Oct. 23, 2007

Talkin ’bout Their Generation

Everyone knows that rock and roll is all about kicking out the jams: ditching uptight squares, taking long rides in the dark of night, and being a street fightin’ man — or woman. As The Who put it, it’s about hoping to die before you get old.

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I discovered this disturbing undercurrent of rock-as-the-soundtrack-of-familial-bliss when I began teaching a college writing class this semester. The undergraduates’ first assignment was to assess the personal meaning of any song of any genre. I was willing to wade bravely through the melancholy emo, the raging gangsta rap, the whiny indie rock, or even contemporary pop schlock in order to achieve my real agenda: a glimpse into the soul of my students, the inner world of their desire locked in their shiny iPods.

What I read in those papers was as unsettling and unfamiliar as the day Elvis shook it on the Ed Sullivan show — but hardly as exciting. For my students, rock and roll is not the aural fuel of rebellion but soundtrack of familial love and safety. The essays were not about chillin’ with the crew but hangin’ with mom and dad; and they were not about cruising into the mystery of the night, but heading off to Cape Cod in the mini van. Rock is no longer about alienation but connection; not about escape but home; not about rebellion but reconciliation. Even bands like Led Zeppelin and The Stones emerged from my students papers in an un-purple haze of family nostalgia.

Turns out that for my elite students — en route to becoming sharp suits and clever corporate cogs — rock and roll is simply one more element in the finishing process of becoming just like the folks. Roll over Bob Dylan and tell Norman Rockwell the news. Jack Black’s character in School of Rock had to teach his anxious and repressed grade schoolers what he knew viscerally: that the purpose of rock and roll is “Sticking it to The Man.” Given that most of my students want to become “the man” (in whatever gender the icon of power might come in today), it’s certainly not about sticking it to ‘em.

Truth be told, many of these essays pulled at my fatherly heart strings, but I am mostly disturbed by them. I am haunted by the fact that perhaps their parents are so scarred by their own years of boomer alienation that they now feel compelled to crush any sense of rebellion with the weight of a generation’s love, coddling friendship, and smothering safety. I could be wrong, but it seems that there ought to be at least an edge of disdain for the SUV-driving, suburban-dwelling, vanilla affluence of their parents, but instead, students remain hopelessly connected to them, not just by their ubiquitous cell phones but also by their parents’ record collections.

The collateral damage here has little to do with contemporary debates about politics in the classroom and everything to do with students’ ability to live life freely and creatively. There are glimmers of hope, but they’re only glimmers. One particularly sharp student trailed me back to the office after an intense discussion about the “authentic” in Bob Dylan’s work. “Why,” he asked longingly, “don’t we learn more about this in college?” Honoring the sincerity of his quest, I resisted the retort, “Because you’re supposed to be talking about this with your buddies in the dorm.”

Ah, you say, but this is the hip hop generation, so why should I worry about rock and roll? Despite explicitly opening the assignment up to any genre, few of my students chose to write about rap, which I found astonishing. Their commitment to most hip hop (except for the lonely black student from Detroit) was very thin and interwoven with ambivalence. Rap simply seems to be what’s out there. They know the genre’s prime has passed, that the heart has been taken out of it by the record industry.

At the same time, white indie rock has been devoid of soul and blues influences — drained of the alchemical lifeblood created in the synthesis of white and black musical traditions. Indie is left with a whiny, trebly, irresolute sound that seems to fit the dull green glow of a computer screen in darkened suburban bedrooms. Music today is just another part of the price of America’s re-segregation.

My own kids’ strange connection to Dylan and the Clash at the tender ages of 7 and 10 suggest that I may be well on my way toward being part of the problem. Am I screwing them up by not adequately screwing them up, softly indoctrinating them into the glory days of rock and roll over family brunch on Sunday? Will they learn about the backbeat of power and rebellion at the displays of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame instead of the more illicit places they ought to be receiving such education?

Of course, the most famous momma’s boy of them all was the king of rock n roll himself, Elvis Presley, and in that fact there is home for the youth of America. But that was before cool had become one of the official anchors of consumer capitalism, before the commercialization of dissent had extended into every crevice of American culture. If the reason “Why Johnny Can’t Dissent,” as Tom Frank put it, is the commodification of resistance, maybe it’s also why Johnny doesn’t know his rock from his rebellion.

Jefferson Cowie is an associate professor at Cornell University.

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Comments

Now you know why...

Now you know *why* Roger Daltry wanted to die before he got old. But like most of us, he didn’t have the gumption. sigh.

