What are they teaching kids these days?

[serinde]

I don't know why I bother getting het up about "Top X Songs Of All Time" sillinesses, but, well, I do. This weekend, the local classic rock station is doing "top 1000 rock songs", and we're currently in the 50s.

Whereat it was revealed that "Smoke on the Water" clocked in at 58.

Excuse me? I beg your pardon? Pink tofu? The Riff That Conquered America, the single most recognizable riff in the history of rock, the riff that thousands of teenagers do their first air guitar to, and it's at 58?! Words fail to adequately express my disgust. (I was not overly comforted when Steve told me about a web discussion somewhere that had a bunch of young'uns trying to guess the different riffs Jack Black was teaching his students in School of Rock, and struck out consistently. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, we aren't talking obscure stuff like Rainbow or Metal Church, we are talking "Iron Man" and sundry AC/DC.) Our duty is clear: Steve and I must spawn in order to ensure that some portion of the next generation is properly educated.

Otherwise, it has been a quiet at-home weekend. Steve has been teaching Brian, naudia, and sweh to play Magic: the Crack Addiction. I built my very first blue permissions deck and I think I've got it working, and can proceed to annoy the world with it; Go Me.

Comments

Not all is lost

[zombywoof.livejournal.com]

FWIW -- My almost 10 year old likes motorhead. It seems Ace Of Spades is on the audio tracks of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, so he asked me if I had ever heard of that band before.

Heard of them? ROTFL. I responded with my usual " .. I was listening to them before you were an itch in my pants" , and proceeded to queue up a couple of CD's for him to listen to.

But hey times and music change ... back in the 70's people were decrying the fact that Elvis was forgotten, and people have said the same about Sinatra, Glenn Miller, etc. Don't get too worked up about.

After all, I didn't start seriously listening to classical music till I was in my early 20's ...

Re: Not all is lost

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

FWIW -- My almost 10 year old likes motorhead. It seems Ace Of Spades is on the audio tracks of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, so he asked me if I had ever heard of that band before.

"First hit is free, kid."

This sort of puts me in mind of the theory that horrors like Pokemon can be used to hook youngsters in to decent anime.

[pir.livejournal.com]

I would have missed much of that stuff if my father hadn't liked some of it - probably wouldn't have come across Deep Purple for a couple more decades at least.

A. didn't recognise AC/DC when it came up in my music rotation at home and she's not even that young.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

It's a nice riff, but not that great a song.

I'd still rate it above Stairway to Heaven, which ALWAYS gets number one. :P

(Let the holy wars commence!)

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

It's a nice riff, but not that great a song.

But it is a pillar of that genre currently dubbed "classic rock", you must confess, whatever one's opinion of the song itself is. There are songs I don't much care for which I nevertheless accept as being seminal works. (This point leading to a long car discussion on the differences and intersections between "top songs", "favorite songs", and "most influential songs".)

I'd still rate it above Stairway to Heaven, which ALWAYS gets number one. :P

Hey now...! :)

Steve likes to tell the story of one year during the nadir of the 80s recession, when a Buffalo classic rock station did one of those listener-voted countdowns, and "Won't Get Fooled Again" took the top spot for a change.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. 8)

And, actually, "Won't Get Fooled Again" is a pretty neat tune. It's got a good hook and stuff.

Classic rock isn't actually my forte, as you may have noticed...