24 Times Teenagers Discovered “Good Old” Music And Were Surprised That Adults Around Them Knew These Bands Very Well
Music is a great thing to bring people together, no matter what category they fall into. Probably one of the best in the world – after all, it is able to interest even representatives of the most diverse generations, who often face mutual misunderstanding in almost everything.
Of course, each generation has its own favorite music, but a characteristic of modern youth is that the criteria for popularity are mostly blurred. Indeed, if about twenty years ago, there were unconditional universal idols who organized thousands of concerts and rotated their hits on the radio, now any teenager can find a narrow musical niche on the internet that only he will like and hear. At least they think so…
There is a popular thread on Twitter where parents tell how their kids came to tell about an incredibly cool song or band they just found – and suddenly it turns out that this is the same music that their parents have been fans of for a couple of decades! The thread has over 325K likes and almost 13K retweets so far – actually, the topic is beyond cool, much like the music people are talking about.
More info: Twitter
A famous writer a few days shy of 50 tweeted about his 13-year-old goth child ‘discovering’ The Cure
Image credits: Paul Padshewscky
It all started when famous American writer Jeff Sharlet wrote that his “super-goth” 13-year-old once said that they were listening to a band that their dad, a few days shy of 50, probably hadn’t even heard of – and that was The Cure. And then the retweets went on…
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One Twitter user’s daughter was shocked to know her mom visited Nirvana’s live concert
Among the most beautiful “discoveries” was how one commenter’s daughter’s soul almost left her body after learning that her mother was personally present at Nirvana’s live concert. However, there are still no less interesting moments. For example, about the daughter who heard her father whistling the tune of The Man Who Sold The World, originally written by David Bowie, and was so delighted, kinda: “Wow, you’re listening to Nirvana!”
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Among the hits “discovered” by the children of another member of the thread were, in particular, Сareless Whisper by Wham!, Madonna’s Material Girl, and Dancing Queen, originally recorded by the Swedes from ABBA back in 1976.
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Another 13 year-old just thought Whitney Houston was ‘the new singer’
Sometimes it turns out that children like some old hits because of a fresh cover version. For example, as the author of one of the tweets says, her 13-year-old daughter asked how her mother liked “this new singer” – Whitney Houston.
Maybe the girl had just listened to the cover of the late singer’s song Higher Love, released in 2019, performed by DJ Kygo, which was very popular at one time, and increased teenagers’ interest in Houston’s work. Anyway, Whitney, older generations will always love you.
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Young guy once asked if his 51-year-old co-worker even knew about a band called Metallica
It’s so funny when young people talk about their “musical finds” to older colleagues – like the 51-year-old tweeter whose 18-year-old coworker once asked if he even knew about the existence of a band called Metallica.
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Some of the parents turn out to know music stars personally
And sometimes it even happens that parents whose children share their own “musical discoveries” with them personally knew the musicians – for example, like the author of a tweet who told his nephew how he hung out with The Clash musicians on the set of their video in the early eighties.
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It is so amazing when parents and kids can sing some old music hits together
And, of course, teenagers are often dumbstruck when they hear how folks from older generations pick up the lyrics of a song that they just heard somewhere and can easily sing it to the very end. Indeed, as the author of one of the tweets correctly wrote – “I had a life before you too, kid!”
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In any case, it’s always great when children are interested in really good music and suddenly find some common interests with their parents. In the end, a couple of decades will pass, and this generation’s own kids will come to them to share the joy of their new “discovery”, Lil Nas X or maybe Megan Thee Stallion…
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We’re pretty sure you’ve been in a similar situation, whether on the parents’ or children’s side. Either way, comments and your own stories are highly appreciated – after all, the show must go on.
good for you, you should listen to alice in chains , maybe you like them too
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Kid came in today asking if I'd heard of oasis. I told her I'd seen them at a few festivals, she was shocked. To be fair, kids see me in the supermarket 5 minutes from the school and they look shocked. How is it I exist outside a classroom?
This reminded me of that time I (aged 9) thought Michael Jackson's Thriller video was a full length horror movie. I made my parents take me to a blockbuster to look for it. I'm 31 now.
Posting to hide an ad. I have the opposite problem, I grew up on oldies music, so now I hear the beat or hook in modern songs and like hey I know that!! The best was in high school. Newsboys or something like that (Christian pop/rock group), used almost all of the music (beat, melody, etc) from the song “I believe in miracles, (you sexy thing)”. Told my youth leader that and they didn’t believe me. Still laugh about 25 years later.
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I just had a student (college age) go completely flabbergasted that I'm familiar with the movie The Fifth Element AND that I saw it in the movie theater when I was in college. Another student asked if I knew about the movie The Lost Boys because she had just "discovered" it. My response was, "You're a godd**n sh*it-sucking vampire, Michael! You just wait until Mom finds out!"
I worked at a store that had TVs playing videos of the day. Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes came on and I said, that song came out when I was in high school. The customer I was helping looked surprised and said,Really? I didn't tell her how old the band was.
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My 12-yr-old godson this year: "Oh wow, I love this group! How'd you find out about them?" Kiddo, I'm over 50. It's the friggin' Ramones. Only one worse was when he asked if I'd ever seen this "awesome classic movie"... called Jurassic Park. ....
I wish I had seen the Ramones in concert. Just a pinch to young. But I was glued to the tv watching "rock and roll high school" at 12. I idolized Riff Randall.
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The funniest one that happened to me (middle aged white woman) was when a young black man scornfully said to me, "What do you know about rap?" I replied by rapping the entire first verse of "Bring the Noise." His jaw dropped. Whereupon I said, "Yeah, I saw Public Enemy in concert back when you were still in diapers."
I'm 14 years old and I have an insane passion for 80s era new wave and post punk. Anything 80s, but that in particular. In fact, in elementary school, I thought this was what everyone listened to. When my parents told me my favorite songs were over 30 years old (at that time) 9 year old me was in quite the shock. Seriously though, I really do feel like I was born in the wrong decade.
Every teenager who has ever lived thought they were born in the wrong decade. You were not. You will not think this when you’re an adult.
