A lament about cultural change.

I'm 28 but old school. I'm slow to embrace new technologies, I don't download media (besides YouTube videos) and I still hire Blu-Rays and DVDs. Then there's my music collection, roughly half of which predates me. (And, admittedly, it's almost exclusively male.) Now, I want to clearly state how much contemporary music I really do love, like artists who've broken through in the 2010s, namely Bruno Mars, Sheppard, Charlie Puth and Lukas Graham. The best days are never quite over. (Though I fucking despise most dance-pop artists and (as you know) especially EDM.)

But for many years I've been a classic rocker at heart. AC/DC, KISS, Queen, Led Zeppelin, the Doors et cetera, and of course the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Yet for all their cultural and artistic influence, so many of their hits wouldn't make the charts today, in most cases due to their length. To my knowledge the last Australian or UK number-one hit over seven minutes long was Meat Loaf's I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) in 1993, which I consider a great shame.


In some cases I do buy the argument that songs that long are pretentious and bloated or self-indulgent (especially Dire Straits' Telegraph Road and virtually every Pink Floyd song), but overall it takes clear ambition to try composing such a song, and remarkable talent. My all-time favourite song is the 7:04-long Hey Jude, whose repetitive coda counts for over half its length. If a musician or band can hold your attention for that long, surely that's memorable.


Or have we just become more restless or impatient culturally? If so that's lamentable, but we shouldn't let it increase.

Nevertheless, I'm pleased and proud that many other Millennials (including several of my friends) love both current and older music, through various influences. Without the latter we wouldn't have the former anyway, and keeping up with the times overall is important. However, and I'm sure before long this'll be said about 2017 things, many past (clothing/hair) fashions should stay LOCKED in the past.


I know trends and tastes have always come and gone, culturally. But not everything should change. Call me a musical reactionary, but overall I'm proudly old school. I just love and hate what I do. I'm not trying to justify that; I'm merely trying to promote it. But in any case, just because something's unfashionable doesn't mean it always was, or that it's literally dead. Now, if you'll excuse me, my "old school" class is back in session!