SIX SONGS THAT CONNECT WITH YOUNG AND RECKLESS BEHAVIOR
Every generation has its own anthem. We needed these motivational songs to guide us through the obstacles of good decisions so we could reach the golden plateau of bad decisions.
Let's face it, bad decisions are generally more fun when you're seventeen.
So let's discuss the youth anthems of the past five decades.
The easy guess for the 50s would have been just about any Elvis song, if you asked any parent from that era. But Bill Haley got the ball rolling in 1954 when he recorded 'Rock Around The Clock'. Twenty years later, it introduced us to TV's mild-mannered sit-com 'Happy Days', but it was a highly controversial song in the mid-50s.
'Rock Around The Clock' was a radical song in its time. Rock and roll was brand new to a white audience, and it seemed very dangerous to an older generation. But a teenaged generation loved it, along with the endless possibilities when they rocked that clock well past midnight and into the fun zone. Parents hated those possibilities with a passion.
And they weren't too fond of Bill Haley either.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_rWlBfGLe0
The 60s had many possibilities for anthems, but we picked 'My Generation' by the Who. Roger Daltrey may have stuttered when he started talking about his generation, but the message was loud and clear- with heavy emphasis on loud. Only the Who's drummer Keith Moon got to die before he got old, but the song remains a defiant reminder of an era when Baby Boomers were still babies. And they were babies with a very relaxed grip on the rule book.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594WLzzb3JI&feature=PlayList&p=25807FEA155DFD1A&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=7
The 70s were a little too serious and introspective during the early half of the decade with a big run of folkies like Jackson Browne and James Taylor. Eventually the chronically cartoonish band Kiss cracked out a drunken frat boy hit with 'I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night'. Incidentally, they also wanted to party every day as well. The philosophy was bird bath deep, but Kiss tugged at the heart strings of every wasted kid that could only remember a handful of lyrics in a song. A handful of lyrics was all that was necessary for this sing-along party anthem from these pioneer arena rockers.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DZOJQEWwGU
The 80s had a lot of one hit wonders to supplement the new videos from that decade. A lot of it was forgettable dance crap, but the Beastie Boys gave the decade its definitive youth anthem with 'Fight for Your Right to Party'. If you were sixteen and your hormones had just kicked in, this was the song for you and your dateless wonder collection of equally unloved buddies. Young guys got to shout along with this song in the pizza joint after they struck out with young women. In a way it was a musical equivalent of comfort food when they threw enough intoxicants into the mix.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBShN8qT4lk
The youth anthem of the 90s was a lot darker. Sure you could still shout along with the lyrics to Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit', but the mood was not exactly upbeat. Kurt Cobain probably didn't help matters when he permanently retired himself from show biz and life above ground, but the song defined a time and place for Gen X and sometimes Y. It just wasn't a happy time and place.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg
At least Kurt paved the way for the youth anthem of the first ten years of the 21st century. 'Animal I Have Become' by Three Day's Grace is another dark vision of uncontrollable youth. But at least they recognize that they have a very weak grip on good behavior.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqds0B_meys
The problem is that they are not having nearly as much fun as the kids from Bill Haley's era.
Maybe bands are over-thinking life as a kid in youth anthem songs these days.