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I worked with a younger guy (early 20s) and we got to talking about playing music and how he played guitar and I told him I played bass. He asked me if I knew any early Metallica tunes. Thinking he ment Anesthesia or Orion, I confirmed I knew the latter, but not the former. He looked confused and said he hadn't heard of them. He ment Enter Sandman. He didn't know they had 4 earlier studio albums...we were both stunned but for different reasons.
Well the album Metallica was my introduction to Metallica, but at least it was new at the time.
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At a friend's big summer BBQ, one of their neighbours kindly set up his sound system for it. About halfway through the day someone puts on Mr Bluesky, Teenage Girl : "I love this song" Gav The Neighbor: "Oh you like ELO?" TG: "You know about ELO!?” GTN: "I was in the electric light orchestra".
Show her Panic Lift, Assemblage 23, and [SITD]. They're VERY similar (The latter two are a bit darker though).
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I remember reading an online post saying how (then named) Kanye West was really doing some guy called Paul McCartney a favour by letting him collaborate on Only One
Paul did every rock artist to come after him a huge favor by moving music in amazing directions.
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My daughter discovered the Dead Kennedys and was shocked when I took a sweater with the band logo out of my closet...I kept it for over 25 years :-) Now she is the proud owner of a real vintage piece
I love the look on some kid's face when they mention music and I get to say 'Oh yeah, saw them at Woodstock'.
I'd have loved to see some of those bands live. Grateful Dead comes to mind, among others.
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About 10 years ago I was an older non traditional grad student. A couple of undergrad students were talking about Elvis. When I said I'd seen Elvis live in concert, they stared at me and asked, "Just how old are you?" (Older than most the professors around here! LOL!)
I wondered why my 15yo knew random "old" songs so I asked her. Her answer? Tik-Tok. People post videos set to these songs and - 'bingo' - it becomes viral and teens know the song. My 15yo takes it one step further by looking it up on Spotify or YouTube and, before I know it, that song or album has made its way onto her playlist.
My kids know what music I like because they grew up listening to it. Then they complain that I haven't listened to anything recorded after 1995. (Not entirely true, but not entirely false, either.)
There's a lot of good stuff post 1995, just probably not on the radio. Depends on what you like.
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I grew up on what was considered oldies at the time (40s, 50s,60s) until the 90s. I started listening to a variety of new music genres. As an adult, I listen to every genre of music except techno, heavy punk, and most (but not all) rap. My husband thinks I'm weird for having opera, a variety of decade music, classical symphony, electric dance, current, and country all on the same playlist. To each their own. It's good to discover new bands, songs, and new genres of music.
Oh my do I got one for the books... watching VH1 and this amazing brand new release song comes on, the music vid was out of this world, the singer was gorgeous and sounded AMAZING! I ran into the kitchen and my grandmother, Me: "that song that was just on was so awesome!" Grams: "who sung it?" Me: some new female singer that you probably wouldn't know of... CHER!" Grams dying of laughter: "babe, she's older than me!" 😂 Me: "well, she looks a lot younger than you." Grams: "if I had her money, I would too!" Awwwwwwweeeeee '98.
"Good Music" is good music, regardless of age or genre. During the lockdown I found quite a few "new" artists that I knew nothing about who definitely fall into the category of "good."
There's a LOT of great "new pop" music out there that has been released over the past decade or so. I'm eternally grateful to Taylor Swift and Katy Perry and young Gen Z music listeners for vastly improving the quality of popular music, and artists such as Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, The Weeknd, Childish Gambino, and Billie Eilish for making me feel happy about what's available for young people today. Also, I tend to find that members of Gen Z in general, particularly the ones raised by Gen X-ers, tend to listen to a wide variety of artists and don't believe in there being such a thing as music from "before their time" because they utilize technology such as YouTube and Spotify to explore music from all generations and genres.
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I saw and met Led Zeppelin in '72 when I was 16. My kids tell this story to all of their friends.
My son is listening to 2pac, Biggie, RUN DMC, Wu tang clan, Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre and other rap artists. This is my youth, I still like all those songs. My kids were also surprised when they got rickrolled and I could sing the whole song 😁
German here. My son is listening to German rap from the 1990s and is buying old CDs by the dozen. I think I did someting right.
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Me at 12.....found NIN. Still in love with them, dad was happy about it. He owned every NIN record thus far. My kid, found out about Slipknot 4 years ago at 12 years old..... now we jam out all the time. I'm 36. Slipknot came out when I was 13. ❤
erk... Isn't slipknot a wee bit aggressive for 13? Like I get 15 or 16 when you're fully doing the angry teenager phase ...
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I remember discovering Bill Joel in 1985, and excitedly sharing him with my dad. Dad humored me. It was sweet.
Couldn't comment on the actual tweet above but when I saw the one about CCR the first thing that came into my head was "Jeremiah was a bullfrog"
This is a universal truth! My 16 yo granddaughter now listens to Nirvana and Offspring. So much fun, singing along to Genocide at top volume!
1990s, best friend's daughter was about 12 or 13 around the time Wayne's World came out. Daughter and her bestie came home going on and on about this great new song by an amazing new band! You guessed it. Bohemian Rhapsody by "new group" Queen. My best friend pulls out her News of the World album. Cue daughter friend jabbering excitedly and daughter's friend exclaiming "your mom is the coolest mom ever!"
That would have been, "Night at the Opera". "News of the World" had "We Will Rock You/We are the Champions". 👍
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Many years ago I was out somewhere and heard two teens talking to each other - one said to the other "hey I heard this great song by some new band, it was "Shake it up baby" or something like that". I started at them and said "The song is Twist & Shout and it's by THE BEATLES!"
The highlight of visiting my dad in the 70s was digging through his records. Tommy by the Who, soundtracks to Woodstock and American Graffiti, Hot Rocks by the Stones, and the Beatles' red and blue albums. A lot of this stuff was pretty recent at the time, but still, it's hard to put myself in the shoes of a kid who doesn't know that old music is old. On a vaguely related note, I went to see Mike Watt in Brooklyn a few years ago--I've been listening to him since I stumbled onto the Minutemen in 1985--and I looked around thinking wow, why do all these old people have such cool t-shirts? They were my age.
