Rocker Kids and their T-Shirts

You know what irritates me?

All these teens wearing band shirts of bands they claim to worship/understand/bah blah...

Now y'all know I am a Zeppelin girl. I love them, I know all their songs by heart, regard Robert Plant as being my deity, and listen to them very, very loud.

So I get on the bus this morning and end up sitting next to this smarmy little teen proudly wearing a Led Zeppelin hoody.

"Sweet!" I think to myself, "I can crank up Zeppelin on my iPod"

So I do.

The iPod is on shuffle so the LZ song that comes on is "All of my Love." Groovy song, slower than most, full of synthesizers, one of their well known ones (albeit not one of their greatest - but as it is a tribute to Plant's late son, I respect it muchly).

So I'm groovin' out as best as one can in public and next thing you know I get a tap on the shoulder.

I pause the song, look at the kid and say "yeah?"

He sucks his teeth, rolls his eyes and says:

"Can you turn that shit off? I don't want to listen to that crap."

Uh. Okay.

Ordinarily I would profusely apologize and do as asked.

I will even forgive the fact you refer to the greatest band on the entire planet as "shit"

However.

This smarmy little shit was calling a band "shit" that he was wearing across his chest.

So I tilt my head, thumb my nose and ask if the kid actually personally chose the sweater he was wearing.

I kid you not, this was his response.

"Hell yeah. Led Zeppelin fucking rock. They're the best band in the world."

My brows rise. "Oh, so okay. You know ALL of the Led Zeppelin songs?"

"Hell yeah."

"So not just Stairway to Heaven; all of them."

"Yeah."

So I hum one of those typically adult "preparation to lecture" hums and purse my lips.

"So let me get this straight. You are the biggest Zeppelin fan on this planet, Robert Plant is God, with Jimmy Page his second?"

His voice stumbles. "Um ... yes?" (that's right - it came out as a question)

My thumb strokes my nose once more. "Yet my music is shit?"

His lips curls, he groans and nods. "Yes."

"Every Zeppelin song is good, right?"

"Yeah all of them."

I think by now the situation is dawning on the kid, because he shifts rather uncomfortably and looks to another buddy who is beside him, wearing a Rolling Stones shirt.

Meanwhile, the biker-clad dude (who smelled a little on the rancid side) on my other side is snickering into his knuckles.

My stop is coming so I merely clear my throat and pull myself from my chair.

"Just as an FYI, kid. The song I was listening to, the one you called shit, was "All of my Love", Led Zeppelin 1979 from the album "In through the Out Door". Granted it was not exactly their best album, but definitely a far cry from shit. I'd strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the entire discography of Zeppelin before you suggest you are their biggest fan."

And with that I got off the bus...

But you know. It irks me, really. These kids are all wearing these bad shirts thinking that they're so cool and blah blah - and they all know nothing about them.

Shit, I saw some kid wearing a Styx shirt the other day.

Styx??

Styx??

Man .... I'm not knocking them too much. I didn't mind Styx - I love Babe, Sailing Away and Mr. Roboto (to some degree), but they are hardly a "cool" band...

Okay, I can't gripe about band shirts, because I wear them: I have 2 Beatles ones, 2 Doors, Aerosmith ... But Hell, I love all three...

Half of these kids weren't even alive when these bands released their final albums ...

Shakes head

God. I'm turning into an "Adult" - I swore I never would...

SJ

__________________

Sighhh

Why do men snore when lying on their backs?
Because their balls fall over their butt holes and they vapour lock.

Ahh, yes. Modern punks ...

I was never a punk so I really have little idea of the concept (although the music ROCKS!)

I think they all confuse it with grunge, TBH. Their opinion is that it is grunge with an edgier - and more expensive - look to it.

I think punk represents anarchy, yes?

Well, Vivian on the Young ones did, anyway. God, I loved that show.

I see alot of icecream-cone mohawks and odd piercings and studded belts/cuffs/collars with black and tight denim and Doc Martens-style boots, with kids thinking it's punk.

Black make-up and short tartan kilts with leather boots and percings make them look a mix between Goth and Punk ...

True Goth, however, isn't all black make-up/clothing/and despondency ... that's what Flash told me anyway.

So I guess we can't really knock them too much. They are reinventing the styles our generations created/lived.

__________________

Sighhh

Why do men snore when lying on their backs?
Because their balls fall over their butt holes and they vapour lock.

SNORT!

Oh yes, AC/DC kids.

I had one raise a confused brow at me when he asked me, as an Aussie (the accent is a dead giveaway here in the great white north), if I rocked to AC/DC.

I told them that I think they are da bomb, but did prefer the Bon Scott era.

When he asked me who Bon Scott was I told him to take off the damn shirt.

High Voltage is still my Fav album of theirs.

Flash has actually seen them in concert - I was so freaking jealous.

I was going to go to Sars Stock just to see AC/DC, but I'm claustrophobic and don't do well in crowds. Fortunately I work at Dufferin & Lawrence, and Downsview was close enough that we could sit in the carpark with some beers and listen. (think tail-gate party!!)

Apparently they were much, much better than the stones, who were the only band at the concert to demand a performance fee - $3M if I understand correctly.

Apparently the Stones sucked.

Not really a huge fan of theirs, anyway ....

Now the new-age Beatles fans; they're a HOOT! One of my mates here is a 24 y.o. Beatlemaniac - she's so cute.

But, hey. Beatles Rock!!


SJ

__________________

Sighhh

Why do men snore when lying on their backs?
Because their balls fall over their butt holes and they vapour lock.

What bugs me are the stuff they have for younger kids. I'm used to the "slut" look for little girls, and know which stores I can go into without coming out with a permanent grimace on my face, but then they bring in camouflage and skulls! In my day, camouflage wear was "I want to be a soldier and kill people." I know there's a lot more to it than that, but old reactions die hard, and for a few years it was impossible to find anything else. Now with the Pirates movie being over-merchandised, skull and crossbone are everywhere; I remember when that was something you wore if you wanted to rebel. Now they're combining cutsie camo and skulls on little girls' clothes! (Haven't seen them on boys' clothes, but maybe I haven't looked hard enough.)

Maybe it's a good thing? The symbols are losing their power? Nope, that means new symbols will be created or stolen. We'll have to check every symbol my kids choose on the internet, to see if they're trying to give me a message, or just unaware of what they've chosen really means. My kid brother told me that the colour of shoelaces in his docs meant something, and he'd be beaten up if he wore the wrong colour in the wrong part of town. Let's hear it for the school uniform!

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Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

- Viktor E. Frankl