Some thoughts on gatekeepers, Gen X, and the myth of good music.
I first penned this eulogy to the gatekeeper about a year ago.
It was premature, but it felt like a corner had turned. It has, but it also turns out that they’re hardy creatures. Someone’ll need to keep the cockroaches company post-nuclear apocalypse, I guess. Part of their insidiousness is the way they change form. We’ve all had a run-in with the “name 3 songs” dorks and the boomer who will regard your disregard for Dylan as a war crime. They’re easy to spot and fun to laugh at.
But once you leave them in the dust, you meet the final boss, the “there’s no good new music anymore” guy. Guys like this:
It’s just 3 “name three songs” guys in a trench goat. And kudos to Gabbie for calling it out.
Here’s the deal:
There’s nothing worth feeling overwhelmed. An unholy number of songs are released every day. It’s reasonable to think you don’t have enough time to check out everything being released (that’s where I come in!). It’s also totally okay to like stuff from your youth (see also: Kevin & New Order). It’s science. But to frame discovery as a sort of loser behavior is mind-boggling. That’s some next-level fixed mindset happening!
It also misses a crucial point; “new” can also really just mean “new to you.” Any doubts I had evaporated over the summer listening to records as part of The Best Record of ‘89 bracket challenge. These are obviously 36-year-old records, but I was hearing several of them for the first time. And take your favorite band: odds are good you found them in high school or college. Now imagine someone hearing them for the first time. Today. The truth? That’s probably happening somewhere in the world as you read this.
The best solution for folks like this is to offer them an off-ramp, and that‘s what this is. New doesn’t have to mean chronologically recent. It can just mean hearing it with fresh ears. Some people are too far gone to get it, but for others, there’s still hope.
The first step is to hand ‘em a copy of Technique.
KA—
I’d love to hear what you think!
Kevin Sent 
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