Hey this thread is a spinoff of a spinoff like Good Times Anyway, in the Taylor Swift (do you know me) thread. In that thread an entry in Jeff's blog was alluded to. The entry is about how more and more mainstream music seems to be marketed towards kids. I tend to agree but I wonder what it says about our society. I remember my history 101 course at UT, the professor was talking about the fifities. He made a point that before that era in our history, there was really no such thing as a teenager. you were either an adult, or you were a kid. I personally feel at the age of 34 that we as a society as a whole are a lot less mature than past generations. we are kids much longer, sometimes to the age of 25-30, and i think its reflected in things like music. the swifts of the world sell to teenagers but they also sell to adults. what does that say about us. this may be a D&D topic
My father graduated high school in 1961. His high school yearbook is filled with profound, intelligent and thoughtful signatures. You wouldn't see anything close to that today.
We worship youth. We think ACTING YOUNG makes us young. There is good and bad in that . . .just like the older generations thought ACTING OLDER made them wiser . .. which is not true either Rocket River
Whats up with all the D&D people coming out of their bias caves to post here in the peaceful, immature Hangout? This guy first then now Basso. On topic: Kids have been subjected to Kidz Bop and The Wiggles long enough...I would prefer this than them listening to that other crap.
Rocket River - good insights. I choose to stay young but want to grow in wisdom and responsibility and self-control... which may completely blow apart any "young" image I have left. Because I don't sit/walk around constantly texting instead of whatever I'm supposed to be doing.
That's the thing - in the past you were either a child, or an adult. Nowadays, before you become a full fledged adult, you first become a teenager, then a "young adult", before you actually reach that stage. Many don't until they are 35 or 40. Of course, life expectancy has significantly increased this century, so maybe that's why people are maturing later. Average age of marriage and having a child are also going up.
Kind of related, but I thought it was strange when I heard the newest Weezer single a while back. These guys are in their 40's or so and they are making and pushing a song that is about a high school boy going after a girl, eating with her parents, and all of that? Just sees weird to me, especially with the lyrics all being first person.
So the older generations actually thought they could become wise by acting as if they were older? I've never heard of this before. What generations are you talking about? Most children like to play dress up and pretend they are adults. And many teenagers like to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol to seem more mature. But I don't think they believe they will become wiser because of this behavior. Maybe you can help me with your statement that "older generations thought acting older made them wiser". Is this something you read somewhere, or were taught in school? As for the ACTING YOUNG part of your post. I do believe that some people try and act young in an effort to appear younger to others.
Older Generations were very image conscious Very much Traditional and had more steady defined Roles. If you asked them Behavioral Activites they would probably tell you At 7 you do this At 12 you do this at 19 you do this or more to the point At 7 you DON'T do this At 12 you DON'T do this at 19 you DON'T do this Such behaviors while today may seem 'Mature' are simply people having a lack of choice The social controls of the time dictated the way one acted whether they felt/wanted to act that way or not the result of non conformist behavior was public shame or social outcast While one can interpret . . . Girls back then were more mature because most of them did not have children out of wedlock . . . well the reality is they really did not have a choice. Social mores dictate they secretly abort, goto a convent, etc and all knowledge of it was supressed from public view Those that did have children out of wedlock became virtual social pariahs Once that Bar . .that sense of public shame was removed the practice of out of wedlock children increase Simply put . . . . One of the reason we 'act' so 'immature' is because . . . .we have the option and . . .. we choose to take it Would we prefer the social constaints and dictates on behavior be reenacted in order to APPEAR more mature? We are already IMO a far to Euphemistic society and back then . . .we were even more so then. Rocket River
Thank you for your response, and the effort you put into it. Well, you know what they say-The more things change, the more they stay the same. You will have a hard time convincing me that people of today are less image conscious than earlier generations, but that's OK. I'm from an older generation, and I never thought by acting older I would become wiser. Maybe I was already wise enough to know better, maybe no.
yes... it's music...... I'm surprised you somehow managed to withhold the ordinary, dismissive descriptive of "just" from this modern, all-too-common a statement.. why do so many insist on treating music like some trivial social ornament..
I disagree with Jeff. In the past, Popular Music has been heavily marketed towards kids. Look at the 1950's. Rock and Roll was the most popular music. Adults were not the ones listening to that type of music. Teenagers were the ones that made Rock and Roll popular. Most of the top songs in that era had lyrics specifically made for teens.
Is that really different from back in the day? When I see old cllps of the Beatles the many screaming girls seem to be in their mid teens. Same thing 20 years ago with New Kids On The Block.
