As an example. I grew up in hip-hop but at a certain point I stopped listening to new people and realised recently that I’d slept on some bangers. Like Kendrick particularly, but even people like Juice WRLD and Xxxtentacion.
The same for the Kendrick and Drake (the nonce) beef which has given some rabbit holes to go down.
So I’m wondering what I can do to keep in the loop with my younger brothers and sisters?
Is it something as simple as watching trending videos on YouTube (somtheing I’ve never done) or are there people to follow etc. I don’t like Twitter though so hopefully it’s not that.
Edit: Man I got so many replies. You guys are awesome. I am going to work my way through them all today, but I’m hella tired and off to work so may take a while. I will reply to you all.
Edit part deux: God damn I think I got all the replies.
You can only sort of ever keep up.
The main issue preventing you an Old, from finding more about people who are Young, is that the Young don’t exactly love the old filling up their spaces, trying to remain hip.
This is exemplified by the slow death of social networks as they grow in popularity. A new social network pops up, its quickly populated by the youth. Slowly, as it becomes more popular, Olds start creeping in, until there are so many Olds that the youth want to go somewhere else because they no longer have privacy.
When Mom and Uncle Jim are in the conversation, everything is suddenly less cool.
Happened to MySpace first, and it’s happening to Facebook right now. It’s basically ghost towns of people who will be dead soon.
We are limited because the youth will always want their own private spaces where they can truly be themselves without their weird expectations of the older generations. If you’re older with zero expecations for the youth, congratulations: you’re unusual, so don’t hold it against the youth that they assume you’re just another boring old person who is going to judge them for something. Most adults are out here judging them, so give them a break on assumptions they might make about you.
I used to keep up with music through YouTube channels, but even the ones I used to follow are aging up and soon enough those people I was listening to are Old now too, and they’re doing the same thing as me, trying to keep up with what’s hip and good.
I understand the desire to do so. New music is often so good, and I really get sick of people who act like the music they grew up with is the best in history. It’s not, and it never will be. Music is always growing and making music is more accessible than ever, which means its really exploding and evolving. There’s never been a better time to love music.
However, as Olds, we’re just going to miss a lot of what’s cool with the kids simply because we’re Olds. So much is just going to naturally be hidden from us.
Thanks for this throughout and measured response it really does make sense now you bring these points to my attention I was the same when I was younger.
I guess I don’t want to invade their space as much as understand what they like and what they care about, not in a creepy way, more because I think the older generation should do this.
The part where you mentioned you would be unusual to have no expectations of young people. Well I am unusual as I think the youth are alright and a part of my thinking in this post is that we should celebrate the future of the world as they’ve got longer here than me and so they should have a larger part in shaping it.
It’s sad that we have this divide now where it’s us (not literally) against them when really they can learn from our mistakes and we can learn from their new perspectives.
I imagine it goes without saying that I’m not afraid to admit that I don’t know everything and even that we can learn from younger people and I don’t really blame them for thinking all older people are against them or whatever as I am self aware that I would have this mentality towards boomers when there are some great boomers out here that would be with me at pro-Palestine marches and stuff.
Apologies for this being all over the place. I literally just rambled on, and now too lazy to go back and format it better.
It’s fine, no worries on your thoughts being all over, it’s the internet. Who cares? You got your points across fine.
I don’t think trying to know what the youth are into is creepy at all! I think the real issue comes from the youth being used to adults being shitty and judgy to them. Like I said, it’s great if we’re not shitty and judgy, but we have to be patient with the youth and their expectations of older people because they’re absolutely colored by the fact that most older folks are weirdly judgy. So it’s more that we have our work cut out for us because most older folks could give a flying fuck about being interested in the art of the youth, and the youth know that and feel it viscerally. It takes time for them to feel “safe” and open up. Like you said, how we grew up with Boomers and most of them are just dogshit and judgy people when it came to the youth. We like to think our generation is better… but it’s not, sadly.
Anyway, it’s not impossible to make inroads with the youth, but you have to be okay with them ribbing you and smile and laugh when they joke about how out of touch you are. They’re going to assume we’re just like any other jerk of an Old, so it just takes more effort on our parts to prove we’re not just some judgy jerk.
I am thankful for every old person who has genuine interest in what the youth are doing and what kind of art they are creating. You’re right, it IS a good thing to be interested, and it’s a good thing to pursue, because it helps break down the very generational barriers we dislike so much.
Thanks again. You’re a good person SnotFlickerMan. You’ve given me plenty of food for thought and I appreciate you taking the time again.
Enjoy what’s left of the weekend and keep being a stellar bro.
