Whenever a baby boomer shares with me that they find the trending pop culture difficult to understand; when they tell me that they cannot comprehend why "young people like this kind of music" or "what is this bopping bopping thing about" or that "K-pop is don't know what kind of music, is not music at all, not dancing at all, so uncultured" or "why you young people like to listen to this kind of headache music" or that "these days I don't know what you young people are listening to", I simply smile and tell them that it's okay if they're finding the pop culture of the day a tad different from what they used to hear.
What's funny is that they speak to me like I'm one of the "you young people" (Yassssss!!!!) until I tell them that I'm actually a latecomer to the pop music, hip hop and K-pop and that I actually grew up on what is now called evergreens.
They don't believe me.
They don't believe me that at one time I actually squabbled with someone because he said that "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanllla Ice was okay music to listen to and I disagreed. *cringes at the memory*
They don't believe me until I tell them I can sing "Rose Garden" by Lynn Anderson, the whole "Country Road Take Me Home" by John Denver and "Please Release Me" by Engelbert Humperdinck. They also don't believe me that I know that 'ribbon' song by Brothers Four and the tune of "Ferry Cross The Mersey" and that I like "Stoney" and I know the opening line of "First of May". They always express surprise that I love the work of Simon and Garfunkel, and that I count "Sound of Silence" and "Scarborough Fair" as two of my favorites.
They don't believe me that I didn't get to hear my first love ballad until I was thirteen, and that it was "Dying to Love You" by Timmy Thomas and that for months afterward I was genuinely fascinated by what I would later come to know as R&B.
That whilst my peers were listening to Mandopop and Cantopop and Spice Girls and Take That and Pet Shop Boys, I was listening to music from Ritchie Valens and Engelbert Humperdinck.
And that even though I owned the AQUA cassette ("Barbie Girl" interested me), and that I later sneaked in stuff from Kenny G and Soul Asylum, it would be three years later before I started listening for real to pop, soft rock and whatever was on general airplay, leading me from Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears and Westlife to Vertical Horizon, Incubus and Semisonic.
They don't believe me.
Maybe because it is what I do, and maybe because it is how I these days appear to be.
Sometimes I appear to be like I've been in this for a long, long time, and it always comes as a surprise when I say otherwise.
Still, I'm glad for this rather diverse route that spans the generations from the 60s to present-day, and that I don't care what it is or how it is, if it appeals to me, it appeals to me.
The baby boomers appreciate it when I open the lines of Scarborough Fair and The Boxer to them. They appreciate it when I tell them that I can sing a bit of "By the Rivers of Babylon" and if I got a tune popular enough to drift over to this side of the world, I might just put a recognition to it.
And after that it seems somewhat easier for me to explain what Hallyu and Anisong and Tpop and Vpop and Kpop and Jpop and rap and Jrock and hip hop and EDM and synthesizer and sound tech is all about.
They might not fully comprehend Bodak Yellow and Cardi B, they might wonder why Miley Cyrus is what she is, they don't know why their kids and nieces and nephews are so into EXO and TWICE and BTS and BLACKPINK, but at least they walk away with a wee bit more understanding, and a notepaper of popular song titles plus a name or two.
What's funny is that they speak to me like I'm one of the "you young people" (Yassssss!!!!) until I tell them that I'm actually a latecomer to the pop music, hip hop and K-pop and that I actually grew up on what is now called evergreens.
They don't believe me.
They don't believe me that at one time I actually squabbled with someone because he said that "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanllla Ice was okay music to listen to and I disagreed. *cringes at the memory*
They don't believe me until I tell them I can sing "Rose Garden" by Lynn Anderson, the whole "Country Road Take Me Home" by John Denver and "Please Release Me" by Engelbert Humperdinck. They also don't believe me that I know that 'ribbon' song by Brothers Four and the tune of "Ferry Cross The Mersey" and that I like "Stoney" and I know the opening line of "First of May". They always express surprise that I love the work of Simon and Garfunkel, and that I count "Sound of Silence" and "Scarborough Fair" as two of my favorites.
They don't believe me that I didn't get to hear my first love ballad until I was thirteen, and that it was "Dying to Love You" by Timmy Thomas and that for months afterward I was genuinely fascinated by what I would later come to know as R&B.
That whilst my peers were listening to Mandopop and Cantopop and Spice Girls and Take That and Pet Shop Boys, I was listening to music from Ritchie Valens and Engelbert Humperdinck.
And that even though I owned the AQUA cassette ("Barbie Girl" interested me), and that I later sneaked in stuff from Kenny G and Soul Asylum, it would be three years later before I started listening for real to pop, soft rock and whatever was on general airplay, leading me from Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears and Westlife to Vertical Horizon, Incubus and Semisonic.
They don't believe me.
Maybe because it is what I do, and maybe because it is how I these days appear to be.
Sometimes I appear to be like I've been in this for a long, long time, and it always comes as a surprise when I say otherwise.
Still, I'm glad for this rather diverse route that spans the generations from the 60s to present-day, and that I don't care what it is or how it is, if it appeals to me, it appeals to me.
The baby boomers appreciate it when I open the lines of Scarborough Fair and The Boxer to them. They appreciate it when I tell them that I can sing a bit of "By the Rivers of Babylon" and if I got a tune popular enough to drift over to this side of the world, I might just put a recognition to it.
And after that it seems somewhat easier for me to explain what Hallyu and Anisong and Tpop and Vpop and Kpop and Jpop and rap and Jrock and hip hop and EDM and synthesizer and sound tech is all about.
They might not fully comprehend Bodak Yellow and Cardi B, they might wonder why Miley Cyrus is what she is, they don't know why their kids and nieces and nephews are so into EXO and TWICE and BTS and BLACKPINK, but at least they walk away with a wee bit more understanding, and a notepaper of popular song titles plus a name or two.