Crnaky Old Prof, at 8:40 am EDT on October 23, 2007

Irony

Nicely written!

We could lay some of the responsibility for a lackadaisical attitude on the part of todays kids at the feet of boomer parents. Sure, boomer parents often don’t seem to understand the boundary between where they end and their child begins. The living at home,cell phone, email, texting umbilical cord may not be cut until much later than in our generation.

Ironic, given that rebellion was supposed to be about establishing an identity for oneself separate from our preboomer parents, Dean and Frank be damned. Pushing the boundaries was supposed to be the mission.

I know many of todays generation to be pretty good, talented, smart, creative individuals.

Do they have the gonads to flout, or even stand up to authority for that matter? Well, mostly,only if it is going to result in some material reward for themselves. Forget philia, altruism, charity or principled conviction.

I am not saying that it does not exist in the college generation, I am saying that it is the exception and not the rule.

It has been my observation though, that those who started out wild when young are more conservative now, WHile those who were conservative while young are now sowing their wild oats as adults.

Balance in all things.

Bob, at 8:50 am EDT on October 23, 2007

Excellent!!

I like it!Oh, why can’t today’s college students be the whiny, nacissistic, drug-addled hairy slobs that their parents were? All these clean, responsible hard workers sicken me as well. Why don’t they get their political views from guitarists, like we did back in the 60’s, man?

Sk, at 10:55 am EDT on October 23, 2007

Excellent article! It would have been interesting to go one step further. It appears that the majority of the articles were written on classic rock and roll—the type that the boomer generation listen to, and for which the affiliation to family would be found—this is what our parents listen to. What about today’s rock bands — Tool, Seether, Linkin Park, Pantera, Perfect Circle, and a host of alternative rock that is being listened to by today’s youth. The message in those songs is definitely different. With 3 rocker children, 18-25, when I ask them who they listen to, the answer is not the same list as mine, although we share a number of the same ones. It’s surprising how a lot of today’s rock n’ roll deals with suicide, addictions, depression, and lack of self confidence.

Chloe MacDonald, at 11:20 am EDT on October 23, 2007

talking about it vs. living it

The fact that the author teaches at Cornell speaks volumes. Of course most of these students are going to have middle class values! Although one would hope that people would break out of that stereotype and live differently from their parents, the chances of that ever happening are slim.

I’d agree with Bob—at least part way. It’s been five years since I graduated from college, and I’ve seen how many of those who were the most vocal against “the man” are now much more conservative, and the squares who quietly held the same beliefs but didn’t crow about it are still living an unconventional life. Just because they were quiet didn’t mean they weren’t as ardent—they simply lived it, rather than just talked about it.

One of my best friends from college would probably have written positive things about her parents (who are still hippies, BTW), but she was pen pals with a convict on death row (now executed) and took off a semester to study alternative elementary schools all over the country. She now gardens, lives a truly simple life and recently started her own school that doesn’t ask for a large tuition. If that’s not sticking it to “the man,” I don’t know what is.

Jessica, at 12:30 pm EDT on October 23, 2007

Kids these days....

Open your eyes and realize that the revolution is online!

Seriously, though, the revolution which this generation (whatever that means) is enacting is against the tyranny of static media, imposed meanings (like rock=rebellion), simple dualisms like conformity-counterculture.

Art always means different things to different generations. Opera used to be pop culture, scandalous and edgy.

Jonathan Dresner, at 2:25 pm EDT on October 23, 2007

You don’t see it?

You’re “the man” professor! And it sounds like they stuck it to you pretty good!!!!

Rebellion of affluent youth was their parents’ (and teachers’) gig. They are choosing their own road. They embrace family and togetherness and love their comfortable lives, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.

Jan Bernstein Chargin, Dit., Public Info at Gavilan College, at 2:25 pm EDT on October 23, 2007

Decrepit boomers

Oh God, we’re going to have to listen to self-centered drivel from aged hippies now for the next thirty years until they finally all die off.

Not your generation, at 4:05 pm EDT on October 23, 2007

Sarcasm Aside

Despite the sarcasm of most of the comments above, I was struck by this line: “Music today is just another part of the price of America’s re-segregation.”

I want to believe this line of thought may have merit, but the evidence seems overwhelmingly to the contrary. What of all the white male rappers and wannabes (i.e. Eminem, Kevin Federline)? And what of the masses of white teens and adults listening to all the derivations of hip hop? Although I might be tempted to “other” those masses, this late-30s white male owns and listens to albums by Common, Arrested Development, Digable Planets, etc. We clearly share ~something~ in common: there seems to be plenty of evidence that music, at least, is not a source of resegregation.

