I've seen young people wearing Dark Side of the Moon shirts too, and maybe some of that is genuine, but it doesn't mean album-oriented space rock is gonna make a comeback either.

I saw a tween girl at the park a few weeks ago wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. I couldn't help thinking, "That's 'old people' music. I turn 50 this year. I had just finished up my senior year of high-school when their big breakthrough hit happened. I was 24 when Cobain died for shitsakes. That's a quarter century.

I can't imagine when I was 12 years old in 1984 getting into shit like Johnny Ray, Fats Domino, Bill Haley or Rosemary Clooney. That WAS old-people music. Just as old-people as my grandmother's Sinatra and Harry James records.

Geiginni wrote: I saw a tween girl at the park a few weeks ago wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. I couldn't help thinking, "That's 'old people' music. I turn 50 this year. I had just finished up my senior year of high-school when their big breakthrough hit happened. I was 24 when Cobain died for shitsakes. That's a quarter century.

I can't imagine when I was 12 years old in 1984 getting into shit like Johnny Ray, Fats Domino, Bill Haley or Rosemary Clooney. That WAS old-people music. Just as old-people as my grandmother's Sinatra and Harry James records.

I’ve been playing similar chronological games in my head since the baby arrived. Were one’s relationship to music based on counting back years, grunge to him is what Glen Miller is to me; the White Album to him is the Rite of Spring to me; this is an endlessly chastening and pointless game for the wee hours, staring up at the ceiling.

Geiginni wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 3:52 pm I saw a tween girl at the park a few weeks ago wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. I couldn't help thinking, "That's 'old people' music. I turn 50 this year. I had just finished up my senior year of high-school when their big breakthrough hit happened. I was 24 when Cobain died for shitsakes. That's a quarter century.

I can't imagine when I was 12 years old in 1984 getting into shit like Johnny Ray, Fats Domino, Bill Haley or Rosemary Clooney. That WAS old-people music. Just as old-people as my grandmother's Sinatra and Harry James records.

I totally listen to old people music these days—Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, so on.

FWIW, in the states, the 1950s revival started in the early 70s and lasted through The Stray Cats in, what, 1985?

Geiginni wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 3:52 pm I saw a tween girl at the park a few weeks ago wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. I couldn't help thinking, "That's 'old people' music. I turn 50 this year. I had just finished up my senior year of high-school when their big breakthrough hit happened. I was 24 when Cobain died for shitsakes. That's a quarter century.

I can't imagine when I was 12 years old in 1984 getting into shit like Johnny Ray, Fats Domino, Bill Haley or Rosemary Clooney. That WAS old-people music. Just as old-people as my grandmother's Sinatra and Harry James records.

This kind of makes me wonder... when exactly did it start becoming a "thing" to wear t-shirts of music artists?

So, no, I can't imagine kids wearing Fats Domino t-shirts in the 1980s, but they sure as hell wore Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin t-shirts in the early '90s when I was in high school.

jfv wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 4:42 pm

Geiginni wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 3:52 pm I saw a tween girl at the park a few weeks ago wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. I couldn't help thinking, "That's 'old people' music. I turn 50 this year. I had just finished up my senior year of high-school when their big breakthrough hit happened. I was 24 when Cobain died for shitsakes. That's a quarter century.

I can't imagine when I was 12 years old in 1984 getting into shit like Johnny Ray, Fats Domino, Bill Haley or Rosemary Clooney. That WAS old-people music. Just as old-people as my grandmother's Sinatra and Harry James records.

This kind of makes me wonder... when exactly did it start becoming a "thing" to wear t-shirts of music artists?

So, no, I can't imagine kids wearing Fats Domino t-shirts in the 1980s, but they sure as hell wore Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin t-shirts in the early '90s when I was in high school.

I was going to post the same thing; there were a lot of Journey, Zeppelin, Rush, Floyd etc. shirts in highschool and even back then I wondered why the fuck my peers would give a shit about those old fart bands.

ChudFusk wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 4:56 pm

jfv wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 4:42 pm

Geiginni wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 3:52 pm I saw a tween girl at the park a few weeks ago wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. I couldn't help thinking, "That's 'old people' music. I turn 50 this year. I had just finished up my senior year of high-school when their big breakthrough hit happened. I was 24 when Cobain died for shitsakes. That's a quarter century.

I can't imagine when I was 12 years old in 1984 getting into shit like Johnny Ray, Fats Domino, Bill Haley or Rosemary Clooney. That WAS old-people music. Just as old-people as my grandmother's Sinatra and Harry James records.

This kind of makes me wonder... when exactly did it start becoming a "thing" to wear t-shirts of music artists?

So, no, I can't imagine kids wearing Fats Domino t-shirts in the 1980s, but they sure as hell wore Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin t-shirts in the early '90s when I was in high school.

I was going to post the same thing; there were a lot of Journey, Zeppelin, Rush, Floyd etc. shirts in highschool and even back then I wondered why the fuck my peers would give a shit about those old fart bands.

I realize this is a gross oversimplification, but I like to think it’s because each generation is generally less shitty than the one that preceded it, starting with the boomers. Therefore, the young ones are more likely to be receptive to what their parents like.

Case in point: my dad got *kicked out of his house* by his dad because he went to a James Brown concert. FFS

But I liked a lot of my dad’s favorite bands, and he liked a few of my favorite bands as well.

jfv wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 5:13 pmCase in point: my dad got *kicked out of his house* by his dad because he went to a James Brown concert. FFS

Goddamn! I mean I believe it, but goddamn.

Unless all of the power goes out forever and all of us end up living hand to mouth on a scale never seen, or some kind of hellish draconian mode of living is instated by fascist robot overlords, or malevolent aliens, or Republicans--rock 'n' roll won't be going anywhere.

It's just going to be less of a priority for many people, who will have more and more things to get lost in. Some of those people might still partake in it in between engaging with said things anyway. But even within the confines of rock and popular music, there will be a growing pool of things to choose from, which means tastes might get more specialized and music that might have stood out more in the past could be more easily overlooked or forgotten.

C'est la vie.

The diehards or "lifers" will be around, still. If an art form is less dominant that doesn't mean its near extinction. It's just not as central to the overall thrust of mass culture, which is fairly transient anyway, and not necessarily the best yardstick.

Can anyone point to any kind of nascent Neo-Grunge* scene happening anywhere?

*For any given value of "Grunge"