Grunge vs. Oldies

I'm still claiming that this is not a music blog, even though 2/3 of my infrequent posts are music-related. Oh well.

I still make these.

I've been thinking about music a lot lately in a different way, because I have kind of a theory: people prefer the music that they were teenagers with. That's always "the best," and even if there are more modern tunes that make the top played list on the iPod, the music from the teenage years is nonetheless regarded with a fondness reserved for other odd, nostalgic memories of things like old school uniforms, your high school boyfriend and that mix he made you, your first car, your first kiss, and whatever atrocious trend that was passed off as acceptable for five minutes.

Try and say JT is cuter. I dare you.

I graduated high school in 2007 and even though the music that was out then was pop generic enough to make my ears bleed and dirty rap (read: CRAP), I expanded from The Beatles, my first true love from around age 7, to the music that had been popular around my preteen years-- that '90s and early '00s grunge. Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Dishwalla, Nirvana, Godsmack-- I listened to it all and loved it all. They had the songs I would hear on the radio as a kid and sing along to but not know what they were called (I didn't have the internet (or a computer, really)) until I was older. By the time I caught that train, most of them had disbanded. Typical.

Simultaneously, I raised myself on my mum's old 45s and my favorite station, 3WS ("All oldies, all the time!" to which my mum would say, "I don't want to listen to oldies. I'm not old!" and switch the channel) until it got lame and started playing '80s music. So where girls my age were all into NSYNC and drooling over Justin Timberlake or Nick What's-His-Bucket from BSB, I had a Beatles poster and daydreamed about Paul McCartney showing up at my house and proposing to me. Knowing all the words to "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" didn't score me any points with my peers though. Nowadays, having spent the last 15 or so years hearing "Genie in a Bottle" or "Tearin' Up My Heart," I'll chime in and even think fondly of those awkward days-- the bangs, the being 5'1" in 5th grade and then never growing an inch after that, the shyness at parties because I didn't know that new Britney Spears song-- all that gets overshadowed by what are, essentially, really catchy pop songs.

What a babe.

I was at work the other day talking to The Pizza God while we were doing dough and discussing music. First of all, he doesn't listen to much music since he's always at work. I said, "Top Five Songs" and he listed "Journey" as number 3, referring to the band. *rolls eyes* Sixteen years his junior, I can appreciate the music of his youth (his favorites include Poison (oh boy), Guns 'n Roses (I approve), and Journey (they made my top 5 too). However, when he said Pearl Jam and the grunge era never really did anything for him, I almost threw flour at him. But to him, the music that was a big deal when he was in high school is what wins-- the hot girls of the day were Pat Benatar and Heart, not Beyonce and Gwen Stefani. He got young Bruce Springsteen though, so who really wins here?

Quality tune.

The worst moment of all came when a guy that works there-- he's 19-- interjected "What's pearl jam?" I think I almost fell into the dough bowl at that one. I mean, I know he's like...5 years younger than me, but let's be real here. Who doesn't know "Jeremy" or "Yellow Ledbetter"??!?! Well, people who listen to dubstep and electronica (the music of the day, the music of HIS teenage years). 

My mum is the only anomaly in this whole thing. She likes music from today more than what she grew up with, and I love oldies and classic rock almost as much as (if not more than) grunge and indie. But I always say I'm an old soul. I was totally born in the wrong era. Overall, though, it seems that people I've talked to mostly like what they associate with their youth and glory days.