So I ask in turn of Jefferson Cowie: to what kind of re-segregation is he referring? Cultural? Economic?

Even if the revolutionary theme of the sarcastic comments above is put aside, again, what is the merit of this piece? Isn’t it abundantly clear that the spirit of rock-n-roll just been recast? Doesn’t Eminem represent the bad-girl/boy spirit of rock-n-roll as much as Page and Plant ever did? — TL

Tim Lacy, at 4:05 pm EDT on October 23, 2007

Give ‘em the first Minor Threat 7″ and see what happens.

Alex Golub, Assistant Professor at U. Hawai’i at Manoa, at 4:50 pm EDT on October 23, 2007

Rock-and-Roll and Rebellion

Some random thoughts on a silly article:

1) I’m 50 years old. All their lives, my students have heard my generation’s music used as the soundtracks of TV commercials peddling everything from boring cars to financial services. If Madison Avenue uses rock music to sell the products of Detroit and the services of Wall Street, then by definition the music no longer has anything to do with rebellion, change, or even mild disgruntlement. Cadillac commercials employ Led Zeppelin tunes. Rock is dead. It’s been dead for a long time.

2) So today’s young folk get along with their parents. Why, exactly, is this not a good thing?

3) If young folk are conservative, maybe they learned from their boomer parents who sold out all their values so they could get the Cadillac advertised in the commercial with the Led Zeppelin music.

4) Aging boomer (to 20-year-old): “So tell me, young man, what comes to mind when I talk about acid rock, rebellion, social consciousness, stickin’ it to the man, protest marches, and sit-ins?”

Twenty-year-old: “Umm...You wish you didn’t have prostate trouble?”

Bill Melater, at 5:15 pm EDT on October 23, 2007

Talkin’ ’bout my self-centered generation

Not Your Generation, I agree with you. If you think us Boomers are self-centered now, just wait until we start taking Social Security next year. We’re going to tax the hell out of the next generation to pay for our Medicare, then we’re going to tax what’s left of their money to pay for our Medicaid nursing homes. After us, the deluge.

Jack Olson, at 4:05 pm EDT on October 24, 2007

OK, I’m a female in my early 30’s who likes many genres of music. In high school and college, I did the rock-and-roll rebellion, drugs and drinking thing. And rock from artists like Led Zeppelin & Bob Dylan, along with Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica were our soundtrack, and that music still meant rebellion to us. We didn’t necessarily know who we were rebelling against, but we were young and thirsting for the freedom to be ourselves, all the while trying to figure out who exactly “ourselves” was.

I don’t think it’s a matter of getting old, but instead a matter of maturing and a re-ordering of priorities, rather than “selling-out.” If I become a parent, sure I still want to cruise around in a Camaro, but I care more about protecting my children than my wants, so I buy the minivan with anti-lock brakes, front & side airbags, etc. I can buy a Camaro when the kids move out.

Just my 2 �

Shana, at 4:15 pm EDT on October 24, 2007

Conformity

...has never been cool.

I’ve gotten similar writings from students, singing the praises of their “friend” parents, and espousing their uncritical belief in traditional values. Cliches.

The post-boomers have given their children an unnecessary fear of being without “connection.” We’re just making them children longer.

A life of the mind is necessarily a solo task.

“We live as we dream—alone.” —Joseph Conrad, _Heart of Darkness_

Adam, Instructor of English, at 5:05 pm EDT on October 24, 2007

Rebel?! Against what? We live in the land of anti-everything!. There is not an institution, person, place or thing left standing that warrants a good old fashioned rebellious response. The black & white world of our parents dealt in absolutes (or so we thought) that left you on one side or the other. Today, not only do you not have to take a stand, you have no reason to leave your seat. What teen has the time or inclination, to squeeze in a righteous revolt against oppression or injustice, while texting, downloading or instant messaging. Today’s world can’t be found on an atlas. It’s powered by a lithium battery, and stored in the back pocket of a pair of distressed jeans. 60’s Rock & Roll was the soundtrack to the collected conscience of my generation. A generation I’m sorry to say, that was just too damn thorough in the business of rebellion. A group that “been there did that” to exhaustion, and left no room, hope, or desire for a “reality based” rebellion generation today. Fat drunk & stupid may be no way to go through life, but with Barack, Brittany, & Barry (Bonds) leading the way, it just might be the best.

Gordo, Rebel? Not now I’m texting, at 5:05 pm EDT on October 24, 2007

What bothers me about this is the nature of the assignment. It seemed like it was more for the instructor’s curiosity than for its pedagological value.

