It's all been done

I don’t think our teen generation does have its own subculture. I think what separates us (to an extent) is the blend of subcultures that we have, but that it’s all kind of already been done. I think a lot of kids today don’t really have one subculture that they fit into—they go into a lot of them. For example there are plenty of preppy kids who like rap, or grunge rock kids who like pop and peppier clothes. I don’t necessarily think our lack of our own subculture makes us less authentic, just less unique to an extent. I like being exposed to all these different subcultures and picking and choosing which ones I want to associate myself with. It’s fine if we don’t have one specific thing to call our own, and I think it would make it less authentic if we made something up. Besides, we do have new issues to deal with—mainly global warming. I was flipping through a catalogue I get, and there were a bunch of shirts that had stuff like “Green is the new black” and “More trees please” written on them, promoting planet conservation. I think that’s kind of a subculture—I mean every generation has its main issue, and global warming is kind of ours.

Listen to me! (Sorry this one's late too, Hjelmgren)

"It's a shame that the people who are listening to you the most are only interested in you because they want you and your peers to buy their product."

I guess that statement is kind of sad and true, but I never considered those ad companies people that I wanted to talk to. I don't think teens are running around so desperate to spread their message that they'll speak with a rep from some sort of ad agency only to find out that the only reason the rep listened was for the sake of being able to sell the product better. It'd matter more if they were the only people willing to listen, but I don't think that teens think of ad companies as a way to be heard, or that they even associate ad companies with it, so it isn't such a huge deal for teens. On a different level, it is sad that ad companies are the ones listening to teens the most--however I don't know that that's true. I think they try to listen, but ultimately they only listen until they find something marketable, so the listening only lasts as long as the product placement.

Get Happy (sorry this is so late, Hjelms!!!!)

My favorite Judy Garland song is "Get Happy." I didn't realize it until now because I'd never properly listened, but it's actually kind of a religious song. She repeatedly uses the word "hallelujah" and talks about going to the promise land. She's saying get happy because you're going to be saved, to an extent. Having actually payed attention to the lyrics, I find them a little odd--the song is so show tune-y, and I'm not big on the whole religious music thing. I still like the tune though. Originally I liked the song more for the tune and the main lyrics ("get happy"), that's what drew me to it. I guess the only idea I within the song that I relate to is the idea of getting happy, but otherwise I just think it sounds good. I know, that's way shallow.

http://www.lyrics007.com/Judy%20Garland%20Lyrics/Get%20Happy!%20Lyrics.html

All I Can Do is Write a Song For You

My favorite song by Rufus Wainwright is "Natasha." Here's a link to the lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rufuswainwright/natasha.html

I think the meaning goes into why he loves her and his confusion surrounding their love--love makes him vulnerable, so the entire situation is scary. He says he waits and swallows catty remarks, and I think that goes along with how people gossip and how he and the girl fight, and everything mean that's said. He says "I'm happy that you really care/ but do you really know/ how scary/ this is for you and is for me/" and it just shows that he feels like she doesn't understand his fear.

I love these lyrics. They are about love, but not from a gushy point of view as much as an "oooh my god what do i do?" point of view. I think that generally I have a pretty chilled out personality, and the song is calm and while the lyrics have a scared tone, they aren't frantic, just questioning. I also find the lyrics very easy to relate to--any sort of relationship can be confusing because you don't know what the other person is thinking, and it's kind of a paradox: fear love and love love. I know this all sounds totally cliche, but I guess my own confusing experiences as well as the idea of the paradox, along with the really soothing background, are what drew me to the song.

Oh What A World

I love Rufus Wainwright, but I don't think he necessarily represents the values of my generation, partially because he's not remotely a part of it, and he's also not part of the current popular music scene. Wainwright's songs combine a wide variety, mainly reflecting opera, show tunes, classical piano, and older pop music from the 1930's. His songs are mostly about love, although some are about odd experiences with drugs, specific needs, and his family. I guess to an extent he represents our values--love is pretty common, most of us have faced family problems, etc--but he doesn't really do it in a way that highlights what kids of our generation are going through. His songs are more....experienced sounding, I guess. He has this one song, "Vibrate," that's about being a little outdated. It's like a song looking at today's values as opposed to being a part of them.

Thank you, thank you very much

It's weird that Elvis was a revolutionary artist and that the music we listen to today branched from stuff he did, because I don't really consider any of today's music "revolutionary." Like it kind of seems like it's all been done. I mean with every decade there's sort of a new style, but I feel like now all the originality is gone. It was clearly a huge deal when Elvis shook his hips, super immodest and scandalous, and today's dancing isn't considered remotely modest, but what Elvis did is nothing. It's like everything has been pushed as far as it can. Before the 2000's there was already rock, pop, hip hop, electronic, r&b, country, alternative, etc. Every category has already been established. I guess to me it seems like music has nowhere else to go. I still love it though!

Post Prompt #1: "Who was your first favorite group or singer? How old were you at the time? What was important to you about this music?"

My first favorite group (as far as I can remember) was Nsync. I was eight years old, and my two best friends bought the Nsync cd for my birthday. It was important because it was my first cd, which was a big deal at the time, and because my two best friends liked the group, so it was one more thing to link us together.

Test

Self Explanatory