STILL MORE REAL MUSIC (about politics and culture)

It is interesting to note that, given the anti-baby boomer rhetoric ending my last post, my buddy, Matt, years ago, handed me a photocopy of this article from the Atlantic, called "The New Generation Gap." The article clearly affected both my and Matt's thinking on how the so called X Generation (we have mutant powers...) relates to the Baby Boomers. For a while in the early 90s, spurred on by the success of Douglas Coupland's novel, Generation X, this new intergenerational animosity was played to the hilt by the media. I think that Time and Newspeak both did features on the subject; television news magazines, always hungry for content, also hit the story.

Years later, after developing friendships and good working relationships with many Boomers, and also after marrying a Boomer, I now think that much of the hype about this back in the early 90s was simply hype. However, I still think that there is a lot of truth in the analysis that there are, indeed, some patterns of difference between the two generations. I also believe that, as far as value judgments are concerned, both generations have upsides and downsides.

I do still have this resentment: Boomers, as a group, have waaaay more than their fair share of self-righteousness, hypocricy, and shallow materialism.

This calls for a song. Here are the lyrics to another mid 90s composition of my very own:

BOOMER

I always hear their rock songs on the radio and in movies.
I used to watch the reruns of their TV shows.
I've always heard their talk; they've taught me in the schools.
Everyone knows about the Boomers.

Yeah, yeah. Boomer news. Boomer views.
Boomer lectures. Yeah, Boomers paid their dues.
Boomer principles. Boomer pride.
They were once a bunch of hippies; now they're capitalists that lie.

Ever hear about the 60s? Only sixty billion times.
We learned that war was bad and love was good and rock would never die.
They've got a lot of righteousness. They've proclaimed it thirty years.
A nation's moral conscience, all those Boomers.

Yeah, yeah. Boomer need. Boomer greed.
Boomer values. Yeah, Boomers take the lead.
Boomer conformity. Boomer cash.
They got money in the 80s; they feel bad they once smoked hash.

Boomer stars. Big Boomer cars.
Boomer affluence. Yeah, Boomers work real hard.
Boomer hypocricy. Boomer high.
They were once a bunch of hippies; now they're capitalists that lie.

I don't wanna be talkin' bout your generation NO MORE!

Wanna hear it? For MP3 download, click here.

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