At the age of 15 I was really into hip-hop/rap/electro; at the time the three were difficult to separate. It always seemed astounding that some people (mainly old-farts, but quite a large proportion of peers) hated it so much. They would try to explain why they didn’t like it but to them it was so repugnant that the best they could manage was along the following lines: “It’s just shit! Listen! It’s just…shit! That’s not music! It’s shit.”
Well the other day, as part of my job (really), I had to listen to Get Naked by G-Mack. Now, as much as I’d like to think of myself as being reasonably articulate, I can only accurately describe it as obvious shit. Because it’s shit. Listen to it. It’s clearly shit isn’t it ? Either that, or a CB4/Ali-G style joke ? “G-Mack” ? It’s got to be a joke.
Annoyingly this occurred in the same week that I heard the Snoop Dog remix of “Walk the line” by Johnny Cash. It was so bad that I couldn’t stop listening to it – it made me laugh!
Now there are two possible explanations for what’s going on:
- This young people’s music is genuinely piffle.
- I’m now officially an old fart.
As someone who listens to all kinds of new music, to me it’s clearly explanation 1. But deep down I know the real reason is explanation 2.
And then, after tripping over this embarrassing mess, I realise that it’s only a matter of time before I buy a cardigan.