Science: You get uncooler as you age.
August 20th, 2010 | by TJ |Serious question, in the form of about 500 words to get to the actual question, as is my way.
So I was in middle school in the 90s, like a lot of you. Just like now, there was music that was “okay” to listen to and music that was “not okay” to listen to, with offshoots in every direction, you know, the kids who only listened to their parents Motown albums and the kids who only liked things that no one else had ever heard of because the only way to be cool at all was to be completely different from every single other person in the entire world, all of whom are also attempting the same feat.
Anyway, I don’t want to get into the whole “what was cool to listen to/what wasn’t” thing or get into specific likes and dislikes and hows and whys, because I don’t want any of my readers to inadvertently (or maybe totally vertently) out themselves as a hipster, because I can’t abide by that – not only can I not abide by hipsters but I especially cannot abide by people who actually consider themselves to be hipsters.
So, middle school/high school. The 90s. I think that, if you’ll allow me, which you have to, because this is my blog, you could make two extremely general categories of music-listening for kids in middle school/high school in the 90s.
Now, you should understand that when I say extremely general, I mean that I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND that there are more refined groupings than I am about to list.
And I understand that you might fit into one of those random, obscure, or otherwise easily offended subsets of music listeners.
And you should understand that I don’t care, because I’m making a point here, and the fact that your mid-90s feelings are retroactively hurt by me suggesting that you might have listened to music that you prided yourself on NOT listening to really does not sway me even a little bit, and also, I think that if your mid-90s feelings are hurt by a blogger suggesting that you listened to one kind of music when mid-90s you would never have been caught DEAD listening to such a thing, you need to spend a little time alone with mid-90s you and ask mid-90s you why mid-90s you is so obnoxious, am I right?
Anyway, two extremely general groups: People who listened to boy bands and people who did not.
I think that’s a pretty fair line to draw, considering that it was the time of N’Sync, O-Town, 98º, The Backstreet Boys, LFO (oh come on, don’t act like you don’t know. I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch? You’re humming. Don’t lie.) and other assorted pre-fabricated groupings.
The other extremely general group would be people who listened to, like… what I will call mainstream alternative. I don’t know how to categorize it, but this would be where we would put Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, etc. Nothing that would make your mother cry, but no choreographed dance routines, you know?
I fell into the non-boy band group, and while I was never one of those types who swore to live and die by music and defined their entire existence by the bands they listened to and otherwise engaged in THAT kind of music-based middle school drama, I did know what I liked and what I didn’t and spent just as much time listening to music as your average middle school/high school student would, I suppose.
So now, Phil and I will be in the car and will occasionally comment on how some of the stuff we so clearly remember from those years (earlier years for him, because he’s old) is being played on oldies stations or “nostalgia lunches” or “throw back commutes” and all of that, but what’s funny is when the stuff I remember listening to the most come on – you know, like Nirvana and Green Day and things along those lines – I sigh and roll my eyes and punch the button to move to another station.
Can you burn out on a band you liked years later? I mean, I can’t listen to Under the Bridge one more time. I just can’t. Maybe for a minute, but not all the way through. And I am weary of Nirvana. I don’t mean “weary” like the way some people use it when they obviously mean “wary” because, come on, TWO DIFFERENT WORDS, PEOPLE. But I mean, actually weary.
Not only am I weary of Nirvana, I’m retroactively weary of mid-90s me and my asshole friends who were into Nirvana because god, we were obnoxious. And Green Day. Please don’t even get me started on current day Green Day, unless current day Green Day owns a time machine that they will let me borrow, in order to go back in time and slap myself across the head with my copy of Dookie on cassette.
The specific bands aren’t the point, though. You can fill this in with whatever bands you listened to in middle school/high school, that are now appearing on gimmicky radio programming hours.
Basically, I can no longer stand – no, I no longer have the patience for – anything I used to listen to back then, anything that I used to spend my allowance on at The Wall. I skip right by it all in my never ending search for Lady Gaga.
But here is my question. I fell into one of those two extremely general groups, and now find most of the music I chose out of that grouping to be pretty intolerable. I outgrew it, I guess, the same way I outgrew “C is for Cookie” (which, good thing I did, so as not to have to be present for the day when Cookie Monster decided that cookies were unhealthy, what the hell? He’s a COOKIE monster, not a carrot monster. That’s not even scary, that’s the lamest monster I’ve ever heard of).
Tell me, Internet. If I am so eye rollingly disgusted with the music I liked to listen to back then, why do I not even hesitate to bellow, “Hey! Go back! LEAVE THAT ON! BUT IIIIII WANT IT THAAAAAAAAT WAY!”
I’ve basically just solved the mystery of how parents and old people, while reasonable cool or at least not terrifically uncool, “back in their day,” can get so cripplingly un-awesome with age. SCIENCE.
By Pike on Aug 20, 2010
Yep.
Me in 7th/8th/9th grade: “Eww Hanson/Aqua/Backstreet Boys, how can you stand that. Ugh.”