I don’t think MySpace died because The Olds invaded in the same way as Facebook. I think Facebook genuinely out-competed MySpace in features, especially having its own messenger. Facebook absolutely died when The Olds joined, what’s remarkable to me is that Facebook…still exists?
And Facebook succumbed to the olds many years ago. I remember in the mid then late 00s when it expanded from just college students to include high school students, and then suddenly my Aunt Joyce was on it too. Seriously, we’re talking 15 years ago now
Reddit had too many Youths so all us Olds came to Lemmy 💪
And since we’re not Youngs, how the music appeals (or doesn’t) is really not part of our experiences.
Pop music is a thing of the moment. Not to criticize, just an observation. Because of this, I don’t really get why an Old would want to try to stay hip with music. You’re not young during that time, not part of what the coming of age experience is like at the time. It’s not your time.
Plus pop music, by definition, appeals to the broadest group possible by being less complex - this is true of anything. I always use Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” (a massive avant-garde jazz hit in the 60’s), compared to something by the Beach Boys, Elvis, The Beatles, etc.
Everyone can grok what Elvis is singing, but even as someone who studied music theory, I find Kind of Blue challenging to grasp. And I hear/learn something new every time I hear it.
Even if you’re not personally experiencing the things pop music is currently about, there’s still plenty of really great stuff coming out all the time that you’ll miss out on if you stop listening to new things. For example, NPR popped up recently with a Tiny Desk Concert (which feels like a very Old way to find new music in itself) from Chappell Roan, and I would’ve been missing out big time if I’d skipped it just because she’s 15ish years younger than me and in a different phase of her life. A lot of it feels more nostalgic (fucking Casual, man, so many of us have been there) than current to my life, but it’s good music. And as a queer woman, gosh it’s great to see these queer artists who are able to write their feelings and experiences without having to keep plausible deniability in the lyrics.
I’d say what you’re (possibly) describing is something that’s less specific to it’s writer’s time/age/moment, giving it broader appeal. If someone is 17 and writing classical style music, I’d expect most who appreciates classical to take an interest. That’s just looking for new music, not a focus on staying “hip”, which, again, isn’t really an effective approach.
This fits with the reasons media/arts appeal the way they do - the more “base” it’s appeal, the broader that appeal will be, because more/most people understand it.
These aren’t my ideas - ask a professor of music (especially music history) the difference between the different classifications of music, and why they’re defined the way they are.
One great example: today most people would consider Opera to be “high-falutin classical stuff that us regular folks can’t grok cause we don’t know Italian”, when the reality is it was the popular music of it’s day, with Opera performances being a rough equivalent to TV shows today. Some Opera composers knocked out 200 operas, per year.
Check out any lectures by Prof Robert Greenburg, especially “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music” or “Music as a Mirror of History”, he explains these ideas very well.
I enjoy listening to college radio stations. They’re usually varied in music genres and tend to reflect what college students want to put on the airwaves.
I’m a fan of 88.3FM Central Carolina Community College Radio.
Underrated suggestion.
TIL CCCC has a radio station.
I’d never have thought of that. I’ll find an app with radio stations and give these a go too. Thanks.
Start dating a 19 year old.
Bro I ain’t drake.
I am aware that at this age gap is have nothing in common with a 19 year old other than sex.
19 is about 9 years too old for Drake.
By listening to their interests you’d keep your fingers on the youth’s pulse.
True.
I also realise I have no idea why Drake is rated so highly, dudes goofy as fuck and his music is mid at best.
Because he used to be in a wheelchair and now he’s not.
Is that what he meant when he said came from the bottom and now we here. He wasn’t talked economically, but literally vertically.
No, he meant that he grew up in Toronto’s cheap mansions and now he’s in a nice one.
Never take a break from culture. As soon as you take a year off you will be irrelevant. If that sound exhausting (it is) then congratulations; you have discovered why older people are never on top of pop culture.
“You will be irrelevant” to who? People whose identities are so wrapped up in popular culture they can’t conceive of someone liking something from 30, 50, 80 years ago? Lmao
Nah, tired advice. I was literally on a remote island for most of a year, and missed out on Harambe and clowns and whatever else happened that year. But if you have a real interest in pop culture you stay in tune. Most older people don’t stay on top of it because they don’t care to, which is fine it’s not for everyone.
Thanks. I’m not sure about being irrelevant but I do see that you have to put effort in to stay on top of the current culture or zeitgeist.
Aging? At 30? Kid, are you mocking us?
Ahhh to be 30 again
Yep. That was nearly 30 years ago…
I’m in my early 20s. Just how old are you geezers??
Just add your twenties to OPs thirties, and you are close. Yes, I remember the time before smartphones, internet, and influencers.
OP here. I am late thirties to be honest.
Anyway, there has always been influencers. What would you call Norma
JaneJeane.What would you call Norma Jane.
