So often, I hear people talking about how they wish they were born in a different time period when the music was better, or the fashion was cooler. I understand that, I’ve often thought about how cool it would have been to have been a flapper in the 20s or to have grown up in the 80s. But, were those times actually better than the 21st century has been? I’m not so sure.
The great thing about our generation is that we have the means to enjoy entertainment and history from any and all generations before us.
Our generation doesn’t have to wish we grew up when there was “actually good music”. I’d argue that we are living in the best time for music. Popular artists and music styles of today may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but unlike previous generations, we have things like Apple Music and Spotify, even YouTube, that give us the power to listen to music from decades ago, as well as whatever new stuff comes out. We probably have the widest range of “good music” that anyone has ever had access to before.
Thanks to streaming platforms, people who like niche music genres can find sounds that are just what they want to listen to, old souls can stream anything from big band jazz to doowop bops to disco hits, and new souls can listen to new releases right when they come out. You could be bopping to Lil Nas X or Cardi B one minute then rocking out listening to Bohemian Rhapsody the next. Additionally, these platforms allow young people who want to share their own music to do so much more easily than they would have been able to if they had been born in another generation.
It’s easy to wish away all the things we have today and dream of living in a cooler time period, but our generation is arguably the coolest. We get the privilege of living in a constantly changing and transforming time, while still being able to relive the “good old days” through music and entertainment. We’re the coolest generation because our daily lives and our likes and dislikes are shaped by both current events and every societally transformative thing that happened before we were even born.
We have the luxury of being able to dress however we want to, pulling fashion trends from years gone by. We have the privilege of access to any song from anytime, whenever we feel like listening to it. I think that makes our generation – despite its bad reputation – the most culturally diverse, and that’s something worth being excited about.