Me Now: “OMG, MMMBOP IS ON THE RADIO. I MUST SING ALONG. BRB I AM GOING TO LOOK UP BARBIE GIRL ON YOUTUBE. AND I WANT IT THAT WAY.”
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By Jessi on Aug 20, 2010
I don’t know, I don’t have this problem. I would just as soon rock out to The Offspring as anything else. I at least have the decency to be embarrassed by this and roll up the car windows or whatever.
Plus, I am one of those terrifically uncool grumpy old people who thinks that most (not all but a lot) new music sucks. Lady Gaga – meh. Whatever happened to Suzanne Vega?
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By Delicia on Aug 20, 2010
Yeah I was in the non-boy bands listening group also *high five*.
I am SO totally in the same place with this. I have scads of that type of music on my ipod, and a huge playlist I hit Shuffle on and let go.. and then I find myself hitting Next.. Next.. Next.. where the hell is my Lady GaGa and The Guild??! It’s like even hearing the intro makes my brain go OH HELL NO NOT AGAIN.
Interestingly enough, there is some of this type of music that I discovered more recently (like Nine Inch Nails) that I can still listen to, even though it’s of that genre. Even my beloved Beatles get the Skip treatment lately. o.O
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By Mandapanda78 on Aug 20, 2010
I just the other day declared that if I never hear another Nirvana song in my life it will be too soon. Seventeen years ago I would have paid all the money in the world to buy Pearl Jam tickets. Now I’m just jealous of anyone with Lady Gaga tickets.
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TJ Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Lady Gaga is exactly who I would have refused to have any interest in, on PRINCIPLE, when I was an asshole in middle school/high school. Now, I see no point in fighting it. She is a fancy lady.
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By Mary Lou on Aug 20, 2010
So funny! OK, so I was on the other side of the music divide (don’t hate me) I really thought LFO wrote that song about me. But now it’s the other way around I love Nirvana and have rock out days and change the station when “bye bye bye” comes on. (But I still love me some Justin Timberlake ‘tho)
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TJ Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Phil and I were talking the other day about how much we like Justin Timberlake. As a concept/person, not just his music.
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By Brien on Aug 20, 2010
Eh, it’s a mixed bag for me. I’m a little burned out on some of the stuff that’s been on the radio nonstop for the last 20 years (Nirvana could certainly fit in here). But there is tons of stuff I liked in the 90s that I’ll still rock out to. In a lot of cases, it’s the stuff that wasn’t on the radio quite so much, or that hasn’t been played since it was new.
Here are some quick examples. I challenge you to claim you’d change the station if these came on:
* Red Hot Chili Peppers – Aeroplane
* Counting Crows – Murder of One
* Gin Blossoms – Hey Jealousy
* Reel Big Fish – Sellout
* Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock
* Toad the Wet Sprocket – Good Intentions
* Dinosaur Jr. – Feel the Pain
* Weezer – Say It Ain’t So
* Sublime – What I Got
(How’s that for a Friday afternoon playlist?)
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TJ Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I don’t hate 90s music in general. I just have made a complete flip from what I enjoyed then to what I wouldn’t even consider liking, for stupid middle school reasons or whatever.
As for your list, though, I could probably tolerate Toad the Wet Sprocket and I don’t know anyone who would turn off Hey Jealousy, and as a current Reel big Fish fan, that’s hardly a fair inclusion.
The rest, though, I just can take or leave and would probably leave in favor of the continual button pushing that is half Lady Gaga-seeking, half annoy Phil-seeking.
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By Lindsey on Aug 20, 2010
I know exactly what you mean. I really wasn’t in either group (yep, always listened to classic rock) but I would have much rather listened to Green Day than Backstreet Boys back in the day. And I find myself having the same sing-along reaction.
We took one of my friends to a Backstreet Boys concert for her bachelorette party 2 years ago. It was outdoors and you could bring your own drinks. We had a blast.
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TJ Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I admit it, I saw them back then – my sister was WAY into them so my mom took us both.
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By lak on Aug 20, 2010
I still can’t stand any of those Boy Band type songs, and while I may be tired of the same songs that have been playing for what seems like my entire life (Nirvana and Pearl Jam overplays on the radio), I still *like* those bands and enjoy hearing songs that I haven’t heard millions of times. Pretty much just like every other band/song that comes out these days that I like until I’ve heard it for the 27th time in three days.
Ps. To add to the list above, The Verve Pipe – The Freshmen (I still love this song)
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TJ Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I can generally be counted on to enjoy any of the one hit wonders that came out of the 90s.
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By boomer on Aug 20, 2010
So after 15 years of selecting and playing records, I’ve transitioned to a job where station selection and audio volume are above my pay grade. Needless to say, I’ve since learned that the repetition is harder to take over an 8-hour day than a 4-hour airshift.
Karma?