No idea. Who is she?
My apologies, it’s Norma Jeane Mortensen who was Marilyn Monroe.
My nana used to always say Norma Jeane, well to me it sounded like Jane so just assumed it was common knowledge with the older generation
I guess it doesn’t help that I misheard her lol
OK, that name is known. Amazing when you think that she and Queen Elizabeth II are born at about the same time…
Shut the front door. That is pretty wild to think about really.
Shame she died so young.
Obligatory, f to the royal family. As I Brit I can’t stand them or anything they stand for.
Rizzin in my skibidi forties no cap
Start paying attention to the top new & trending Spotify playlists in genres you’re interested in.
That’s a good shout. One thing I do try is the create station on Apple Music, but it really seems to not stick to the same kind of stuff a lot of the time. Even when starting things you enjoyed and not for the ones you didn’t.
Spotify is much better for music discovery / public playlists. I use Apple Music because it’s cheaper with the family plan, but if I’m wanting new music I will often open up Spotify just to view the playlists there and add the songs I like to my Apple Music playlists.
Thanks for this, I wasn’t aware. I’m not particularly attached to Apple Music, it’s just we got it free when I worked there and so never changed.
I’ll peep the playlists on Spotify.
Early 30’s here. I was at a small gathering my best mate put together about a year ago, and his 19 year old nephew was there. He expressed his interest in anime and we got chatting. While showing me some newer anime-related TikTok stuff (I have no social media myself and haven’t really kept up with modern anime), I heard some fucking awesome ‘aggressive trap’ stuff and asked him who the artist was. It was Lil’ Darkie and I was immediately hooked. I went down a rabbit hole searching his best stuff as well as other similar artists, and now have a huge playlist of great music I’d have never discovered on my own.
imo music discovery is a pretty organic process for most people. It’s cultural and spreads via word of mouth. Chatting with younger people may be the best way to go, but understand that the youth rightfully don’t want us in their spaces lmao
Honestly just keeping up with whatever social media is popular with young people is the best way to stay in touch with new music and pop culture.
Which I think is TikTok and I really don’t need that temptation of getting sucked into more short form videos. I lack the self control.
Perhaps I’ll take a look at kick as I’ve seen some other current trends getting traction on kick. Not necessarily legal but people doing shit like Squeeze Benz, swimming through traffic like a maniac.
TikTok has already succumbed to the Olds invading.
That’s why I thought it was hilarious that the US government wants to “ban” TikTok after it’s on the decline with the youth. TikTok at this point is mainly millennials hanging out, trying to find what cool stuff the youth are into.
Wherever the cool kids are hanging out, by the time we find out about it, they’re mostly going to have moved on to something else.
An alternative would be pop culture recaps on YouTube lol, I’ve done that during busy months sometimes. I’ve never heard of kick so maybe I’m not as caught up as I thought
Hey, now I’m the teacher haha.
Kick the streaming platform? All I know about Kick is the gambling, banned Twitch streamers, and the pseudo-Tate whackos like Adin Ross that seem to be supported by the platform. I am steering clear until they fix their reputation. If they fix it.
That’s one of the reasons I spend a lot of time in forums like this. To keep up with the latest stuff.
But then the latest stuff started being hella weird and I still couldn’t follow it even knowing the origins and context of popular trends and now I’m grumpy about kids on my lawn. 😬
Yeah some of the latest trends will whoooosh me.
Get a skateboard and go to your local skate park. Walk up to some kids and say how do you do fellow kids? What are we listening to today?
Make sure to wear your favorite Music Band tshirt.
just let the algorithm feed you the cultural gruel
The algos are not all there cracked up to be, they get quite repetitive.
It depends on which algo/service. Pandora and I have never meshed so I just avoid that one. YouTube occasionally tosses a good one in my feed. Spotify does well enough that I pay. SoundCloud is probably my favorite.
Aside from that, I’m subscribed to a few music communities here. That has widened my net. Same with imgur - 99% of the time I’m there for the memes but occasionally someone will post something that helps me find a new band.
I’ve gotten back into going to concerts. I go by myself and end up meeting bunches of new people and we all end up talking about music, sharing the names of our favorite tracks and bands.
You’re going to have to blaze your own trail. There’s so much new music being made every day that it’s very much a “needle in a haystack” thing.
Plus, don’t automatically rule out a band because they’re not new. That is, Alien Ant Farm was never on my radar until last year. Their cover of “Smooth Criminal” hit my SoundCloud recommendations. It’s from before MJ died…anyway, I’ve listened to some of their stuff and added some to my playlists.
Keep your ears and mind open.
Thanks for this. Soundcloud has been shouted out a few times on here so I’m gonna hit it up.
