The Smiley Smile Message Board

Should we officially start getting scared about what will happen to the music of our heroes once our generation dies out?

Here is the story:
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http://www.wflx.com/story/16922628/thousands-tweet-who-is-paul-mccartney

That depends what you mean by 'our generation'. what is your generation? i know my generation (20's) haven't forgotten about the beatles. for every like 1 person in my high school who wasnt wearing a beatles shirt there was one who was. i think their legacy is safe. i mean what is the singer of the temptations name? FIIK. still love their music.

Considering millions and millions of people watch the Grammys, a few thousand teenagers who don't know who Paul  McCartney is isn't so shocking. Now, if they never heard of the Beatles, that would be more surprising.

Another common tweet that night: "Chris Brown can beat me anytime he wants!"

People are idiots.  The age of the twitter has brought that truth into startling focus.

I can't get upset about that. In the 60s if you asked a Beatles fan or a hippie if they ever heard of Puccini or Mahler they would tell you they never heard of them so....

I worked at an amusement park where Chris Brown visited in the summer of 2009 and girls were near rioting to see him. They were yelling, "chris, i want to have your baby!"

True but I'm not entirely sure your argument equates.  Classical music has always been a bit of an acquired taste for most people whereas the rock music of the fifties and sixties still provide the bedrock essentially for what the musical acts of today are doing.  To me it's inexcusable that anyone who calls themselves a fan of music doesn't know who Paul McCartney is.  There is just some stuff that if you listen to music you should know and knowing who Paul McCartney certainly falls into that category along with the other three Beatles, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra and a few select others.

I can imagine McCartney probably isn't pleased to hear this.  The man so desperately wanted to reverse the "Lennon / McCartney" songwriting credits of the songs he wrote when he discovered his name was cut off of the sheet music some local musician had of "Yesterday".  As much as an impact he has had in popular music, McCartney still craves to be the center of attention.  He wanted it more than the other Beatles. 

But I'll say that McCartney finished the GRAMMY show nicely with the "Golden Slumbers" medley.  Even if it seemed completely out of place at the show, it was ultimately the highlight of the night for me.  I even enjoyed it more than the Beach Boys abbreviated reunion!  Seeing McCartney trade guitar licks with Walsh, Springsteen and Grohl was epic; as messy a performance as it was...

The sad truth is John, you're old, I'm old.  Eventually we'll die, and then the 50 and 60 year olds will wax poetic about how great Little wayne is and none of the new kids understand.

I'm not saying that the classic stuff isn't better, of course it is... however, you have to be willing to let the future generations love what they will, just like our fathers can't convince us why Rosemary Clooney was better than the Beatles. 

Circle of Life, Elton John, Lion King, all that stuff applies. 


To everything, there is a season.  Don't cry for Paul McCartney, his season has been and will continue to be much longer than any of ours!

Uh.... that's not how that happened.  

You're right--I was making that recollection from memory.  I believe it was "Hey Jude".

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/paulie-rocks-liverpool-accepts-lennon-and/

See the thing is though I recognize the fact that the music of my grandparents' genearation (I'm not that old actually) in some ways was better than the music of my parents' generation.  I think for example Sinatra was a better singer than any of the four Beatles and actually enjoy a great deal of his music.  I'm not a huge classical music fan but know enough about it where I can have a discussion with someone about it without seeming completely lost.  My issue is with people who claim to be music fans and yet have no knowledge at all about the some of the most common and well known information out there.  Calling yourself a music fan (and by watching the Grammys I would assume that individual would be one) and not knowing who Paul McCartney is or who Frank Sinatra was is to me particularly egregious.  

But in the end you are right it is what it is and probably not worth my time worrying about it.

Cheers! :drunks

You guys do know this is a joke, right? People were tweeting "Who is Paul McCartney?" in reference to a lot of people tweeting "Who is Arcade Fire?" when Arcade Fire won the award for Best Album last year....

They're just young.    It just means that they simply haven't been exposed to the story behind the music.  You could hear a thousand Beatles songs and never know that Paul McCartney was a Beatle. 

They probably know a lot about things you have no clue about either, though, it's just different strokes for different folks.  That's how generations work. 

The guy above mentioned that he has no clue who was in the temptations.  I've known those guys since I was a little kid, but some people have just never heard their names or anything about them. 

I think some of you are cutting them way more slack than they deserve!
It hasn't been that long since I was a teenager, and I can say with a certain amount of authority that even the young'uns pretty much have to be willfully ignorant to not have heard of Paul McCartney.

All it means is you're out of touch, not them!  They're the future, one way or the other.  Most kids I've been around are remarkably more intelligent than my generation, they've moved on to the next greatest thing, it's only us that are still holding on to all this old sh*t.  Paul's the greatest, but everything dies eventually.  He'll get his spot, though, like Mozart or Beethoven or Liszt or Gerswin or Shakespeare or whatever.  Talent like that won't ever be totally forgotten, but if you think every teenager is well versed in who all the legends are, you're being naieve.  They'll discover it as they get older, but they'll be quick to relegate it to "I never listen to that stuff" like we all do with all the greats that came before the Beatles. 

Just imagine how many of those kids tweeting that merda now KNOW who McCartney is are maybe even curious and will seek out his stuff!!!!

http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/6kpw