Talkin’ About My Generation from powerofpop.com

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Pop music is a generational thing. Which is why we have “oldies” radio stations. Somehow, pop music seems to be classified into decades and so you have categories like 60s or 90s music. For most people, their music-listening period begins with the onset of puberty and ends roughly when they hit 30. A good 15 years, give or take. After that, most people will only listen to the music of their generation.

Thus, if you’re in that 15-30 age group currently, you might listen to the Editors, the Killers, Green Day and Muse and be totally oblivious to Joy Division, the Psychedelic Furs, the Clash and Rush. Those of us who grew up in the 80s might be aghast that fans of the former group are not aware of or even bothered with the musical debt owed to the latter group. Which is their prerogative.

Without putting too fine a point on this, these people are not music lovers. They view music as a functional entertainment item – like film or TV – but nothing more. So any talk of rock history will simply go over their heads. Which I must emphasise again is their prerogative. My concern is that as a society, not enough people are blessed (or cursed, take your pick) with the interest or passion to see pop music as an art form worthy of study. Without this, we will not be able to provide pop music as an entertainment platform that may be exported worldwide.

You know the spiel – we are a small nation without natural resources and thus, all we have is our creativity to set us apart. And yet, we are severely lacking in the creative arts – which includes pop music, still a major player in the entertainment industry. There is not enough information-sharing or education in this key area. So we are perpetually shooting in the dark. Look at our half-cocked attempts to fabricate a pop idol.

Whatever you may think of the likes of Black-Eyed Peas or Lady Gaga, much work has been invested into putting together a highly marketable and commercial product, and it succeeds. Pop music is a business after all.  Yet, it is a business that we approach here without the technical know-how and somehow believe that we can make it work in the same way!

What we need is an overhaul of our mindset toward pop music. Raise the standard of songwriting and performance of pop music (in all forms) and educate the public about the intrinsic value of pop music, made in Singapore. Only then perhaps, we have a glimmer of hope in moving forward.

… still there’s more …