I was student teaching a class of 11th graders and told them that day was going to be an all day study day. "No sleep 'til Brooklyn," I said. All I hear is jaws hitting desks. "You know the Beastie Boys!?"
It's up to the older generation to make sure the younger generation get a good musical foundation. I mean without my older sister's friends, I would've been listening to Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli instead of Joy Division, Meatloaf, and Led Zeppelin. And now I'm making sure my younger friends are familiar with Soundgarden, the Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.
I'm 65 and when my now 40 somethings found my vinyls they were in their early teens. They were amazed. I got to listen to all my old favorites all the time. Pink Floyd, The Doors, CCR, ELP, The Stones, Beetles, Traffic, Cream...etc
Kids discovering music that doesn't make you want to rip your eats off? This can only be good!
I love this. My 5 year old daughter's favourite band is Blur and she also loves The Jam and is even partial to a bit of Rush (although the latter is definitely not to my taste) 🤣
My history teacher at school was an old punk and we'd chat about music loads, he gave me a signed Sex Pistols poster before I left which I still have now, I've watched his old punk band play a few times over the years, he was a great dude, shout out to Mr Hart.
My kids practically died when I told them I went to the first ever Lollapalooza. For 20 bucks. Lmao
My daughter has recently started "borrowing" my tshirts which include a whole ton of concert and band shirts. She finally thinks I'm for real cool lol
My students (16 y average) admire me so much since the day they found out I listen to Queen, Metallica, Ac/Dc and went to the concerts of Pearl Jam, Guns 'n Roses and Bon Jovi. One day I even wore a official t-shirt from a concert and they wanted photos.
My youngest was born to Monkees music. I went to a reunion concert in 1986 when I was 7 months pregnant and the old shows were on the tv when I was in the hospital. She still likes them I think.
I liked the Monkees when I was a kid, but Justus was probably the worst album I ever bought.
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The day I tried to tell someone that the Black Eyed Peas were sampling D**k Dale's Misirlou, in Pump It.
Did you censor D**k yourself? It's the dude's name. Plus everybody should have seen Pulp Fiction by now, and Misirlou is the first song in the movie.
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My dad loved music but his taste was very specific (classical and some French songwriters). Everything that came after the Beatles, or any kind of Anglo-American pop music, sounded to him like "boom-boom" (that's what he called it). My mom is not so narrow-minded but she's quite tone-deaf and she doesn't enjoy to listen to music so much, so at home my dad's choice prevailed. When I was a teenager in the 90's I pretty much had to learn about music on my own, and I was kind of pissed off that my boomer parents had lived in the most fabulous moment ever in the history of music and almost completely ignored it. I discovered bands like Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin decades after they had started, and when I played their music my mom would say "what's that new weird, wild sound you're listening to ?" like it was completely futuristic or decadent, and I was like "come on... you were just 20 years old when that album came out and it was everywhere back then, how could you miss it ?"
My parents are the same. Classical music, Elvis, french chansons, the Beatles and that's it. All the music after the Beatles was boom-boom and horrible to them.
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The one Sunday when my then 17 year old "rap music oriented" son came down to me to tell me about this guy who had the greatest voice and how the music was soooo cool! "Dad, you should hear this guy!" That "guy" was Frank Sinatra and he was listening to "Sunday With Sinatra" on a local radio station. Yeah... never heard of him! LOL! (I actually met him in NJ when I was like 16!)
Also I commented on a lovely tattoo a girl had. It was a small triangle with Light hitting it. I Said "like Pink Floyd?" And she asked "who?" the same happened with a girl in Nirvana shirt
My husband asked a lady, oh, you like Queen? She didn't know it was the name of a band.
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My 10 year old was singing Beatles songs that even I've never heard. I found out he created an account online to search for Beatles tunes at school on his free time. Parenting win.
When I was about 11 (in 1986)I really got into 1950s Rock and Roll. Not Elvis Presley, but Eddie Cochran Bill Haley and all the others. Then I progressed onto the wonderful music of the 1960s. It got to the stage where I knew the music and the artists better than my Dad and I amassed a good collection of the music over the years. I always hated the music of my teen years. Indie music did nothing for me and the other pop music of the 90s was just horrible. I love the New Age music of the time though like Enigma and Enya but the 60s especially the Hippie style music from 1966.
When I was around 7, I told my parents about this great group I discovered, I even took them the cassette of the music I'd found at a garage sale. I asked them if they'd ever heard of the Beatles?
My son's friend: "Wow!! Your mom is super modern, she's listening to Pearl Jam."
I was lucky to have parents who shared music with me from day one, I was brought up in a home which had blues, jazz, rock, folk, pop and so on playing in the background. They took me to gigs, they encouraged me and my brother to listen to all sorts of music. I’m now in my 40s and we still go to gigs together, although my folks draw the line at some of my more extreme musical adventures, Rammstein, Mutilation, et al are a bit too much for them 😀 but we are to be seen at Bonnamassa, Imelda May, Robert Jon, and the likes together as a family. It’s a universal language and it’s something that has no interest in your age, great music is great music no matter how old or young you are.
I can a concert videographer back in the day and worked with some great bands. Had my playlist going and a much younger coworker was like how do U know msi. I looked at her and said honey I have made out with the lead singer. Told my 16 yr old that story then she freaked out about it.(turns out they r big on tik tok)
I feel like these people openly and publicly mocking their children should take a look in the mirror since they raised their children to be both oblivious and also arrogant. Like, when I was a teen listening to Dolly Parton, Ella Fitzgerald, or Miriam Makeba, I wasn't convinced they were some brand new artist I had discovered but was fully aware that they were established artists I was just listening to for the first time. And these people are mocking their kids when they should embrace liking the same music. I went to see Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire in concert with my mom and it was great for bonding. I don't know why these people feel the need to condescend to literal children.
are they patronising the kids or are they just stoked that the kids recognised their "old" music as legitimately good? I think it's the latter. Thanks for the Makeba reference, fellow South African.
