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Greg - 2006-09-23 19:38:16
Beck... I'd have to consider that. If I were to choose someone representative of my generation I'd probably pick Paul Westerberg, but that could be because I relate to him more personally. It's hard for me to be objective. Beck is probably the better songwriter. And I'm not uncritical of Westerberg. Definitely food for thought.
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2fs - 2006-09-23 23:34:49
I don't how old you are, Greg - and Paula (as we know) is an ageless and timeless being of light - but Westerberg's a decade older than Beck, so if they're representing generations, they're representing different ones. Unfortunately (I'm closer to Paul's age than Beck's) I'd have to say everything he's done since the 'Mats broke up has colored me unimpressed - I mean, there are occasional bright spots, but it just lacks the spark the best Replacements material had.
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Greg - 2006-09-24 08:22:17
2fs--I've got a decade on Beck also. I had a conversation recently about how many years constitute a generation and we agreed that because of the dense media-fication that time moves faster than it used to, and cultural reference points change much faster--hence a generation would be just about 10 years--maybe less. I was giving this some thought though and I think Paula is spot on--Musically speaking, Beck draws from more generational cues and reference points. And I'd rather have him represent me than the dour, inward looking Mr. Westerberg.
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Paula - 2006-09-24 09:53:53
Yeah I would put "generations" at 5 years now, at least in terms of cultural influence.
I've enjoyed a lot of PW's solo stuff, and yet have also concluded that the Replacements were a magical combination of personalities, timing, spirit--and much more than just PW. (Just like listening to solo Lou Reed makes you realize that the Velvets were more about John Cale than anyone ever gives him credit for.)
(Cuz we're all a bunch of Welsh-hatahs)
(Wait, he's Welsh, right?)
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Paula - 2006-09-24 09:58:00
Oh, one more point: I'm not sure how old either Beck or Paul are, but I look at Beck as someone who started playing music around the same time I started playing music, whereas Paul definitely falls under the category of "influence" for me. Hence, Beck is "my" generation, and Paul is an elder.
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Greg - 2006-09-24 19:08:35
John Cale may or may not be Welsh but he still owes me 5 quid for a bet on Tottenham.. no wait that... nevermind. I do love Lou Reed sometimes but other times I want to kick him in the pants. They'd probably be leather pants.
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2fs - 2006-09-24 19:57:02
I think the whole "generation" thing is generally a quite large load of industrial-strength ultrahooey. Yes, trends, attitudes, influences, etc., cycle through time, and yes, people of roughly the same age tend to share many of those things...but it's rather variable: what's "my generation" in music isn't necessarily going to change cycles in sync with "my generation" in politics, say.
And the sort of waiting-room periodical generalizations about Generation This or Generation That - bullshit completely, the sort of thing that tells weakminded people what they're *supposed* to be like.
(Minor peevage: born Dec. 1961, and some people say I'm tail-end baby-boom, others some in-between generation, others yet the very beginnings of something else again. I can say that what I have in common with someone born in 1946 (i.e., an older baby boomer) is almost next to nothing except the things we've chosen in common or that we share in common with many others from both much older and much younger generations.)
ps: John Cale is Welsh.
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Greg - 2006-09-24 22:56:59
2fs--I agree that the marketing gurus have coopted a lot cultural cues and actually created wag the dog social trends, HOWEVER, I do believe that people in certain age ranges, in response to world events, including this marketing blitz, exhibit common traits--a generational gestalt if you will... and yes, I've always wanted to use gestalt in conversation and this is as close as I've gotten. Tomorrow I will work on zeitgeist. Stay tuned.
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Greg - 2006-09-24 23:06:59
I should add that I don't think the generational lines are cleanly drawn at all, outside of marketing. Nor should they be.
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