Heart and Mind

Old School

I never claim to be youthful and hip, and I certainly don't have any desire to be. Hell, just using a word like "hip" is dreadfully unhip to begin with, isn't it?

Sometimes, though, I hear non-young people comment that they are completely out of touch with what younger people are doing these days. As far as I'm concerned, that's kind of a good thing. It's called "acting your age," which is always, to me, far more impressive than trying to fool people into thinking you are young and hip.

Do you want to know what the best way is to prove you are old and out of touch? It's not simply by being "out of the know." You can be out of touch, but still standing close to the border. But when you get really out of touch, you start commenting on trends and concepts that you clearly think are the "new school," when in reality, those are also completely "old school," themselves. But because they're not as old school as, say, you are, they seem new to you.

Let me give a few examples.

Whenever you're illustrating a point, it helps to start off with the most extreme cases. And no one is more out of touch than my father-in-law. And it's not just because he's, well, old enough to be my father-in-law. It's because he's completely clueless. He's out of the loop even compared to what people his age usually know.

Well, back in the mid-ninties, whenever he'd be trying to think of something to converse with me about, he'd ask me about music related stuff, since he knew I was involved with that. Frequently, he'd muse about my being a drummer and cheekily ask if I was "going to be the next Ringo Starr."

Basically, Ringo Starr was about the only drummer he knew, and he knew he'd be "speaking my language" to say something like that. Ironically, that statement sort of actually worked, because it just so happens that I am a big Beatles fan and there certainly could be far worse examples he could have used. But that doesn't matter because he didn't know that. He just simply didn't know anyone else. So, what I thought to myself was, "Um...you do know that the Beatles broke up before I was even born, right?"

Again, I listen to and cherish tons of stuff that pre-dates my existence, so that's not the point. But I know my father-in-law, and I really think that he thought the Beatles are representative of "that rock and roll young people like."

Here's another example. Every now and then, I still hear people my age complaining about "today's music" by saying, "I hate music today. I hate all that grunge stuff."

I usually have to say, "While I agree that today's music is not to my liking and that I always thought 'grunge' sucked, you do realize that 'grunge' describes a movement that was, like, fifteen years ago, right? If you're actually keeping score of trends, that one has been passé for a long time."

It kind of makes sense, though, that people would lose touch. Once you get off the train and stop paying attention to youthful popular culture, it all just sounds like "that crap that kids are into."

Screw trends, anyway. I think you're better off trying to avoid being manipulated by the great societal influence and what the media tells you is new and exciting and important. The world is big—go out and find what works for you .

But while you're out there finding your way, just don't even pretend you know what's what. Unless you're talking to another square who's your age.

posted by Steve @ 9:19 PM