They don’t realise I was once a ‘cool’ kid too

Early last month I was riding in my friend’s car and we were chatting while listening to the music playing on her system. Suddenly, I exclaimed as I recognised a tune by Earl Klugh, one of my favourite jazz guitarists from my younger days. I had not listened to him in years but unfortunately, as I settled back to enjoy the music, my friend said it was the only song she had by him. No worries, I enjoyed it anyway.

As we continued to chat, an old song by Stevie Wonder came on and again I exclaimed excitedly. Way back in the day, I was a serious fan and knew all his music word for word. Yes, I confess that I was one of those who sat with my ear plastered to the speaker of my mother’s radio-cassette player, armed with paper and pen to write down the lyrics so I could commit them to memory. Sometimes, however, the ear created its own words and it was possible to end up with a song whose tune was the same but with completely different lyrics! But we sang them anyway – confidently and loudly.

This time, my friend assured me there was more than one Stevie Wonder song on her playlist so we were able to sing along for a while as we marveled that after almost 30 years of friendship, we were just discovering that we both liked his music!

Fast-forward to two weeks ago, the whole family was in the car on a long trip out of town and the radio was on (although what was playing is not what I would describe as music). Every so often our oldest and youngest would nudge each other and discuss the song and singer (I use these terms loosely because there were no discernible tune, voice or lyrics; just noise as far as I was concerned).

Ski Mask the Slump God?

During one particular number, it emerged that the artiste’s name was Ski Mask the Slump God. Now the last time I checked what music the young ones were into, it was Jason Derulo, Ne-Yo and Linkin Park. But this Ski Mask guy was new and at this point I felt the need to intervene. Ski Mask? What kind of name is that? What could have been so wrong with the name he was given at birth that he had to veer in the opposite direction? I mean there’s a whole lot of great artistes out there who go by their real names and let their music do the talking for them. I thought of Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown… even bands had names that were relatable – Earth, Wind & Fire, the Commodores, New Edition, Boyz II Men, Destiny’s Child…

The hubby and I pondered briefly over the fact that today’s music and musicians were becoming more and more alien to us despite the fact that we once upon a time ruled the dance floor and his enviable music collection (which included vinyl records) was in high demand at many parties. But our young ones remain unimpressed – I mean, who uses their real names anymore? Especially if they’re famous?

Well, I had the last laugh when we arrived at our destination to find the music our hosts were playing was… Old Skool! And no, it wasn’t just one song. The music went on all afternoon and into the night, and I was so happy that I even attempted to send a WhatsApp audio message to my friend so we could travel down memory lane together.

As I sang along and danced to the music that shaped my high school and university years, I tried to paint a picture for our young ones of what my more youthful days were like. But it was quickly evident that trying to get them to see me as a fun-loving, hip, modern, ‘with it’, trendy person might be asking too much.

Never mind them; I also got to hear an ‘answer song’ to Gwen Guthrie’s very famous song titled ‘Ain’t Nothing Goin’ on but the Rent’. It’s called ‘Ain’t Gonna Pay One Red Cent’ by Wally Jump Jr. Who knew?