[Hype Hype Hooray] Bon Jovi: The (Dumb) Voice of a (Whiny) Generation

Every [two weeks?] Jamie Hale takes a long, hard look at the music industry and the blog scene that feeds it. Here, he releases those findings and makes snarky, sarcastic remarks. Admittedly, both Jamie and Knox Road are a part of this scene. So sue us.

You know when you start talking to your dad about music and he says “Well play me something new!” and you put on Toro Y Moi and tell him how it’s the younger generation’s version of psychedelia and funk and he just stares blank-faced and says “oh”? Every time that happens, you’re led to the same realization: Some middle-aged people just aren’t going to get it.

Nobody proves this point better than our good friend and aging “rock” star Mr. Jon Bon Jovi. In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, Bon Jovi went off on the sad state of music consumption today:

“Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it.

God, it was a magical, magical time. I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened? Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.'”

I’m going to ignore the jab at Steve Jobs because, frankly, this is a music blog not a Steve Jobs blog. But please Jon, join the ranks of the square parents in the ’60s, the aging hippies in the ’80s and the former hard rock junkies in the ’00s  who all said “Mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened?'”

I don’t know about anybody else, but I still put my headphones on, turn it up to about a third to a half of my iPod’s volume level (ear health, ya know?), close my eyes and get lost in an album. But what Jon seems to be saying is that with digital consumption, the music listening experience is less-than. His own personal experience must be the only true way.

Now, I’m not in the business of giving out awards for the Most Stereotypical Old Person Comments of the Year, but if I was, Mr. Bon Jovi would be a front runner. Once you get to the age where society no longer caters to you and is run by those several years younger, you have to give in to the fact that your world, the one you so loved and cherished, is gone forever (see: Logan’s Run).

And while Mr. Bon Jovi is certainly welcome to speak his mind and share his opinions, it’s REALLY annoying when those opinions degrade our generation’s love of music. No, I don’t hold physical album jackets when I listen to music. No, I don’t make purchases blindly based solely on the album art (a seriously dumb decision, financially). And no, I don’t listen on a device that goes up to “10.” But I love music and appreciate it just as much as you do, you jackass.

And no, Jon, there isn’t a single damn Bon Jovi song on my iPod.