Are you the oldest at a Smashing Pumpkins concert? Were you the only one to show up for the last REM show?

Do you get all pissy when people ask you who Billy Bragg is?

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Answers

All of my favorite bands make me feel old, either because they're a bunch of has beens or because I feel too old to like the music. I guess that's the problem with liking music that's aimed at younger folks ... you keep liking what you liked when you were young, which means you like bands that are out of style, and you keep liking the new bands that come out, which means you're the oldest in the crowd.

I think I'll just get over it. If I start liking Celine Dion, that will make me feel old. As well it should.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I was scandalized today to find out that a co-worker of mine (who is into a lot of electronic music, and punky goth stuff) does not know who Wire is.

I remeber dancing to 2-Tone records in the Slackers are the only decent ska band still touring, and I have no remorse elbowing the 15-year-olds that can't dance out of my way.

I feel old when i get all of the refrences in Atom and His Package songs.

I felt old when I got all of the refrences in High Fidelity. (a must-see for all music geeks).

I feel old when I realize that I'm more excited for Ben's book to get published than for the new Screeching Weasel album to come out.

Allison

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Every band I love makes me feel old. I AM old. Here are some of the CDs I have at work: Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy (crreeak), the Beatles' White Album, assorted XTC, three by Rusted Root (hey, that's sorta recent!), kd lang, Junior Brown (only two years old), and it gets worse. I'm a huge Zappa fan -- he's been dead at least ten years.

*sigh* Guess I'll go listen to a 25-year-old Elton John recording, now...

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

The Ramones. Yaz. RHCP (Uplift Mofo Party Plan...got it as soon as it came out). Jesus & The Mary Chain (you know what I'm saying, Cara?). Book of Love. New Order, Erasure, Love & Rockets (and pre L&R Bahaus). The Smiths. And most importantly...Violent Femmes. Particularly when "Blister in the Sun" ends up on the Retro Hour and anyone under 21 thinks it's this great new song by this really cool new band.

Boy Bands make me feel old, too. The people I'm in school with now were all in elementary school when The New Kids On The Block were all the rage. I was a senior in high school.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Anything played during retro hour makes me feel old. Especially when they start playing things from the 90's.

I graduated in 1993. I haven't reconciled myself to the thought that the music I listened to my senior year/freshman year in College came out over 7 years ago.

Seven. Isn't that the answer to all the questions in the universe? Maybe I should re-read hitchiker's guide to the galaxy....

Ugh. And 2 more hours until quitting time.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Hey now. You think its bad listening to bands *younger* than you? Try *older* than you. Try something like *35 years* older than you. Thats right: I am a 17-year-old fan of classic rock. I listen to the Beatles, the Monkees, Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, Hendirx, Janis Joplin, the Doors, the Who, the Rolling Stones and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (I was mad when I didn't get to go to their concert a couple weeks ago). My friends all think I'm insane. But thats okay. Its not like I'm completely out of it -- I do like some modern music...I just prefer old stuff.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Run DMC. I heard some remake of "It's Tricky" the other day and got all teary-eyed. Hearing stuff from Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill makes me feel old, too, but hearing their newer stuff makes me feel older (I'm just like 'buh? what happened to brass monkey?'). It also made me feel old when we were playing our pre-show tape for Faustus during dress rehearsal, and one of the kids that are in the show said 'What's that?' Me: "Sisters of Mercy." Her: "It's cool! Are they new?" Me: "Naw, this album came out in, what, 1990?" I ask my husband, and he says "Nope, 1989," or something like that (it was Vision Thing if you're all about accuracy). She gasped and said "I was six!" Aie. This is one of a pair of girls who like to say "I'm dressing goth to go out tonight!" It was strange. Just strange.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Oops! Forgot Queen...Queen rocks.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

When I was in junior high I only listened to the Beatles, Mamas and the Papas, Peter Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, and Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. I taught my friends about John Lennon.

