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It talks about effects on the culture, but things mentioned like the Beatles appearing on Ed Sullivan happened over half a century ago. You may as well talk about how World War I affected the culture. Kids don't listen to rock and listen to hiphop nowadays? In my mostly white grammar school (and then junior high school) in the early 1980s, LL Cool J, Newcleus, and UTFO had much more cultural relevance than any rock band. By 1986, when Run DMC covered "Walk This Way", they were considered the new sound, Aerosmith was a rock band popular with people then in their 20s. Rock has not been at the center of the culture for over 30 years. This guy seems out of touch. Even in the mid-1980s, the rockers that I knew listened to 60s-70s rock more than 80s rock. It was already dead. The old core rock demographic was more into heavy metal than rock. The rise of heavy metal, outlaw country, techno and hip hop finished rock off by the 1980s as any kind of cultural center. I don't get this navel gazing about the 1960s from a half century ago. The 1990s is what affected this youth generation's culture in which the Internet, Snapchat, memes, FPS games and so forth is a heavy influence on the entire youth culture. Back in the early 1990s, very few young people were on the Internet (few old people were on the Internet too). |
The late 90s also included some hits by Nu-Metal groups; you can decide for yourself if that counts as rock or not.
I do know what you're saying. For those from the suburbs at least, the easiest way to tell a late gen-X from early millenial is whether they are nostalgic about early hip-hop or Pop (Gen X) or alt-rock (Early millenial). I call it the "3rd Bass/Nirvana inflection point"