I was talking yesterday to my pal Amy, who is an accomplished music writer and always good for a little astute opining. I asked her if she thought that our generation (the late Xers-early Yers) would ever really be credible. I seem to encounter issues with asserting my own credibility in certain company when I mention that the first band that ever made me think about my own condition was Nirvana. I was eleven years old when Nevermind came out, and I was rotting under a cloud of cock rock and hair metal in Midwestern suburbia. No, my first favorite band wasn’t Black Flag, but I got there…so how is the path I took any less credible than my peers a few years older?
I asked Amy for her opinion because she’d recently contributed to a NPR segment called “The Sound of a Generation” for its renowned All Songs Considered, where she joined former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein and NPR Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson to talk about the roles popular music has played in each of their lives and the lives of their peers. Amy is my age, so many of her early entrees into alternative or independent music were the same as mine - the bands we had access to, like Nirvana, turned us onto the bands that meant something to them, like Sonic Youth and the aforementioned Black Flag/SST scene.
Just 5-10 years older, Carrie’s and Stephen’s experiences were completely different. Their teen years were spent in American indie underground, before Nevermind blew the doors off and exposed its tattooed underbelly to the masses. Music nerds who are 5 years younger than me also had a different experience finding and ingesting offbeat stuff during their formative teen years - the Internet.
So, gentle reader, where do you stand? What was your first favorite “cool” band?
7 responses so far ↓
wendy // Jun 19, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Iggy singing Dog Food. I was in Jr. High. Loved it. Probably XTC and Elvis Costello after that, but I’m a tad older than you and Amy
wendy // Jun 19, 2008 at 6:34 pm
…like about 20 years older, ha-ha.
tankboy // Jun 20, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I’m not sure that younger critics are viewed as less credible, but I do think there’s a superiority complex with folks my age or older in that we can always use the trump card, “You know, back in the day, indie rock meant something and wasn’t so easily accessible.”
Sure, it’s kind of a snooty argument, but things in the music world are a LOT different than they were back then. I was watching the Exile In Guyville DVD yesterday and it reminded me of just how different stuff was back then.
I think I’m getting off topic though.
As far as musical entry points, I don’t think anyone can judge anyone else harshly based on that sort of thing. Just because Henry Rollins wasn’t sweating on you crowd surfing in some basement does not mean you can’t have a deep love and appreciation for Black Flag. Right?
And for me, my first favorite “cool” band was probably The Ramones. But my first favorite band was Kiss or The Beatles … and I still think they’re both pretty cool.
» Indier than thou…? A Really Cool Song: What The World Is Saying About A Really Cool Song // Jun 20, 2008 at 3:03 pm
[…] than thou…? Posted in June 19th, 2008 by in Uncategorized Indier than thou…? …our generation (the late Xers-early Yers) would ever really be credible. … formerSleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein and NPR Song of […]
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Mikayla // Sep 27, 2008 at 12:23 am
Definitly the Like young there was an mp3of some of there old stuff on the family computer when my mom first bought it.
Mikayla // Sep 27, 2008 at 12:24 am
The Like Young, there was an mp3 of some of their old stuff on the family computer when my mom first bought it.
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