Keeping Up? Not So Much
Pour some wine, it’s whine time.
Another new year’s celebration has come and gone, and I’m feeling left behind.
Like most people my age – OK, older people – I rang in the New Year with the TV. I was bouncing around the channels trying to find something I could relate to and mostly couldn’t.
I initially hung out with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen because Leslie Allen Jordan had told us he was going to help ring in the new year with them.
Leslie Jordan is a funny dude, and I was under the impression he’d be co-hosting the show. Turns out, all he did was a quick guest shot promoting his new TV series. Two minutes and done.
To me, it seemed that almost everyone who made an appearance on any of the New Year’s Eve shows was simply there to promote something: a new show, a new movie, or new music.
And on the subject of the music, who were these people? It’s true, each network’s party had a few marquee names, but there were a whole lot of performers I did not know.
Example, Anderson and Andy had Jimmy Buffett (pre-recorded, one song), but they also had Dulce Sloan, Desus & Mero, and Aloe Blacc.
Uh…
Carson Daly’s party featured Sting, but who was this Shirazee performing with him? Carson also had Paak, Doja Cat and Chloe x Halle.
Uh…
The last 18 years of my radio career were spent doing mornings at a pop music station. Pink, Katy Perry, Maroon Five, Taylor Swift… I loved it all.
Down the hall were sister stations, one playing hit music designed to cater to older kids and young adults and another playing country music. We were all in each other’s studios all the time, and keeping up with music and celebrities was part of the job.
Retiring from radio, I promised myself I’d stay current. No longer being fully immersed in pop culture, it would be easy to slip in to grandparent mode. You know, “good lord, what kind of music is that?!?”
I wasn’t going to let myself do it.
Oops.
The main reason it happened is that I just don’t care for a lot of the sonic trends in pop music right now. Seems like we’re getting way more music from computers than from instruments.
But that’s on me. My grandparents didn’t like the guitar music of The Beatles and everybody claims to have hated disco! Changing trends will alienate some people.
Also, we’re in a phase of artist collaborations where it seems hardly anyone works on their own anymore, making it difficult for casual listeners to connect to artists and become intimately involved with their music.
In some cases, collaborations have worked out really well. Gwen Stefani’s music would only be heard as an oldies song if she hadn’t hitched up with Blake Shelton. But those are two established names teaming up.
What about the lesser known artists?
Let’s say you know Ed Sheeran, but do you know his collaborators Stormzy and Burna Boy?
Maybe you know Eminem, but have you heard his song with Juice WRLD? (Pronounced ‘world’.)
And I can almost assure you we wouldn’t know who Lil Nas X was if he hadn’t teamed up with Hannah Montana’s dad.*
If the legends were still producing current music, you wouldn’t be hearing just the Eagles or Elton John. You’d be hearing the Eagles featuring Old L’il Hamster. Or Elton John with LemonAyd featuring Rattlesn8 Venumb.
(Yes, it’s misspelled. It must be, that’s what makes it cool. Gosh, how old are you??)
Music never stands still. But we do. At some point in our lives, even if subconsciously, most of us stop moving with the trends and stay latched to music genres that suit our ears. It’s the very reason oldies stations exist.
Stylistically however, music is ever evolving. To be knowledgeable of all the names and styles being constantly introduced, dang! It’s just hard to keep up.
And I haven’t. So I felt mostly left out on New Year’s Eve
Next year, we need a new New Year’s party. Or perhaps an old New Year’s party.
Right now, I’m wallering around on the floor, pressing my little alert button and screaming, “Help, I’ve fallen (behind) and I can’t get (caught) up!”
*If you’ve never heard the song, Old Town Road by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, ask Siri or Alexa or Google to play if for you. You don’t have to love it, but you should know that it’s probably the most popular song of the last couple of years. And you probably have heard it – or parts of it. Cute side note: Miley Cyrus says L’il Nas grew up watching Hannah Montana and always dreamed of one day singing with her dad. Dreams can come true. And sometimes pay off big time!