You younglings may not believe this, but there was a time when the likes of Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande were not making the tunes that dominated our airwaves. That’s right, pups, once upon a time, bands with strange names like Dexys Midnight Runners and Blind Melon were the big hitters. Now, I bet my vinyl record collection, a whopping 99% of folks under 40 won’t be able to pick these bands out of a lineup.
“Oh, how the mighty have fallen!”
It’s like they got hit with the invisibility cloak in Harry Potter. They were everywhere and then bam, nowhere! Here, hold my beer and let me take you down memory lane for a quick tour of some bands that used to be super famous.
An impassioned Kevin Rowland launched Dexys Midnight Runners in 1978. Their track “Come On Eileen” became the emblem of 80’s pop culture. Let’s say this song was the “Blinding Lights” of that era. And yet today? Good luck identifying them without asking Siri or Google. Heck, you might even need to ask your parents.
Next stop, let’s take a stroll through the 90’s grunge era with the band Blind Melon. Their track “No Rain” clinches a spot in any list of greatest 90s songs. But head out on the streets today and ask a random Gen Z kid about Blind Melon – they’ll probably think it’s a fancy new e-juice flavor for their vape. Oh, the irony!
Now, please meet Soul Asylum. For any 90’s kiddos, their ballad “Runaway Train” was pretty much our unofficial anthem. Besides that, if I had a nickel for every time I cried to “Somebody to Shove,” I’d have… well, a heck of a lot of nickels. But ask any Gen Z to name a Soul Asylum song and get ready for a poker face that’d make Lady Gaga proud.
How about Hootie & The Blowfish? These guys were impossible to miss in the mid-90s. Their debut album was so popular that even extraterrestrials probably have a copy stashed. Move to the present, though, and it’s nearly impossible that someone under the age of 40 will even recognize their name, let alone any of their hit songs.
A shout out to my personal favorite, the Spin Doctors. If you had never heard “Two Princes,” were you even alive in the 90’s? It was bigger than the beehive hairdo. But now, there’s a better chance of seeing a T-Rex walking downtown than of these guys making a dent in today’s music scene.
Take a hard gulp of reality with me, folks. Today’s youngsters might be all about TikTok and trap music, but they are some seriously clueless tacos when it comes to the golden oldies. So, to all you readers under 40, take this trip down musical memory lane as a friendly challenge. Expand your playlists with some phenomenal bands from the past.
As for the rest, I implore you to call up a Gen Z-er in your life and do the unthinkable – share this article with them! Let’s start a revolution. Let’s remind the world of these amazing bands that were once titans of the pop and rock industry. Who knows, you might just surprise them and more importantly entertain yourself with their confounded reactions.
I promise, though they might tease you relentlessly, blasting these bands from the past won’t make you seem ancient, it will merely highlight your insanely good taste in music. So let’s do this together, folks: Save those poor, forgotten souls from musical oblivion!
