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Originally Posted by DJ Rick
I don't know who the powers that be are when it comes to naming of generations like the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and "Echo Boomers." Also, I suspect that these terms primarily apply in the United States. Moreover, the traits associated with each generation primarily describe the higher-achievers academically and in society...beginning and future careerists.
Naturally, there are all kindsa problems with stereotyping entire groups of people based on what years they were born, but sociopolitical factors that shape the trends of the many are indeed real. And surely they're different in the UK.
A trait of "Echo Boomers"--born since 1985--that these powers have emphasized is that young people try hard to please authority figures, by and large. That doesn't mean everyone. There are still individualists. Perhaps as many as there were in 1967 or 1977. But it's the pack that's more or less the same as the rest of the pack.
We're generally not talking about your typical Sonic Youth fan.
As I've stepped into the role of an authority figure for young people, I have noticed this to be true, pretty much.
The theory as to why this has happened is because American parents have tried to occupy their kids' lives with so much scheduled activity, and they have become more and more sheltered. School has always operated by a schedule, but now many kids are engaged in more and more extracurricular activities--even from infancy (witness the rise of the term "play-date")--which require added scheduling.
When I lecture these days, younger students take notes so well! But they hardly ever engage in class discussion...especially, they almost never ask a question. Meanwhile, my older students are less into note-taking and show more of a willingness to get involved in discussion, ask me for clarification, and actually impeach certain points I make. Sometimes, I hafta ask the young students to put their pens down and just listen to me present an idea, and then ponder that idea. The young students look uncomfortable doing that, and older students are right at home.
So it's not surprising that even though music is available in a self-serve fashion on the internet including easy-to-find portals into world's of deep obscurity and flavors for every particular taste, there is still a very successful mainstream for so-called rebellious youth which appeals to such a low common denominator. Comparing the tamest of today's "indie rock" to the best of independent rock music as we have done in this thread brings us to the consensus that it sucks.
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Ok, there's definitely a discrepancy between the UK and America, but I'm not sure you're point about younger vs older students is that pertinent... I'll start off by saying thanks for not taking offense at my statement, a lot of people would've taken that as a sleight.
I suspect your younger students are more active in the more cerebral side of things by simple dint of being closer to school/ college. Presumably, your older students have been out in the 'real world' and have developed their intellectual faculties hand-to-mouth, as it were, whereas the younger students are still in the mode of writing things down. I don't think either side has any necessary advantage (obviously the best would be a moderation 'twain the two), but I don't think a more studious nature is any reflection of a culture
per se.
Basically, I don't think 'rebellion' is any more of a selling point now than it was for Elvis, Hank Williams, Trad-jazz, Stravinsky or even Beethoven. Starting on an F#! Scandalous. There's also the furore in early music as people started to use Dm (the devil's chord). A side-note here: Interesting that early music considered Dm the Devil's chord/ key, and it is used predominantly now by 'Satanic' metallers.
And while young people in the last ten years may try and please authority figures more, I don't think this wasn't true of any other generation. To my mind, you get 'genuine' individualists and 'faux' individualists. Everyone likes to think they're and individual, it's very few people that actually are (and, for clarity, as a determinist, I don't include myself in the latter).
While I'm here, you teach musicology, right? Is that a course that's worth doing? It's on my list of potential MA's.