FEATURE:
My Generation?!
PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels
Does the Way We Experience Music Now Affect Younger People’s Knowledge of Older Artists?
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I am always shocked…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles in an outtake from the cover shoot for the Abbey Road (1969) album/PHOTO CREDIT: Iain MacMillan
when I mention a very well-known artist and someone younger does not know who they are. I am referring to people up to the age of thirty, for instance. For me, aged forty, I was raised on my parent’s record collection. I got to experience their sounds of the 1960s and 1970s. I was born in the 1980s, so I got music from that decade too. There was not much I missed out on. Now, it seems like more and more of those from Generation Z and Generation Alpha are sort of blank to ‘older’ artists. In an age of streaming and easy access to all music, there is a lot that is escaping people. Not to mention the fact that I talk about Kate Bush and so many people bafflingly have never heard of her! I discuss bands like The Who or Pink Floyd and they are not known. It is not like these artists are little-known and obscure. More and more, I am seeing this divide. People my age are still connecting with music of their childhood and the generation before that. Connected with physical music and the memories they hold. I do feel that we are also invested in new music and keeping abreast of upcoming artists. That is not to say that Generation X and Y are better educated and have greater knowledge. There are new artists that I do not know about. I guess that slightly older listeners may not keep in touch with the newest artists. It depends on their radio station choices and whether they engage with streaming services and explore them for seeking out new artists. It is galling that there are so many younger music fans that are not aware of some of the music legends. Even The Beatles will baffle some. Many of their songs and albums even are foreign to them. Is this simply laziness and narrow listening tastes on their part, or does it have something to do with how music is handed down and shared by parents and relatives now?
PHOTO CREDIT: Jorge Fakhouri Filho/Pexels
I have been thinking about this more and more. When young listeners do not know quite obvious and popular artists. Everyone can’t know everyone, though there are exceptions. It can be quite galling! If you try and connect with someone over music and there is this clear divide. It is not the case that all from Generation Z and Alpha are ignorant of classic artists. Even bigger artists from the past twenty years. I just find that there are too many that seem to have that big gap in their knowledge. It is more glaring than the other way around. I find more people my age or older are a little more curious of new music and at least know many of the iconic and influential artists who came before. The way I was introduced to music was through my parents. They were young in the 1960s and 1970s. Because of that, they kept records from that time and I was made aware of them. Now, for people aged up to thirty, there is a natural shift. Maybe fewer parents have vinyl and physical music that they are keeping and passing down. There is a worry that, as streaming is surpassing physical music in many ways, that there is less archiving and physical music being kept. This will naturally not only affect the musical knowledge and awareness that young people have. It means that they miss out on so much and are also less connected to physical music. I also feel that classic artists connect you to new music. You can see how they have impacted and inspired new artists. If you are mainly listening to new artists or particular genres, then you are not going to be conscious of an enormous part of music history. Someone not knowing about The Beatles’ catalogue or not knowing who Joni Mitchell is more than an age thing. That excuse that is always used: it is before my time.
PHOTO CREDIT: Brett Sayles/Pexels
No music is before anyone’s time! Anyone can access pretty much anything recorded. To say that you need to have been born at a particular time to know about music from that time is always so infuriating! We naturally will hear more of and be more familiar with the sounds of the time in which we grow up with. Radio and streaming services mean that we get to hear music from multiple decades. I worry that new generations are losing so much. Maybe that heritage of parents having albums on physical formats and ensuring their children knowing them is fading. We will get to a point where parents have very few albums in physical formats. That bands of the 1960s and 1970s will be less known. We are at a point when the nature of music preservation and knowledge is clearly changing. I don’t think that it is only a minority of Generation Z and Alpha music fans who are glaringly unaware of older artists. It does make me concerned about the future. I speak to people younger than me and there is very little we have in common when it comes to music. This was not the case when I was a child. I could speak with someone older than me back in the 1990s or early-2000s and there would be some connection and overlap. Now, more and more, there is this struggle to find common ground.
PHOTO CREDIT: PhotoMIX Company/Pexels
So many look blankly as I discuss music that I grew up on. Again, these are not obscure artists. One cannot simply blame laziness. I think that radio stations are designed so that each have a very particular age range and demographics. Streaming services not doing enough to promote and spotlight older albums and artists. Physical music is still very popular. But we still find that more younger music fans stream rather than buy. They will tend to go for newer sounds and stay more within a tight listening colour chart. You may disagree. You cannot ignore the fact that things are shifting. Few people I know in their twenties for example have parents who have an archive or classic albums or are discussing them. This will only get worse. I do feel that the modern landscape is still more concerned with what is current and cool. It is important new music is being shared and highlighted, though there is clearly an issue when it comes to music from the past. That disappointment and shock that one gets when you speak to someone younger and they do not know an obvious artist. I guess this is an issue as old as time. I do think it is more glaring and less forgivable now. How so many important artists have passed many people by. I do not know what the answer is. One cannot force young generations to connect with more of the past’s music. I do feel it is so important to emphasis the importance of physical music. That streaming service and platforms where so many listeners from Generation Z and Alpha do more to make sure that classic/older music is seen as important. The reverse is true. People my age or older also need to embrace new music and not just stick to the music we love and grew up with. This concern about certain artists and periods being lost or reserved to generations who grew up around them is huge. We do not want to get to a point when young listeners are presented with a classic album, great and legendary sound and hugely important artist and ask…
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WHO are they?