Posted on 01/05/2015 12:41:05 PM PST by Red Badger
It's becoming more and more apparent that a new generational gap is forming. Whereas one generation didn't grow up with iPhones and high-speed internet, the newest generation sees these things as everyday commodities. It's natural for gaps like this to form, and with those gaps come plenty of hilarious consequences.
With how quickly technology is advancing, these gaps show themselves more frequently nowadays. There are the usual complaints (like 'those darn kids never put their phones down'), but it's really the disconnect between the two generations that stings. For instance, it seems unimaginable that the younger generation doesn't know who the Beatles are.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened this past week after a collaboration between Kanye West and the legendary Paul McCartney debuted. It's hard to imagine that McCartney would ever be 'discovered' by Kanye West, but according to Twitter, that's how it happened:
OVOJosh @OVOJosh Follow
I don't know who Paul McCartney is, but Kanye is going to give this man a career w/ this new song!! 9:27 PM - 1 Jan 2015
As is the usual, Twitter was soon overtaken with tweets about the aging Beatles star. Aside from the standard outrage, there were plenty of tweets that were obviously sarcastic: people trolling for a quick laugh at the younger generation's expense. That being said, many of the tweets asking who this 'Paul McCartney' guy was seemed legit:
Justin Morello @Morello_Justin Follow
Kanye West really knows how to expose great new talent. Bet this Paul McCartney guy is gonna be HUGE after this song. 8:12 PM - 2 Jan 2015
Cocolish @BeCoco77 Follow While seeing a story like this is still all sorts of sad, it's really just a byproduct of aging in a culture that glorifies a new celebrities seemingly every 15 minutes. Sir McCartney has seen something of a career revival over the past few years, and in the end, the older generation should just be happy that the newer, younger generation is being exposed to the legendary performer. After all, how many people went out and researched his music once all of this started? There are going to be hundreds of new Beatles fans once all of this is done; it's almost guaranteed. Even so, that doesn't stop tweets like this from summing up how we feel: There's a whole generation of people that think Kanye is about to make Paul McCartney a super star. Epic fail folks. End times are near. 8:33 AM - 5 Jan 2015
In contemporary top 40, James Brown is a much bigger influence than the Beatles and the Stones combined.
He headlined a Coachella stage a few years back too.
The twitterverse knows more than they are letting on.
Yes, but was the Peerless Quartet music still playing on popular radio stations in 1965?
I still hear Beatles music all the time. As well as Rolling Stones and other groups who were popular 50 years ago.
I don’t know, but he’s gonna be huge now that he’s been discovered by Sir Paul.....................
If you don’t think Kanye West is a musical genius, you’re racist.
Yeah, kinda like 'Armenian whore' is.
Wait - hasn’t he been dead since 1967?
According to the hidden clues on the album covers and inside the tracks played backwards................
Well here’s another clue for you all.....The Walrus was Paul.
True indeed.
The Walrus is Paul. :-)
bump
ignorance can be hilarious
“”Who the hell is Kanye West?
A gay fish. “
I see what you did there. Kanye likes fish sticks.
I was trying to give you a sense of proportion between a musician who was pre radio, pre TV, pre record industry, pre WWI, and Pre Great Depression, and Pre WWII, being recognizable to a 1970 American, versus a 2014 American not knowing about Paul McCartney.
“That would be the equivalent.”
I don’t think it is equivalent, because there was no one group in 1915 that was ever as big as the Beatles. Also, the Beatles continue to be fairly prominent culturally to this day, with their music still being used in movie soundtracks, commercials, etc.
Ha!
They might have heard of the Light Crust Doughboys though, I mean they are still big enough to have their own website.
http://lightcrustdoughboys.org/
I heard that light crust dough protects you from BRD, your own not that of others.
how many teenage Beatles fans knew about music from 1915
I told him to give me his name and number. I said, “What’s that, Pete Atkinson?” “No, Atchison, like ‘Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe’”, he replied. My response was along the lines of “Huh?”. The guy let out a sad sigh, and spelled A-T-C-H-I-S-O-N.
After we hung up, I came to realize he was referencing a song from yesteryear, that my Dad would sometimes sing. I felt bad, knowing that as a salesman, he had probably used that catchy line, to great affect, for many years, but was coming to the realization that sunset was soon approaching, on his career.
Now that I’m closing in on age 60, I can really empathize with Pete.
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