{"id":310,"date":"2023-12-02T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wers.org\/wecb\/milkcrate\/2023-11-27-who-had-it-better-concert-culture-across-three-generations\/"},"modified":"2023-12-02T19:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T19:30:00","slug":"2023-11-27-who-had-it-better-concert-culture-across-three-generations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/wecb\/milkcrate\/2023-11-27-who-had-it-better-concert-culture-across-three-generations\/","title":{"rendered":"Who had it better?: concert culture across three generations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Gabriella Collin<\/h1>\n

Concerts: $25 tickets, crowd surfing, $15 shirts and recurring national tours. <\/p>\n

No, that doesn\u2019t sound right.<\/p>\n

While the older generations adjust their buckles and sit back, they chastise Generation Z for our technology habits, financial struggles, and poor taste in musicians. Every decade, the generations before our own have echoed the same idea; \u201cWe had x y z artists, so we had it better.\u201d True or not, when I look around at my peers, while we kill time exchanging music tastes, there\u2019s a sense of disillusionment. For contemporary artists, I hear one of two things. One, \u201cWell, they\u2019re pretty new. I wouldn\u2019t expect you to know them.\u201d And two, \u201cThey\u2019re popular now, but I was listening to them before [insert song] went viral on TikTok.\u201d It\u2019s hard to get the older generations to take us seriously as is. Add to that a social media machine with an algorithm that pumps out chart toppers from artists with zero credibility, and I can understand why people our age are so quick to clarify that they \u201caren\u2019t like other fans.\u201d <\/p>\n

Concerts: $150 tickets, sexual assault, $80 hoodies and mass tramplings. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s more like it. <\/p>\n

When it comes to Gen Z musicians, meaning artists between the ages of 24 and 18, I look around and I think, \u201cWho are you people?\u201d Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eillish, Clairo; it must mean something that some of the biggest names in Gen Z music are women. But this point falls flat when you\u2019re at the dinner table, trying to explain to your elderly aunt why Taylor Swift\u2019s tickets are so expensive. You don\u2019t really know why either. If a Gen Z artist gets too popular, if their music leaves their niche before it\u2019s ready, it\u2019s ripped apart by critics and fans alike. <\/p>\n

\u201cBillie Eilish makes alternative-pop? Fiona Apple was doing that in the 90s.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOlivia Rodrigo is the pop-punk queen? She completely ripped off Avril Levigne.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoja Cat\u2019s current rebrand? Missy Elliot did it first, and did it better.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maybe the masses of Millennials posting about T-Pain and Three Six Mafia in throwback sketches highlighting the cringe of their childhoods is supposed to be comforting. If our high school professors and 2000s-cringe baiters on TikTok can look back on their middle school years and laugh, why can\u2019t we? The problem is, the nostalgia-worthy artists that previous generations look at with fondness often end up being pioneers, or creators of their respective genres. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s becoming harder and harder to advocate for the music of Gen Z, when the ability to see live music has become so inaccessible. Tickets for the US run of Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras Tour resided in the upper-triple, lower quadruple-digit numbers. Being a Gen Zer and proclaiming that you would never sink that much money into an artist did little to distinguish you from the people who did. Besides, who are we trying to fool anyways? Today, tickets to Woodstock \u201869 would have been $140, and people camped out at the festival grounds for the entire run. Across generations, one thing remains that same, and that\u2019s the passion people have for the artists they care about. Every time the Made In America festival graces Philadelphia, I tell myself that \u201cthis year will be different.\u201d It never is, but the promise of seeing the artists I idolize, in one field, almost justifies the price. <\/p>\n

Before you let one more parent, grandparent, or bitter Facebook post tell you that Gen Z music isn\u2019t worth the hype, remember that it\u2019s coming from a place of love. Not love for us, but love for the time their favorite artists spent in the spotlight. Whether it\u2019s your dad showing you his record collection, telling you how cheap it all was, or your eccentric aunt who saw \u201ceveryone\u201d when she was your age, everybody is scared to admit that their treasured artist\u2019s time has passed. The truth is that if you keep playing their music, saying their name, admiring old concert footage, it will always be [insert artist]\u2019s time. You just have to decide for yourself. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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