Where's the Rebel Yell?

[Bob Sullivan]

I’m officially an outraged, out-of-touch parent. As Dad to two soon-to-be-tween girls, I’ve uttered the usual and absolutely expected cry all parents have screamed at their kids ever since Elvis first shook his pelvis. I’m disgusted at the appalling music of the current generation. And I’ll tell you one thing–say it with me–they’re not playing that crap in MY house.

I’m talking about High School Musical and its plethora of highly offensive videos and soundtracks.

Yes, offensive. Offensively inferior, safe, and saccharine-sweet. Why, oh why has the current generation willingly thrown away their birthright to rebel and instead embraced a corporate-produced, toddler-safe, hack-written, formula-driven piece of fluff simply because the marketing campaigns tell them to? Why?

I’d heard the constant buzz and hype several months ago by a plethora of hysterical teens and early 20-somethings about High School Musical–the non-stop talk–the proverbial “it” of 2007. Kids who should have been old enough to know better were planning group slumber parties around the sequel. It was the happening thing. One girl I spoke with favorably compared it to “Grease.”

I liked Grease. Grease came out early in my generation. Grease presented itself as a fluffy musical nostalgia trip targeted mostly to people who were way too young to have actually lived in that era. Grease also featured a certain song with blisteringly raunchy lyrics, even by today’s standards. Grease dramatized teenagers behaving badly, even featuring one character concerned she might have a “bun in the oven” after a casual encounter in the back seat of a convertible. As a musical, it was, truthfully, sub-par, but the raunchy subtext almost completely hidden from the casual adult viewer earned it a lot of street cred with kids, making it far more popular than it probably deserved, based on singing and dancing merit alone.

As a parent, I feel an obligation to at least be aware of what the kids call cool, so I could prepare myself for the inevitable requests from my own children. I recorded High School Musical off the Disney Channel.

Never have I been so offended by the sheer lack of anything offensive by any thing celebrated by teens as hip, cool, or even remotely interesting.

High School Musical is the completely harmless pop-rock experience your parents thought you were having when you took your Grease soundtrack and cranked up “Greased Lightning” as loud as your turntable would go. High School Musical comes to your kids pre-sanitized, pre-white-washed and absolutely safe. High School Musical 3 (the first in the trilogy to unload itself into movie theatres) released during the holidays as a movie both teenagers and parents watched and enjoyed together.

Hold it. You’re kidding, right?

When did teenagers ever WANT to take their parents to something they considered cool? The hot bands of "my" day were Madonna, Quiet Riot, Judas Priest, Van Halen, and several other bands that screamed rebellion into teenager’s ears in ways that parents despised, convinced the bad influences of pop culture would turn their darling children into raving sociopaths. Music that left parents echoing the ultimatum heard throughout the decades: “You’re not playing that crap in MY house!” Usually, that’s the proclamation that tells all teenagers they’re doing something right.

As I grew older and could step outside time and view the circle of life or the pattern of the ages or whatever, I noticed that whether you screamed over Frank Sinatra, or swooned for Kurt Cobain, rebellion is good. Rebellion is normal. It’s the first step of separation for kids to find their own identity as they prepare to leave their parents.

And as you look at the decades of rebellion, it gets wilder and crazier by necessity, because what was offensive for the previous generation is the norm of the next. And that’s okay. I’ve long accepted that whatever my kids would get into, I would be too square, too unhip, too close-minded to “get it.”

But some time after the Marilyn Manson and Guns N Roses era, things changed. Disney took control of teenage music, using the same methods M-TV had inexplicably abandoned after several decades of success–saturating the hot “thing” through all media outlets. As a result, “mainstream” pop has been shoved aside, and what we now have are your Naked Brothers/Hannah Montana/High School Musical sounds–all the current rock/pop technology with the dangerous rebellious sensibilities removed for safe consumption. The inmates are no longer loose in the asylum. Order has been restored.

Kids, please, don’t leave behind High School Musical and Miley Cyrus as your legacy. Where’s the hell-raising? Where’s the one-step-too-far that offends everything we stand for? Does fate have such a perfect sense of ironic humor that this non-rebellious music is the very offensive rebellion I was anticipating.

I recommend downloading the following “ghosts of rebels past” into your iPods: Elvis #1 hits, The Beatles Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Led Zeppelin IV, KISS Alive, Meat Loaf Bat out of Hell, Guns N Roses Appetite for Destruction, and Nirvana Smells like Teen Spirit. Our parents hated it. That’s the stamp of approval.

But no High School Musical: You’re not playing that crap in MY house.

With apologies to Pink, Katy Perry, Green Day, and other rockers keeping music dangerous in these trying times.

