Listen up, 25-year-olds. Ima drop da knowledge bout what's fidna happen to y'all in the next 15 years (musical-taste-wise):
Next five years: Bands get lamer. Nobody's doing anything interesting. Old bands you liked in high school and college have broken up, except for the sell-outs, who still cough up a good song or two. That ex who listened to jazz wasn't so bad, except for the heroin. You get some Miles Davis.
Subsequent five years: All this shit sucks. Everything everyone else knows about popular music is wrong, wrong, wrong. You know -- you have perspective. You get some Bach, but you don't play it around your friends.
The meteor of age 40 strikes planet You: Maybe the music of the past few years hasn't been THAT bad. Younger people seem to like it. Maybe there's some of it you didn't hear that doesn't totally suck. You are adrift. Tastes have irrevocably shifted, and you are No Longer Cool. You try, you struggle, you fail. Some of the stuff you hear is, in fact, good music, but it's derivative: it echoes the stuff you liked twenty years ago.
You sigh, and listen to The Book of Knots.
Condign.
16 hours ago
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3 comments:
Sweet Jesus...I'm 41, obssess over my Anita O'Day and Wes Montomery collecions and I still treasure my bar napkin that Dez Cadenza signed when I was loaded. I thought I was the only one who was sufering from this blight.
Fuckin A about D. Punk is whatever you make it.
(This is good.)
I must step in here, as I (fast) approach the age of 45. My hope is to supplement your blog entry to a full 20 years.
The next step, at age 45: you start to believe that "it" is still out there. You start shopping. There is nothing on college radio and satellite radio is a waste of 13 bucks a month. Still, you keep shopping. The internet may be your only resource. Just keep shopping...
Whoa: you find something. And, something else. As BOP says, five years ago, you have already tried, struggled, and failed. But, there is some good music out there. Keep looking-no reason to give up now.
Still, in any case, you are a flake. None of your friends will see the merit in your discoveries: they are too busy listening to Brad Paisley's newest hit or Judas Priest's British Steel. And, those friends may be the same ones who scratched their heads while you tried to convince them that Dinosaur Jr was worth listening to 20 years ago.
I guess the lesson learned between ages 40 and 45: don't give up. If it looks hopeless, but you ain't looked enough.
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