I'm not sure now what is supposed to be so wonderful about the baby boomers.

They disconnected themselves from everything that had gone before without discrimination and set themselves up as "the new improved way".

Suddenly it was completely acceptable to become a work shy, fornicating drug addict with no topic of conversation beyond, "the systems f..cked man!".

And it went on too long and people believed their own BS for too long.

A destroyed generation and a worthless one. Soon to stuffed screaming and yelling into the waste compactor of history.

Young people, young people, however, are they not under the protection and guidance of the older generations?

So who let the garden run rank and wild?

Is it inaccurate to say the tomfoolery of the baby boomer's was legitimatized and empowered by malignant forces seeking an end to human progress and civilization?

Maybe some could argue that they just wanted to make a profit and rest was collateral damage.

Sounds like the British empire to me.

Dealing with the mob,
I took the time to read your story and firmly agree that you were treated appallingly by your colleagues and your union.
I, myself was treated in a similar way some years ago in a job where it was compulsory to join the union and when the going got tough they bailed on me.
Having said that, perhaps after all these years it might be best to get on with your life and let good old-fashioned Kharma deal with those bad apples.
Trust me,antagonism can be counter productive.

ChristinaMac, RobbyH,

Your responses indicate that you may have misinterpreted the article. It was in no way a pro-boomer rant; as stated, I hold them in contempt for so shamelessly selling out as they did. Further, I suggest that the babyboomer masses had the same herd mentality in their youth as the youth today. There is no difference between the generations in this.

My main point is that it so happened in the 60s/70s - call it a happy accident of time and place - that the music icons of the time were producing work of real substance. Who could claim this is so today? Today’s monstrously powerful marketing has had the effect of dumbing down the music.

Those are my central points here, and are not intended as a putdown of today's kids. Indeed, I suspect that the youth who break from the herd and look past the packaging probably share views similar to those expressed in the article. The views I'm expressing here are not a function of age; nor am I speaking on behalf of the baby boomer generation.

mhaze,

Where is the evidence that the attitudes expressed in the article are parallel to your father's? I would say, if anything, that the standard of musicianship today is generally technically superior to that of the rock musos of the 60s - and indeed, that is part of the problem! Everything is so slickly presented today, the session musos backing the big names are superb, the productions shine like diamonds...oh, the packaging is better than ever before! But what is at its heart? Too often, no heart!

The much-needed amphetamine shot in the arm punk delivered to the bloated, stadium-dwelling, slick-lickin' creature rocknroll had become by the mid-late 70s is going to come from where, today?

U2? Oasis? Gimme a break! Both are already has-beens.

Those artists today who really do have something to say rarely get the massive promotion they need to deliver to the masses unless they fit the packaging mould, which is all about appearance and not much about art. Tragic.

PS: Who's Mr H?

chainsmoker,

First, congrats on your nick. I love a contrarian.

Well, what can I say to your charges? The message is the message, and if that leaves you empty, call me facile. Strewth, whaddayawant in a few hundred words, anyway - "Of Grammatology"?

Jellyback,

Who's claiming that the babyboomers are "so wonderful"? Not me! They are the most selfish, materialistic, indulgent generation in history and I hold them in contempt for that, and for selling out as they have. If you're reading me as some sort of babyboomer apologist, read again. I disown my generation.

That said, your depiction of the typical 60s/70s boomer as a "work shy, fornicating drug addict with no topic of conversation beyond, 'the systems f..cked man!' " is laughable. Even as a most simplistic stereotype, it doesn't get past rough cartoon caricature! Suggest you educate yourself a little beyond viewing "Woodstock the Movie" before you leap in with any more declarations like that.

Re your comment: "Young people, however, are they not under the protection and guidance of the older generations? So who let the garden run rank and wild?"

No argument from me on that. The Boomers are the worst parents in history (and obviously, I'm generalising). Dr Spock has a lot to answer for.

Re your comment: "Is it inaccurate to say the tomfoolery of the baby boomer's was legitimatized and empowered by malignant forces seeking an end to human progress and civilization?"

Um, yes, just a little. In fact, aren't you getting a tad hysterical there?

Hey, Ross,
I understand you are not identifying with your generation, but I also understand mhasa and RobbyH and the 'yer father' imputation.

O.k., R&R was vital and raw and rough back in the day - but lyrics like "I wanna hold your hand", "She loves you, yeah, yeah yeah" or the oft-quoted "Yummy, yummy yummy.."etc. etc. weren't too substantive either. It could be argued that the packaging of everything from Beatle stockings to Beatle lamps was also slick in the standards of the day.

The sixties and the seventies was also the era of Marley, Hendrix, Crosby,Still, Nash (and Young), Moody Blues, Deep Purple, Joe Cocker, Joplin, Guthrie - anathema to R&R and derisive of the "bubble-gummers" and "teeny-boppers" who got sucked in by all the materialism and hype.

It was also the era of The Carpenters, The Patridge Family and, godelpus, The Singing bloody Nuns.

So to-day the equivalents of the bubblegummers or boppers (labels which refer more to a mindset than age-group) go equally overboard for the plastic-boobed, vacant and airheaded up-dated versions? Granted.

But "where's the substance"?

I reckon it's alive and vital and its everywhere. Download the lyrics of The Streets, listen to Little Birdie, go see Cat Empire or Hilltop Hoods or Sarita, lap up Big Day Out, tune in to Dykes on Mikes...- its involved and substantive and all around us.

Mainstream is just that - whether we're talking Beatles, Abba, Acka Dakka, Back Street Boyz or Tupac.

Bubblegum and fairyfloss - whether expressed as as a formulaic Strauss waltze, a syncopated foxtrot, a re-mixed doof-doof or a Christina A. - will always appeal to the senses.

But music that appeals to the soul and the mind as well will always be a vital part of every generation.

Jellyback---- "Sounds like the British Empire to me"

Sounds like human nature to me. The British just had the mitlitary muscle to make it go their way. All the others in the world would have done the same thing if they had had the same power to dominate that the British had. And if they eventually wrest that power from the West they will do exactly the same thing. Just watch them.