Now I look through my CD collection and wonder what the hell possessed me to buy that Deep Forrest CD.

Bands that make me feel old: Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, Living Colour, Faith No More, Metallica (...and justice), Skid Row (because of the shame of knowing all of the words to 18 and Life), Guns 'N Roses, Weird Al (because we once thought he was cool, huh?), Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam, Run DMC, Journey, Air Supply, Taco ("Putting on the Hits," anyone?), the B-52's, the Clash, Dead Kennedys, Anthrax, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, and Herbie Hancock.

When you remember seeing Pearl Jam in concert and they were the opening band for like six acts and you thought, "Who's this guy?"

When you can still do the voice for Dave Kendall on 120 Minutes. When you remember the Basement Tapes.

Y'all, the other day they were showing clips from "Remote Control" and I just wished so hard that they'd put those things on syndication. On VH-1, and then I can make my complete move into not-a-kidland.

I still listen to new stuff. I just get angry when someone asks who the Pixies are.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I've loved Sting since he was a beautiful 28 year old kid. I saw him singing with some young boy band the other day and he looked...older. I then realized he's 48 years old! Yikes! I felt like putting on a house dress with knee high nylons.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

The Pixies, Elvis Costello (both favorites of mine because they both did songs called "Alison" and you have to love them anyway).

Who else makes me feel old? The Pogues, The Sugarcubes, REM (my God, how I still love this band. They were on Sesame Street yesterday singing "Shiny Happy Monsters." What? They were! I love them.)

I am such a freak though. I still listen to mostly much older stuff. I have always listened to WW II, big band music and lots of blues and old country - try explaining that to people. I'm not ashamed.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Oh lord help me, even the bands that make some of you guys feel old are too young for me.

I like some new stuff, but for the last couple of months my weekly haul from the record store has consisted of oldies. Oldies even for me, things like The Hollies, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Hermans Hermits, Frankie Ford.

You know what makes me feel old? Marshall Crenshaw, The Plimsoles, The Silos. Ever heard of 'em? Waaaaaa.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I keep buying oldies lately, too. Well "older" albums, anyway. In fact, I'm on my way to the post office to pick up the b-52's album i ordered.

In the past few months I bought the Mamas and the Papas, Billy Joel, the Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack, the second Marilyn Manson album, a Sundays album, Deee-lite, and some other stuff i'm too embarrassed to admit.

I counter it with the new Fatboy Slim, No Doubt, Foo Fighters and my current desire to get a Limp Bizkit album. God help me. I love that "Break Stuff" song. there is something wrong with me.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I got really depressed when I put in the Clash "London Calling" into my car CD player and realized that this CD is the best that rock could do. It was released more than 20 years ago, and still nothing else can even come close to it.

Maybe SurferRosa by the Pixies.

Depressing, eh?

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

aah... bands that make me feel old. where should i begin?

the cure. the clash. the sundays. they might be giants. the violent femmes. fishbone. depeche mode. erasure. the sex pistols. the sugarcubes. luscious jackson, only because i remember when they were just starting out and were mentioned in the pages of sassy magazine and i thought, "wow, i'm gonna like these girls". the red hot chili peppers because, like pamie, i know that they had albums before "californication". jane's addiction. sunny day real estate (does anyone else remember them?). mazzy star.

i could go on forever, but i won't. i need to take my geritol and catch a nap now.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Oh, so many of my favourite bands, it takes too long to type. Retro hour makes me cringe these days, as so much of it is stuff I listened to in college and early grad school (I'm not that old, really ... ok, maybe 32 is ancient). The worst though, is the Who. I can remember so clearly what I felt the first time I heard Baba O'Riley and My generation, I think I was thirteen...and when I hear them now, I don't feel any different. I'll just go find my walker now.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

My favorite band of all time is Dramarama. Their following is patchy and scattered. People either say, "You mean Bananarama?" or totally love them, as if they were the biggest and best rock band ever.

