Musical hooks with barbs
In the car, my son plugs his MP3 player into the “entertainment center” (what used to be a radio with bad sound, when I was young) and brings up his musical choice. I’m surprised to hear a song by Hendrix, one that I’ve only heard a couple of times before. Is this the new classical music for future generations? The odds are good, because the only definition of classic that comes to mind would be instrumental music from at least one generation before. Hendrix fits the reference.
I’m surprised, in a good way, about the staying power of music from my youth. Be it the 60’s, the 70’s, the 80’s (I stayed young for a very long time) there are thousands of pearls out there, waiting to be strung together into the necklace of a playlist. Hit the right moment and there’s not a chance that I’ll be tuning away in search of something else. If nothing else, the music has hooks with barbs. I’m not so sure that we’re going to be so entranced with the rap or the trance that is in production this decade, once the financial crisis has passed and people start listening to the detritus of our decade.
This was a father and son evening, so we headed off to a cheap neighbourhood restaurant for salad and shrimp, followed by some DVD rentals. The choices weren’t great; more than a few of the black boxes were already out the door, but I decided to opt for some classic Monty Python after we’d watch Steven Seagal keeping the world free once again. No trains this time around.