I also have to wonder about the fact that when elite students are given the choice of writing about a song in any genre, the instructor assumes they’re going to write about popular music. He doesn’t say anything that suggests they wrote about something else. Which is a shame because people like Mozart and Schubert wrote some pretty good songs.

(On the other hand, if it was me I would have picked “Stand By Your Man", but that might have put the thought police on my tail, so I might have copped out and picked “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.” But they’re both great songs and one could write wonderful essays about either one of them.)

But I’m really wondering if you can tell anything about a group of students by what they write about a song. Most popular songs are pretty insipid — well, not Stand By Your Man, or the Beach Boys, or surfer songs of course, but most others — so it’s not like someone who is smart enough to get into Cornell is going to find much personal meaning in them. Chances are he hasn’t thought much about it until a professor tells him to find some personal meaning in a song and then write an essay about it.

If the students had picked someone like Barry Manilow we’d have reason to worry, butI just don’t see how you can discern much from what the author describes that the students did.

AYY, at 5:00 am EDT on October 25, 2007

I do not understand the relevance of listening to, talking about, and writing about rock music in university. I did those things outside university

Why not listen to and write about music that one will hardly hear outside school facilities, such as general to hard-to-find classical music (European, Asian, etc.), folk music from Third World countries, and so forth? Even if some of these works might be available online or in places like public universities or cultural centers, many of those who are experienced in talking about them work in places like universities.

Ralfy, at 1:15 pm EDT on October 25, 2007

Don’t sell young people short...

I don’t like saying that today’s students don’t have any fight in them. Indeed, why should they associate classic rock that their parents listen to with any kind of rebellion? I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, the Stones, the Beatles and Bob Dylan...on family vacations. Rock just isn’t the rebellious music of youth anymore. It’s what our parents listen to on headphones while they mow the lawn.

20-something professional, at 12:50 pm EDT on October 26, 2007

(Okay, let me apologize in advance. This is probably one of my favorite topics, so it might get a bit ranty.)

I think part of the issue involving views on rock music is that like rap, genres like rock, indie, alternative, and everything else have become mass-produced, but the ideas that go along with them have been lost in translation. The so-called “rebellion” is on sale right now at stores like Hot Topic. The fact that stores like these even exist is a contradiction of itself. Just think of what the neighbors will say. “Oh, wow, you look different and rebellious, just like the other 1000 people that bought the same pair of pants you’re wearing.”

Sometimes people forget. Rebellion isn’t music, it can’t be bought or sold, it’s not even about being different. It’s about being yourself, despite who other people tell you to be, or to be like. It’s taking your life in your own hands, not settling for something less just because you get tired of looking for something better.

The article says, “What does rock mean for a generation that has never been allowed to be young — let alone hope to die before they get old?"Take a second to think about this. When did you give someone permission to allow you to be young or old? Does anyone truly have and/or deserve the ability to control your life, aside from yourself? Did they ever have it to begin with? You might say it’s for your own good, or that it’s a free country, but what do things like free or good actually mean in those contexts?

Boundaries have been and are being broken through music and everything else, but you’ll never see anything even CLOSE to that mentioned on fox news. It might make the population actually think! Sometimes you just have to take a deeper look into things. The mainstream rock or indie music might have a lot of fans, but that’s why it’s mainstream. It’s generalized. If you look at individual music subcultures, or individual anything else for that matter, it’s easy to find people that aren’t completely apathetic or oblivious to the things going on around them.

It’s possible that the students who wrote those essays didn’t take a deep enough look into the music they listen to. Sometimes they listen to things for the lyrics and ideas behind the songs, but sometimes they’re only interested in the beat. Maybe they just wanted something to dance to.

Chelsea, at 5:00 am EDT on October 29, 2007

I knew I should have written about Sondre Lerche. Sorry J.C.

Sorry J.C., Cornell, at 6:10 pm EST on November 10, 2007

rock and roll is family because its rebels are now parents

for me rock and roll is my mothers past, its the tunes that played while she drove me two school and even now being almost an adult and knowing rock and roll was not intended to be about family ties its what it became because of its large impact on my parents lives. “Sticking it to the man” is no longer the message it gives which is fine because it’s not the message we as a generation need. Our message should read: Be A better Man [or woman]. Instead of fighting high powers try to be the high power and fix the issues. My generation is going to be a generation of big change and no longer will we stick it to the man in stead we will be the man, advise the man, and hold the man accountable.

Brittany Elsevier, Ms., at 2:40 pm EDT on July 17, 2008

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