Young People: Stop Listening to Boomer Music

Update: I changed the title of the video because a lot of old men left angry comments after they got triggered. 😂

WARNING: I love 70s prog! I have flown across the earth to see King Crimson play. I have traveled thousands of miles to meet the gents from Gentle Giant. I bought an ELP record the night before I filmed this video. I have performed Passion Play live in its entirety. So, before you get all triggered, this video is intended for people who have a hard time finding new music.

A lot of people ask me, “How do you find all these amazing musicians I’ve never heard of?” Well, I don’t have any secrets, but I do have a few tips:

1. Stop buying and listening to music that was released decades ago. Instead: Buy new music. While the headlines are saying that vinyl is making a comeback and sales are great, do you know what the top selling records are? Queen’s Greatest Hits, Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, David Bowie’s Legacy, and a few other albums that are decades old!! Record companies want us to keep buying those Beatles remixes and Pink Floyd reissues and Led Zeppelin anniversary releases for forty dollars or more because it's pure profit. Meanwhile, these seventies bands (who are now in their seventies) are doing fortieth anniversary tours selling sixty dollar hoodies alongside tickets that are one hundred dollars or more. These bands have already had their heyday and now they're milking their fans for all they've got. It's totally ludicrous. A lot of these bands are seeing increased vinyl sales at Walmart's expanding vinyl section. Listen people: Walmart is NOT A RECORD STORE. It is a major retail corporation that will sell anything that can be profitable at low risk to them. Let go of your nostalgia and start finding new music to enrich your daily life. Ok, boomer?

2. Put in some effort to find music outside of your go-to artists or genres. You'll have to spend a little time researching to find new music nowadays. That's just the way it is. Here are some things I do:

I follow some cool record companies that represent diverse artists, like Moonjune Records, Brassland, Bad Elephant Music, ECM, Cuneiform Records, and several other labels that consistently release new and interesting music. I subscribe to their newsletters, follow them on social media, and use Facebook Events, Eventbrite, and similar services to catch any of their artists that come to my town. The algorithms regularly recommend events they think I'm interested in. I also subscribe to all the local concert venue mailing lists. Some venues cater to smaller, more interesting acts. Here in Phoenix, we’ve got the Musical Instrument Museum, The Van Buren, The Rhythm Room, Crescent Ballroom, and several others.

3. Follow the musicians your favorite musicians are following. I've found Twitter and Instagram to be the best social networks for doing this as you can quickly and easily scroll through follower lists. Weird musicians have weird musician friends and they like other weird bands.

4. Talk to people at concerts, especially at smaller shows. For example, I have a rule: If I see someone wearing an interesting band t-shirt, I will introduce myself by saying: “Hey, nice Bent Knee shirt. Did you get that at a recent show?” Most people are wearing a band shirt to a concert because they want to represent music they love. Connect with those local, friendly people in real life and stay in touch on social media. Chances are that you both have music to share with each other and life perspectives that will help each of you get out of your own bubbles. The world needs more of that right now.

5. Go down the rabbit hole. Find an interesting artist on YouTube and start clicking those related videos. If you don’t know where to start, here are some artists to look up: Bent Knee, Drone Choir, Carolina Eyck, Ian Boddy, Barbara Hannigan, Markus Reuter, Petra Haden, Buke & Gase, Infinien, Esperanza Spalding, Raze The Maze, Trevor Helminski, Panzerballett, Phi Yaan-Zek, Ryan Carraher, Nik Bärtsch, We Are Ants To Them, or the timeless and dependable Björk. YouTube is still a great source for finding interesting music performances and developing your taste. Try every genre and don't be a music snob. I didn't care for rap until I heard Galactic's From The Corner To The Block and that album blew my mind. It totally changed my appreciation for rap music.

There are so many more ways to discover and support great musicians today. This is definitely the best time to be alive for music lovers as there’s more new music today than ever. If you have other tips on finding cool new music, let us know in the comments. Let’s get the discussion going.

And if you like this whole shtick and want to hear more, you should check out my new book, "Clueless at The Work: Advice from a Corporate Tyrant," published by Stairway Press. It's available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or you can buy it direct from us at CluelessAtTheWork.com.

Thanks for listening and letting me vent a little. If you need to do the same, please leave a comment or share this video with your own commentary. I'd love to hear how you keep up and find new musicians.