There's definitely a generation gap here

As a kid growing up I subscribed to the idea that if it didn’t drive the folks crazy, it was hardly worth listening to.

“Dad, it’s Lynyrd Skynyrd, it is too music.”

But man o’ man, what goes around, comes around and I have now reached the age where’s it’s me saying, “turn that bleep down, that’s not music.” It’s a bummer getting old. I mean, you walk into the wrestling room or listen the music they’re playing during a shoot-around, the kids are bopping and I’m the one thinking, what?

It’s definitely a sign of old age when the kids look at you and say, who?

I was sitting in the classroom the other day having a wonderful conversation with Othello junior Emily Mendez and the topic finally got around to what kind of music she enjoys.

“So, do you like Carlos?” I asked. She looked at me like I had three heads.

“Santana, Carlos Santana?”

Carlos is one of those first-name-only kind of guys, like Elvis, where you don’t need to say the last name for people to know who your talking about. Again with the what-are-you-talking-about eyes. The only thing worse is that Othello girls wrestling coach JJ Martinez was sitting there smiling behind his hand.

“Oye Como Va?” “Vive La Vida?” “Ji-Go-Lo-Ba?” Any of this ringing a bell? No? Man I feel old. I didn’t even bother to say Woodstock, because they’ve never even heard of the little bird in “Charlie Brown,” let alone the pig farm in upstate New York.

But then again, if she’d of asked me to name any band that came around since 2000, I’d be hard pressed to name one. I can’t even tell you who plays bass in the Mariah Carey band. Gus Rodriguez was the original bassist with Carlos, but that’s beside the point.

To borrow a line from Paul Simon, “ … Every generation sends a hero up the pop charts …” and even though I was born 10 years after the music I enjoy, there is definitely a generation gap between me and today’s student-athletes.

Actually, I had that same experience at an Othello basketball game the other day. The pep band was blasting out a spirited version of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” I got to talking with the band leader during a break.

“That was a nice job with ‘Iron Man,’” I told him. Again with the 1,000-mile stare. “Black Sabbath? Ozzy Osbourne? Any of this ringing a bell?”

Sadly, he recognized Ozzy from “The Osbournes,” television show, not connecting the dots to “War Pig” and the reason why I wear hearing aids. He did tell me they were looking through the archives for more “old music” to play.

Dude, let me help you with that. Here’s my list: “Smoke on the Water,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

Yep, at the risk of sounding like my old granddad, “Listen here sonny, you kids today don’t know nothin’. The Who, The Stones, The Grateful Dead, now those were bands.”

I did burn off a copy of Carlos Santana live in South America, called “Sacred Fires,” to give to Emily because I just can’t stand today’s generation not knowing the timeless sounds of Santana. So anybody over the age of 50 that wants a copy, Emily is your new best friend.

And of course, I know, shut up you old geezer, it is too music.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer with the Columbia Basin Herald and writes a weekly column for the Sun Tribune. He can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com.