It’s all so clear to me now.
I’ve always been surprised at the amount of my students who like really crappy music. For example, the 14 year-old boys who seem shocked that I don’t like Westlife.
What?
The?
Fuck?
Why on earth would they think any guy would listen to that? They also like Backstreet, NSync and a multitude of other shitty “bands.” I’ve never understood why anybody would voluntarily listen to that stuff. Music copying is all the rage in Korea, even moreso than in the U.S. You can go onilne and get practically any song, by any artist, from any decade. Yet they seem content to listen to the same 10 shitty groups.
I’ve never been able to figure out the compulsion to listen to this crap –
until today.
It would seem that it’s taught to them from an early age. I live right next to an elementary school, and have a decent sightpath to the playground. More importantly (or not – but we’ll go with “important” for the purposes of this entry) I’ve got a decent soundpath. Meaning I can hear just about everything that goes on out there. Fighting, crying, playing, screaming – plus anything that comes over the loudspeaker. Ordinarily it’s just school announcements and the occasional playing of the national anthem. No problem there. I expect stuff like that. But sometimes they’ll play music.(See where this is heading??”I’m typing this at home right now, and recess is in full swing. And what do I hear coming over the P.A. system?
Motherfucking Abba?!?
I feel the need to repeat myself here.
What?
The?
Fuck?
What kind of message is this sending to impressionable youths? I’m all for people experimenting and trying new things, but there oughta be an age limit before you pull out the Abba. I’m not one to sound the “what about the children?” call to arms, but I’ll have to make an exception in this case. By limiting kids’ exposure to foreign music to just the shit groups, you’re “warping their fragile little minds” forever.
I’m not saying they should go to the other end of the sonic spectrum and start pumping out Judas Priest or Marilyn Manson, either. But it’d be better to have no foreign music at all than just a non-stop flood of crap.
I used to laugh at them when they spoke about music. Now I see I was wrong. I should pity them instead. Poor bastards never had a chance.
(Oh, in case you’re wondering, it was “Dancing Queen.” ::shudder::)