Generation Gap

Within an hour of the news of Michael Jackson's death, my wife picked up my 16-year old daughter and her friends from the mall. They had heard the news, but it was clear that it had not fazed them in the least. Tina was surprised. Wasn't he the biggest pop superstar of recent memory?

I reminded her that Michael's biggest hits were long before Katie was born and that he had not been relevant in quite a while. While Katie knew the big hits, they were oldies to her. She never watched MTV when they played music videos or saw the famous Motown special. She had no frame of reference in which to place Michael Jackson as a musical artist that she would care about.

Katie is the same age as Tina was when Elvis Presley died. To Tina, he was an old guy that her older cousins listened to. He had not had a hit in the time that she listened to music. When I reminded her of this, she understood why Katie and her friends were unaffected.

One generation's newest and freshest star is the next generation's relic. The Preacher was right, "There is nothing new under the sun."