Why is it with most teenagers nowadays?

 

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"All this were fields when I were a lad" couldn't be less relevant. You're preparing them for the world as it is today and if you can't engage in that world today, your usefulness to them will be limited. Sure, give them a perspective and insight into the past but don't go around thinking of particular times as "better" than others and don't detach yourself from their lifestyle, particularly when I assume you condemn it without having lived it.

If you think the answer really is to lock yourself in a cave and switch off the world, fine, you go do that, but I don't think someone who really believes this is the way forward has much to offer a class.

 
Basically they don't deserve an explanation.....but you do. I have all this BS to offer and It is good to take into consideration what I have to say to benefit yourself Go back and research the 60's on your own. Even if you don't personally enjoy the 60's....do it anyway for the sake of understanding history. You will discover facts like Mike Bloomfield....a great blues guitarist hosted rock festivals or was well known by most people during the 60's but is now virtually unknown in the media. The Doors and Jimi Hendrix were important to the 60's no doubt but, today are the usual suspects in the media.....Also continue to research the progressive rock history as well. This will put things into perspective for you and the next time you encounter those you think they know everything but, know nothing, you will feel confident to shy away from their viewpoints and or back in the woods way of thinking. Nothing is written in stone....I still discover bands that derived from the 60's and 70's to this day. These people just base their opinions and views off what the media presents and once you know the truth regarding different time periods of music, it will be a pleasure for you to not engage in conversation with them.

 
I agree with the above and would also like to say that "quick results" and or instant gratification Is basically the expectations that my students have of me, the teacher and what they choose to learn....an instrument and music. I have groups of kids who are a bit intellectual and wealthy who make attempts to challenge me with B+ pieces or guitar solo's. They want to test me to prove a point. It's like they are a bit too late for that. I toured a circuit of mansions and played classical guitar by candlelight in 78'. I played jazz/fusion and progressive rock for decades. I paid my dues...so why challenge me like a snot nose, when you could be learning from me? I don't flaunt or show off. I post replies to younger people on P.A. hoping that I can be of some help to their dilemma. I really don't understand what's going on in the minds of my ambitious students but, I wish them good luck for sure. The music business that I lived is now dead. There are new concepts however, they seem to be threaded with an undertaste that makes me want to vomit. It's still the big guys on top who run the business. My Space and You Tube make folks happy and content. But what is this "Everybody wants to be a Star crap"?

I don't understand the abundance of a teenager's instant gratification when the reason behind it relates to being a star or a big shot. Right there is a concept that's being applied to an unworthy cause. Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin desired for record contracts, expressing themselves to an audience and to a degree...stardom. But it wasn't for the same intent and purpose we see in the limelight today. If anything they were more sincere about it. Of course back then you didn't see a nobody eating bugs on a reality TV show. Music in the mainstream is more about money today then it was in the 70's. Not many want to practice and not very many see the point in it. That is how technology has effected many kids. They don't want to go the distance because the importance of desire is not felt due to the quick results mentality amongst us all. Computers are just an invention or a tool for getting quicker results then what we did in the 70's. That is a positive thing but, people have developed attitudes over this invention. The invention itself has taken away the spirit which is what music is all abouit to a large degree. Built on concepts that derive from business media fakers.

Ironically it is good for musicians like me who were reported to the Art Police back in the 70's for ripping into an original progressive rock piece in a N.Y. recording studio. Now I can if I want, just record music and set up a website or gain the interest of vendors who sell progressive rock. But getting a review from a critic in Progression magazine is from being in the thicket,. I teach special ed and these kids are on a mission based off what they see on T.V.....They are very abused. They are badly beaten. I try to please them and work really hard at giving them shortcuts so they will get a quick result. Many times they breakdown at the guitar lesson and cry. I listen to their problems and feel like it is my duty to give a helping hand. I try to steer them clear of the high school shooting concepts and help them to focus more on developing power through experience and growth.

They want to release their negative energy through some tragic event which was aired on TV and internet. Zappa always talked against living your life in this way. Nobody can live your life for you so, why take some example through a TV broadcast? Why is the media so influential to teenagers? There are many teenagers who are doormats at their local high school simply because they choose a different path. One that does not consist of violence. Business jerks perpetuate violence through internet sources and serial killers are rock stars. Why can't there be a law against this? instead, there is more emphasis to the importance of a race of people offended over a  derogatory term. Why? When our society is being destroyed with media concepts on sex and violence. People should be more concerned with what teenagers are viewing behind closed doors due to how business is conducted in this country. It's the business idiots who are destroying the minds and mentalities of our youth.    

  

Anything you wanted, you could obtain for free because you were in a band working for a respected booking agency or corporation. At any rate many of the owners sold out as they couldn't stand the headaches. Yeah....differences in music expressed through violent measures was a real scene in the 70's.