So I wanted to share this, I was in a conversation with someone talking about revolutions and whatnot, and they mentioned how people make famous the teenage girls taste in music, aka the boy bands, and they are stupid and will by anything and whatnot, but it's not that, it's that that's a stereotype, and that it's MARKETED to teenage girls, so here's a post I wrote,
"It's the stupid marketing campaign. I always thought I was the only one on earth who didn't like that crap, but thinking back now, I knew of maybe 5 friends who liked it, and no one else talked about it. I realize it was the media that made it seem like they were oh so popular. My mom told me a while ago that when those people came out, she was scared, because she didn't know what was going on and the music and everything was so bad, but she never told me that when I was little. They would talk on the news and say that all these teenage girls are in love with Backstreet Boys and they were screaming for them, then they'd show a couple, and it made it seem like the whole world liked them, much like a year ago I saw something that said "EVERYONE loves Justin Beiber" when everyone I know hates him, ESPECIALLY my little and teenaged girl cousins.
It's also the way they market rock and roll. I frankly NEVER felt like rock and roll was a guy thing, but that's because I grew up hearing it on the radio and not seeing it, in the late 90s when no one was talking about it, so I definitely wouldn't think it wasn't girly to like Ozzy. When I grew up and started watching shows about the musicians I grew up with and glam rock and how all the musicians were guys, and especially that stupid music video for Here I Go Again, which is a song I always loved, and then I see that girl rolling around on that car, I could tell it wasn't marketed for me. What the world really needs to do is get rid of the stereotype that young girls are supposed to like bad pop, and give them more support for liking decent music, and TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT GOOD BANDS because it is NOT their fault that they don't know of anything other than the garbage pop of today, so the real revolution will start when older people teach younger people of good music, and if teenage girls are so stupid and buy whatever is thrown at them, then show them good music. After all, and this is why I hate those stupid stereotypes, TEENAGE GIRLS IN THE 90S WERE GRUNGE TOO! I remember looking up to the cool, flannel clad teenage girls I saw at that time. It is not because they like bad pop, it's because they are pressured into liking it.
Of course the media is the main pressuring thing on society, and I get it would be hard to change that, but if older people did make it easy for younger people to know of and like rock, and maybe just straight up tell them their thoughts on how stupid the pop people of today are instead of enabling this horrid generation, then at least that's a start. I should be more pressuring with my little cousins, but hey they already make fun of Justin Bieber more than I do. I've heard the phrase "We don't like it but it's all there is" so many times I want to puke. Part of the problem is also apathy. Heck, we could go beyond the media. If we could somehow spread the word to older people to show their kids decent music, and make it feel like they really don't have to like the garbage of today, maybe tell them how it used to be like elders in tribes do with their young to keep their stories going for all eternity, then THAT will be the revolution."
and then I took that to another site and commented more with
"So I urge you older people, or anyone really, TELL KIDS ABOUT GOOD MUSIC! It's not their fault all they have to choose from is crap." "I'm a girl age 20 and my favorite thing in the world is grunge, and I grew up listening to 70s and 80s music and loving it, and like I said, all my little girl cousins hate hate the pop of today. You're just used to hearing that stereotype. Heck, I showed my little cousins some music, and they liked it, especially Veruca Salt, The Breeders, and Splendora."
and
"I've heard some people stupidly say stuff like "I'm tired of everyone saying that because no one they know likes this stuff that that means that not many people do. It's in the media!" like hello, you disproved your own thing by talking about all the people who see all the people around them and virtually NO ONE likes the garbage the media says they like. It's not the people going by the people around them that are wrong, the people that are wrong are the people thinking everything the media shows them is right. It's as stupid as looking at the media and then thinking that most of the world is made up of celebrities, when really they are only a small percentage of the population. Granted, there will be some people that like that stuff, but look around, all I see is hate, and the love for the stuff that I do see is peer pressure from the media, and OF COURSE the media and stereotypes are only going to show the people that like that stuff, THAT"S WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR, and that's how it keeps going. Once people realize that television stereotypes are just that, STEREOTYPES, the easier it will be to both feel way less pressured from those stereotypes, and look around you and realize NOT NEARLY as many people like the stuff of today as the media suggests."
as well as
"Maybe try and tell them in a meaningful and heartfelt way that what they are doing is shallow, and really try to show them good music, or randomly start playing music one day and let them come to you and ask what it is, and maybe trick them into hearing something awesome without telling them it's old so that they get to like it before forming an opinion of it based off of it being old, or maybe start a club at your school, for a certain type of music, or like this page here trying to get rid of the current state of music and whatnot, but I know, it can be hard, I myself hate that the media shoves that music down my throat so that makes me apprehensive about showing it to more people, though I am trying to get better, but if we all could do that, that would probably change things at least a bit."
as well as
"Maybe try and tell them in a meaningful and heartfelt way that what they are doing is shallow, and really try to show them good music, or randomly start playing music one day and let them come to you and ask what it is, and maybe trick them into hearing something awesome without telling them it's old so that they get to like it before forming an opinion of it based off of it being old, or maybe start a club at your school, for a certain type of music, or like this page here trying to get rid of the current state of music and whatnot, but I know, it can be hard, I myself hate that the media shoves that music down my throat so that makes me apprehensive about showing it to more people, though I am trying to get better, but if we all could do that, that would probably change things at least a bit."
..after all, the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit is most popular with females, age 13-17.
Hi Kristin, this is Aaron from the band Moutheater. First, thanks for the link on your fb page. Would you be so kind as to shoot us an email? moutheater (at) hotmail (dot) com
ReplyDeleteThanks!
hey!
ReplyDeletehope it isn't weird that I stumbled across your blog randomly. I'm a few years older than you, but I got obsessed with grunge 10 years too late so I relate to so much of this.
Have you checked out Kristin Hersh's work at all? She was in a great band called Throwing Muses back in the 80's & 90's and now makes music that sounds like Kurt Cobain with ovaries in a power trio called 50 Foot Wave. You can check it out here (seriously, this isn't spam. I think you'll dig it).
http://50footwave.cashmusic.org/freemusic/
Oh yeah, Throwing Muses I checked out a bit, and only recently heard about 50 Foot Wave, but I like what I heard.
ReplyDeleteHey Aaron, great music you got there!
ReplyDelete