New generations have SO. MUCH. MUSIC. to love
3 min read
I think about this all the time. I'm in my 50s, so Gen X. I grew up with great fucking music, y'all. And now all these Gen Z assholes get to discover all my favorite music, plus all the new shit coming out.
God, imagine discovering Tool, Nine Inch Nails, and Metallica for the first time. Imagine discovering The Chronic for the first time and all the rest that followed. Snoop, Em, 2Pac, Biggie. Dead. I'm dying imagining that. 💀
Generations now have it better than my generation in that regard. I mean, there were some goodies, but I don't think as much of the music from previous generations hit as good for us, as our music hits for the kids today.
Black Sabbath are the godfathers of my favorite genre of music, but the Eagles? Nothing wrong with the Eagles. "Hotel California" is a good song, but the Eagles are not Tool. Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are both foundational bands, but the music doesn't hold up for me the way bands from my era hold up for the current generation. That is, if you take the nostalgia out of it, and you're only judging the music, kids today have it sooo good.
I think this was around 8th or 9th grade.
And for no good reason, here's some music that was transformative for me when I was growing up.
- AC/DC Who Made Who: This was really the first song that made me pay attention to music. I noticed it, and it tugged on something in my soul. This started it. This was on the soundtrack for Maximum Overdrive and I remember asking my friends what song this was and trying to figure out how to get it and listen to it more. Bangers on the same album: "You Shook Me All Night Long", and "Hells Bells".
- Metallica Kill 'Em All: This was the very first music I ever purchased with my own money. I rode my bike down to the music store and purchased this on cassette tape. My favorite song on the album was the "Am I Evil?" cover. It was quite a long time before I knew this was a cover of a Diamond Head song and not their original song.
- Mötley Crüe Shout At The Devil: Oh man, lots of nostalgia on this one for me. It was a very specific time. I was just starting to drive and was starting to kiss on girls. Good times. I think you can pretty much add most hair metal bands to this era for me. Poison, Winger, Ratt, Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, and Whitesnake, which was also my first concert.
- Metallica ...And Justice For All: I always liked the heavier side of music, but this album really locked in my love of metal. I remember when Metallica released the video for "One". It was their first ever music video, and MTV showed it during prime time. I was planted in front of the TV watching it the very first time they broadcast it. From Metallica, it's an easy hop to Slipknot, Peeling Flesh, Lorna Shore, and Infant Annihilator.
What's some of your favorite or nostalgic music?
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Millennial here, with a bit of classical and jazz background... As a teenager, exposure to pop and rock music on MTV was followed quickly by accidental exposure to 120 Minutes and Chill Out Zone, which completely ruined chances of becoming a normie... Compounded by getting Internet access, discovering AllMusic, music-map, Audioscrobbler turned soon enough Last.fm, Pandora (when it was available worldwide), before settling for nearly two decades on Rate Your Music, from which I'm now trying to transition to the decentralized alternative NeoDB... My music tastes are still evolving, over the last few years I took a deep dive into traditional music from all around the world... I guess the Warp and Ninja Tune artists and the likes of Massive Attack etc. qualify as "nostalgic music" as I grew up with them, but at least some of those artists and bands, like Autechre and Mouse on Mars, are far from stagnating... except Kraftwerk, who haven't released a new track in over 20 years, yet I've went to see them live; as an unapologetic nostalgia act, at least they're staying true to their legacy. Imagine an out-of-touch alternate universe version of Kraftwerk creating odes to ChatGPT - the horror!
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