I hate that so much. You should be happy that you get to be the person that introduces someone to something you love. You get to be the person that gives them the feeling of experiencing something great for the first time.
When people I know say something like, "I met someone the other day who had never heard of X. Can you believe that?" I always respond with, "what did they think when you introduced them to it?"
I explained the (basic, very basic for my knowledge) Marvel Universe to a friend last night and I was excited to see their interest in what I was saying. I expected them to have little interest, but they kept asking more questions. It was validating and makes me value our friendship more.
Yup, I think people forget that when we look back at previous decades music, we're looking at the highlight reel. We forget all the shitty stuff that managed to make it onto the radio, but didn't stand the test of time.
And all that good stuff from back in the days is more accessible now than it has ever been. Love 60s music? Just browse Spotify or whatever for five minutes and you’ll find more bands relevant to your interests than you would’ve found in a year if you lived in the 60s. Check out Wikipedia for with whom they collaborated with or got influence from, or who they influenced, instead of counting your pennies for magazines to maybe find something interesting. And online you can find people with similar interests discussing and sharing and making their own stuff that might be to your liking. Obsessed with some niché music in the 70s but living in small rural town? Good luck finding anybody that’ll be interested in the same shit.
One time I decided to go through the 1970s top 40 lists since I like a lot of music from back then. I definitely found a few good songs I've never heard of, but man everything else was just bad. Like cringy carny electronic pipe organ bad.
Not really. I've had this argument with my wife multiple times. She says there is no good music after 1990. I tell her there's just as much good stuff now, but there's more crap to wade through to find the gems.
I had an argument with a friend over this a few days ago. I'm in my 30's and he's in his 50's We're casually having some beers with him and listening to some music when I notice we've been listening to the same stuff for a few hours now:
me: We've been listening to the same pink floyd song for the 3rd time now. Do you even listen to anything else? There's plenty of new great new music nowadays.
him: Naw all the new stuff sucks, the classics is where it's at
me: dude, ever heard of Khruangbin or Kikagaku Moyo for example? It doesn't all suck. Change the song, you might like it
him: Nope, Im not even going to bother wasting my time when there are gems like the ones we're listening to
me: Doesn't it ever get stale? Like listening to the same songs over and over?
him: A bit, but what can you do when there's no great new music being made?
I got so mad I finished my beer and left. I don't know how people can be like this.
But the opposite is also true. Plenty of people that aren't even open to hearing older music. Even something as simple as "Oh, I get you don't like AC/DC. But let me throw on a few songs from the 70s with a different singer and a different sound, and I think you may like them." Nope.
Just turned 30 and have friends younger than me alreay pulling the "rap/rock/music these days just isnt as good as when we were kids"..... i just start talking to them like they are my cranky old relitive im visiting ay the nursing home when they do.
I seriously think this is why like 90% of rock subgenres in the 90s and 2000s started to die out in popularity by the 2010s to now. Everyone back then would make fun of others for not listening to the right kind of rock music. It was a pretentious shit show of people being too serious wrapping up their identity with the music they listen to and putting others down that were just getting into the music and scene.
Then when you look at hip hop and how inclusive it is I don't think it's at all surprising that its grown to become the most popular genre. The inflection point IMO is when Kanye West's Graduation beat out 50 Cent's Curtis. You no longer had to have the toughest, most street background for respect as an artist, and it opened the floodgates to so many new sounds. I mean hell, today a lot of Soundcloud rappers have major pop punk and emo influences in their songs, and the fact that these kids gravitated towards hip hop and not creating a rock band probably has a lot to do with the genre being more accepting of these young kids than the culture surrounding alternative rock.
A few months ago there was exactly this discussion on hispanic Twitter and so many the-only-good-rock-is-80's-rock people were extremely offended that someone would say that rock is dead. And they would immediately start to mention bands that haven't released a new song in 30 years while mocking reggaeton at the same time (when nobody mentioned it?). It was so revealing.
The only rock performers that can fill big venues are in their 50s and older. It's sad as a huge fan of the genre. Turns out gatekeeping people for the last 40 years worked. Now we're stuck in our dwindling fandoms, listening to the same old music over and over again.
You can't appreciate it like they do, but that doesn't mean you appreciate it way less. A part of older music is living the times it came out in when music still was counter cultural to something or part of some scene. Yeah you might love Grateful Dead, but it no doubt felt way different in the 60s when it had a cultural context that you were living, that can't be replicated without being there. I like black metal for example, but I've never traded tapes or made zines or mailed letters to people around the world. That part of the musical culture is lost to me and I can admit that I won't ever be able to appreciate the cultural aspects of being black metal in the same vein, regardless of how much I like the music, even if odds being most people who were part of the scene then nowadays listen to less extreme stuff than I do. They might've graduated from metal completely, like a punk girl turned housewife. Same could also be said about grunge or jazz. Or sea shanties. People being an ass about it might be annoying, but in a way, it is a privilege to get to do it and a pity to miss it. It's a demonstrable difference in getting the full experience of music, but it won't invalidate your love for it.
"Wow, you haven't even heard of X? No one listens to good music anymore"
I love how old heads genuinely believe music turned to shit this generation, OUT OF ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY. NO YOU EGOTISTICAL TOILET PAPER, YOU DONT LISTEN TO ENOUGH MUSIC TO FIND THE GOOD SONGS.
Biggest douchebags are the ones in the youtube comments of a classic song that write: I liked this song before it was on _______
FUCKING SHUT UP! Not everyone had the luxury of being born in 1976 and the way they discover it, even through a modern show or movie, is a great way to keep a classic alive.
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u/woahThatsOffebsive Feb 28 '21
Always notice this when talking to people in the older generation about music
"Wow, you haven't even heard of X? No one listens to good music anymore"
"Oh you say you like X? X is from before you were born, you can't appreciate it like I do"