While writing this, I realized their last album came out in 1992 (or '93). Thanks for the depressing topic, yo.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I'm only 18, so I'm not allowed to feel "old" yet--I can be a snob about music, sure, but not "old"--though my younger brother, whom I think was 10 at the time, once told me he didn't remember when Beck's "Loser" first came out. I was flabbergasted. I remember that. I remember sitting in my bedroom, thinking it sucked. Oh, to be 12 and stupid.

A friend of mine also once told me that I was "turning into an old man" because I enjoyed listened to Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel. Whaaaa? I grew up with it. It is good stuff, dammit. I made my friends listen to "Punky's Dilemma" a few weeks ago because they hadn't heard it. What? Simon & Garfunkel have songs other than "Mrs. Robinson?" Heh.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Oh yeah, the Violent Femmes and Janes Addiction does it for me. Sure they're still somewhat popular now still, but nothing beats the feeling of I-remember-when-that-song-got-released blues. Even the one off songs like Video Killed The Radio Star make me feel, oh, about 40 yrs old. One of my absolute favourites was an Australian band called the Hoodoo Gurus. It hurts when ever their songs are introduced on the radio as "the 1980's band..."

I also completely empathise with your Pixies-who? dilemma Pamie. They are still one of my top favs to listen to, and god forbid that anybody younger than me should dare ask me who they are. Don't question the Pixies, man.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Semi-related-

I was in a record store a few months ago and almost fell on the floor laughing when this teenage girl exclaimed: "What are all these Santana albums? Which one has that song?"

Of course, since I'm a mere 21, I can't be "old" either, but I can still ask that people be more knowledgable about music, duh!

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

REM makes me feel very old. I still remember dancing around to "It's the End of the World (as We Know it)" THe fact that a Smiths song is on a car commercial makes me feel VERY VERY OLD. The Smiths, mainstream enough for a card ad?!! Morrissey is crying himself all the way to the bank.

The fact that there was a 10 year re-release of Dirty Dancing (yeah it's a movie and but it relates to the topic) made me feel astonishingly old. I remember teaching guys Dirty Dancing as a "subtle" way to bust a move (okay the phrase bust a move shows my age all too well . . . damn I'm an old fogey)

also the fact that a five year old called me "the nice lady" I have issues I admit it!!

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I began to feel old when I realized that the only reason I liked The Wedding Singer, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and Grosse Point Blank was for their Eighties-pop soundtrack.

But looking at my CD collection, seeing the Plimsoles, Hoodoo Gurus, XTC, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, the Connells, Dead Can Dance, 10K Maniacs, Kate Bush, the Replacements, Nik Kershaw, the Smiths and Husker Du ... and realizing that it's been a while since any of these artists was considered, you know, alternative -

Well, that just makes me feel old. ----------------------------------------------------------------

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I felt ancient when I was Garbage last year. I just felt... so... old. There were kids that looked half my age there.

And I saw Beck earlier this year. I didn't feel old, I just felt very uncool. I need more black in my wardrobe.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

bands that make me feel old........ when you can rememebr waiting for a disc to be released new ....and it was like ten years or more ago.but artists that make me feel old are the ones when friends who are younger have no idea even exist. The pixies , happy mondays , the church , the go-betweens, De la Soul ,A tribe called quest, Sebadoh. And yes billy bragg.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

I'm 18, I dont feel old, but anyone who listens to any music really has to know the Pixies, and this is my Bostonian pride kickin' in, ya'll. I used to make "get to know the pixies" tapes for nirvana fans in high school.

I kick it to a tribe called quest all the time.

I really had nothing to add, just that nothing too exciting, too influential on the future cultural landscape, is out right now.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Oh Pamie! Nitzer Ebb! Front 242!

"Hey, Poor! Hey, Poor! You don't have to be poor anymore! Jesus is here!" "Hey, Poor! You don't have to be Jesus."