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I work at a university for musicians, we take them from age 16 upwards. During enrolment this year one of the new starts told me they were into “old stuff like Gorillaz, Coldplay, Radiohead” That’s when I realised that this kid wasn’t born when Gorillaz released feel good inc.
I was fortunate enough to meet Johnathan Davis and Fred Durst in the parking lot of their headlining concert at pine k**b about 20 years ago. They were riding around the parking lot on mopeds before the show started, and myself and a few buddies got there early to pre game. They pulled up and asked to hit what we were passing around. It took all of us completely off guard and we didn't even ask them any questions or anything. We all just looked at each other and passed it over. I still regret not starting a conversation. We were just kinda star struck and defaulted to derp mode.
I remember an eldergoth friend introduced me to The Cure a few years ago and i was amazed at what goths looked like in the 80s, i bought a long black coat and backcombed my hair for weeks 🤣 i looked like id been electrocuted lol 😂
I'm 28 but growing up it was the opposite case to me, a song would come up no the radio and I'd ask my parents who was singing, and they'd be like "idk" and I would be like "BUT YOU'VE BEEN ALIVE SINCE THE 60'S" lol But tbh, if someone asks me 10 or 20 years from now about current music, I wouldn't know any either.
My daughter, at age 15, came home from school and asked me if i had heard of this really old band they were listening to in music class. It was Oasis.
Well, Liam and Noel haven't talked in long enough that they really are an old band now.
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The one about Paul McCartney and Wings is a direct ripoff of a Billy Crystal joke.
I had a student that was surprised that I knew the KLF. I was in my late teens back then
My hubby and I listen to all our fav music from the 50's all the way up to now. Our kids have been listening to it with us the whole time. They LOVE the music from the 80's and 90's the best. I tell people that's how I know I am doing this parenting thing right!!!
Hope to have these conversations myself when I have kids someday. Them asking if I know Green Day, or My Chemical Romance, or Painc! At The Disco. Or Ninja Sex Party. That would be a weird one to explain.
I was working with a teen in about 2008 talking about Kurt Cobain and he said, "who's Kurt Cobain?" I'll never forget that!
On a tangent, I was working with a couple other guys opening up a sewer pipe. The gas spewed and I said" The force is strong with this one"... they were confused because neither had seen Star Wars. Blew my mind.
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my question is, why are these people bashing their kids when said kids just wanted to show them cool music (and yes, some of how the kids did it was deserving of a comment or two, but still)
I don't think they're necessarily bashing the kids, they're just getting a kick out of shocking the kids that their parents are *actually* cool & really do know good music.
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Love this story and it always makes me laugh In 2017 a talent scout for a Los Angeles radio station attempted to “discover” Grammy Award-winning singer Annie Lennox, apparently unaware of the star’s previous accolades. The producer, identified as Kylie in a letter that Lennox posted on social media, wrote: “I came across your music on line [sic] and really like what I heard! I’m the New Music Coordinator for a station that has over 100,000 unique listeners each month. I find artists who I think have potential and get them in rotation in our station.” She signed off her note to the woman who has sold 80 million records globally with a personal reference: “Please let them know Kylie referred you and you’ll be in.” The eight-time Brit Award, four-time Grammy Award, MTV Video Music Award,Billboard Century Award, Golden Globe and Academy Award winning artist posted the letter on Facebook with the caption: “I think I’m in with a chance ??!!”
My Soul left my body when I (30) sang to Neverending story by Limah And my 16 yo coworker Said happily "omg I had no idea you know Stranger things!" I was like "what?" then I had to explain this song is NOT original to that 2020s series but its probably older than I am And the story its based on even more. His world was shattered
I had 2 sons who are over a decade apart and they each were really into music and introduced me to a lot of theirs. But they both also had i-pods full of stuff from when I was young, "when the music was good". My husband and both of my sons learned to play "Stairway to Heaven" as their first "real" song on their guitars.
This is Amazing!! People of 50 thinking they are old?? People think that the pop "music" they listen to is old!
I grew up listening to a lot of 70s and 80s rock with my parents, especially Lynyrd Skinyrd ( which I saw in concert with my mom) and Led Zeppelin (we always had them blasting on cleaning days). Sweet Child of Mine, Enter Sandman, Kashmir, Don’t Fear the Reaper, are some of my favorites. I have a very eclectic taste in music, from classics to modern songs. I love music and multiple genres of it.
I am often the "creepy old person" at the concert - first time I saw Tokyo Police Club the only others there my age had brought their daughters. Then a few years ago I went to see The Vaccines and was reminiscing about concerts past with a friend. Someone overheard and we became "the cool OGs" at the concert - having seen Pixies on the Doolittle tour, The Cramps several times, TMBG in '92, smoked with Green Day behind s dumpster in '90, Nirvana in a tiny club and countless others. We drank for free all night and I do not even remember the actual show, went to work still drunk the next day, it was quite swell. One day I will the the woman I saw at Cruel World a couple weeks ago - mid 70s in the front row for The Damned.
I turned on Monster by Skillet when I was in the van with my dad, and I mentioned it was this cool band I found. He said “Skillet? I have been to their concerts and I played their older songs for you when you were two!”
What I don't get is why people are proud to shut them down. Does it make them feel superior? Maybe ruining young people's fun is a sign of being too old. If a kid told me about this new band called Led Zeppelin, I'd ask him to play everything he's got from them so we can enjoy the music together. Shared experiences are the best. And let them be wise-guys, they're entitled to it.
I have a variation on this from the "kid" side, though not with a band. When I was about 30 my Mom and I were listening to NPR when a segment about Kareem Abdu-Jabbar's latest book came on. I commented that, since I've never cared for basketball at all, the main thing I always think about when his name comes up is the scene in "Game of Death" where he kicks Bruce Lee in the chest, and leaves a dusty foot-print on that famous yellow track-suit that stretches nearly the whole length of Bruce's torso. My Mom replies something to the effect of, "We never suspected he was going to become such a big star when he was working out in the gym," and explains that he was often there when she went to one of her college PE classes ( not sure if she meant he was in the class before hers, or just that it was when he was usually there ). I had known he went to the University of Washington, but hadn't done the math to realize it was at the same time my Mom did.
