By Severin
“What is going to happen to the Young Generation? What is going to happen to the youth of today?” is a question that adults might ask at pretty much any point in history. Which makes it a good, all-purpose opener to a blog about generation songs. Plus it's by Desmond Dekker. If you want specifics, he would have been singing about the baby boomers in his neck of the woods. I had to resist the temptation to list far too many songs about the baby boomer era.
But on the B-List, you'll still see rather a large number of the songs that I might have included. In the end, I found that most of these songs combined specifics, about a particular generation and era, and a fair amount of commentary with universal application. So – what else is out there?
Portugal. The Man reads like a newspaper headline about a football player to me but it's the name of a band from Portland, Alaska and they're Millennials, since you ask. There's a fair bit of reminiscing about their own era, and the need to still be a rebel in Feel It Still. Including an oblique reference to The Beastie Boys' most famous song, “let me kick it like its1986”. But it was partly inspired by concern for the singer's Gen Z daughter.
Speaking of Zoomers, RAYE, lists a few of the reasons why they are renowned for suffering from anxiety. Environmental Anxiety is the title but she mentions:
“Classist, sexist, racist, ableist, fascist, ageist, homophobic
Country leaders fucked our futures and they think we haven't noticed”
Yes, that would do it.
Tokyo Jihan (aka Tokyo Incidents) are Gen X-ers giving advice to a Child of the 21st Century, ie “You, the succeeding generation” of Gen Z's and Alphas. From the rough translation available it is mostly about saying goodbye to the past and embracing the future. Which, I guess, is what succeeding generations tend to do.
And back to the baby boom generation with The Who. In The Punk and the Godfather from Quadrophenia, a young mod confronts an older “face” and blames him for everything that has gone wrong with their declared ideals. This was released before the word punk became the name of a musical style and tribe in itself but it does seem rather prescient.
CMAT or Ciara Thompson was born in 1996 and so counts as one of the last crop of Millennials. In Euro Country she sings about the Irish economy going from being lauded as the “Celtic Tiger” around the time she was born to crashing in 2008 when she was twelve, “when the da's started killing themselves all around me” The da's were probably Gen X-ers. The Millennials (and Zoomers) were left wondering what the older generation had done to them.
Roots Manuva is of the Gen X era and comments on the Hard Bastards he sees around him, both wealthy and poor. Including Gen Z kids and the generations preceding them that have never known work and now don't even want to. “They all got aspirations but nothing they supposed to”.
The Sandi Thom song I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker was released in 2006 and, like the nominator said it encapsulates a feeling of not wanting to be born into the generation you're thrust into. Sandi qualifies as a Millennial but yearns for an idealised version of the Boomer's teenage era, with Whiter Shade of Pale and God Save the Queen happily existing side by side.
Arlo Parks next. This is one for the Gen Z kids, or Super Sad Generation as she calls them. “Doing ketamine on weekends”, “Killing time and losing our paychecks”. Arlo was 18 or 19 when she wrote those words. Which does sound super sad to me. Even though she manages to make it sound rather beautiful.
The Indelicates don't mince their words. Tearing into the Millennial generation with no restraint in We Hate The Kids. Specifically that element who happily appeared on talent/reality tv shows or the consumers who lapped up the product. At which point I am contractually obliged to tell you that I own a copy of the Pop Idol Christmas CD and voted for Michelle McManus every week. I am an ageing “Generation Joneser” (subset of the baby boomers) and Song Bar guru, I have no guilt.
Moving much further back in time we find Cole Porter (with Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks), one of the Lost Generation, commenting acidly, in his song Anything Goes, on the antics of the soon-to-be Greatest Generation. Who, in addition to enduring the Great Depression and enlisting in World War 2, held nudist parties and read books with four letter words in them. So a bit of a mixed bag really.
For a more cheerful celebration of the Gen X experience than the ones I mentioned above, The Bloodhound Gang a band clearly not given to sadness or introspection, despite calling their song Mope. They name check every rapper, TV show, kid's toy or pass-time from their youth, sample Frankie's Relax and reference Falco's Rock Me Amadeus.
And finally, Weyes Blood. Real name, Natalie Mering. I wasn't initially sure about the on-topicness of this one (just this one? - ed) but the all knowing internet lyric site tells me that the song Children of the Empire “can be interpreted as a call to action for the younger generation to take charge and create change before it's too late.” That'll do me. The Empire, of course is an increasingly corporate America. Natalie was born in 1988 (Millennial) but the song was released in 2022 so the younger generation would be Alphas. Good luck, Alphas. Good luck.
Alphas and Much Earlier A-List Playlist:
Desmond Dekker – Young Generation (TarquinSpodd)
Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still (tincanman)
RAYE – Environmental Anxiety (barbryn)
Tokyo Jihen (Tokyo Incidents) – 21 Seiki Uchuu no Ko / Child of the 21st Century (ajostu)
The Who – The Punk and the Godfather (ShivSidecar)
CMAT – Euro Country (ParaMhor)
Roots Manuva – Hard Bastards (Shoegazer)
Sandi Thom – I Wish I was a Punk Rocker (Loud Atlas)
Arlo Parks – Super Sad Generation (barbryn)
The Indelicates – We Hate The Kids (vastariner)
Cole Porter (with Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks)– Anything Goes (Nicko)
Bloodhound Gang – Mope (SweetHomeAlabama)
Weyes Blood – Children of the Empire (ParaMhor)
Boomers Before And Beyond B-List Playlist:
Augustus Pablo – Young Generation (Uncleben)
Junior Byles – Now Generation (Nicko)
Johnny Cash – What Is Truth? (SweetHomeAlabama)
Ichiro & Yuka - Adult Loving (ajostu)
The Cowsills – The Rain, The Park and Other Things (Marconius7)
The Beach Boys – I Just wasn't Made For These Times (Loud Atlas)
Rare Earth – Generation (Light Up The Sky) (Fred Erickson)
Glenn Miller – Moonlight Serenade (Loud Atlas)
Bellamy Brothers – Kids of the Baby Boom (PAF!)
Limp Bizkit – My Generation (Loud Atlas)
Beastie Boys – (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) (SweetHomeAlabama)
Sweet Honey In The Rock – Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around (AltraEgo)
Billy Joel – We Didn't Start The Fire (PAF!)
All About Eve – Flowers In Our Hair (Vikingchild)
Manic Street Preachers – La Tristesse Durera (Scream To a Sigh) (happyclapper)
ANNISOKAY – Bonfire of the Millennials ( Banazir Galbasi)
Expo's Jazz and Joy – Generation Contact (Nicko)
Suede – New Generation (Uncleben)
The 5th Dimension – Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (AltraEgo)
Archie Roach – Took the Children Away (Naguchi)
Caspian – Hymn For the Greatest Generation (Naguchi)
Guru’s Wildcard Picks:
Neneh Cherry – The Next Generation
Take care of the young Millennials
Fatal Microbes – Violence Grows
“This generation's changing fast, this generation glorifies in violence”
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: Talkin' about ... songs about defined social generations. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.
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