Does anyone else remember that "Harley Davidson-of-a-bitch" song? And Soho? Hippy Chick. ha! The Crawdaddies. Dead or Alive. OLD B- 52s. Blondie. Joy Division. and of course...Wall of Voodoo.."mexican radiooooo"

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

What really makes me feel kind of old is this message board I hang out at. As far as I know, I'm the oldest person there, and I'm only 25. I don't know if anyone else on the board is older than that. (The board controller, for the record, is 17.) Unlike the rest of them, I remember what music was like before Nirvana. I remember the 1980s, when some of them were barely born. And get this: I remember when Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album came out (it was my brother's favourite) and I can remember hearing about Led Zeppelin when they still existed, i.e. before Bonzo died. I was five at the time. THAT makes me feel old.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Geez... way to make me feel old James. I think you'll find me in there too, and round there in the age department too. Now I feel reeeally old.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Hah! I'm way ahead of the lot of you..... I saw the Sex Pistols live before Sid Vicious joined. I was the only one to show up for the first REM show (the first one in Amsterdam, that is). And don't get me started on the New York Dolls.....

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Oooops, I forgot to mention Zep. I was five when the first album was released, and thanks to my hippie parents it made an everlasting impact. Saw them in concert in 75, my first live show ever, and one of the best too.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

When I went to see Garbage... and then a few months later, when I was definitely the oldest person at Better Than Ezra... Now that's ridiculous, ok. Girls who were in middle school when "Good" first came out were at this concert. It just made me not wanna go to concerts anymore. But I got over it.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Wanna feel old? Go to any concert this summer, where the arena is one of those outdoor seat/lawn combos, and get lawn tickets. This works best if its a band you actually enjoy who has only become "famous" in the past couple of years. Before too long, you'll find yourself surrounded by junior high and high school kids who will beg you to buy them beer. Then, you'll find yourself laughing with the PARENTS of these same kids as young girls or boys throw themselves at band members who would clearly go to jail for looking at said kids the wrong way. That, my dearies, is the way to feel old.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

No Doubt. I love them unreservedly. I feel Gwen Stefani's pain. I also realize that if I go to the No Doubt show in Virginia Beach this summer I will no doubt be the oldest person there. I also really can't help liking those catchy Smash Mouth tunes, which probably makes me their oldest living fan.

It also makes me feel old when I'm driving around in my car with Life's Rich Pageant cranked up, and I realize that the kids around me probably think I'm listening to dorky old-people music.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I have to agree about the REM thing. Here's a fun Carol factoid: my tenth-grade geometry teacher, who thought he was all hip n'happenin', put this little gem at the end of our final:

"It's the end of the test as we know it, And you feel fine."

Really. I am not making this up.

Oh, and Sting too. I thought I was so feckin' hip and new wave listening to all those early Police albums when I was 13 and the rest of my friends were into Debbie Gibson and Poison. I can't get over the fact that that strapping sexy lad with the spikey hair is now a "soft rock" staple. Lord.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

The Replacements !

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

oh, here's another thing that i recently heard that is making me feel tres old:

bad religion is the opening band for blink 182's san diego stop.

when did bad religion get relegated to opening band status? that shit aint right, yo.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Pamie, there's no shame in knowing the words to '18 and Life'. That's rock and roll gold.

The Eagles (actually, this should be in the 'embarrassing music' thread). The Beatles. Red Hot Chili Peppers (I've not bought an album of theirs later than Blood Sugar Sex Magic). The fact that I still refer to 'albums'. The Cranberries. Guns 'n Roses. Wham.

The problem is I have a photographic memory for song lyrics, so if anything from the last 30 years comes on the radio I'm going to sing along. But luckily I've been doing a lot of MTV watching at the gym lately, so I can temper this by knowing all the words to 'Say My Name' (which is kind of catchy) and 'I Want it That Way' (which I'm also kind of fond of).

