When Gen Z Hears Boomer Music for the First Time

My Dad never said so, but I think he probably didn't like the music of my day very much. There were exceptions. He liked the band America but he was more of a Stan Kenton and Herb Alpert kind of guy. And as I age, I find myself becoming more of a music snob. I like pretty much everything (sans rap) up to about the time Taylor Swift became popular, and then I sort of hit the Young People's Music Sucks stage of my life. I just don't think the lyricism of today's writers is very good, and the music itself doesn't appeal to me. I ignore it and revert to the 70s. Probably something many people my age do.

However, I have to give some young people credit for their open minds. They have me beat. I've been watching stuff on YouTube with a lot of Gen Z/Gen Alpha (1997-2025) people hearing my classics for the first time...and liking them. A lot. And this makes me feel really good inside. It's sort of like having somebody from France come over to stay with you, and they end up falling in love with your country.

Watching a couple of twenty-something YouTubers hear Kid Charlemagne for the first time and get absolutely gobsmacked by how good it is, even today, because it came out in 1976, well, it just warms the heart.

Or when they go ga ga over Lido Shuffle, Takin' it to the Streets, or My Everything. For some reason, it's particularly gratifying to hear a black guy call Blue Collar "spiritually funky." Some of you may already know this as a favorite of FM radio's midnite album rock programs from BTO, who were five of the whitest guys ever from the great white north. To see a black guy enjoy it so much gives me hope for race relations. Just as does a white guy listening, and loving, Marvin Gaye for the first time.

It's gratifying to see people in their early years loving the same music from my early years. Yes, kiddos, we knew how to rock, too. And I think a lot of the staying power of Rock and Roll or R&B is their ability to connect through the generations. We lived with some of the same cultural changes, the same generational differences, and the same problems with relationships then that we do today.

Start Your Weekend Right With Seven Great Steely Dan Songs

I think the fact that the instruments haven't changed all that much helps, too, but it's more than that. The writing was so much better. You had to have a basic understanding of history to get what Al Stewart was singing about when he mentioned Faith, Hope, and Charity in Flying Sorcery. The song is about the freedom of flying, and refers to the last three biplanes that defended Malta in WW2, and how that was a metaphor about standing up in the face of your own adversity.

Or Deacon Blues, one of the best tracks that Steely Dan ever laid down. A song that tells of personal growth and dealing with failure required one to have actually paid attention in English classes where you learned to break down poetry.

Not everything was a cerebral exercise, however. The Knack had its place, too, and performed one of the best driving songs I've ever heard. The commentary that follows by the two hosts I linked is kind of funny because they have no idea what a "Sharona" is. As pubescent teenagers in boarding school, we all figured that one out right away. Because we had gutter-minds. Anyway...

Watching these YouTubers enjoy my music and hearing it for the first time has been a lot of fun for me. And I have to say that these guys are much more open to doing that than I am about listening to theirs. I'm not sure what that says about me, but it is slightly humbling, and maybe I will try to open my mind a little. Just not Taylor Swift....

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