May 18, 2007 1:20 PM
Boomers: It's still all about us - and our music
Boomers know we had the best music and the best movies. Don't believe it? Just ask us. After all, we run the world.
And Rocky theater critic Lisa Bornstein says it's time we moved on.
Your time is up. Put on your Rolling Stones T-shirts, climb into your SUVs and drive back to the exurbs you created. We'll even let you crow about how you were gonna save the world. But for God's sake, get out of the way.Never in the history of the United States has one generation taken up so much physical and psychic energy. As members of Generation X (a name we didn't even get to make up), we've waited not-so-patiently, figuring that boomers were the grown-ups and that, as we'd been told, our generation was filled with apathetic slackers who refused to take on adulthood.
Well, some of us - not me, I've got at least four months left - are hitting 40 now, with jobs and mortgages and families and all that other stuff that is supposed to mean Grown Up.
No one's noticed, though. Because it's still all about you.
The column, which will appear in Saturday's Weekend section, is an envious counterpoint to a recent piece by Marc Shulgold, who made the point that "my music is better than your music."
I never dreamed that I would parrot my parents' words, but here goes: Back in my day, songs had melodies with words that you could understand and that meant something. Lyrics weren't laced with obscenity. Singers had personality, style, substance. All those American Idol clones look and sound so generic that it's hard to imagine they'll have half the shelf life that Dylan or McCartney or Springsteen or Joplin have enjoyed.For those readers too young to recall the mid- to-late '60s, you missed something special. When I was attending Palisades High School in Los Angeles, The Beatles hit the scene. Then came the Stones. My world revolved around rock music.
Arguments raged on the school bus about which group deserved our adulation ("Stones rule" was my slogan). The AM car radio buttons were constantly being punched as friends and I cruised Sunset Boulevard or the Pacific Coast Highway, searching the airwaves for the new single by the latest English or American band.
The element of surprise was central: Who would break through next? What new sounds would we hear? Quite a contrast to today's prefab world of manufactured music, dictated by corporate interests and consensus-seeking focus groups.
Who's right? And on the larger point, are all of you youngsters sick to death of we posturing boomers and our self-congratulating specialness?
May 18, 2007
2:40 PM
Tree writes:
I'm not done yet!
Grateful Dead survivors sell out outdoor venues across the country every summer. Slim Shady who?
May 18, 2007
2:45 PM
lj writes:
Don't give up hope Lisa and all of us other Gen-xers...with all of the work the boomers are putting in on age-defying drugs and treatments and the leaps and bounds they are making with plastic surgery, it should all be perfected by the time we are their ages, and we will LIVE FOREVER!!!!
May 18, 2007
3:08 PM
JW writes:
My dads a boomer, and Im a Genxer. The only difference is that he showed me about all his generations great music, and now we are telling each other about my grenerations great music.
May 18, 2007
3:12 PM
gr8fuldude writes:
Speaking of Boomer concerts, Mr. Zimmerman is coming to RR this july and presale went on today. 20 rows already sold according to TicketLouse.
May 18, 2007
3:45 PM
JW writes:
Tree, Gr8,
Either of you guys heard the new Rush? I can only get 30 second samples off of Napster, and I wasnt impressed enough to buy it.
May 18, 2007
4:00 PM
gr8fuldude writes:
JW -
I've not heard the new album (excuse me, CD), but I did see them live in 2002. They were good, but I don't think the new material stands up to 2112, Moving Pictures or the rest of that era. If you want a good taste of those years, check out "The Spirit of Radio"...it is their greatest hits from the start to the mid eighties.
OTOH, you have to hand it to any band that is still turning out original music after so many years. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.
May 18, 2007
4:04 PM
6-Figure GenXer writes:
There's a difference between appreciating the music of the era, and obsessing about belonging to the generation of that era.
Being a fan of 20-30 year old music...OK
Not shutting up about how you life was growing up in the 60s, etc. etc....not OK
FYI boomers...The Wonder Years is off the air for a REASON...
May 18, 2007
4:28 PM
Tree writes:
JW-
I don't like the new stuff either. I'm into the hippie trippy od stuff Trees/Xanadu/Hemispheres/ Xanadu/Bytor and the snowdog. Thank someone they play a lot of old stuff at their concerts, otherwise I wouldn't go and they know who their fans are.
May 18, 2007
4:51 PM
NW writes:
I'm a GenX'r, but can't argue the fact that you guys had the best music ever. I love the classic rock!
However, I don't care what you listen to. Just hurry up and retire so we can get a crack running the show. Maybe someday, we'll get to put our worthless Bachelor's Degrees to use!
May 18, 2007
5:03 PM
Remember This? writes:
Retire? Hah! I will have to work till the day I die and I will have to put in overtime to boot........er boot hill errr not yet boys!
Maybe you should quit asking us to retire and ask all the illegals who have taken mine, ours, and yours jobs to leave here and go build their own damn country for petes' sake!......The boomers arent a threat at all, its the unchecked illegal millions pouring into every city and trade there is.
Take a good look around you.........
May 18, 2007
5:15 PM
jay writes:
As a GenXer (Douglas Coupland coined the term by the way) I must admit that I love Boomer music...always have and look forward to teaching its appreciation to my kids. That being said...you guys sure did perpetrate some of the worst fuck ups this world has ever had the misfortune to witness. I'm not sure the music makes up for it. Try to die before you bankrupt us okay?
May 18, 2007
5:58 PM
jimi99 writes:
I think that every decade has at least a few great rock bands, but who can deny that the 50s and 60s were an incredible renaissance? I'm 59 and feel very fortunate to have grown up in that time, but my parents were pretty excited about swing and bebop in the 40s, which was a radical departure from their parents' ragtime and dixieland jazz.
That said, I have two daughters in their 20s who love the old stuff, but have turned me on to quite a few excellent bands too. I attended the Austin City Limits Festival 2 years ago and really got into Arcade Fire, the Decembrists, Built to Spill, Wilco, Jet, Death Cab, and other 90s and 00s acts.
But to have a survey in the Rocky for the greatest albums of the new century, PLEASE! It may make young people feel good about their music, but it just emphasizes how much less original and musical pop music is today. The great thing is that there is a whole galaxy of recorded music from the entire 20th century just waiting to be discovered by succeeding generations.
May 18, 2007
7:01 PM
Anonymous writes:
These pro-illegal's want the boomers to get out the way..and say we need MORE MEXICANS to replace..boomers...But...what about the boomers..grown..sons..daughters..and granchildren? Why do we need MORE MEXICANS when there's the extended AMERICAN FAMILY.
As for all the music, its pretty awesome helps relieve the stress of the daily sob stories..and the
identity theft(that we don't hear much of) >But it's there. 12-20,30 mil illegals? and who's name or soc.sec # are they using? This is very real. Let the youger American Citizens carry the torch for the boomers
May 19, 2007
8:19 AM
Good ol' boy in Nebraska writes:
HW @ 4:51
Hey, I retired and moved from Denver to the "sticks" a few years ago. I'm doing my duty for your generation. I'm also putting my B.A. to work. I shovel my horse's shit every day. I have her to go to the store when the gas runs out.....or gets too expensive....or Social Security gets stolen.
Have fun. And remember....soon, that jerk of a boss you have, the Baby Booomer, will die!
May 19, 2007
9:02 AM
Can I get an AMEN! writes:
I heard an incredible song and live performance on You Tube the other day. Some of you might know of this guy,but you should watch the live performance anyway
Gnarls Barkley- Crazy Live
It's powerful and incredible.
May 19, 2007
11:12 AM
Dirk Gently writes:
So since I've grown up all my life hearing about the great achievements and glory days of Boomer life, let's have a go at the bad bits:
Self-centeredness doesn't even begin to describe it, does it? There was the self-absorbed consumer culture that catered to them in the 60's, and which is still doing so today. Even the counterculture and its political ramifications were ultimately about being selfish, and its accomplishments have been largely undone by the Boomers themselves--"freedom" became greed, didn't it? This selfishness is not limited of course to the normal boundaries of the consumer, market, it's also resulted in the worst sorts of excesses in the spiritual marketplace: Boomers are responsible for that heinous brand of evanglism that's all about "personal growth" and experiencing rapture, not contributing to society. It's been under Boomer leadership that our government has resisted any meaningful reforms of our profligate ways, meanwhile patting themselves on the back for token gestures toward the common good, even as they rail against GenXers' cynicism of Boomer naivety and hypocrisy.
And of course the Boomers have passed this on to their children. Granted, GenXers like myself were raised to be SOMEWHAT selfish, but the utterly self-absorbed, arrogant, slothful, entitled GenY's (not all of you, but far too many) really take the cake.
And as the article and Jay both point out, the Boomers don't even have the good sense to grow old gracefully--continued mindless consumption of Viagra-like products, while leaving the rest of us to pay off their massive debts, both financial and environmental.
I am forever grateful for Rock n' Roll, but on the whole the Boomers have been a big, fat waste of human energy.
May 20, 2007
7:28 AM
Randy Moser writes:
Baby Boomers were voted the “most fun” generation in one of those trumped-up polls magazines do recently. The article said that their music was a major factor in the vote. This boggles the mind. Has anyone actually listened to the LSD-as-therapy Beatles songs? Have we forgotten the sappy seventies with its whiny “Time in a Bottle” motif and disco beat?
There were some great artists in the 1960s, but they kept going, producing slop in the decades that followed. Jefferson Starship? Wings? Come on. And for every Dylan in the glory days there was a Donavan imitator. It’s embarrassing, really.
The worse thing about Boomer music is its nostalgia. One of the things metal and punk did in the 1980s and 90s was cut through all that “Summer of 69!” nonsense. For the Eagles we were all trapped in post-Nixon California, a rock-and-roll purgatory where the 1960s were rerun and rehashed forever. It took a lot of bald, hardcore guys pumping their fists in the air to clear the scene of that stuff.
Music was supposed to be fun.
And here’s the irony about Boomers’ music being lauded as fun. In the 1960s it was about war, drugs, spiritualism and psychology. It was heavy, man. And in the decades that followed it was largely about how great those days were or the thrills of materialism.
Fun? Yeah, like a toothache.
Randy Moser
vanishedmessenger.com
May 21, 2007
8:38 AM
Personal Evolution writes:
I was born at the tail-end of the boomer generation, and I am so tired of the music I grew up with. I can't even listen to the Beatles anymore, and I never thought I'd hear myself say that! (OK. Maybe a few Lennon songs that haven't been played to death).
I've always enjoyed "alternative" and punk rock (Violent Femmes, the Cure, the Clash, Green Day), and I wonder if my fellow boomers are aware of the amazing rock 'n' roll renaissance going on right now. There are so many top-rate groups making breakthrough music: Stone Sour, Death Cab for Cutie, Guster, Arctic Monkeys, Snow Patrol -- and those are just the ones who are making it big on a commercial level. I can't wait to hear more.
Let the next generation leave its mark, I say. Keep it fresh. If "Gen X" music is any indication, this generation is on the right path. Good is good and high quality crosses all generational and cultural barriers.
May 21, 2007
8:38 AM
RememberThis? writes:
Im a 45 year old boomer and proud.......we will be noted as the most effective generation ever.
Bar None!
This new generation is a joke, unqualified, lazy and disrespectful.
You all make it so easy for the mexicans to just waltz right in because you refuse to climb the totem pole like everyone else did.
You all want the bucks and shucks without the work, to be given a position without earning it Hah!
I've made plans to secure my future as the future we have coming will be a total disaster.
Its beginning already........
May 21, 2007
10:13 AM
Anonymous writes:
'remember this'
Keep shoveling your horse shi*, bitching about the mexicans, and calling us lazy. We'll keep fighting to make money and fix the country you guys messed up. How many times you been divorced? 2,3,4 times? Just guessing.......making excuses for your lame future already?