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Reading all your entries doesn't make me feel old as much as out of touch. Half the bands mentioned I've never heard their music although some names I recognised from reading music magazines. Guess being in Australia has it's drawbacks. I like most types of music from 60's to present but all time favorite band is KISS. Hate rap though. Music will always make me feel young especially when I have my 12 yr old son sitting next to me in the car singing along to Lou Reed's Dock of the Bay. He knows most of the words too.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

OK, not to embarrass myself yet again on this forum by admitting to being a Spice Girls fan, but I have never felt older in my life than when I went to their concert. I had a 20 minute conversation with the two twleve year old girls sitting in front of me about who our favorite Spice Girl was and how we felt when Ginger left the group. Apparently it didn't dawn on them how old I was until well into the conversation because finally one of the looked at me suspiciously and said "You're old enough to be out of college, aren't you?" and indeed I was. I could only respond with "Yes, I am old. So very, very old.".

Other things that make me feel old: "Valley Girl", which was my favorite song when I was 7, is almost twenty years old; I actually find myself missing Dial MTV whenever TRL is on (wasn't Def Leppard #1 like every day?); I am still waiting for a new Guns and Roses album to come out; the fact that I am now older than the characters in Reality Bites, which I saw about twenty times when I was 19.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

What makes me feel really old now is a) when characters in films are younger than me, and b) when all the 50 Eligible Bachelors in the latest UK Cosmo are also younger than me. They're supposed to be exciting older men!

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Alanis Morisette, because I remember when she was "Alanis" and had big hair. I have her first two dance tapes.

Always too hot! Never too cold! You make your best shot Too hot to hold!

And Debbie Gibson is now Deborah Gibson and starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. She's 30 now. How weird is that?

Also Cyndi Lauper, but that's because I was a huge fan when I was 8, and now she's 40ish. So's Madonna and any of the people I considered cool when I was a pre-teen.

I also remember when Celine Dion was cool-- before she was the whiny soundtrack queen. When she still sang in French, and was just putting out her first English album and hadn't opened up Nickels (the world's worst deli).

Roch Voisine, because nobody's ever heard of him.

And Corey Hart and Sass Jordan and Luba.

Skid Row and Guns N' Roses.

Poison. Oh, my god, don't forget Poison.

The Proclaimers and that one song they did. I remember it when it was popular the first time (pre Benny and Joon).

Anything that was popular in 1993, because I graduated that year, too. From High School. I can't believe that stuff's "retro" now. Oh, the humanity.

That's about it for now.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Our Top 40 station here in Houston has a program called Energy Radio over the weekday lunch hour -- it consists of all the dance music I used to listen to as an eighth-grader: Two of Hearts by Stacey Q, Tone Loc, early Salt -n- Pepa (push it real good!), Blue Monday (before Orgy got a hold of it).

That stuff's nothing but ear candy, but I find myself just driving down the freeway aimlessly over my lunch break, swimming in the nostalgia...it gives me the urge to mousse...

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Oh yeah, The Smiths, The Pixies, New Order... they all remind me of high school, and then I remember how long ago that was, and I realize just how old I am...

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I have bands that I'm sort of embarrassed to admit that I like (and they're not 80's hair bands). For example, Counting Crows. I wore out August and Everything After. The thing is, well, I kind of quit being sad. And Adam Duritz will always be sad. That's what he does.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

sad thing is... just going to ANY shows these days pretty much makes me feel old. It's either all them kiddies runnin around an arena being a pain in the ass, or a bar fulla the "I just got my ID! lets go to a show!" crowd.

Maybe its just that we're both content to sit home and stare at each other with goofy looks on our faces now that we're married.

I haven't been to see someone lame like Hootie, tho. Maybe that wouldnt be so bad.

Yes it would.

Mail your extra Hipness to: SlappyJack
Married-Folk Ln.
SF, CA

I could use the help...

