I have been vocal about how Generation Z (b. 1996–2012) is an improvement on the Boomers and my sad generation, Generation X: in print, in the classroom, in casual conversation. Gen Z folks are slower to judge, less nationalistic, less racist, just plain more open minded. I have said it over and over; I grow weary with the older generations speaking critically about young people. The older generations have an unbelievable nerve hurling accusations at the Millennials and Gen Z. You know who’s sensitive and entitled? The Boomers. They are the first ones to pout and throw tantrums. (Remind you of a former president?)
However, there is an area where Gen Z comes up short: the area of culture, taken broadly. This is not to suggest that my generation was on fire with curiosity. Yet, there was a love of music. One commonly wore what one listened to. It was tribal. You could tell who listened to Depeche Mode because they oftentimes dressed the part. Likewise with someone who listened to Guns N’ Roses. They wore the t-shirts and patches on their jean jackets. And there was no concern about listening to music not from “your era.” It was completely normal to listen to the Beatles, the Stones, the Doors, and Zeppelin. So what if some of those bands broke up before you were born? Kids in the early 1990s made the Doors theirs. One would have thought that the Doors were still putting out records and Jim was still alive. Didn’t matter.
There was a generational enthusiasm and the music industry certainly noticed. It was in the late Eighties and early Nineties when big acts started making big money from touring.
I spend five days a week in the company of Gen Zers. And I’m here to tell you, when I ask a class of thirty students how many Beatles were there, two will raise their hands and will say “Four?” This is not a generation that is in love with music. They listen to music, sure, the same way I look at wallpaper. Do I care about wallpaper? Nope. There it is. The second I turn around, it is out of my mind.
My advice to the students is to find out who influenced the artists they like and seek them out. And then find who influenced those people and seek them out as well. I don’t know how many have done this. I suspect that number is quite low.
One student recently pointed out that because everything is streaming now, one doesn’t buy albums anymore. Yes, Taylor Swift and Beyonce and Adele sell albums, but I feel that that is the thin end of the wedge. Most music is heard and purchased as single songs. This might have something to do with it.
Nevertheless, I still have my doubts. Because, this generational indifference seems to generalize to film and art as well. Anytime I find a superb series to watch, I ask the class who might also watching said series. Generally, one and oftentimes zero are watching it. Now, you might say, a 51-year-old male just might have different tastes. Fair enough, but I don’t think I watch series exclusively targeted at my demographic. Chances are, I do not. I’ve never (ever) been culturally in-synch with my demographic. If that were true, it would have been for me: Miller Lite, sports, grunge, Jason Statham films, and resting my sunglasses on my baseball hat. Rest assured, dear reader, um, this has NOT been the case.
I impress upon the students that there is an ocean of music and art and film out there to explore. Just start exploring. I don’t listen to much music these days, truth be told. Rock-n-roll was at one time a religion for me, but these days if I listen to music, it’s nothing recorded after 1959. In the car, I usually listen to the classical station because rock FM is awful. And yes, fellow Chicagoans, I’m including WXRT. The endlessly-repeated bad music, the dorky DJs. I find it all unlistenable.
However, just the other day, I was listening to David Bowie’s Low and Heroes albums. Side B of both LPs. My god. Bowie and Brian Eno went to Berlin and changed popular music with two records. I listened to the second side of each album a couple of times, and just marveled at what they accomplished. “How did they do that?” Not just “how,” but the fact that they did it. In 1977!
Here is the Billboard Top 40 for 1977:
1. Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" – Rod Stewart
2. "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" – Andy Gibb
3. "Best of My Love" – The Emotions
4. "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" – Barbra Streisand
5. "Angel in Your Arms" – Hot
6. "I Like Dreamin’” – Kenny Nolan
7. "Don't Leave Me This Way" – Thelma Houston
8. "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher" – Rita Coolidge
9. "Undercover Angel" – Alan O'Day
10. "Torn Between Two Lovers" – Mary MacGregor
Now, what we have here is a list of artistically vacant music. This is what was going on in the Top 40 in 1977. The Thelma Houston and the Emotions tracks I can accept, but the rest of it? Now, I understand that the Top 40 is not necessarily the place to go for quality. I just wanted to establish a baseline.
There was, for sure, some great, experimental music being created in the 1970s. Bands like: Can, Neu, Harmonia, Kraftwerk, and others. We should also include Fela Kuti’s outstanding 1977 Zombie album. Even the Rolling Stones put out Black and Blue in 1976. So, there was certainly some good music out there. Donna Summer’s 1976 “I Feel Love” single? Wonderful. But …
What Bowie and Eno did in Berlin was transcendent. At age 51, I am still floored by those albums. I bought them thirty years ago and still find them extraordinary.
So, young people can have the same experience. They can wade in and discover truly great music. It’s out there. One just has to be adventurous and curious. And I think that’s the problem. They aren’t.
The generation seems culturally asleep. They do not seem interested. And one cannot make one interested. It’s an internal experience. I’m not sure why the generation is the way it is. But I feel an entire generation of young people are cheating themselves of enriching their lives. I want them to have these experiences.
Gen Z has been discouraged from having opinions about things. One is not supposed to have strong feelings about, well, anything. So, if music and art are off the table, what do they talk about? Congratulating yourself for being woke is a ticket to nowhere. Politics? That’s a no-no, too. Though Gen Z gives me hope for the future, it comes with a bit of concern. This cultural sleepiness has a political concomitant. They would do well to start developing opinions and strong feelings. Where better to do that than the worlds of music and art?
