Those Old Folks...

Today in class we discussed the idea of adults being involved in a Youth subculture and how that reflected on them. There was talk of "irresponsibility" and of whether or not adults are "creepy" or wrong for continuing to show up at concerts and the like. I consider myself a member of a subculture and possessing some experience with seeing of people of a variety of ages being involved. I have seen kids younger than myself and adults (both men and women) much older than me at metal shows banging their heads with the rest of the crowd. Some say that 8-year-olds are too young to be in that situation and it equates to being dragged to an R-rated movie. There is also the assertion that creepy old people shouldn't be hanging around with kids because they're obviously there to exploit them. Have you ever been to a heavy metal concert? I have. I've seen people of all ages there, and they're doing exactly what I'm doing: rocking out. I find it really cool to meet people of my parents' generation who listen to heavy metal. Whether it was at my mom's high-level banking job, the veterinarian, or the nurse when I was donating blood, I've met metalheads everywhere. I even remember walking down the street in an upscale shopping section of Pittsburgh one day and seeing a guy, fancy car and suit, with his windows down blasting "Of Wolf and Man" by Metallica. I put up the 'horns' and he responded in kind. This was not creepy to me at all, rather it was extremely cool. Steve has mentioned a similar experience with a teacher at his school and I am sure both of us have other stories we could tell. I believe that the reason people see adults at shows as creepy is because there is a norm that states that adults are too stuffy to have fun the way kids do. If you look at most pop music then seeing adults at a show like Lady Gaga or Britney Spears might be weird. However, when you look at a youth subculture there are people of all ages who consider themselves a part of it. To me that shows that a subculture is able to survive and spread its ideas (and in my case music) and you need an older generation to influence the younger kids. When I saw Exodus (a metal band) I was standing next to a woman who (to my surprise because she looked my age) was much older than I was. At the end of the show the guitarist handed her his pick instead of me (not a surprise), but she turned and gave it to me and saying "I'm going to give this to you but you have to promise me you're going to listen to good music for the rest of your life". I did.