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

The first "Album" I bought was Alice Cooper"Killer" and The Who's "Tommy" was made into a kickass rock opera about the same time I was only about 14 but I snuck into the theatre every morning and stayed til midnight watching it all summer. That was 26 years ago (OUCH)

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Boys and Girls, Has anyone thought that we are the lucky ones? We being the ones that everyone else looks at funny when they look through our CD cases, or our record stash, depending on your personal tastes. I mean, wow, I look around today and see people who have never heard a song by any of the great and powerful groups/artists mentioned above and I think to myself that the world is turning into some sort of twisted Kurt Vonnegut story. I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

We should consider ourselves lucky that we have some sort of soundtrack to our pasts that hasn't been remastered constantly by the newest and most popular artists to just come out...

It's music at its best, a personal experience... Not sounds to sedate the masses... Who cares if we feel old, we've got history, continuity.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Old? How about remembering the time BEFORE cd's, when there was a choice of tape or vinyl. How about Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, Ozzie and his beautiful guitar player Randy Rhodes? What happened to all the metal? I mean the real stuff, before Poison and Skid Row and Guns and Roses. On a not so metal note, how about the Cult, and the Mission UK, The Church? Wow, you all are so young. Does anyone remember a time before mtv, or in California, does anyone remember the mtv predecessor, mv3, with Richard Blade from Kroq as a host? Okay, my true colors, I lived the 80's (having graduated in '85), and any music from a John Hughes movie will do it for me... Thanks for really showing me how old I am today.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

"Oh, you like Duran Duran? My mom was totally into them, too." Ow. Ow. Ow.

It also scared me -- and my whole family -- when my 6-year-old neicelette and I had a serious conversation about who our favorite Spice Girl is and why.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Old? Hmmm, how about the times over the past two or three years when I've driven my daughter and her friends to Providence for concerts by groups like Our Lady Peace or the Deftones or the Foo Fighters and I am the oldest person in the building. (Okay, there may be a handful of other fathers there, but I'm older than all of them too.) Of course the last concert she went to there she just borrowed my car (would prefer that she not drive her aging Honda Civic on I-95) and I missed being there to be the oldest person in the building.

Old? How about that even the oldies station usually doesn't play the songs that I consider to be oldies. (Oldies to me means at least pre-Beatle.) People call the Rolling Stones geriatric? [Damn, Mick Jagger is my age!] My oldies were recorded by 1950's rock groups, a few of whom (the former teenage stars) might be my age, but who are mostly in their sixties... if they are still around.

Geriatric Jim

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

It's not really one band in particular... I'll hear a song that came out in like '94 and sing along and then I'll realize that it was popular when I was a sophomore in high school. And while that really wasn't that long ago, it seems like SUCH a long time ago. I'm only 21 and I feel OLD. Especially when I talk to people born in the eighties. That just seems so wrong to me.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

what makes me feel old are when the band members are young and extremely talented to boot. it makes me feel like what i've done with my life thus far has been completely unproductive. like - look at them! they're still in high school and they have a record out that gets airplay all over the us. it irks me.

like the band kittie - they are all girls that are 15 and 16! they're talented yes but geez! that's young.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

What really makes me feel old are two things:

1. '80s music oldies collections. 'Nuff said.

2. '80s music used as theme music. Just discovered today (hey, I haven't had a TV in two years) that the Dennis Miller show uses "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears. What's really bad is that I didn't see TFF play until it was just Roland Orzabal and even that, now that I think of it, was at least 6 years ago, probably 7.

I'm freakin' old. I don't even know what you kids today listen to.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000

I have every single Cure record out. The Cure formed the year I was born. No one seems to like the Cure much anymore, and the young people who do seem to think of them as a pop band. Does anyone remember The Cure being goth? Someone? Please?