People thinking they are "cool" because music, they never made, but that some of us listened too or bands some of us may have seen it the least cool thing.
At my dojo, a 14 yo teen asking if I knew Meat Loaf, he had been listening to him non stop after hearing the guy's death on the news (RIP Michael Aday there will never be another like you 😭) and I was like :"sit down child. It's high time you learn the way of our people"
My 5 year old discovered John Denver on one of my Spotify playlists a couple weeks ago. Pops, my dad, very happily pulled out his vinyl collection for the first time in awhile and they spent an afternoon listening to music. She likes the Ramones and the Rolling Stones, but isn't a big fan of James Taylor. LOL
Notice how marketing in ads to boomers uses music from our generation? I absolutely must sing along and finish the song every time to the dismay of younguns around me.
My best friend's then 13 year old daughter and HER best friend came running in to tell her about this movie they just saw with an incredible new song. My bff went into the other room, pulled out the album and played the song. Daughter's friend is wide eyed and says "Wow, your mom is so cool!" The movie: Wayne's World The song: Bohemian Rhapsody
A do got flabbergasted when my 17yo niece started singing O-zone And Backstreet boys. I asked how the Hell she knows it. I forgot I taught her all of my favorite in 2000s when I was a teenager And she Just a babbling toddler. Warms my heart
These are strange. My zoomers know these bands because they've heard us play them since they were 1. How are these Gex X parents not listening their their old music ever? Hmmm, I huess it could happen 😆
good for you, you should listen to alice in chains , maybe you like them too
Load More Replies... Kid came in today asking if I'd heard of oasis. I told her I'd seen them at a few festivals, she was shocked. To be fair, kids see me in the supermarket 5 minutes from the school and they look shocked. How is it I exist outside a classroom?
This reminded me of that time I (aged 9) thought Michael Jackson's Thriller video was a full length horror movie. I made my parents take me to a blockbuster to look for it. I'm 31 now.
Posting to hide an ad. I have the opposite problem, I grew up on oldies music, so now I hear the beat or hook in modern songs and like hey I know that!! The best was in high school. Newsboys or something like that (Christian pop/rock group), used almost all of the music (beat, melody, etc) from the song “I believe in miracles, (you sexy thing)”. Told my youth leader that and they didn’t believe me. Still laugh about 25 years later.
Load More Replies... I just had a student (college age) go completely flabbergasted that I'm familiar with the movie The Fifth Element AND that I saw it in the movie theater when I was in college. Another student asked if I knew about the movie The Lost Boys because she had just "discovered" it. My response was, "You're a godd**n sh*it-sucking vampire, Michael! You just wait until Mom finds out!"
I worked at a store that had TVs playing videos of the day. Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes came on and I said, that song came out when I was in high school. The customer I was helping looked surprised and said,Really? I didn't tell her how old the band was.
Load More Replies... My 12-yr-old godson this year: "Oh wow, I love this group! How'd you find out about them?" Kiddo, I'm over 50. It's the friggin' Ramones. Only one worse was when he asked if I'd ever seen this "awesome classic movie"... called Jurassic Park. ....
I wish I had seen the Ramones in concert. Just a pinch to young. But I was glued to the tv watching "rock and roll high school" at 12. I idolized Riff Randall.
Load More Replies... The funniest one that happened to me (middle aged white woman) was when a young black man scornfully said to me, "What do you know about rap?" I replied by rapping the entire first verse of "Bring the Noise." His jaw dropped. Whereupon I said, "Yeah, I saw Public Enemy in concert back when you were still in diapers."
I'm 14 years old and I have an insane passion for 80s era new wave and post punk. Anything 80s, but that in particular. In fact, in elementary school, I thought this was what everyone listened to. When my parents told me my favorite songs were over 30 years old (at that time) 9 year old me was in quite the shock. Seriously though, I really do feel like I was born in the wrong decade.
Every teenager who has ever lived thought they were born in the wrong decade. You were not. You will not think this when you’re an adult.
Load More Replies... I worked with a younger guy (early 20s) and we got to talking about playing music and how he played guitar and I told him I played bass. He asked me if I knew any early Metallica tunes. Thinking he ment Anesthesia or Orion, I confirmed I knew the latter, but not the former. He looked confused and said he hadn't heard of them. He ment Enter Sandman. He didn't know they had 4 earlier studio albums...we were both stunned but for different reasons.
Well the album Metallica was my introduction to Metallica, but at least it was new at the time.
Load More Replies... At a friend's big summer BBQ, one of their neighbours kindly set up his sound system for it. About halfway through the day someone puts on Mr Bluesky, Teenage Girl : "I love this song" Gav The Neighbor: "Oh you like ELO?" TG: "You know about ELO!?” GTN: "I was in the electric light orchestra".
Show her Panic Lift, Assemblage 23, and [SITD]. They're VERY similar (The latter two are a bit darker though).
Load More Replies... I remember reading an online post saying how (then named) Kanye West was really doing some guy called Paul McCartney a favour by letting him collaborate on Only One
Paul did every rock artist to come after him a huge favor by moving music in amazing directions.
Load More Replies... My daughter discovered the Dead Kennedys and was shocked when I took a sweater with the band logo out of my closet...I kept it for over 25 years :-) Now she is the proud owner of a real vintage piece
I love the look on some kid's face when they mention music and I get to say 'Oh yeah, saw them at Woodstock'.
I'd have loved to see some of those bands live. Grateful Dead comes to mind, among others.
Load More Replies... About 10 years ago I was an older non traditional grad student. A couple of undergrad students were talking about Elvis. When I said I'd seen Elvis live in concert, they stared at me and asked, "Just how old are you?" (Older than most the professors around here! LOL!)
I wondered why my 15yo knew random "old" songs so I asked her. Her answer? Tik-Tok. People post videos set to these songs and - 'bingo' - it becomes viral and teens know the song. My 15yo takes it one step further by looking it up on Spotify or YouTube and, before I know it, that song or album has made its way onto her playlist.
