I talk to kids who have taken the time to go back and listen to the rock of the sixties. Many of them have discovered what we knew. That the sixties was the best time for rock music.

The ones who dismiss sixties rock will either burn out, or grow up and look back someday, the way we went back and discovered Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie and all the other roots music pioneers.