the only part of the article i minded was the notion that music hasn't really changed. I'm disturbed by that because it might be true - what if they can't come up with music that we consider inaccessible? It sounds like the end of a culture or something...However, take in mind thie piece was written in New York Metro. I think a big difference is that there's a healthy middle class in urban areas and that was less true a generation ago. Isolation breeds disconnect...if you're exposed to everything you won't react negatively to it. Also, the internet is relevant in that it's harder to forget now...so much information is archived and accessible, so it's harder to think you're discovering something new.

Yeah, it rubbed me the wrong way as well. I think it has to do with the fact that it *is* mostly an urban thing. And a moneyed urban thing at that. Who else can afford the jeans they are talking about all while having a child. While I do like New York Magazine, I find it's constant focus on the *haves* as annoying. But I guess that's New York City and I guess that is the demo they are aiming at.

Side note: In this issue they also discuss how text messaging is being used for booty calls. Wow, what a news flash. It's only been going on for 4 years.

The time is ripe for Booty Call 2.

Of all the things that rubbed me the wrong way about the article, the biggest was its own sense of self-importance. Which is not different from the self-importance of all the "Gen X" articles from 10 years ago. I hate to use such a cliche, but even though a lifestyle trend article is kinda cool, there's no need to get all breathless and excited about it for nine pages when there are actual issues to write about.

And like Jon said, it suffers from a certain New York-centrism. Although maybe that's OK, considering its target audience.

Well, I definitely thought that the article was a little self-indulgent, but that aside here's what I can tell you about my parents in their 50s. Last Fall they went to a Green Day and Weezer/Foo Fighters concert. They listened to American Idiot all the time claiming that it was awesome and the best album of the year. They liked the first Green Day concert so much that they drove six hours to Nashville to go to another Green Day concert-although they said the second time that some of the magic was gone.

Last weekend they went to see the Allman brothers in NYC and my dad said after three hours of playing he could have easily stayed and listened for another hour. They said they plan on going to see Derek Trucks soon in their hometown because he was probably the most amazing guitarist they had seen.

So... I feel that the article was not totally irrelevant for me... nothing made me feel uncooler this past summer than when my mom handpicked my new Jack Johnson cd out of my apartment and wanted to play it for the family in the car.

I haven't read it yet, I'll do so now, but judging from the comments I think it might be alright to add that I've been thinking lately that the gap might actually have just made itself more subtle, but simultaneously more intense. While looking at certain categories of cultural preference (i.e. what kind of consumer are you?) might show that there are many similarities emerging across generations, I think that it's indisputable that emerging digital technology, and the rate of change here, add a new dimension to the learning curve. There are abstract social conventions and such that have been created that might be basically unrecognizable to many people, jeans aside, who did not experience their whole coming of age in this environement. There's an interesting moment in Electric Kool Aid Acid Test where Jack Kerouac and Ken Kesey are in the same room for the first/only time, and if I remember correctly they don't even know how to approach each other. Wolfe says it was a passing of the baton or some such bullshit.

Right, and so I take it this article is going to be about white people?

Yup, about white people. Not those people that live in Hartford. Thank god!

But, but, what do the old people think about Snakes on a Plane. I can't deal with it when people don't pay attention to me for five minutes.

Seriously though, my mom was talking about following Pearl Jam around on a tour. Admittedly, they're not really the cool band anymore, but it was a weird conversation. She couldn't have been any more enthusiastic about the concert she went to.

my question is this: what's Slater's opinion on "Preppies?"

ps, on a less funny note, remember way back at the top of the thread when the question arose about the future generation's "inaccessible music?"

remember fucking limp shitkit and kid schlock and korn (who suck)? i'd call that a music advancement that all the idiot kids liked -- though it was just shit.

pps, please please please, i'm begging you, noone respond with a comment like "i liked Korn, they weren't part of all that crap, they're actually a good band, etc." rule of thumb: if my asshole brother likes them, they probably suck.

Your asshole brother likes me a lot.

Oh, no wait, that's your brother's asshole.

I looked at GROSS's IP and he is Larry Harris.

crappy music is nothing new either...a lot of it has faded from collective memory because eventually people grew up and discarded the detritus of their civilization...It's the same reason you don't see too much poorly constructed furniture from the 1860s...it fell apart. I mean a genre of music that an earlier generation has a hard time appreciating. I guess rap is the closest thing, but that's like 20+ years old already. Electronica is just electronic music with dance beats...that's accessible because 2 previous generations both had digitally generated sounds and dance music is timeless. Collage-based stuff (like dj shadow, parts of the books, etc) is sort of new but of course by its definition is also old, and a further testament to increased archival capability over the last 100 years. Curse that thomas edison!

but to say older generations don't appreciate rap is just sort of rude. there are plenty of middle aged or older people who like rap. of course, everyone can always find exceptions to generalizations. that's why generalizations are largely stupid -- as is categorizing "generations," something i absolutely hate.

I feel like if this were a comedy movie from the 80s where you were some college student/professor twerp, every car you sit in, every radio you turn on, every time you need to somehow be annoyed, the song "Talkin' bout my generation" by the Who should be playing. Think Real Genius ala the professor who hated popcorn.

but how do you feel about Preppies?!

I don't know what "Preppies" are jbg. >?

The way music is discussed in that article is just some completely inane bullshit. If newness in music is to be discussed, newness must first be defined. Which I'm not going to do. Which is not to say that I don't care about new music. But before any sweeping generalization is made about whether or not there has been or will be newness in music, we either need to narrow the category or get someone who can hold in her/his head the entire global musical history of the 20th century. Otherwise we're saying nothing. My parents have lovely taste in music and are really quite open to lots of things. I think Eddie Vedder was every mom's favorite rock star in 1993. But I promise you that if I played my parents my Yellow Swans records they would be completely disineterested/extremely put off by it (as would most of my generational peers). Of course, the Yellow Swans make noise music-albeit with their own very distinguishable style- that basically has roots that can be traced through subcultures and the avant garde to the futurists of the second decade of 20th century, contemporaries of the dadaists and slightly ahead of the surrealists. What's a generation gap?

Interesting read, but yes it rubbed me the wrong way. Seemed like the author was saying, yes I may work for New York, but I can still name all the cool bands right now and the cool bands of yesterday while I'm at it. It focused way too much on arty moneyed New Yorkers.

Maybe I am alientated from culutre in general or maybe I am not catching on to the newest technology, but I wish MTV would play videos and I would much rather talk to someone on the phone than text message them.

Several years ago I worked assisting with music clearance for a Disney channel tv show called Totally Hoops, which was a documentary based series that followed the trials and tribulations of an elite girls basketball team. The players were about 14. The producer was so stoked that she put really cool music in the show. I believe some bands she was excited about were Groove Armada and Morcheeba. After telling the players about this, she was surprised to learn that they hadn't heard of those bands and that they mostly listened to the Dixie Chicks.

i am distraught that a) my joke about preppies has gone totally unappreciated and b) a guy named "Slater" has no idea what i'm talking about.

time to drown my sorrows in rubbing alcohol.

If you are making a reference to Saved
By the Bell, jbg, I understand... although
I don't think Slater's liberal use of
the label "preppie" was well defined.

dude, the answer is simple:

You hate Preppies!

that's all a n**ga's looking for.

Slater was kind of a blue collar neanderthal type wasn't he?

Slater was the fucking bomb.

I don't know if I'd go that far. Saved by the Bell was actually a pretty boring
show-- Slater's character included.

you are dead to me.