Published 2024-08-22
tag(s): #retro #music
Several things converged at once to write this post.
First, I was listening to some music by "WRLD", an electronic pop[1] producer from the Netherlands. I don't usually listen to this style of music (I am more of a pop/rock person myself. And jazz!), this is something that I found because my son was listening to his song "Hang up" on loop a couple months ago, and I thought it was cool.
So in between work this thought came to me, about how cool it is that my kid has its own tastes, outside of the music his mom and I listen to. And doubly cool that we are exposed to something he likes, and we like it too.
This train of thought made me reminisce about music I listened to for the first time through
my dad, and in turn things I introduced him to (very few).
I recalled the "Windows 95 song" that I found in the installation CD when I was 12, showing
the video to my dad, we listened to it a couple times together. I listened to it on my own
many more times, mesmerized by the video and the music's chillness. I
understood almost nothing of the lyrics, my English level was at "I learned a few words from
movies and videogames".
A couple years ago I looked for the song, but by now I had forgotten its name again. A quick search set me on the right path...but what I also found now something that I hadn't (or missed) before: "Good times" by Edie Brickell is now a cornerstone of nostalgic 90s memories for a lot of people. In particular, this 2013 post by Sarah A. McCarty was very touching, and somewhat similar to my experience. It also brings up a topic that is even more relevant these days:
Sometimes I wonder if we are slowly eliminating these chances of hearing something unexpected. At every click we construct and customize a personal universe by choosing people to follow and to friend on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook and any other social media site. We follow critics we trust, publications who cover the genres we like and bands we know. We only click videos we want to watch. If someone constantly publishes videos of metal bands we hate on Facebook, we can block their posts from showing up in our feed. Even with TiVo and satellite radio we narrow our worlds and streamline what we take in from around us. Perhaps we should do a little less curating.
Sarah is noticing in 2013 what took of most of us many more years to realize: that the counterside to curating everything we consume is that we condemn ourselves to echo chambers, never moving away from our comfort zones.
Tying this to kids (going full circle on the post, I guess) there's talk about how keeping your kids happy at all times is actually detrimental. It is human to experience sadness and anger, being uncomfortable. Learning to deal with these feelings is key to their growth.
Yet we adults rob ourselves from listening to something new, just because it is unfamiliar. Or we shut down a valid opinion from someone, because we assume we know everything about them from a previous comment/post/tweet they shared, as if they couldn't grow and change. Or even better, have a valid point on a topic even if we disagree in others.