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By Middle Aged and Crazy on Aug 20, 2010
Well, I understand what your saying, however I grew up in the 80′s and the great thing about that was it was full of great 1 hit wonders that are still just as awesome today as they where then and what is even more funny is that those are now being re-sampled and played by today’s current artist. One big wheel just turning circles.
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By Nona on Aug 20, 2010
I was in high school in the late 70s/early 80s (shut up, I know I’m old) and so, after rebelling against disco with all my heart and soul then , I now gladly do a little dance, make a little love, and, you know, get down tonight.
(Channeling my inner Chandler Bing there, a salute to the 90s.)
So yeah, I see your point.
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By Miss Grace on Aug 20, 2010
I truly and honestly don’t know who/what LFO is(was?).
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TJ Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Dude. Summer Girls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHuGG_FsC20
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Miss Grace Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Ohmygod. I DO KNOW. I just didn’t KNOW, yknow?
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sKRAPS Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Maybe LFO is a east coast thing? Still never heard it, although I am a bit out of your target demo, as I was in college in the early ’90s.
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By Kelly on Aug 20, 2010
God, I wish I remembered the 90s. Well, I kind of wish remembered what music was like in the 90s. But my daughter was born in 1989, so what I remember was a lot of Raffi and stuff like that. Although, by the end of the 90s, there was that Spice Girls thing, wasn’t there. Even now, that will make my head explode.
And @Nona, I was in high school in the early to mid 70s, and disco was flat-out EVIL crap. The 1970s me would have listened to Glenn Miller and Count Basie before listening to disco. It’s amazing how much of that disco stuff I like now.
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By Natalie on Aug 20, 2010
I’m a little older than you, TJ, and I was all about NKOTB. But after that, I was not into boy bands. I belatedly got into some Guns N Roses and Metallica and whatnot.
I see what you’re saying, but I can genuinely say I love the same songs I’ve always loved but also love me some JT and Gaga. I even like Ke$ha, trashy and unpronounceable as she is.
My husband is absolutely convinced that music was better in the 80s. He has zero perspective that he just likes it better because he grew up then.
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By sKRAPS on Aug 20, 2010
The music genres available in my highschool were Rock (includes hairbands, anything metal etc)New Wave (what I listened too) and “Rap” (everything else.
Still 20 years out of high school, I listen to “The Cure” every day. I also still listen to a lot of 80′s music.
But I also listen to a lot of indie rock now. (love hipster music, hate hipsters)
p.s. Taking my son (15 now) to see Green Day on September 4th in San Jose :)
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By Flame on Aug 20, 2010
“I guess, the same way I outgrew “C is for Cookie” (which, good thing I did, so as not to have to be present for the day when Cookie Monster decided that cookies were unhealthy, what the hell? He’s a COOKIE monster, not a carrot monster. That’s not even scary, that’s the lamest monster I’ve ever heard of).”
You just made my husband’s day… he HATES that they changed Cookie Monster!
Yes, I agree. I was in the grunge/alternative very much the NON boy band type) and, while I have a bunch of it on my iPod), I tend to skip it for the most part. I’ve noticed that I tend to listen to one genre of music for awhile and then completely avoid it for months, only to come back and be obcessed with it at some point later. I drive my husband nuts that way lol.
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By Swistle on Aug 20, 2010
I found I went through a stage where I was like “OMG ’80s MUSIC, LOVE IT!!” and now it makes me feel queasy to hear it. I don’t know what happened.
In my high school, everyone listened to the same stuff unless they were, like, The Stoners. It wasn’t until college that people chose music based on Being Different and Special.
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By Dinsdale on Aug 20, 2010
With the exception of the Spice Girls, when I was 8/9/10, I just … didnt listen to music. I think because at my school (Catholic, all-girls) you were judged on *everything*, and I was already towards the bottom of the social ladder, so I decided I wasn’t going to be judged on my taste in music.
Now, I have no idea how 12-year-old me managed to live without music. I was crazy, clearly.
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By Laurin on Aug 21, 2010
I could never get into boy bands. I was an alternative girl, but more-so a metalhead.
Now I will skip Limp Biscuit given the choice, but Metallica, Korn, and a couple others are still quite nostalgic for me. (Though my taste in music has grown more eclectic since then.)
Perhaps it’s because I didn’t have a stereo to play them to death with?
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By Kimberly on Aug 21, 2010
I still smile at the music that made me smile as a kid, but that’s because I was never exposed to any music other than top-40. I listened to it, my friends listened to it, my parents’ music was top-40 of their day, etc. I’m doomed to be tragically un-hip and mainstream, I guess. Eh, there are worse things to be.
Backstreet Boys and NKOTB are rumored to be touring together in the spring, by the way. My NKOTB-loving heart is soaring.
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By Fyurae on Aug 21, 2010
I am the opposite. During the 90′s I did not have my own stereo, and my parents listened to the local AM stations, which were a really awful country station, and a golden oldies station. So now, post-high school, I am still discovering music from the 90s that I love.
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