I hung out with some 20 year olds in a bar yesterday. I didn’t mean to. They were just there and one of them said hello to me because he’s my friend’s son and we got talking. He’s in a band and I asked how they were doing. They’re sort of Joy Division-ish. I didn’t say that, he did. I told him I loved Joy Division and he said cool but it was clear he didn’t believe me because I’m not 20. I was probably 20 when I first liked them. I showed him that I had 2 of their albums on my phone and he was genuinely impressed/surprised. His friends, who were also in the band with him, couldn’t believe I’d seen Nirvana. They talked about David Bowie, The Smiths and Blondie. I mentioned Tune-Yards in a pathetic attempt to connect but they didn’t really know Tune-Yards. One of them said they didn’t like them, they were a bit too mainstream. I was delighted that there’s still a mainstream but ashamed that I liked a modern band that were “boring”. I mentioned a couple of other bands that were probably well into their 30’s but to me were really young and new. They had no interest in that sort of music, even though it was so similar to what they did like. I passed my phone and earphones to one of them and asked him to listen to Carter USM. He loved it. I told them I saw Iggy Pop last year. They were jealous. I told them about Black Box Recorder and they all seemed to think that they were right up their street. I’m 49 years old and I can still confidently sit in a bar and connect with a group of 20 year olds. I am cool.
I have a mobile phone. It made a noise and flashed up a message on its screen. I read the message aloud: “Time for your arthritis medicine”. The youngsters immediately started acting their age and saw me as I really am. The conversation stopped.
Drugs can unnerve a lot of people but you’d think a band could have handled it. Maybe I should have offered them some of the pills? It’s what all us real Joy Division fans are all doing.
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