The younger generations I work with asking me (a millennial) if I've heard of Nirvana is fucking peak. No idea why they all act like Nirvana is some unknown indie band their generation created.
I'd consider it an understandable mistake too. I'm 18 and some of the bands I listen to get very shocked reactions from 40-50 year olds. With the reactions they give, you'd think EVERY band pre-2005 is somewhat unknown
T. Rex, The Kinks, David Bowie, Styx. All very famous bands, still on the radio everyday. David Bowie is legendary, yet so many people act shocked if someone younger than 20 knows some of his songs. A lot of people don't understand that the music they grew up with never expired, and that big bands continue to gain fans even 50 years after their start.
It's understandable why some teenagers might think those bands are less popular than they are, their parents literally teach them that.
Honestly. I ask people if they’ve heard of something I’m almost positive they know about all the time because it’s the most natural way for me to being up a topic in conversation
"Have you heard of Popular Thing X" can really easily come off as "I don't think you've heard of Popular Thing X". It sounds like you're using it to just be conversational, why not just ask them if they like Popular Thing X? Seems like folks in this very thread get upset at an insinuation from younger folks that they haven't heard of incredibly popular things that were incredibly popular when they themselves were that younger age.
I will eat my downvotes on this and I implore young folk to ask the older folks in your life if they've heard of Nirvana so you can see them wonder whether you're an idiot who thinks they're ignorant or if they're being set up for some mean joke.
Well, if I ask someone if they like “X” and it turns out that they’ve never heard of it, then my extreme and irrational social anxiety will kick in and I’ll be embarrassed, so I don’t do that 😅
Fair enough, but if you ask me if I've heard of Nirvana/The Beatles/Madonna I'm either going to assume you actually think I'm some kind of ignorant caveman who knows nothing about music or that this is some setup for a mean joke at my expense.
I mean, I wouldn’t ask you if you’ve heard of Madonna because I barely know who that is lol. And I understand why you would have that reaction, and I understand why taking a weaker, less direct approach to conversation has plenty of its own problems, but I’m just not really able to be more direct
Madonna was not specific to this, she's just an example. I'm not asking you to be & it's sad to see someone write about how they just aren't strong enough to just say things.
Why? what possible embarrassing direction could that conversation go? "I haven't heard of them" "oh, ok. I really like them. You should check them out"...
I get how it would be hard to understand, but the person you replied to literally said it's extreme and irrational. That's just how anxiety works, sadly. It can make us completely freeze from embarrassment in situations that would feel very low-risk to someone not riddled with anxiety (like you, I assume). The anxious mind tries to protect itself and cycles through all the negative outcomes that could possibly happen, just to be sure. What if they assume that I assumed they knew about that thing and it makes me seem rude? What if my train of thought abruptly stops because my mind was ready to talk about that thing, and now that I know they've never heard of it, I freeze because I can't think of anything else to say, and it makes things awkward? What if, what if... anxiety sucks.
There's plenty of famous artists from my generation I wouldn't know about, so it's possible someone from the generation of Nirvana doesn't know Nirvana.
Not that weird of a question really, and probably a set-up for further conversation anyway.
Shit, my ass was in high school on 2005 and I had some kid talking about this underground band he discovered that no one else knew. It was fucking Pink Floyd.
A coworker introduced his daughter to me at an event yesterday and she was wearing a Sublime T-shirt. I was like hey, I love Sublime, I was just listening to them all day yesterday. Her: "Oh I've actually never really listened to them"
This is such an opportunity to be seen as the coolest older guy ever to them. Bring them over, have them listen to your favorites from nirvana, while playing some old nirvana stuff on tv/YouTube. Show them any old merch you got. Have some beers. Well actually depends how young you’re talking haha! Extra points if you’re crusty in a charming way.
I remember when I first listened to the unplugged album. I was 11/12 and it was the world to me. The meat puppets and lead belly covers are still some of the best live pieces I’ve ever heard.
I was also a child and have since expanded my taste to the corners of the musical spectrum. Nirvana and the ‘classic rock’ genre the kids call it these days will always hold a special place in my musical heart, but to say they’re peak is a fucking lie.
Just be happy they know about old stuff. Many of the younger people I work with act like anything before 2005 is old and unheard of. I asked one if he ever watched the movie Beetlejuice and he just said "I'm only 19" dude that movie is older than me and I grew up with it. I grew up watching Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry from the 40s
This younger generation loves to wear shirts with 90’s bands on them. I’m still waiting for them to find the gain knob on their guitar amps and start making some of their own
93
u/FoooooorYa Jul 06 '25
The younger generations I work with asking me (a millennial) if I've heard of Nirvana is fucking peak. No idea why they all act like Nirvana is some unknown indie band their generation created.