21 times teens 'discovered' good old music and were surprised adults knew the bands very well
The Twitter thread was started by American writer Jeff Sharlet sharing an interesting conversation he had with his 'super-goth' 13-year-old.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 19, 2022. It has since been updated.
As youngsters, most of us tended to forget that our parents had a whole life of their own before they had us. The same is true for our teachers and other adults we encounter in our daily lives. Sometimes we see our offspring, nieces, nephews, a friend's child or neighborhood kids navigate and discover many things about society and pop culture that are very new to them but not to us. That's when we realize how clueless we were at their age. A Twitter thread brought this phenomenon to light when American writer Jeff Sharlet shared an interesting conversation he had with his "super-goth" 13-year-old.
"Few days shy of 50 and when I ask my super goth 13-year-old what they're listening to they tell me it's a band I probably don't know called The Cure," Sharlet tweeted. The tweet—which has been liked more than 325,000 times and retweeted more than 12,900 times—set off a hilarious thread of Twitter users sharing similar instances of youngsters around them "discovering" good old music. Here are 22 of the funniest:
1.
Not to mention my teenage daughter in the 1990s coming into the lounge when I was playing David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" and saying "wow, you're listening to a Nirvana track!"
— Glenn Evans (@vinylsol) May 5, 2022
2.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
— Mini Van 🚙😷🖤💛🏈📚🧶🏹🇺🇲🫂🇺🇦 (@intheminivan1) May 5, 2022
My 16yo thought she was the coolest ever and played me this "awesome song" that turned out to be AC/DC's "Big Balls." Her jaw was on the floor when I sang along to the whole thing. Oh yeah, and Offspring too.
I had a life before you, kid!
3.
One day in the past, our now 40 yo daughter came to me, wriggling in excitement. She'd just listened to music that blew her pre-teen mind and, to my joy, wanted to share it with me. "Dad," she said, with an intent look, "have you ever heard of a group called Pink Floyd?"
— Jeffle {House Moderna} (@Jeffle) May 5, 2022
4.
My 11-year-old said he had a band he wanted me to listen to bc he thought I might like them. It was The Smiths.
— Sell the team, Steve (@Kellieherring) May 5, 2022
5.
I had a student with Fugazi written on their binder - told them I used to hang out with them when I was a DC Punk - I love showing my students the Positive Force documentary with me in it - blows their minds. Helps manage middle schoolers if they know you are cool. 😎
— (((Nance))) Woody’s guitar stands with Ukraine💛💙 (@UpStander18) May 5, 2022
6.
1998 Grad student me house sitting a 12yr old girl for 3 days.
— Angelo StAngelo (@AngeloStAngelo) May 5, 2022
She has an important question about her boyfriend…
“He says that Paul McCartney was in a famous band before Wings- is he lying?”
How the Hell do you know about Wings and not The Beatles?!?
Wham! First gray hair…
7.
My daughter excitedly discovered Nirvana. I saw her soul leave her body when I told her I'd seen them in concert.
— Nikki 😷 (@Chaffeelander) May 5, 2022
8.
*deep belly laugh*
— Angelina 💉💉💉 (@MemphisBelle111) May 5, 2022
18 year old coworker ask me if I'd ever heard of Metallica.
I'm 51. Um...yeah. In HIGH SCHOOL, child.
9.
My 15 year old son turned down "Add It Up" Violent Femmes when I walked into his room. He was horrified when I kept singing it word for word. 🤣
— hellocherie (@hellocherie74) May 5, 2022
10.
Literally the last 3 song "discoveries" by my young kids, that they HAD to share with me are:
— Micki (@Michell96229546) May 4, 2022
1. Careless Whisper by WHAM
2. Material Girl by Madonna
And
3. Dancing Queen by ABBA
With bonus
4. Don't fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult
Acting like the did me a favor
11.
I’m in my mid 40s.
— 👁👁 (@Chalkarts) May 5, 2022
I play music at work and one of my 22yr old coworkers came by and said, “I love them! I’ve been listening to them since middle school!”
I laughed and said, “Yeah, me too.”
12.
Yeah, I'm a high school teacher and this happens a lot. A few years ago a kid was wearing a Cure shirt, which I commented on, but told me her favorite band was one I'd probably never heard of - Pixies. (I graduated from Massachusetts high school in 92 and went to UMass!) pic.twitter.com/Ziq8gx8fJq
— ms. murder (@mizmurder) May 4, 2022
13.
My son was playing a song with a very long guitar intro…he asks me, somewhat snidely, “do you know who this is? “ I respond instantly, “Neil Young, live Cortez the Killer.” He asks me how I knew, I asked him..”why do you think you like Noel Young?”
— Molly Rinaldi (@RinaldiMolly) May 5, 2022
14.
I'm a few years older than you, and used to play drums a bit. A few years ago I was talking with a guy in his early 20s who also played. He put on a song so I could hear the drumming. "It's by a band called Rush," he said. 😏
— Ken Spreitzer (@KenSpreitzer) May 5, 2022
15.
My kid came home from a concert raving about a band he’d just seen called CCR. I calmly went to my album collection and pulled out my Creedence Clearwater Revival records. He was astounded. Score one for Mom. (Felt good!)
— IsTheLibraryOpenYet? (@fiorsbud) May 5, 2022
16.
My 12 year old went up to the attic, rifled through my CD collection. Explaining to me about this great band called REM she just discovered and I’m just, who do you think bought those CDs, and listen to Reckoning first.
— Charles laissez les bon temps rouler Jeanfreau (@CharlesJeanfre3) May 5, 2022
17.
I’m a Boomer and I was recently on a large university campus, signing young adults up to vote. I told a couple of frat boys that my generation would boss them around if they didn’t vote. One said he was a Boomer b/c “ you guys had the best music” and “ I love The Doors.”
— Melissa Westbrook (@TheMelWestbrook) May 4, 2022
18.
Omg of my daughter's friends was wearing a Slayer t-shirt. I was in the car actually listening to Slayer's album Reign in Blood. I told him nice shirt and offered him a ride home. He climbed in the car then preceded to ask who I was listening to. 😂
— Michelle WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot 🤘🖤🇺🇲 (@michellelrhodes) May 5, 2022
19.
Same. I'm 65, owned a record shop for years and got fed up with wannabe punk kids coming in and saying "Hey mate, you ever heard of The Clash?" (and others)
— Glenn Evans (@vinylsol) May 5, 2022
"Yes, sonny, I was down the front watching the Clash before you were even swimming around in your Daddy's nads"
20.
A few years ago, my nephew went crazy when he asked if I had ever heard of The Clash and I told him oh sure, I hung out with them in the early eighties when they came to town to shoot the video for Rock the Casbah. Went to a wild party they & their crew threw in a hotel room.
— Chuibluengold (@AugustRose8) May 5, 2022
21.
One of my undergraduate students walked in wearing a tshirt. I looked up quickly and said “What does your shirt say?” She said “Oh it’s a really old band. I don’t want to say the name because it’s awkward.” Sex Pistols. The old awkward band was Sex Pistols
— amcboggs (@amcboggs) May 5, 2022
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