Only one of the students in a seminar I gave Sunday knew who I was talking about when I mentioned Otis Redding. It's not the first time.
I don't fault my students. I lay the blame on MTV and VH-1, which would rather be televised versions of The National Enquirer than music channels.
I'm an old fart, I'll admit, but unlike some of my aging peers, I don't dismiss new music. In fact, I'm a fan of acts such as Fleet Foxes, The National, Spoon and Eels; I even like rap. But society needs to have an institutional memory of our greatest artists. Perhaps MTV and VH-1 run scads of documentaries about Redding, Buddy Holly and other music gods and I just don't see them. I doubt it, though, because whenever I tune to the channels I find shows about the latest drunken exploits of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan ... or shows about their wealth.
Didn't VH-1 sponsor a "Save the Music" campaign a few years ago? What a crock.
I don't fault my students. I lay the blame on MTV and VH-1, which would rather be televised versions of The National Enquirer than music channels.
I'm an old fart, I'll admit, but unlike some of my aging peers, I don't dismiss new music. In fact, I'm a fan of acts such as Fleet Foxes, The National, Spoon and Eels; I even like rap. But society needs to have an institutional memory of our greatest artists. Perhaps MTV and VH-1 run scads of documentaries about Redding, Buddy Holly and other music gods and I just don't see them. I doubt it, though, because whenever I tune to the channels I find shows about the latest drunken exploits of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan ... or shows about their wealth.
Didn't VH-1 sponsor a "Save the Music" campaign a few years ago? What a crock.
