I have become that which I once wondered: how can old people like this music?
Posted by Thrashbear@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 45 comments
Storytime.
Picture it: Denver, 1991. I'm at a Slayer/Testament show when I start up a chat with a young couple, the mom holding a baby. I comment something, and her mom (baby's grandmother) enters the conversation. I was shocked, what is a GRANDMOTHER doing at a thrash metal concert?
I asked how old she was. She said 47. Me, an 18-year-old know-it-all, wondered how someone so OLLLLD could enjoy my youth-dominated kind of music. She said she just loves it and left it at that.
I'm 5 years older than her now.
Now git off mah lawn!
LonesomeBulldog@reddit
You’re at a show where the bands are in their 60s and you wonder why old people dig their music?
GooseySill@reddit
I'm 52 years old. Just went, by myself, to see Helloween a couple of weeks ago. Going Wednesday, by myself again, to see AVATAR. Just an old guy at a metal show. Ha!
kevbayer@reddit
My 28 year old child today commented that we messed her up because she still has Daft Punk on her playlist.
tacosandtheology@reddit
I go to multiple metal shows a month, mostly local bands. I'm always shocked when I see kids under 40 showing up. Stocked when they do.
Thrashbear@reddit (OP)
Metal transcends age, I'm listening to a lot of bands whose members weren't even born in the heyday of metal. It's good to keep the fires burning.
HatesDuckTape@reddit
I saw Slayer and Testament in ‘91 in Troy, NY. My first concert. And til this day one of the best I’ve seen. That one and Metallica during the black album tour are easily the two best shows I’ve seen, and I’ve seen quite a few over the years.
wyohman@reddit
I would have asked why the BABY was at the show!
Big_Accountant_1714@reddit
That was my first thought too. That can't be good for a baby's ears?
penilesensorydevice@reddit
My first metal show was Raven and Metallica, at a roller rink in NJ. During Metallica, there was a kid standing behind us, maybe 11-12 years old, and he had two women with him, in what I can only describe as Amish garb. They were dutifully standing there, and they were clearly very uncomfortable with the volume and mindless headbanging. And they stayed for Raven, too. A really odd scene.
madogvelkor@reddit
My range in music is so wide now that I switch between Metallica, Castle Rat, Sabrina Carpenter, Die Sptiz, Aurora, Paris Paloma, BBNO$, Everclear, Katseye...
tacosandtheology@reddit
Now is forever!
Ellisrsp@reddit
I was at Slayer's last show in 2019. Concert ended, house lights came on, and I sarcatically told the couple sitting next to me, "I guess I'll see you guys at the reunion tour in a few years".
I wasn't wrong.
d3amoncat@reddit
Im 55 and when my dad was alive, he loved Rammstein and Motionless in White. He was 86.
sherlockjr1@reddit
Du HAST!
Micheal_Noine_Noine@reddit
Raining Blood \m/ \m/
Threefrogtreefrog@reddit
Mc Clintock did a great mashup with that song :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnrfqPoX4WU
Puzzleheaded_Bad6461@reddit
the love of bad music transcends age, race, colour and creed
Ok-Huckleberry-6326@reddit
You know it's funny because I thought to myself when Testament's last record came out (Titans of Creation) and these guys are in their 50 and 60's writing songs like "Night of The Witch"
I guess it's just the vibes that people still pay attention to. Metal is across the range of ages, I'm in my 50's and saw a few people who were older than me at the last metal gig I went to.
glucoman01@reddit
Our age groups are the only ones who can afford tickets...
epicpillowcase@reddit
My 72 year old mother likes The Beastie Boys.
Thrashbear@reddit (OP)
Did she have to fight for her right to party?
epicpillowcase@reddit
Indeed, indeed.
lazygerm@reddit
Your mom was 32 when they hit it. So, not unusual. Cool mom!
epicpillowcase@reddit
Nah, she got into them when I did. So she was about probably 50? 55? But yes, quite cool. :)
Lanky_Comedian_3942@reddit
Did you not notice that Slayer and Testament were old guys?
uglykidjohn@reddit
I went to see Slayer about 10 years ago and was surprised to see females in the audience.
Thrashbear@reddit (OP)
phred_666@reddit
Shit. I'm a fucking old fart who has been going to concerts since the 1970's. I always get double takes when people hear me pull up cranking Slayer.
Thrashbear@reddit (OP)
Damn, you must have seen so much in the scene.
Oh, hey, that rhymed!
artbrymer@reddit
Mid-1960s: “Kick Out The Jam” recorded by MC5 (full name: Motor City Five).
This is considered one of the first true punk recordings.
KeepYourMindOpen365@reddit
Can’t mention the MC5 without mentioning The Stooges…
Puzzled-Bonus-3456@reddit
only 10 years after Link Wray "Rumble"
Kind_Worry_9836@reddit
https://americansongwriter.com/the-fascinating-story-behind-the-only-instrumental-rock-song-ever-banned-from-radio/
I had this in my browser for a while. I've been meaning to look for the music.
Chad_Hooper@reddit
I met a 12 year old guitarist in the merch line at the last Priest show I went to. He was there with his dad, who was probably close to my age but a little younger. I think it’s cool seeing the younger generation picking up the music I was listening to in high school.
Just shows that my dad was wrong about how my taste in music would change as I grew older. I hadn’t even discovered thrash metal until after he passed, and I’m still into Judas Priest, which was probably the heaviest thing he ever heard me listening to.
Kind_Worry_9836@reddit
Your dad was breaking the law. groan
rlr0718@reddit
Well now you’ve got another thing coming mister!
Thrashbear@reddit (OP)
Boo! BOOO! 🤣
Mammoth_Ad_483@reddit
They brought a baby to a Slayer concert?
BabadookOfEarl@reddit
Harder to sacrifice an adult. They struggle a lot.
Thrashbear@reddit (OP)
Holy shit that's gold 🤣🤣🤣
SacriliciousQ@reddit
I'm just about to turn 54 and I'm seeing Napalm Death next month \m/
Thrashbear@reddit (OP)
Fuck yeah! Don't die in the pit lol.
SWNMAZporvida@reddit
I saw Chuck Berry open for Tom Petty - I had to explain that was really him (alive) and not an impersonator. I was in my 30s
Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit
I was at a concert a couple years ago and in line for the men’s room. This was a band that formed in the late 80s and became regionally popular in the mid-90s.
Young guy in front of me asks when was the first time I saw the band. I said “oh, I think it was probably 1992.” “Wow! I wasn’t even born yet!”
artbrymer@reddit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC5