The Kids Might Be Alright

I try not to write on the same subject two weeks in a row, but I read something which has to be commented on.

For my money, if you want to read something stupid, you might as well go to Salon. It is one those magazines that prints articles like "Hillary Clinton Can't Win: Democrats Need To Accept The Fact That Only Bernie Sanders Can Defeat The GOP" and "Scalia Was An Intellectual Phony: Can We Please Stop Calling Him A Brilliant Jurist".  It is a bossy little website.


Today we are going to discuss "Stop Buying Old Bob Dylan Albums: Every Time Somebody Buys a Reissue They're Just Taking Money Away From New Musicians".

I would understand if it was an article title "Stop Buying New Bob Dylan Albums: Have You Heard That Sinatra One?!"  For those of you that don't keep up with Bob, he released an album of his renditions of old Frank Sinatra songs last year. I'm not saying it was bad, but I'm pretty sure Frank would have told Bob to knock it off or it is going to be a ring-a-ding-ding for Mr. Tambourine man

But this article wasn't really about Bob Dylan. It is about old boomers like me not giving the new generation a chance to sell me their tunes.

A music critic, Jim Fusili, calls us old timers that like to take the music the off the shelve and listen to it by ourselves as Gee-Bees (for "Generational Bias"). He has made it "his mission" in life to "introducing out-of-touch listeners to some of the best new music being made today—from Bon Iver to D’Angelo, Frank Ocean to the Arctic Monkeys, Janelle Monae to St. Germain". Which would be great considering I think I may have heard of Frank Ocean and the Arctic Monkeys but I'm not sure.  I could be thinking of Billy Ocean ("I wanna be your, wanna be your, wanna be your lover boy") and the regular Monkees  who people say were monkeying around.

Fusili says, “We’re surrounded by people who, despite a narrow perspective, insist the music of their youth is superior to the sounds of any other period,”  Gads, all those people with narrow perspectives surrounding us. The nerve of them saying the music they like sounds good.

He continues,  “Most people who prefer old music mean no harm and it’s often a pleasure to listen to them talk about their favorite artists of the distant past." Yep, Sonny, I mean no harm when I tell you that side two of Abbey Road is almost as good as s-e-x. Just wait till I tell you kids about the first time I heard "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting".

However, "others are bullies who intend to harangue is into submission, as if their bluster can conceal their ignorance. They ignore what seems to me something that’s self-evident: rock and pop today is as good as it’s ever been.”.   I'm not sure who really "bullies" anybody about musical tastes, but I'm sure there's going to be a White House Conference about it if Clinton or Sanders is elected.

Fusili says, "I don’t think the (music) industry knows how to market music to grown-ups". Now that's the truth. The only music that used to be marketed to grown-ups was country music and it was all about trains, trucks, rain, mamma, prison, and getting drunk. Which pretty much sums up adulthood. But now country music is about  pretty people in pretty trucks with other pretty people. You used to imagine Tammy Wynette serving you at The Waffle House.  Now you are just happy you are allowed to breath the same air as Carrie Underwood.

But he goes off the rails when he says, "My feeling is that every time somebody buys a reissue, they’re just taking money away from new musicians. He says it like it was a bad thing, which is really my objection.

It is no longer, "open yourself up to new music and maybe you'll like it".  It is now you are doing some wrong if you download Pet Sounds to your iPhone. It takes a mere preference and an expression of an opinion, which let's face it are belly buttons-everybody has one, and makes it into something almost darker than it really is.  Older people have always liked older music.

Decades ago there was a singer named Andy Williams. You may have heard of him. He did the best version ever of "Moon River". He had a television show. One time he had Ray Charles, Cass Elliot and Elton John on and all four were singing "Heaven Help Us All". My dad, Old Man Manis, was watching said, "Andy just 'aint as good of singer as the rest of them", which was the hippest thing my dad ever said.  I suggest you go to YouTube and see that he was right.


If the music is good enough, older people will like it. If not, they won't. If they miss out, they miss out.

Here's a link to the article:http://www.salon.com/2016/02/20/stop_buying_old_bob_dylan_albums_every_time_somebody_buys_a_reissue_theyre_just_taking_money_away_from_new_musicians/