My kids know what music I like because they grew up listening to it. Then they complain that I haven't listened to anything recorded after 1995. (Not entirely true, but not entirely false, either.)
There's a lot of good stuff post 1995, just probably not on the radio. Depends on what you like.
Load More Replies... I grew up on what was considered oldies at the time (40s, 50s,60s) until the 90s. I started listening to a variety of new music genres. As an adult, I listen to every genre of music except techno, heavy punk, and most (but not all) rap. My husband thinks I'm weird for having opera, a variety of decade music, classical symphony, electric dance, current, and country all on the same playlist. To each their own. It's good to discover new bands, songs, and new genres of music.
Oh my do I got one for the books... watching VH1 and this amazing brand new release song comes on, the music vid was out of this world, the singer was gorgeous and sounded AMAZING! I ran into the kitchen and my grandmother, Me: "that song that was just on was so awesome!" Grams: "who sung it?" Me: some new female singer that you probably wouldn't know of... CHER!" Grams dying of laughter: "babe, she's older than me!" 😂 Me: "well, she looks a lot younger than you." Grams: "if I had her money, I would too!" Awwwwwwweeeeee '98.
"Good Music" is good music, regardless of age or genre. During the lockdown I found quite a few "new" artists that I knew nothing about who definitely fall into the category of "good."
There's a LOT of great "new pop" music out there that has been released over the past decade or so. I'm eternally grateful to Taylor Swift and Katy Perry and young Gen Z music listeners for vastly improving the quality of popular music, and artists such as Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, The Weeknd, Childish Gambino, and Billie Eilish for making me feel happy about what's available for young people today. Also, I tend to find that members of Gen Z in general, particularly the ones raised by Gen X-ers, tend to listen to a wide variety of artists and don't believe in there being such a thing as music from "before their time" because they utilize technology such as YouTube and Spotify to explore music from all generations and genres.
Load More Replies... I saw and met Led Zeppelin in '72 when I was 16. My kids tell this story to all of their friends.
My son is listening to 2pac, Biggie, RUN DMC, Wu tang clan, Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre and other rap artists. This is my youth, I still like all those songs. My kids were also surprised when they got rickrolled and I could sing the whole song 😁
German here. My son is listening to German rap from the 1990s and is buying old CDs by the dozen. I think I did someting right.
Load More Replies... Me at 12.....found NIN. Still in love with them, dad was happy about it. He owned every NIN record thus far. My kid, found out about Slipknot 4 years ago at 12 years old..... now we jam out all the time. I'm 36. Slipknot came out when I was 13. ❤
erk... Isn't slipknot a wee bit aggressive for 13? Like I get 15 or 16 when you're fully doing the angry teenager phase ...
Load More Replies... I remember discovering Bill Joel in 1985, and excitedly sharing him with my dad. Dad humored me. It was sweet.
Couldn't comment on the actual tweet above but when I saw the one about CCR the first thing that came into my head was "Jeremiah was a bullfrog"
This is a universal truth! My 16 yo granddaughter now listens to Nirvana and Offspring. So much fun, singing along to Genocide at top volume!
1990s, best friend's daughter was about 12 or 13 around the time Wayne's World came out. Daughter and her bestie came home going on and on about this great new song by an amazing new band! You guessed it. Bohemian Rhapsody by "new group" Queen. My best friend pulls out her News of the World album. Cue daughter friend jabbering excitedly and daughter's friend exclaiming "your mom is the coolest mom ever!"
That would have been, "Night at the Opera". "News of the World" had "We Will Rock You/We are the Champions". 👍
Load More Replies... Many years ago I was out somewhere and heard two teens talking to each other - one said to the other "hey I heard this great song by some new band, it was "Shake it up baby" or something like that". I started at them and said "The song is Twist & Shout and it's by THE BEATLES!"
The highlight of visiting my dad in the 70s was digging through his records. Tommy by the Who, soundtracks to Woodstock and American Graffiti, Hot Rocks by the Stones, and the Beatles' red and blue albums. A lot of this stuff was pretty recent at the time, but still, it's hard to put myself in the shoes of a kid who doesn't know that old music is old. On a vaguely related note, I went to see Mike Watt in Brooklyn a few years ago--I've been listening to him since I stumbled onto the Minutemen in 1985--and I looked around thinking wow, why do all these old people have such cool t-shirts? They were my age.
I was student teaching a class of 11th graders and told them that day was going to be an all day study day. "No sleep 'til Brooklyn," I said. All I hear is jaws hitting desks. "You know the Beastie Boys!?"
It's up to the older generation to make sure the younger generation get a good musical foundation. I mean without my older sister's friends, I would've been listening to Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli instead of Joy Division, Meatloaf, and Led Zeppelin. And now I'm making sure my younger friends are familiar with Soundgarden, the Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.
I'm 65 and when my now 40 somethings found my vinyls they were in their early teens. They were amazed. I got to listen to all my old favorites all the time. Pink Floyd, The Doors, CCR, ELP, The Stones, Beetles, Traffic, Cream...etc
Kids discovering music that doesn't make you want to rip your eats off? This can only be good!
I love this. My 5 year old daughter's favourite band is Blur and she also loves The Jam and is even partial to a bit of Rush (although the latter is definitely not to my taste) 🤣
My history teacher at school was an old punk and we'd chat about music loads, he gave me a signed Sex Pistols poster before I left which I still have now, I've watched his old punk band play a few times over the years, he was a great dude, shout out to Mr Hart.
My kids practically died when I told them I went to the first ever Lollapalooza. For 20 bucks. Lmao
My daughter has recently started "borrowing" my tshirts which include a whole ton of concert and band shirts. She finally thinks I'm for real cool lol
My students (16 y average) admire me so much since the day they found out I listen to Queen, Metallica, Ac/Dc and went to the concerts of Pearl Jam, Guns 'n Roses and Bon Jovi. One day I even wore a official t-shirt from a concert and they wanted photos.
