I don't mind other guys dancing with my girl
That's fine, I know them all pretty well
But I know sometimes I must get out in the light
Better leave her behind with the kids, they're alright
The kids are alright
Pete Townsend wrote the song "The Kids Are Alright" when he wasn't yet 20, for the album "My Generation". He's 65 now, so his generation is also the generation of many, if not most, Chimpsters.
All generations should celebrate themselves, and that one did in a very big way. No single generation before or since has dominated popular culture for so much for so long.
Of course, political dominance followed. I use music as an alalogy because it seems to trail politics as something of an indicator. "My Generation" hit its Zenith with the ascension of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.
Folks closer to my age (50) grew up in their shadow, during the increasingly decadent 70's. We grew up listening to the music of the musicians of the "My Generation" era. Much of it was good stuff, too.
When our turn came to hit the stage, we may have sounded a little bitter.
they can make things worse for me
sometimes i'd rather die
they can tell me lots of things
but i can't see eye to eye
well, i know they know the way i think
i know they always will
but someday i'm gonna change my mind
sometimes i'd rather kill
bloodstains - speed kills
fast cars - cheap thrills
rich girls - fine wine
i've lost my sense - i've lost control - i've lost my mind
things seem so much different now
the scene has died away
i haven't got a steady job
and i've got no place to stay
well, it's a futuristic modern world
but things aren't what they seem
someday you'd better wake up
from this stupid fantasy
Mike Palme of Agent Orange was also in his late teens when he wrote the lyrics to "Bloodstains", the first skate punk hit, in 1979. We had a hard time finding our way into the spotlight, so we tried to dominate the niches.
Politically, this ended up meaning that we would be more likely to champion ballot initiatives than to run for office.
Generation X came out of the gate less youthfully jaded, and more overtly political.
Don't want to be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind fuck America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.
Well maybe I'm the faggot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Billy Joe Armstrong was well into his 20's when he wrote "American Idiot", the title track of the album and now the opening number of the hit Broadway show.
GenX hit the ground running, and soon found their way into the cultural and politcal spotlight. Politicians of that age group are already losing elections.
But time moves on, and today's 20 somethings are sometimes said to be adrift, devoid of creativity. Their minds sapped by video games that they sometimes write the software for.
They beg to differ.
talking backwards in reverse makes my nervous head hurt
i have learned by now to leave it alone
and thinking everything at once makes the awkward moments long
i will need mine now and i'll take them to go
well maybe im just full of myself
but being alone is not good for your health
im staring at a white lie (white lie)
thinking about the people in the other room and...
living in someone else's shoes
Kind of cryptic. Which is fitting. I think they understand us better than we understand them.
Those words were written by Daryl Lamont of the group Blackmarket.
My wife and I were having a cigarette outside the Philadelphia airport after a long flight, and were asked for a cigarette by a grungy looking kid. After a moment's hesitation, I gave him one. He was joined shortly by a second grungy looking friend. Mrs M gave him a cigarette. They had just endured a long flight as well.
It turned out that they were the drummer and frontman/guitarist of Blackmarket, and Arizona based rock band. They gave us a copy of their CD (which rocks, btw), and we gave them more cigarettes. We got to talking. They thought that Denver was pretty cool.
Politics came up. They're disappointed in Obama too, and kind of angry with some of the local politics in their home state of AZ. They wish weed was legal, and they like European politics better than ours. They work a lot in Germany.
These kids were creative thinkers. Passionate about their beliefs. Not programmed like video games. Free, out of the box thinkers, as can usually only exist at that age. We get much older, we start to think in more practical terms, whether we want to admit it or not, or we cling to the hopelessly idealistic.
We lose the young ideal of making the ideal practical.
That's why it's important to engage the kids. They are still thinking in that realm. I remember that I had big ideas to change the world, but no where to take them. Now I can't even remember most of them, as the real world kept getting in the way of my grand master plan.
We of the age of them's that's making the rules should try to learn from them before they turn into us.
We've never had too many young Chimpsters. I remember one 20something from a few years back, who definitely was an out of the box thinker. He was frequently derided for his ideas, with age often cited as a reason.
It would be nice if we could find a way to reach out to and attract younger progressives, to learn from their freshness of ideas. They can gain the wisdom of the ages from us, who will tell them why they can't accomplish what they want to.
Every generation should celebrate itself. It should celebrate all others living, too.
'Cause the kids are alright.
Sometimes, I feel I gotta get away
Bells chime, I know I gotta get away
And I know if I don't, I'll go out of my mind
Better leave her behind with the kids, they're alright
The kids are alright
My company's logo is displayed below, designed by an awesome 20something graphic artist.