May 21, 2007
10:29 AM
Anonymous writes:
The boomers are the most self centered generation in history. They have contempt for the younger people who work more and are paid less than they ever were. They cry about when they were young and got paid 1.30 an hour. This is about 12.50 in today’s money. Remember the bread was 15 cents a loaf then too. A new house in Colorado was about 6,500 dollars. They made marriage a disaster. I do like that they did have some progress on diversity but I wish they would have thought a little about how their kids would compete without any immigration control. I guess that is the main problem is that they were so concerned with themselves that they forgot about the future. I guess we can also direct part of the blame at the great generation for giving them everything.
May 21, 2007
10:36 AM
jay byrd writes:
I am turning 60 this summer, and all I can say about my generation is that it has practically consumed everything in its path. We baby boomers benefited from cheap higher education and cheap housing, and have managed to jack up the prices of both, consume the social security fund, and place a burden on the youngers. Younger is always better because they have to make decisions re: the future. The elders can only try to resurrrect the past. How can one's music be better or worse than another's; its beauty is the eyes, or in this case, the ears of the beholder. Marc is acting senile; Lisa makes more sense. I will gladly step aside and let the younger gen take over. Good Luck!.
May 21, 2007
10:54 AM
history buff writes:
Recommended recent albums (...cd's..) from so called boomer bands.
Bob Dylan -- Modern Times
Paul McCartney -- Chaos and Creation
The Who -- Endless Wire
Neil Young -- Prarie Wind, Living With War
John Fogerty -- Deja Vu All Over Again
Rolling Stones -- A Bigger Bang
Eric Clapton and JJ Cale -- Road to Escondido
All the groups mentioned by Personal Evolution get play time on new music stations like KBCO and are highly recommended in Rolling Stone Magazine. If you have XM you can listen to a station that plays new music.
Bob Dylan's interview in the 40th Anniversary issue of Rolling Stone is very good. He says that the atomic bomb changed the way people think and look at life. It incited musicians to be topical, not merely entertaining. In some ways the current situation in the world has incited a new strain of musicians to be more than entertaining.
The history of theater in England shows that there are eras of great accomplishment and other eras when literary achievement is lackluster. I think the times affect artists, as do where they live. With modern technology, maybe where an artist lives is not as important as it used to be.
May 21, 2007
11:20 AM
NW writes:
It's people like "remember this" that not only blame everything on the young people, and the mexicans THEY let in, but also need to take a pill to get a boner.
You'll work til the 'day you die' because you already blew your money on 15 cent loaves of bread and cheap real estate.
Calling our generation lazy and unqualified is ridiculous. Everyone I know that has graduated from a University in the past 7 years has begun their career as a waiter, landscaper, or some other 'bottom of the totem pole' job.
Go shovel your horse shi*, get divorced a couple more times, suck up the social security that comes out of my check, and get the hell out of the way!
May 21, 2007
12:40 PM
Old' & In the Way writes:
Man - is the spite and b.s. flowing both ways under this topic today! Anytime there's a media-created story created just for the purpose of stirring up this nonsense, everyone gets their panties all twisted in a know.
First - the "boomer" generation definition is idiotic. The idea of lumping together people born in the late-40's with those born in the early 60's is just foolish. Anything more than a 10 year ‘generation’ span is pure marketing and absurdity, especially in these fast changing times.
Good to see that these younger ones responding – no matter what generation label they want to claim – are as spiteful and hateful as the older folks they despise. Good luck changing the world, kiddies! I’m sure the young 20-something mother I saw on Earth Day – sitting in the car – running with the A/C on while Daddy was shopping inside Home Depot – was teaching her kids – each with their personal DVD player- how the bad old folks ruined everything and it will soon be a better world because they will be dead!
The problem is too many people. Perhaps the world will be a better place (for you) when us old farts die out, but it’d be an even better place right now if a good third or more of you weren’t born in the first place!
Now, excuse me, but I have to go install a network printer for a young pup down the hall who hasn't a clue........
