Too young for...

I recently sang "My Way" by The Sex Pistols at karaoke. Afterwards a man who saw The Sex Pistols back in the 70s came up to me and asked me how do I know The Sex Pistols. One would assume he's in his later 60s/early 70s and I'm in my 40s, so a notable age gap. I can also confirm that on the day that Sid Vicious died I was yet to be born.

Now had I been singing a song by The Adverts for example he may have had a point. If it wasn't for the internet or the Top of the Pops reruns I may not have heard of them. But The Sex Pistols? Even if I had no interest in music whatsoever I'm pretty certain I would still have heard of them such was the impact they had on the music world.

This was one of many examples of people not being able to comprehend the fact it is possible to know music from before you were born. The internet makes it easier than ever to discover old music but there are still countless older artists whose music I was familiar with way before the internet.

It could be argued that my music tastes are older than my years but the more I think about it I'm not sure that's necessarily the case. Take rave for example, my teenage music of choice. Throughout much of it I was too young to go to an actual rave and it was before I'd used the internet.

My route into finding this rave music was via other kids having tapes. It wasn't like it was music for people 5 or 6 years older than us, it was the music of the moment.

Another example of a music act someone once suggested I was too young for was the Pet Shop Boys. My memory of them begins with "It's A Sin" so it wasn't the start of their career but was still early on and admittedly I was very young at the time. One would call them an 80s act but they still proved to be popular throughout the 90s. In fact by the end of the decade they were so popular amongst the dance music fans in my age group that they headlined Creamfields festival.

It would seem that some people think a window opens up between where you're 18 and 25 and you should only listen to, or even be familiar with music acts that establish themselves during this window.

Think about it logically though. Around 18 months ago The Beatles topped the charts with "Now and Then". If you were 18 when they first broke through in 1962 then you would be 81 now. If only people in their 80s or older bought your records then you're not getting to number one.

Elton John did his farewell tour that was attended by over 6 million people. If you were 18 when he broke through in 1971 then you'd be 70 by the end of that tour. Again you're not getting anywhere near that number if only people in their 70s or older attended.

The most profitable music act to this very day according to a TV show I watched recently is Elvis Presley. If you were 18 when he broke through in 1956 then you would now be 87. Given this age is some way above life expectancy that means most people who were born in 1937 are no longer with us. Who are these people making Elvis so profitable then? Well it's those people who are too young for Elvis.