Why is The Biggest Generational Gap Always in Music?
When I was first getting into music as a kid, the first artists that I was introduced to were the artists that my dad listened to growing up. I listened to a lot of rock and pop, Michael Jackson, Queen, Aerosmith, AC/DC, everything that people think of when you imagine music in the 80s, I was listening to it. As I stepped into my teenage years and began to develop my own sense of music style, I began to notice how much my dad seemed to hate it. Whether it was grunge or hip-hop, I had to learn that whenever Dad was in the room, it was time to turn off the tunes.
As I've gotten older and my dad has sort of accepted my taste in music, I've begun to look back and wonder exactly why he despised my music so much. Sure, it may have a little more profanity than he was used to, but 80s rock isn't exactly church music, either. Plus, we've always seemed to bond over every other type of entertainment flawlessly, we would watch movies and shows together all the time, plus all of the countless sports that he introduced me to, why was music such an outlier?
Out of all types of entertainment, music seems to be the one we attach the most nostalgia for, perhaps because it requires more interpretation than every other type of popular media or perhaps because it reminds us of a better time. Either way, because of the variety of music, it's easy to attach yourself to one particular brand of music and flat-out dismiss all other types, the same way my dad did. I'm sure someday when I have kids of my own, I'll have a similar experience with them. It's not because the type of music they like is bad, it's just a matter of taste.
Have any of you had a similar experience with someone else? Have you ever been convinced to listen to a type of music you wouldn't normally listen to?
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ReplyDeleteYour reflection captures a common generational experience, music serves as a deeply personal and nostalgic marker of identity, making it harder for people to embrace new styles that don’t fit their emotional or cultural framework. As Sellnow (Chapter 7) discusses, music functions both as communication and as rhetoric, shaping and reinforcing shared experiences. The generational gap in music likely persists because music is tied to formative memories and emotional landscapes, making it harder to detach from personal biases.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have experienced this very phenomenon with my own children. I gravitate toward 90's-00's alternative rock like, Linkin Park, Staind, Offspring, Fallout Boy, and many others like them. Yet, a couple of my daughters got HEAVY into musicals. Greatest Showman and Hamilton being the most played in our household. It initially irritated me how often we listened to them, but over time, I began to appreciate the talent of the delivery and the message it held.