Do you have a few music communities on here or how you found them. Wait Imgur can up my severely lacking meme game?
Concerts is a good idea and I like to do things like that on my own anyway, nobody I know would ever come to a classical music venue so had to fly solo.
AAF Smooth Criminal is fire. Now I gotta go give it a listen it’s been a minute.
Yeah, it’s been years since I went to a show. Went to see Grouplove a couple of months ago and nobody I knew was familiar with them (very sad) so I decided to fly solo. Going to see Bleachers soon. Again, by myself.
Imgur will help your meme game, though not your sex appeal.
On here, I just started searching for things like “indie,” “alternative”, etc. I haven’t really come across too many communities dedicated to individual bands…well, none that I am interested in. YMMV.
SoundCloud has been worth the subscription fee, imo.
Yummm it gives the feeling of rebelling without actually doing anything or stopping working for even a moment 😋
Listen to music.
Interesting, tell me more about this music thing.
Its something you personally enjoy, not something you put an effort to hear of just to please somebody else. Did this help you?
I never mentioned pleasing anybody else. This is all for me my guy.
It’s easy to hear music, not so easy to keep finding music that is new.
Then proceeds to mention this is for my guy.
Have you got brain damage.
My guy is you in the context I used it my guy.
Do you have a damaged self-esteem?
Just my opinion, but I feel like you’re far to concerned with being “current”. No offence.
I’m 48 and when I was younger I swore up and down that “I wasn’t going to be like my parents, stuck in my ways musically, blah blah blah.” But you know what, it doesn’t actually matter. Literally at all. It’s vapid pop culture stuff that in adult world, no one actually cares about. Your friends aren’t going to be your friends simply because you like the same music as them. You’re social circle isn’t going to rise and fall based on how “current” you are because outside of highschool, literally no one gives a damn.
Like what you like. Listen to what you want. and don’t worry about staying “hip” because the entire concept is subjective and meaningless in the actual day-to-day world. No one is going to shun you for not knowing what’s happening between Kendrick whats-his-face and The dude from Degrassi. And if they do, they’re not really the kind of vapid social media obsessed people you should be associating with at your age anyway.
Again…just my opinion.
I think you might have my motivations a little confused.
I don’t want to be current myself. I want to keep up with current art, as it’s fascinating. Should I have not gotten in Beethoven and Chopin because those were before my time?
I don’t listen to vapid pop, pop music and what’s popular in different genres are two different things. I know I’m flogging this horse in a few comments, but Kendrick is certified lyrical genius and I never would have found him hadn’t I put the work in.
It’s not to make friends, hell I’ve got too many friends and I don’t need anymore. I don’t even share the new stuff with them as they don’t care, which is cool.
I do like what I like , hence I want to find more of what I might like you know.
I know you said it’s just your opinion, but I hope this gives more perspective on my intentions here, this is for me and me alone.
Ah. Gotcha. Makes sense.
From my initial read it sounded as though you were suffering from some kind of pop-culture FOMO, which is what I was responding to. If you’re just looking to find new stuff for yourself, than more power to you. But I still think you’re giving it a little too much thought. New tastes, new likes tend to come quite naturally without really hunting. Very much like you discovered Kendrick. You didn’t go out searching, it just came up.
To use myself as an example, at 48, most of my new music has come from just hearing something I like on the TV and looking it up. I discovered “The 88” through How I met your Mother and Community. I loved the theme music from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and was pleasantly surprised to learn that not only was it an actual band with MORE music, but it was literally a side gig for a comedian that I had already been enjoying for years. (Valley Lodge, if you’re interested. They don’t get enough love.) I discovered the Decemberists and Hawksley Workman both because I was trying to impress a girl at two different times in my life, but it turned out I really dug it.
My point is, don’t go looking for what’s popular, just keep your ears open and listen for stuff you like. Just looking by studying what’s popular at the time would have made me miss most of the bands I just mentioned.
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Bandcamp is nice, they have a curated genre section that updates frequently. College radio stations as someone mentioned, then just Shazam or whatever or look at their playlist online. I hate Spotify because it just gives you pop shit and doesn’t do anything niche or indie. There’s also SoundCloud, they make curated playlists of new stuff frequently. Sound cloud also has labels on there which curate some of their newest bands. It’s super easy to find niche indie labels I think. Lastly, look at lineups of local music spots. I used to listen to Deezer for finding non-US artists, but haven’t used it in a while since Bandcamp is kinda great about covering everywhere.
Thanks. I’ve not heard of bandcamp so I’ll have a look at that. +1 for the soundcloud shout out too.
What could be more current than the beatles?
There is always more current in ACDC.
JS Bach?
College/independent radio
