Website © 2003 by Tyler Carey
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Hobo Lifestyles #4
The Contributions of a Generation
by Tyler Carey
I was channel surfing the other night and somehow landed on an early rock and roll showcase on PBS. There were Little Anthony and the Imperials and plenty of other doo-wop, rockabilly and oldies stars rotating on and off stage to do their hit with as much ability as their forty or fifty year hiatuses could allow. It was pretty painful. My father took my mother to one of these shows years ago, and quipped, "If this is the music of our lives, what are all of these old people doing here?" And here we are - the kids who cut their teeth on rock and roll are now populating the borscht belt and the sunshine state. Can you picture the senior center sing-alongs in ten years? "Everybody, sing along with me, 'Deep down in Loo-see-anna, close to New Orleans, way back up in the woods among the evergreens, there is an old cabin made of earth and wood where lives a country boy named Johnny Be Goode.'" Well, that kicks "You are My Sunshine"'s ass, huh?
So, our parents and, for some of us, our grandparents led the post-war rock 'n' roll revolution. Those who came of age during the 60s had the Beatles and flower power. The seventies had soul and punk. Even the 80s at least had hip-hop as a beacon amidst A Flock of Seagulls, and then the very early 90s gave us grunge.
What's our generation's big contribution, though? Ricky Martin? The only thing I can think of that culturally defines our generation was the mp3 war. No matter where you stand on the issue (even amongst the Hoboes there are those who are pro-CD-ripping and those who are vehemently opposed to ripping off our fellow artists), you had to be amazed with the grass-roots response of college kids and Internet jockeys to the labels and the RIAA. Most of us can't even name our congressman, but we knew the ins and outs of every label's stance on Napster. So, our big generational claim to fame is that we care more about downloading Metallica than about our political system. Impressive as the activism for free music might be, the fact that few of us knew who to lobby in Washington is pretty stultifying.
I don't want us to be remembered as the generation that obsessed over Napster and Internet porn. Where's our Beatles or Sex Pistols? If you say it's N'Sync, I'm gonna eat a gun.
The labels and big publishing houses have co-opted themselves. It's no longer Slick Hollywood Records telling us what to listen to; it's Slick Hollywood Records - A Subsidiary of AOL/TW/Random House/TicketMaster/Tweeter/Sony. Our last best hope seems to be indie pop. The only bands putting out worthwhile music seem to be recording, producing and distributing it themselves. It's that DIY aesthetic that seems to be saving us all. With the Internet, with cheap recording equipment, and with cheap publishing alternatives, we're back to a pre-War sensibility as to homemade goods. Before the Depression, the prevalence of typewriters and mass printing equipment helped engender the school of amateur journalism - armchair astronomists, authors and historians who made and swapped their own newsletters. It gave such figures as HP Lovecraft the ability to print their first works, without having to worry about the sponsorship of a big publishing house. In the late 70s and 80s, hip-hop grew out of the ability of black artists to make and record their own music and sell it at concerts. With their distaste towards the highly saccharine pop culture of the Osmonds and early MTV, artists like Chuck D basically created a new media outlet from scratch.
And to a lesser extent, that's what we're doing here at the Hoboes. We're sick and tired of magazines that are so entrenched in the exact same style of content that each issues is interchangeable with the previous. We're tired of tuning into the MTV VMA's every year and not caring about a single person who is up for an award. We want to break down that fourth wall that tells you you're a viewer, not a valid contributor. We want every reader to become a participant. We want to post your art, share your stories, play your music. Keep the contributions coming! We seem to add a new Hobo with each successive round of updates. To see yourself here, email me at: tyler@greathoboes.com.
Thanks for reading!
Tyler M. Carey
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, The Great Hoboes of New York
September 4, 2002