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000

Funny that you mentioned Tears For Fears, cos I saw the video for "Mad World" on TV last night and while watching it I realised that this was the first time I'd seen it since the song was released in 1982. That made me feel a bit ancient for some reason. Can't even remember the last time I heard the song on radio

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

ooh yes steph, I agree!! the cure is goth!!! whoever thinks of them is as any old pop band from the 80's is just wrong. hm.

I have about 11 cure albums in my cd collection. I just listened to the oldest one today...boys don't cry.

I really don't feel that old though. I'm only 18 going on 19 but yeah. the cure is the best group besides radiohead. they're another story.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

steph, i too remember the cure when they were goth (come to think of it, they still are, aren't they? is robert smith really being considered pop? *shudders*). i was about thirteen when i first started listening to them and dying my hair lots of neat colours not found in nature. i had cure posters covering my walls and the biggest crush on robert smith and every cure video there was.

now when people (younger than me) hear anything off of the bloodflowers cd, they're like, "who's this new band, the cure?" ick.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

I was going to say the Stones, because I was young and sexy when they were but now they look like melted candles ... but I'll have to spare Jim's feelings (plus I'm nearly their age) so I'll say I feel ancient when the bright young things rediscover an old band or trend.

I ready about a hot new Asian group a few years ago that sounded good, went out and bought their CD -- and found myself listening to some stoned hippy crap written by kids whose parents hadn't even MET when I was lolling around on on velvet cushions, imagining my legs were mellllllllltingggg.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

i distinctly remember tearing off plastic from vinyl records in high school with the price tag reading "$7.99". New Records. REM. No joke.

Whenever I see Sonic Youth now I feel old. They are aging (in a really great way) but they are not the glamorous scum-rockers I idolized when I was 16. Plus, they are opening for Pearl jam, who I can barely remember at this point.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2000

a few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I went to see Neve at the Hard Rock and we were the oldest people there. It was an 'all ages welcome'...but did they have to let the 12 year olds in? I felt really, really old.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

Old, huh. Try when you and your boss are discussing the finer points of Remote Control and Just Say Julie, and your customers are looking at you like you have a thrid eye or something. That and the other night after we had closed we were cleaning up and one of our youngest employees was there and we made her listen to "Backtracks USA" (two hours of eighties music) and we sang every song that was played, she just gawked in horror when Madonna's first single ever "Burnin' Up"came on and Laurie reenacted the video for us. It was

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2000

MTV makes me feel so old I should be walking hunched over and driving a Lincoln Town Car with the blinker on.

I remember when it was different. I liked it. Everyone did.

Somewhere along the line it just got really annoying. And I'm secretly enjoying VH-1's pop-up video.

I am old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled....

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2000

What makes me feel old is U2. And here's the thing: It's not that I like their music. It's the way I like their music. Nowadays, people either don't care about U2, or they are some kind of Britpop superfocused oh-I'm-not-a-groupie-though superfan. I just really really like them. Have since I was about 6. Nobody seems to feel that way anymore. So I feel like I'm stuck in a time warp where I'm about 17 or so, because that's when I was one of millions that felt the same way. I didn't claim the feeling made sense;). And MTV makes me feel old too. "DIDN'T THIS STATION USED TO HAVE VIDEOS???" I wish our provider carried MTV2 - I spent a week housesitting, and much of that week watching Skunk Anansie and like bands that will never be on either MTV or VH1 in a million years.

Strangely, the old music I like doesn't make me feel old. Maybe because if it's been around long enough, it's going to be 'cool' to a select few at all age levels. I had a sixteenish year old guy asking me if I knew of any good place to buy jazz LP's the other day. That made me feel pretty good actually... "Sure I may be settled down and married and responsible and all that crap, but skater bois still think I look hip!" Heh.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2000

I love the Rat Pack and Frank Sinatra. This just makes me feel ancient since I can now sit and talk about music with my grandmother. There is something just intrinsicly wrong about listening to the same music as my grandmother.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2000