My youngest was born to Monkees music. I went to a reunion concert in 1986 when I was 7 months pregnant and the old shows were on the tv when I was in the hospital. She still likes them I think.
I liked the Monkees when I was a kid, but Justus was probably the worst album I ever bought.
Load More Replies... The day I tried to tell someone that the Black Eyed Peas were sampling D**k Dale's Misirlou, in Pump It.
Did you censor D**k yourself? It's the dude's name. Plus everybody should have seen Pulp Fiction by now, and Misirlou is the first song in the movie.
Load More Replies... My dad loved music but his taste was very specific (classical and some French songwriters). Everything that came after the Beatles, or any kind of Anglo-American pop music, sounded to him like "boom-boom" (that's what he called it). My mom is not so narrow-minded but she's quite tone-deaf and she doesn't enjoy to listen to music so much, so at home my dad's choice prevailed. When I was a teenager in the 90's I pretty much had to learn about music on my own, and I was kind of pissed off that my boomer parents had lived in the most fabulous moment ever in the history of music and almost completely ignored it. I discovered bands like Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin decades after they had started, and when I played their music my mom would say "what's that new weird, wild sound you're listening to ?" like it was completely futuristic or decadent, and I was like "come on... you were just 20 years old when that album came out and it was everywhere back then, how could you miss it ?"
My parents are the same. Classical music, Elvis, french chansons, the Beatles and that's it. All the music after the Beatles was boom-boom and horrible to them.
Load More Replies... The one Sunday when my then 17 year old "rap music oriented" son came down to me to tell me about this guy who had the greatest voice and how the music was soooo cool! "Dad, you should hear this guy!" That "guy" was Frank Sinatra and he was listening to "Sunday With Sinatra" on a local radio station. Yeah... never heard of him! LOL! (I actually met him in NJ when I was like 16!)
Also I commented on a lovely tattoo a girl had. It was a small triangle with Light hitting it. I Said "like Pink Floyd?" And she asked "who?" the same happened with a girl in Nirvana shirt
My husband asked a lady, oh, you like Queen? She didn't know it was the name of a band.
Load More Replies... My 10 year old was singing Beatles songs that even I've never heard. I found out he created an account online to search for Beatles tunes at school on his free time. Parenting win.
When I was about 11 (in 1986)I really got into 1950s Rock and Roll. Not Elvis Presley, but Eddie Cochran Bill Haley and all the others. Then I progressed onto the wonderful music of the 1960s. It got to the stage where I knew the music and the artists better than my Dad and I amassed a good collection of the music over the years. I always hated the music of my teen years. Indie music did nothing for me and the other pop music of the 90s was just horrible. I love the New Age music of the time though like Enigma and Enya but the 60s especially the Hippie style music from 1966.
When I was around 7, I told my parents about this great group I discovered, I even took them the cassette of the music I'd found at a garage sale. I asked them if they'd ever heard of the Beatles?
My son's friend: "Wow!! Your mom is super modern, she's listening to Pearl Jam."
I was lucky to have parents who shared music with me from day one, I was brought up in a home which had blues, jazz, rock, folk, pop and so on playing in the background. They took me to gigs, they encouraged me and my brother to listen to all sorts of music. I’m now in my 40s and we still go to gigs together, although my folks draw the line at some of my more extreme musical adventures, Rammstein, Mutilation, et al are a bit too much for them 😀 but we are to be seen at Bonnamassa, Imelda May, Robert Jon, and the likes together as a family. It’s a universal language and it’s something that has no interest in your age, great music is great music no matter how old or young you are.
I can a concert videographer back in the day and worked with some great bands. Had my playlist going and a much younger coworker was like how do U know msi. I looked at her and said honey I have made out with the lead singer. Told my 16 yr old that story then she freaked out about it.(turns out they r big on tik tok)
I feel like these people openly and publicly mocking their children should take a look in the mirror since they raised their children to be both oblivious and also arrogant. Like, when I was a teen listening to Dolly Parton, Ella Fitzgerald, or Miriam Makeba, I wasn't convinced they were some brand new artist I had discovered but was fully aware that they were established artists I was just listening to for the first time. And these people are mocking their kids when they should embrace liking the same music. I went to see Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire in concert with my mom and it was great for bonding. I don't know why these people feel the need to condescend to literal children.
are they patronising the kids or are they just stoked that the kids recognised their "old" music as legitimately good? I think it's the latter. Thanks for the Makeba reference, fellow South African.
Load More Replies... I work at a university for musicians, we take them from age 16 upwards. During enrolment this year one of the new starts told me they were into “old stuff like Gorillaz, Coldplay, Radiohead” That’s when I realised that this kid wasn’t born when Gorillaz released feel good inc.
I was fortunate enough to meet Johnathan Davis and Fred Durst in the parking lot of their headlining concert at pine k**b about 20 years ago. They were riding around the parking lot on mopeds before the show started, and myself and a few buddies got there early to pre game. They pulled up and asked to hit what we were passing around. It took all of us completely off guard and we didn't even ask them any questions or anything. We all just looked at each other and passed it over. I still regret not starting a conversation. We were just kinda star struck and defaulted to derp mode.
I remember an eldergoth friend introduced me to The Cure a few years ago and i was amazed at what goths looked like in the 80s, i bought a long black coat and backcombed my hair for weeks 🤣 i looked like id been electrocuted lol 😂
I'm 28 but growing up it was the opposite case to me, a song would come up no the radio and I'd ask my parents who was singing, and they'd be like "idk" and I would be like "BUT YOU'VE BEEN ALIVE SINCE THE 60'S" lol But tbh, if someone asks me 10 or 20 years from now about current music, I wouldn't know any either.
My daughter, at age 15, came home from school and asked me if i had heard of this really old band they were listening to in music class. It was Oasis.
Well, Liam and Noel haven't talked in long enough that they really are an old band now.
Load More Replies... The one about Paul McCartney and Wings is a direct ripoff of a Billy Crystal joke.
