Does everyone feel this way about kids?

Music has inspired and changed every generation, it would be very unwise not to listen to the messages that are told through it. I do worry about some of the rap music, and other genre's, not because they are rap or whatever, I like rap myself, but at times the themes or words to the music are way too harsh, and tell the listener to be hard, to hate, to kill, and given the influence music has always had on our lives, it could be dangerous.

If Bob Marley had sang ' tonight I want you to have a gun slinging night, go get your guns and shoot the bad guy' folks would have taken it to heart. Instead he used his music to spread a different message. Peace Man.

reply to post by Lysergic


I love you.

I know just what you mean. I was in the 5th grade and had my birthday the day the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and became overnight sensations. That ushered in the British invasion with a lot of bands from the UK hitting the charts with American bands copying their style and trying to appear British as well. Adults coldn't stand it and had all kinds of derrogative names for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, etc.

I know the music of my day was considered CRUD (continuous random unwanted distortions) but it pleased us. Just before entering high school some bands, the likes of the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Fleetwood Mac, and others like them were coming on the scene and the adults in my world were raising wholly heck about their long hair and couldn't abide by some of the bands protesting going to Vietnam to fight for their country. By gawd if the kids could attend the free schools and listen to their music then why weren't they willing to die for their country?

It never got any better. My girlfriend throughout part of the '80's and 90's was from Aberdeen, Washington and had a cousin with his own band, another total loser many said. He managed to get his band some gigs in Seattle and actually got some attention for his band Nirvana. I was an adult by then but I understood how Kurt felt and in about '88 we made a trip up north just to give Cobain some support. It seemed he was already getting popular with the younger crowd by then though it was a hometown gig. They were due to cut a demo the next month or so. But he didn't last, kind of went the tragic way of some others from my time as a kid.

Everyone told me I would change my mind about the music I listened to when I got older but just about a month ago a bunch of aging old farkles calling themselves the Doors were touring Mexico and stopped and did a gig in my town, Morelia, so I went to see them with my wife. Of the four original players only two played that show, the guitarist Robby Krieger and keyboardist Ray Manzarek. Robby is a bit younger and looks it but Ray is now 72. Can you imagine how outdated they looked? I am 58 but despite what I was told I still enjoyed their music.

I understand how you must feel. Your bands will probably live for eternity.

Rap only annoys me because it is so easy to produce---a few dozen keystrokes in Fruity Loops (look it up) and an attitude but no musical voice can net you a 15 minute life of fame whilst stealing samples from real musicians.

Which is why there is so much crud on the airwaves.

Granted, there is some of the heavier stuff and crossover mixes with people who actually play instruments and not just follow a loop, and some of the very old stuff when people used their voices as a rhythm instrument (scat and such) that I find truly inspiring, but the majority of it is pure glam.

Kids that think for themselves---not just regurgitate 12 years of indoctrination back in yer face like it was god's own truth, or assume that that the whole world exists to give them a free lunch while they sit all day at the computer playing the latest video games and having cyber love affairs on facebook---are O.K. in my book.

But the brainwashed zombies far outnumber the ones who still can, and want, to think for themselves.

Just my dos peso's, of course.

(IMHO in new-speak)