ROCK ME

It kills me that I could easily be the one and only person of those with whom I hang out, that has any clue whatsoever of some of the hit rock songs of the past three years, let alone of the past five. Plus... were I to mention many a band name in said time span I bet they wouldn't know that either. Which I decided can probably only mean one thing: uh... I'm way cool??

I happen to be reading Carole King's autobiography at the moment and HER music I can only PRAY my friends know. Actually, they really do, I am very sure. If not of course... then naturally, I'd have to completely rethink my friendship with all of them. But whatever.

On the other hand, were I to mention OneRepublic for instance you can SO bet they'd say: HUH? WHO?? NEVER HEARD OF THEM. Which would be a big mistake on their part, by the way. Case in point: this particular song is absolutely fantastic. I think I've mentioned it here before but if not... take a moment and please listen to it. In fact, even if I DID mention it before, go ahead and listen to it once again. Totally a hit in the Linda School of Hard Rock department. Click here to hear. Will get you up and dancing in no time flat.

In the meantime, it's a real shame that so many my age are so behind the times in terms of great rock music. Granted... Rap is no where on my radar. Nor is punk rock or heavy metal. Oh yeah. Hip hop is also no where in sight. That said... there are still many absolutely fantastic tunes that are going by the wayside for those 65 and over simply because they are no longer listening to the younger generation of musical hits. Which is way too bad given I hear new songs all the time that totally knock my ever lovin' socks off. And believe me...  they are a far cry from Carole King.

I could almost kinda get it however. For instance, when I was 25 years younger... I woke up every morning to get dressed for work and ALWAYS had the TV tuned into either The Today Show or Good Morning America. Both of which I now despise. Jesus... all that jabbering and perkiness so early in the morning drives me NUTS. Everyone is just too damn happy and alert and noisy for that hour of the day. I'm telling you... they so must be on speed. Besides, they just barely touch upon the REAL news any longer. Which is why I listened to those shows in the first place way back when. Nowadays?? Geez. I'd almost prefer going with Sesame Street. Regardless... 

I gotta suppose that one of the reasons my oldie goldie friends are no longer into rock could be that their kids are grown and out of the house. But hey... mine are too. Or maybe they just don't want to get up anymore and dance all over the city when a great song comes on. Or maybe they're too old to even remember the words to songs any longer. I can't say exactly WHY my age group has given up on great new music but I do have to imagine it's a major shame.

Granted, we ALL used to know every word to every song and to this day we still DO. But hell... the songs we remember by heart are all from the 50's, 60s and probably 70s. After that? Oops. Not even possible. Me on the other hand? Man... I may not be able to sing a LOT of songs from Generation X, but certainly FAR more than almost all of my friends. I mean really. I can sing practically every song from Madonna, The Police, Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen. And I'm not talking just the Top Ten Hits, either. And once we get into the 90s, btw... don't ask.

I do have to admit alot of rock lost me once the year 2000 kicked in but at least I TRY. Which I'm not sure most my age even do. Besides, I am pretty sure Queen is my favorite rock band yet I wonder how many of my friends could even name three of their tunes. Now... don't get me wrong. I am in NO way whatsoever an expert in the rock genre by a far cry. And for SURE my memory is pretty much fried at 65... but still. That doesn't mean I've given up on rock altogether. Afterall, I DO have an iPod so that accounts for SOMEthing, doesn't it??

Except... yikes. I forgot. Now that I think about it, my iPod is LOADED with tons the Oldies. Which probably then means: Uh oh. So much for my still being way cool, afterall.