Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Geography

The other day I was listening to an All Songs Considered episode exploring the idea of the music of a generation.

The show naturally kicks off with Nirvana... and then looks backward to hippie-era rock, hip-hop, and punk, before tackling the question of the current crop of music listening kiddies. Interestingly enough, there doesn't seem to be a clear voice for Generation Whatever You Want To Call It. There is even some discussion on the show about whether the concept of music that 'defines a generation' is even applicable, or whether the topic of discussion itself is characteristic of other generations.

Sadly, the show ended off with some American Idol references, and talk about 'new distribution' (Soulja Boy ringtones).


Anyway - the other day at work we were talking about CANADIAN MUSIC, and more specifically, Blue Rodeo. I can't really think about a band that fits more comfortably into the CanCon category. Somebody asked what the equivalent would be in the US, and I couldn't really come up with a clear answer. I think the question there might be more regional (the South doesn't 'sound like' New York). Furthermore, it is difficult not to approach the discussion with some regard to time periods. I associate Beck with Los Angeles, but LA at a certain point in time.



Your thoughts ???

1 comment:

ButterPeanut said...

REM seems to be pretty definitive of "our" generation (would that be x? are we x? I feel like Gen X people have kids in elementary school already).

I'm completely mystified by what the kids today are listening to.