Guess the Decade

I’m still ruminating about the question “Why do you like this old-ass music?” that was asked of me by an anonymous, faceless person on Zoom this week in our Mastering Academics Conversations class. Obviously, they still have a lot to learn about academic conversations and I still have a lot to learn about conducting online classes that permit anonymity.
We were playing a Kahoot game together online “Guess the Decade of this Song.” I prepared a list of 80+ songs to share with students, but with only an hour to play, I whittled it down to 40 hit songs of the 1940s thru the 1990s. Play a song excerpt, guess the decade and Kahoot keeps score. A fun concept but perhaps a bit long taking up the better part of an hour.
I woke up thinking about the question this morning. I have thought of so many better answers for that guy than what I came up with at the time. That’s how it usually goes.
The fact that it is the music of my mom and my grandparents, who are no longer with us is a big factor in the music I shared. Also, it is the music I learned about and shared with good friends I no longer get to see. This is something a young person likely has to learn much about.
We used to share our culture. We used to experience things like music and shows together. We no longer do that. We are now electronic narcissists, calling up the music of our heart’s desire whenever and wherever we want. And we don’t have to ask if anyone else likes it too or if they want to share it with us. It’s for me, me, me!
I learned about a lot of good music from my older “brothers” in the service. Generations overlapped there. So much of the music I shared came from an appreciation developed by me from people older than me who knew more than me. I was just passing it on to students for their consideration.

So if somebody wants to play “Guess the Decade of the Song” with me sometime, hit me up. I still have it ready to go.