I had a student that was surprised that I knew the KLF. I was in my late teens back then
My hubby and I listen to all our fav music from the 50's all the way up to now. Our kids have been listening to it with us the whole time. They LOVE the music from the 80's and 90's the best. I tell people that's how I know I am doing this parenting thing right!!!
Hope to have these conversations myself when I have kids someday. Them asking if I know Green Day, or My Chemical Romance, or Painc! At The Disco. Or Ninja Sex Party. That would be a weird one to explain.
I was working with a teen in about 2008 talking about Kurt Cobain and he said, "who's Kurt Cobain?" I'll never forget that!
On a tangent, I was working with a couple other guys opening up a sewer pipe. The gas spewed and I said" The force is strong with this one"... they were confused because neither had seen Star Wars. Blew my mind.
Load More Replies... my question is, why are these people bashing their kids when said kids just wanted to show them cool music (and yes, some of how the kids did it was deserving of a comment or two, but still)
I don't think they're necessarily bashing the kids, they're just getting a kick out of shocking the kids that their parents are *actually* cool & really do know good music.
Load More Replies... Love this story and it always makes me laugh In 2017 a talent scout for a Los Angeles radio station attempted to “discover” Grammy Award-winning singer Annie Lennox, apparently unaware of the star’s previous accolades. The producer, identified as Kylie in a letter that Lennox posted on social media, wrote: “I came across your music on line [sic] and really like what I heard! I’m the New Music Coordinator for a station that has over 100,000 unique listeners each month. I find artists who I think have potential and get them in rotation in our station.” She signed off her note to the woman who has sold 80 million records globally with a personal reference: “Please let them know Kylie referred you and you’ll be in.” The eight-time Brit Award, four-time Grammy Award, MTV Video Music Award,Billboard Century Award, Golden Globe and Academy Award winning artist posted the letter on Facebook with the caption: “I think I’m in with a chance ??!!”
My Soul left my body when I (30) sang to Neverending story by Limah And my 16 yo coworker Said happily "omg I had no idea you know Stranger things!" I was like "what?" then I had to explain this song is NOT original to that 2020s series but its probably older than I am And the story its based on even more. His world was shattered
I had 2 sons who are over a decade apart and they each were really into music and introduced me to a lot of theirs. But they both also had i-pods full of stuff from when I was young, "when the music was good". My husband and both of my sons learned to play "Stairway to Heaven" as their first "real" song on their guitars.
This is Amazing!! People of 50 thinking they are old?? People think that the pop "music" they listen to is old!
I grew up listening to a lot of 70s and 80s rock with my parents, especially Lynyrd Skinyrd ( which I saw in concert with my mom) and Led Zeppelin (we always had them blasting on cleaning days). Sweet Child of Mine, Enter Sandman, Kashmir, Don’t Fear the Reaper, are some of my favorites. I have a very eclectic taste in music, from classics to modern songs. I love music and multiple genres of it.
I am often the "creepy old person" at the concert - first time I saw Tokyo Police Club the only others there my age had brought their daughters. Then a few years ago I went to see The Vaccines and was reminiscing about concerts past with a friend. Someone overheard and we became "the cool OGs" at the concert - having seen Pixies on the Doolittle tour, The Cramps several times, TMBG in '92, smoked with Green Day behind s dumpster in '90, Nirvana in a tiny club and countless others. We drank for free all night and I do not even remember the actual show, went to work still drunk the next day, it was quite swell. One day I will the the woman I saw at Cruel World a couple weeks ago - mid 70s in the front row for The Damned.
I turned on Monster by Skillet when I was in the van with my dad, and I mentioned it was this cool band I found. He said “Skillet? I have been to their concerts and I played their older songs for you when you were two!”
What I don't get is why people are proud to shut them down. Does it make them feel superior? Maybe ruining young people's fun is a sign of being too old. If a kid told me about this new band called Led Zeppelin, I'd ask him to play everything he's got from them so we can enjoy the music together. Shared experiences are the best. And let them be wise-guys, they're entitled to it.
I have a variation on this from the "kid" side, though not with a band. When I was about 30 my Mom and I were listening to NPR when a segment about Kareem Abdu-Jabbar's latest book came on. I commented that, since I've never cared for basketball at all, the main thing I always think about when his name comes up is the scene in "Game of Death" where he kicks Bruce Lee in the chest, and leaves a dusty foot-print on that famous yellow track-suit that stretches nearly the whole length of Bruce's torso. My Mom replies something to the effect of, "We never suspected he was going to become such a big star when he was working out in the gym," and explains that he was often there when she went to one of her college PE classes ( not sure if she meant he was in the class before hers, or just that it was when he was usually there ). I had known he went to the University of Washington, but hadn't done the math to realize it was at the same time my Mom did.
People thinking they are "cool" because music, they never made, but that some of us listened too or bands some of us may have seen it the least cool thing.
At my dojo, a 14 yo teen asking if I knew Meat Loaf, he had been listening to him non stop after hearing the guy's death on the news (RIP Michael Aday there will never be another like you 😭) and I was like :"sit down child. It's high time you learn the way of our people"
My 5 year old discovered John Denver on one of my Spotify playlists a couple weeks ago. Pops, my dad, very happily pulled out his vinyl collection for the first time in awhile and they spent an afternoon listening to music. She likes the Ramones and the Rolling Stones, but isn't a big fan of James Taylor. LOL
Notice how marketing in ads to boomers uses music from our generation? I absolutely must sing along and finish the song every time to the dismay of younguns around me.
My best friend's then 13 year old daughter and HER best friend came running in to tell her about this movie they just saw with an incredible new song. My bff went into the other room, pulled out the album and played the song. Daughter's friend is wide eyed and says "Wow, your mom is so cool!" The movie: Wayne's World The song: Bohemian Rhapsody
A do got flabbergasted when my 17yo niece started singing O-zone And Backstreet boys. I asked how the Hell she knows it. I forgot I taught her all of my favorite in 2000s when I was a teenager And she Just a babbling toddler. Warms my heart
These are strange. My zoomers know these bands because they've heard us play them since they were 1. How are these Gex X parents not listening their their old music ever? Hmmm, I huess it could happen 😆
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