Performers like Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Bob Dylan would never have been successful if they sang about being a Rock Star, making tons of money and having women throwing themselves at them. A good performer can connect with their audience and give a reflection of society of that era. Some audiences want to live vicariously through the performer, so those performers have their place and time as well. What I remember my father telling me about Rock 'n Roll though had forever shaped my image of the genre. He told me he played the Rolling Stones for my grandparents at some point in the 60's and they hated it. For it to be Rock 'n Roll,he said, your parents have to hate it. I read an article a while back in which Alice Cooper said as much about what was considered Rock 'n Roll for the modern day. They may be playing the same riff and beat as they did thirty years ago, but if your grandfather is blasting it in his Mercedes, it's not Rock 'n Roll.
Within the last decade, I went to a Metallica concert with my mom (yes, my mom). I sat around people who were between the ages of ten and fifty. Linkin Park had opened for Metallica at Giant Stadium that day, and I remember the older people around me shaking their heads as the Nu Rock band played their hits. I said to myself, "Hey kids, your parents hate it, so it must be Rock 'n Roll". I was right. After the concert I had to consider that Metallica was not Rock 'n Roll anymore. They're a great band, that's for sure, but they weren't Rock 'n Roll. I had to accept that being in my thirties; it was still okay for me to like Linkin Park as well as Metallica. Hell, I like Elvis and Johnny Cash! In time, I will be of the age where my kid plays a song that I will absolutely hate. That song will be Rock 'n Roll.
When I relate it to Sci-Fi, I notice that I've yet to read a book which takes a stab at predicting the direction of music in a futuristic Sci-Fi type of way. We have to understand that when Sci-Fi becomes our reality in fifty or so years, we will hate that music. I thought about including the most repulsive sounding music I could imagine in my next book. That repulsive music that I hate will the futuristic Rock 'n Roll. We will all hate it and that's a good thing.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
A Generational Thing - Music
I thought of this topic when I was at a stop light. It was a nice day and I had the windows down. My mind started to wonder off and I was hoping the guy behind me would have an aneurism when he noticed I won't hit the gas the exact second the light turned green. Somewhere between wondering what green tasted like and which side of a coin was heavier, I heard a familiar tune coming out of the car which had just pulled up next to me. Bon Jovi was living on a prayer, not five feet from me, but I did not bother to look at who was driving. My mind already gave me the image of a familiar woman in her mid-thirties driving an Acura. The Left-Turn signal had changed to green and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man in his seventies driving a Mercedes ML-63 (a hundred thousand dollar car). My mind did a quick mental calculation of the meaning of the song versus the life that gentleman was living. No sir, he was not living on a prayer, he was surfing on a cloud.
Performers like Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Bob Dylan would never have been successful if they sang about being a Rock Star, making tons of money and having women throwing themselves at them. A good performer can connect with their audience and give a reflection of society of that era. Some audiences want to live vicariously through the performer, so those performers have their place and time as well. What I remember my father telling me about Rock 'n Roll though had forever shaped my image of the genre. He told me he played the Rolling Stones for my grandparents at some point in the 60's and they hated it. For it to be Rock 'n Roll,he said, your parents have to hate it. I read an article a while back in which Alice Cooper said as much about what was considered Rock 'n Roll for the modern day. They may be playing the same riff and beat as they did thirty years ago, but if your grandfather is blasting it in his Mercedes, it's not Rock 'n Roll.
Within the last decade, I went to a Metallica concert with my mom (yes, my mom). I sat around people who were between the ages of ten and fifty. Linkin Park had opened for Metallica at Giant Stadium that day, and I remember the older people around me shaking their heads as the Nu Rock band played their hits. I said to myself, "Hey kids, your parents hate it, so it must be Rock 'n Roll". I was right. After the concert I had to consider that Metallica was not Rock 'n Roll anymore. They're a great band, that's for sure, but they weren't Rock 'n Roll. I had to accept that being in my thirties; it was still okay for me to like Linkin Park as well as Metallica. Hell, I like Elvis and Johnny Cash! In time, I will be of the age where my kid plays a song that I will absolutely hate. That song will be Rock 'n Roll.
When I relate it to Sci-Fi, I notice that I've yet to read a book which takes a stab at predicting the direction of music in a futuristic Sci-Fi type of way. We have to understand that when Sci-Fi becomes our reality in fifty or so years, we will hate that music. I thought about including the most repulsive sounding music I could imagine in my next book. That repulsive music that I hate will the futuristic Rock 'n Roll. We will all hate it and that's a good thing.
Performers like Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Bob Dylan would never have been successful if they sang about being a Rock Star, making tons of money and having women throwing themselves at them. A good performer can connect with their audience and give a reflection of society of that era. Some audiences want to live vicariously through the performer, so those performers have their place and time as well. What I remember my father telling me about Rock 'n Roll though had forever shaped my image of the genre. He told me he played the Rolling Stones for my grandparents at some point in the 60's and they hated it. For it to be Rock 'n Roll,he said, your parents have to hate it. I read an article a while back in which Alice Cooper said as much about what was considered Rock 'n Roll for the modern day. They may be playing the same riff and beat as they did thirty years ago, but if your grandfather is blasting it in his Mercedes, it's not Rock 'n Roll.
Within the last decade, I went to a Metallica concert with my mom (yes, my mom). I sat around people who were between the ages of ten and fifty. Linkin Park had opened for Metallica at Giant Stadium that day, and I remember the older people around me shaking their heads as the Nu Rock band played their hits. I said to myself, "Hey kids, your parents hate it, so it must be Rock 'n Roll". I was right. After the concert I had to consider that Metallica was not Rock 'n Roll anymore. They're a great band, that's for sure, but they weren't Rock 'n Roll. I had to accept that being in my thirties; it was still okay for me to like Linkin Park as well as Metallica. Hell, I like Elvis and Johnny Cash! In time, I will be of the age where my kid plays a song that I will absolutely hate. That song will be Rock 'n Roll.
When I relate it to Sci-Fi, I notice that I've yet to read a book which takes a stab at predicting the direction of music in a futuristic Sci-Fi type of way. We have to understand that when Sci-Fi becomes our reality in fifty or so years, we will hate that music. I thought about including the most repulsive sounding music I could imagine in my next book. That repulsive music that I hate will the futuristic Rock 'n Roll. We will all hate it and that's a good thing.
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