I read an article recently that reported the sales of men's hair colouring to have tripled over the last decade, after decades of consistent, modest numbers. The theory behind this leap is that male baby-boomers grew up equating grey hair with authority figures - not rebels, free-thinkers or other noble archtypes. These 60-somethings would rather shell out a few bucks for a touch of artifice than resemble the generation they rebelled against so conspicuously back in the '60's.
As a Gen X-er, I remember that generation-versus-generation cultural atmosphere, although my own generation didn't get wrapped up in the battle much. In the pop music world of those days, there were the old folks with their music, the young folks (boomers) with their music, and then the leftover dreck not worth mentioning (i.e.: Gen X and our music). I can't say I miss that generational dynamic, but it was quite clearly defined if nothing else. With parents from the between-wars generation and a boomer older sister, the battle lines were razor-sharp in my house.
Fifteen years later, I was spending a lot of time as a private guitar teacher, helping students learn whatever music brought them the enthusiasm to keep the guitar in their hands, with the occasional suggestion from me to broaden their horizons. I distinctly remember the moment I realized that the years separating a song like Boston's 'More Than a Feeling' from the present was roughly the same number of years separating Elvis and Buddy Holly hits from Boston. It struck me that massive change had happened in pop culture from '55 to '75, but that relatively little had happened in the next twenty years leading to the mid-90's.
Weirdly, with the evaporation of grunge, the '90's marked the onset of pop music keeping its head turned backward looking over its shoulder. Some of this was not necessarily bad: bands went back to having rhythm guitar, bass and drums recorded live off the floor together instead of recording each instrument at a separate time (a smidge of high fidelity and mixing flexibility was sacrificed for the live energy of musicians playing together; an excellent bargain, in my book). Still, in the same way that major movie studios kept mining movies and TV shows of the '60s and '70's for ready-made hits, there were a lot of sounds and songwriting styles employed over the last dozen years or so simply because it sounded '60's or '70's. Automatic recognition and comfort was thereby provided for the more conservative listeners out there, and the now-gargantuan corporation running the record label got a nice, quick return for its investors. Everybody is happy...albeit briefly.
As a music teacher in public schools, I'm happy to say that I see encouraging signs in the musical tastes of the younger generation. With so many choices available online, kids today are musical omnivores, and tend not to discriminate against whole genres as previous generations have. Most kids claim to like 'everything', and while you can usually find a few exceptions to the rule with a bit of prodding (bagpipes and country usually cause a quick re-think, for better or worse), they do indeed tend to approach most music - classical and jazz included - with a pretty open mind. There also seems to be a healthy resistance growing to the lowest-common-denominator approach by the marketing departments of major labels. Call me a bit of a Pollyanna, but I think the internet's variety of musical choice has helped the younger generation recognize the truth when they hear it - or at least draw a little closer to spotting it. As much as I hate to admit it, they're probably better at recognizing real, heartfelt musical expression than I was at that age. Here's hoping the trend keeps making me look worse - it gives me hope for the future.
As a Gen X-er, I remember that generation-versus-generation cultural atmosphere, although my own generation didn't get wrapped up in the battle much. In the pop music world of those days, there were the old folks with their music, the young folks (boomers) with their music, and then the leftover dreck not worth mentioning (i.e.: Gen X and our music). I can't say I miss that generational dynamic, but it was quite clearly defined if nothing else. With parents from the between-wars generation and a boomer older sister, the battle lines were razor-sharp in my house.
Fifteen years later, I was spending a lot of time as a private guitar teacher, helping students learn whatever music brought them the enthusiasm to keep the guitar in their hands, with the occasional suggestion from me to broaden their horizons. I distinctly remember the moment I realized that the years separating a song like Boston's 'More Than a Feeling' from the present was roughly the same number of years separating Elvis and Buddy Holly hits from Boston. It struck me that massive change had happened in pop culture from '55 to '75, but that relatively little had happened in the next twenty years leading to the mid-90's.
Weirdly, with the evaporation of grunge, the '90's marked the onset of pop music keeping its head turned backward looking over its shoulder. Some of this was not necessarily bad: bands went back to having rhythm guitar, bass and drums recorded live off the floor together instead of recording each instrument at a separate time (a smidge of high fidelity and mixing flexibility was sacrificed for the live energy of musicians playing together; an excellent bargain, in my book). Still, in the same way that major movie studios kept mining movies and TV shows of the '60s and '70's for ready-made hits, there were a lot of sounds and songwriting styles employed over the last dozen years or so simply because it sounded '60's or '70's. Automatic recognition and comfort was thereby provided for the more conservative listeners out there, and the now-gargantuan corporation running the record label got a nice, quick return for its investors. Everybody is happy...albeit briefly.
As a music teacher in public schools, I'm happy to say that I see encouraging signs in the musical tastes of the younger generation. With so many choices available online, kids today are musical omnivores, and tend not to discriminate against whole genres as previous generations have. Most kids claim to like 'everything', and while you can usually find a few exceptions to the rule with a bit of prodding (bagpipes and country usually cause a quick re-think, for better or worse), they do indeed tend to approach most music - classical and jazz included - with a pretty open mind. There also seems to be a healthy resistance growing to the lowest-common-denominator approach by the marketing departments of major labels. Call me a bit of a Pollyanna, but I think the internet's variety of musical choice has helped the younger generation recognize the truth when they hear it - or at least draw a little closer to spotting it. As much as I hate to admit it, they're probably better at recognizing real, heartfelt musical expression than I was at that age. Here's hoping the trend keeps making me look worse - it gives me hope for the future.