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Not Being an old Pooperoo
Mar. 19th, 2014 12:21 pmJuts a quick bit of background: I'm a 40-something refugee of the 80's and 90's punk/metal/industrial/new wave/Holy-God-what-was-that? scenes, as are many of my friends!
So I posted this yarp the other day on my Facebook:
"Dear people my age, when you brag/complain that 'music was better in my day', you do not sound like hardcore punks/throckers/street-wise clubbers. You sound like crusty ol' pooperoos who might as well be yarping 'Get offa' mah' lawn y'darn kids.' Plus you're dissing lots of awesome music that you may not be hearing because you can't stop replaying that ancient Fugazi album over and over again. Stay frosty! Listen to some new music! Don't be a cranky ol' pooperoo!"
I included it with this image:
I remember th' old days, and I remember when older people would yarp about how "ridiculous" we looked, and how "music was better in my day." I also remembered that there's one thing I didn't want to be: That bitter old guy grousing at the young.
Some of my friends took exception ot this mini-rant, and told me that they would never be convinced that Arcade Fire and Justin Bieber were good artists. I replied that if that was their references to modern music, they needed to get out more.
One part of it is that it's difficult to follow new music when you're older. You have things like kids and jobs and houses to clean. Even though I don't have as much time on my hands, I keep listening and looking around, and I find music that's running underneath the mainstream. That's another factor: The mainstream is more stringent now. It was easier to see more obscure bands in the mainstream back in my day, (I'll give the pooperoos that,) but they've shoved the underground even further underneath, making those busy "adults" less likely to hear the good stuff below the glossy music industry surface.
And it's also rose colored glasses. Our brains, rightfully so, have blotted out the traumatic memories of all the really bad music that was coming out of our era. When a friend used Bieber as evidence of modern music inferiority, that's like saying 80's music was all about the New Kids on the Block.
In any case, I don't want to be an old pooperoo. So I look for new music, and I keep in mind what's going on, with my past and the present. I may even let those kids hang out on my lawn!
So I posted this yarp the other day on my Facebook:
"Dear people my age, when you brag/complain that 'music was better in my day', you do not sound like hardcore punks/throckers/street-wise clubbers. You sound like crusty ol' pooperoos who might as well be yarping 'Get offa' mah' lawn y'darn kids.' Plus you're dissing lots of awesome music that you may not be hearing because you can't stop replaying that ancient Fugazi album over and over again. Stay frosty! Listen to some new music! Don't be a cranky ol' pooperoo!"
I included it with this image:
I remember th' old days, and I remember when older people would yarp about how "ridiculous" we looked, and how "music was better in my day." I also remembered that there's one thing I didn't want to be: That bitter old guy grousing at the young.
Some of my friends took exception ot this mini-rant, and told me that they would never be convinced that Arcade Fire and Justin Bieber were good artists. I replied that if that was their references to modern music, they needed to get out more.
One part of it is that it's difficult to follow new music when you're older. You have things like kids and jobs and houses to clean. Even though I don't have as much time on my hands, I keep listening and looking around, and I find music that's running underneath the mainstream. That's another factor: The mainstream is more stringent now. It was easier to see more obscure bands in the mainstream back in my day, (I'll give the pooperoos that,) but they've shoved the underground even further underneath, making those busy "adults" less likely to hear the good stuff below the glossy music industry surface.
And it's also rose colored glasses. Our brains, rightfully so, have blotted out the traumatic memories of all the really bad music that was coming out of our era. When a friend used Bieber as evidence of modern music inferiority, that's like saying 80's music was all about the New Kids on the Block.
In any case, I don't want to be an old pooperoo. So I look for new music, and I keep in mind what's going on, with my past and the present. I may even let those kids hang out on my lawn!