May 21, 2007
1:12 PM
benn writes:
I am a youngin.. not sure what my generation is (im 23). I like classic rock, and I don't like new music (too much whiney, girly sounding music for me... don't get me started on Guster or Death Cab for Cutie)
I identify more with the early 90's. I am a huge Pearl Jam fan, and I enjoy all similar bands such as Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, STP, etc.
I do like some new bands, like John Butler Trio, but they border on bluegrass and folk which doesn't get alot of attention these days.
Besides all that, Ben Harper blows any artist out of the water from any generation, no one else even comes close.
Anyway... im tired of hearing about the Baby Boomers... been hearing about them for a long time, and I suppose I will keep hearing about them for another 20 years. I blame Bush!
May 21, 2007
3:26 PM
FYK writes:
Hmm, too bad about all these upset kiddies. I sure feel terrible that fat little people raised on Radio Disney who've read fewer books in their lives than I read in any month of my youth are bitter at my job and financial independence. Yep, I feel so bad I'm going to put on some Roy Buchanan, turn the dial up to 10, and rip the freaking knob off.
May 21, 2007
4:22 PM
It's time for Gen-X-ers, etc. to solve ALL our problems while they still know everything! writes:
Lisa Bornstein? Please. Your creative whining (um, not writing) exercise is over. Time to get back to w-o-r-k, Lisa. Not sure you understand what that word means, so gotta spell it out for ya. Sorry, looks like your little tirade is all about Y-O-U. And ya know what? Gen-X-ers and anybody else who isn't a Boomer can figure out how to solve the so-called mess we're in, while you still know everything!
May 21, 2007
4:27 PM
RememberThis? writes:
NW First you need to try and make more sense.........15 cent loaves of bread???? What state of mind are you in anyway? Must be your lack of age and experience.
Also for the record I am not divorced I am happily married.
You too can be married someday when you grow up!
As for Social Security I have contributed all my life and have yet to take a dime in return (I am 46).Also I am 100% convinced my SS will be no longer available when I do retire anyway as It will all be spent on War, Uneducated youth, and severe overcrowding from all your buddies down south.
As for getting out of the way, you will have to take your best shot and TRY to remove me young pup, heh good luck youngster as I am one of the hardest working men who will ever put youu to shame.
May 21, 2007
4:53 PM
am 760 writes:
Great, like we don't have enough wedge issues. Now lets pit the old vs. the young. The more conflict and distractions the better for the GOP/ gulliable old party.
May 21, 2007
4:57 PM
Anonymous writes:
EXCUSE ME!!!! It was 23 cent bread and 15 cent soda pop and it was up till about 72 and my uncle bought his 4 bedroom house in 1973 for 6,950 dollars in a middle class neighborhood in Denver. Also at 46 you are considered a boomer but barely. Most people differentiate between boomers born before 58 and those born after until 64 when it changes.
May 21, 2007
5:00 PM
Anonymous writes:
Also RT most boomers remember the 50s when bread was 15 cents.
May 21, 2007
5:03 PM
Hogar De Vuelta (العودة) writes:
The real question is can boomers fit in one of these?
http://www.commutercars.com/
May 21, 2007
6:53 PM
Anonymous writes:
"Who's right? And on the larger point, are all of you youngsters sick to death of we posturing boomers and our self-congratulating specialness?"
Well...
Isn't president disaster a Boomer?
LOL , self congratulating too. lolol
May 22, 2007
8:36 AM
robert zimmerman writes:
Lumping all people of age "N" together is exactly the same as lumping all people of skin color "X" or religion "Y" together.
It's called "prejudice", Lisa. You could look that word up, and report back to us what it means.
May 22, 2007
8:36 AM
RememberThis? writes:
LOL I hate to be lumped in with Ol' Bushy........I was Born in 62'.
He was born in 46......I cant deal with him bein a boomer too! damn!
I think I will call him a Baby "Doomer"
Whaddya Think?
May 22, 2007
9:00 AM
Anonymous writes:
Rmbr this
Right on!
lolol
Bushies have put America on the path to the dark ages. Won't be long before America looks like Iraq.
Gas lines, hillbilly politics and outdoor toilets. Yep. Just like crawford.