You’re Never Too Old to Rock and Roll

It seems like yesterday that I was pulling into the Nassau Coliseum parking lot to attend one of the many rock concerts that came through town.  The windows of my red Camaro were wide open as the music blared out of my Blaupunkt car stereo.

Life was good in the mid 80’s!  I didn’t have a care in the world.  The part-time jobs that I worked paid terribly, but with no other bills to pay, I earned more than enough to buy the albums that I wanted and see the concerts that I wanted to see.

In what seems like the blink of an eye, I found myself rocking out to the same songs that once blared from my Camaro with my kids in a minivan.  A truly surreal moment to say the least!

Minivans serve a purpose for families, but no amount of hard rock will ever make them cool.  I still cringe every time that I see the Honda Odyssey commercial featuring “The Hellion” by Judas Priest.  This painfully ironic melding of rebellion and conformity serves as a stark reminder that, despite our best efforts, we simply cannot fight father time.  But it doesn’t mean that we should stop trying.

As a member of Generation X, I will shamefully admit that I have used the phrase…“these kids today…” Perhaps this is merely due to my nostalgic nature, but I suspect that it goes deeper than that since I often catch myself saying the things that my parents used to say to me.

One thing that has always stuck in my mind was my father’s steadfast reluctance to listen to any music made after 1964.  As a music lover, I just cannot imagine there being an expiration date on music.  That being said, I do admit that I think that the rock music of my youth was the best that there ever was.

To this day, I believe that the 90’s were a terrible time for rock music, and the malaise carried over into the new millennium.  Of course, this is only a generalization.  Unlike my father, I do not believe that the last great rock song was made in 1989.  While I always found a few bands and a number of songs that were memorable, the fact of the matter is that most of the rock music in the 90’s was kind of disposable to me.

Lately, however, I have felt a resurgence in rock music.  I don’t know if it is because the music is actually getting better or if it is just more easily discovered because of Internet and satellite radio.  More than likely, it is a combination of both.

The rock music that I grew up on will always mean a lot to me.  After all, it is the soundtrack to my youth.  But there is still great rock music being made, and I want to be a part of it.

One of the best things about discovering new music is sharing it with others.  Thankfully, in today’s social networking world, that can be accomplished in a matter of seconds.

I have to imagine that other rock music fans of Generation X have felt the same musical void as me, which is why I have decided to start a blog called Generation X Rock Music.  It will be a place to discover new music together and also to reminisce about the music that shaped our youth.  Please feel free to share your stories and links to music on the site.

Generation X may be getting older, but remember…we’re NEVER too old to Rock and Roll!