[Eric Froehlke]

That's a good point about the job situation. Also, I think I would be plenty frustrated by some of the legacy programs (social security, health care) that are being left behind (no pun intended on child left behind, but it also seems appropriate). Previous generations did have less to worry about with respect to at least attaining the same standard of living that their parents did; the same can probably not be said for a lot of the teens today. As such, I think "fear for my future" might be the rallying call enough even if they don't have much to worry about NOW. Honestly, I hope this is the case. I'd definitely like to hear something a little bit more edgy in the rock world.

[Bob Sullivan]

Thanks for the thoughts. You can go with your initial "rock on" reaction if you'd like, as well. :)

What's funny is that as a "child of the 80s" as someone put it to me once, I look back on the politics of that time and I wonder the same thing--what did we have to rebel against? All I can really remember affecting me was the constant ghost of a threat of eminent nuclear war, and the audacity to think we could cure world hunger with a #1 single. Over all, we were party, party party, and everything was very good. But the rebels were there anyway.

Contrast that to the teen of today, who was a child during a major terrorist attack on one of our most populous cities. You're working to get the grades and go to college--not to better yourself, but get a degree in a "career" major. And you probably still won't get a job because the generation before them have--and continue to--hand down the worst deficit in US history which they'll have to address. I don't know--I personally think there's a lot to be a little miffed about and a rock anthem or two. :)

[Eric Froehlke]

I read this post and had to think about it awhile before putting fingers to keyboard in response. My knee jerk reaction was, "rock on man" since our desire might well be that our kids (full disclosure, I don't have kids yet, but it's on the agenda and I know lots of people that have them) get to experience a little bit of that "rebellion" as an initial step for them to leave the nest one day. However, as I started thinking about it a little bit more, I began to wonder about some of the roots for the rock rebellion in the first place.

My contention is that rebellion occurs when there is actually something to rebel against. Rock and roll started as a statement against the prevailing culture of the day and kept progressing along those lines pushing the limits as it went. What started with Elvis wiggling a pelvis reached its logical conclusion with uncensored music videos essentially doubling as porn movies. While parents were listening to Pat Boone and the Osmonds, the kids were changing the world and freaking the parents out in the process. There was a certain joy felt by doing something counter-cultural.

Fast forward to today and we've established the very culture of the teen of yesteryear's dreams. What oppression do the youth feel that would necessitate them rebelling against anything? In those glory days of rock and roll, you had parents that had expectations for how children should act in public, how they should dress, how they should speak to adults (anybody remember mr., mrs., mam, sir, etc.?), how they should perform in school...the list goes on. That seems like a lot that those "square" parents were putting upon them to be sure...they needed an outlet. Now, there really isn't much need for an outlet. The progressive society of today already allows everything. Movies show graphic sex, adult themes permeate even the most basic of television shows, kids all carry a phone, unsupervised computer use provides access to information and images that should never be seen by a developing mind. What's more, whenever a child faces adversity, there is an overprotective parent at the ready to make sure that their baby is taken care of or at least medicated properly so that little johnny never ever has to feel sad.

What's that leave us? Well, it leaves us with a lot of really lame "rock" music. Has anyone listened to this stuff lately? How many NickelChair Daughtryback groups do we really need? Lame rock comes from a generation of kids that never had much to rock about. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll...that's not a rebel yell anymore...that's just called "tuesday".

To bring it back around to high school musical, this is being presented in a time when there is no shock value anymore. That's all been done to death. Disney has produced this as something safe and as something that parents will allow and therefore open their wallets for. Why no outrage by the kids, why do they accept this? My answer is they have no reason NOT to accept it. The parents like this just like they like everything else. It's just one more entertainment avenue for them. I'd also make the argument that listening to and enjoying this sappy sweet and safe music is VERY counter cultural in today's environment. Maybe there IS a rebellion and it's just going in the opposite direction to the last one.

[Bob Sullivan]

Hey, Erik. I have no problem with anything you said. What boggles my mind is what I observed at my fast food job last year--which is that the high school teens ALSO love it.

A little off topic, but I find it depressing that remakes of Knight Rider, Bionic Woman,etc, are too adult for the audience they originally attracted, and there's no new shows of that type (kid friendly but tolerable for general viewing) taking their place.

[Erik Deckers]

Keep in mind, this is a Disney production. Disney wants to be completely family safe, rather than court any controversy. They're trying to bill HSM as something my 8-year-old daughter can watch, not something any high school kid would want to watch. I have a 12-year-old daughter, and she loves it.

Kids' marketers always try to appeal to the next age group down by offering products for the age above them. Want to reach 'tweens? Market teenage stuff. Want to reach 8 - 9 year olds? Market 'tween stuff.

So, yes HSM is sterile, trite pap, and I want to sterilize my eyeballs if I catch even a second of it. But, it's all I'll let my 8-year-old watch.