Fans – Gen X Playlist

What Rock Fans Don’t Want to Admit by Damon Linker

What Rock Fans Don’t Want to Admit by Damon Linker

I’m Gen X, so some of the performers listed in this essay are a little before my time, but of course, I am familiar with them and have heard of them and a lot of their music.

Gen X has so far lost Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, George Michael, Michael Hutchence, Prince, Eddie Van Halen, and Marie Fredriksson (of Roxette). (There’s also drummer Frankie Banali (of Quiet Riot), Charlie Daniels, Mac Davis, and Tony Lewis (of The Outfield)).

What Rock Fans Don’t Want to Admit by Damon Linker

by Damon Linker
September 4, 2021

The recent death of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts at the age of 80 is just the latest rude reminder of what all of us know in our bones but nonetheless choose to ignore most days: The classic rock era is nearly dead and buried — and so are its greatest icons.

I wrote about this two years ago, and, inevitably, things are looking even bleaker now. Bob Dylan is 80. Paul McCartney and Paul Simon are 79.

And not far behind them are a host of rock stars well into their 70s: Brian Wilson, Carole King, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Ray Davies, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Debbie Harry, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Bryan Ferry, Elton John, and Don Henley.

James Taylor and Jackson Browne just completed a tour together; the former is 73, the latter 72.

The baby of the bunch, Bruce Springsteen, currently wrapping up another residency on Broadway, turns 72 next month.

Over the next decade, most of these superstars are going to die, and the remaining holdouts soon after.

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Leaving Neverland – the Controversial New Documentary about Singer Michael Jackson (2019)

Leaving Neverland – the Controversial New Documentary about Singer Michael Jackson (2019)

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve no doubt seen by now the links to news stories and reviews to a new documentary about singer Michael Jackson, which alleges that Jackson molested boys.

The documentary, released in January 2019, is entitled “Leaving Neverland.” Some Michael Jackson fans are quite upset, insisting that Jackson was innocent.

I for one am agnostic on the topic.

While I do think Jackson’s frequent contact with underaged boys (he seldom hung out with girls), and that he had “sleepovers” with them, complete with alarms that would be tripped if someone tried to approach the bedroom down the hall he shared with those boys, was very strange and inappropriate, I am not sure if Jackson was performing sexual acts with any of these boys or not.

Edit: though now, as of March 2019, after having pondered more about this, having read more articles, both pro and con, and knowing what I know about how many churches cover up and deal with victims of child sex abuse; and in the course of studying how pedophiles operate in a church context, I learned about how pedophiles groom their child targets and the adults in the children’s lives…

I therefore now lean towards thinking that unfortunately, Jackson probably was a pedophile. This does not make me happy.

I would rather Jackson be innocent, since he was a fixture of my childhood, but I have to be realistic and honest and not shy away from the truth just because the truth is uncomfortable.

I would hope that Jackson was not guilty. I have fond memories watching Jackson perform on various televised awards shows or in music videos in the early to mid 1980s.

Jackson was an electric performer, and he had what so many singers after 2000 lack: a stage presence.

If it is true that Jackson was acting inappropriately with children, that does tarnish his memory for me, the music, and it’s difficult to watch those classic videos – “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and “Thriller” at this point.

What follows below are links to different articles about the “Leaving Neverland” documentary, and links to Michael Jackson related sites that discuss Jackson’s alleged pedophilia.

News Coverage and Op/Eds

On IMDB: Leaving Neverland (2019)

Why Child Sexual Abuse Survivors May Defend Their Abusers by Erica W. Smith

New Michael Jackson Documentary About Alleged Child Sex Abuse to Debut at Sundance

Two-part series Leaving Neverland will feature interviews with two men who say they were abused by the singer

Michael Jackson’s family slams “Leaving Neverland” accusers, says slumber parties were “innocent”

Documentary Accusing Michael Jackson of Sexually Abusing Boys to Premiere at Sundance

Leaving Neverland focuses on two alleged victims and “how they were sexually abused by Jackson, and how they came to terms with it years later”

‘Leaving Neverland’: What we know about allegations of molestation against Michael Jackson

‘Leaving Neverland,’ Michael Jackson documentary, opens old wounds before premiere

The film could put fresh scrutiny on the King of Pop’s complicated life and artistic legacy.

…But those festival debuts have not created nearly as much of a pre-release firestorm as “Leaving Neverland,” a four-hour documentary about two men who claim they were sexually abused by the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

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Toxic Fans in the Music World: The Stans

If you’re Gen X as I am, you may remember that back in junior high and high school there were cliques, and some of them divided themselves up on the basis of what music they listened to.

Or, the cliques (which may have consisted of jocks, dweebs, surfers, or what have you) all naturally seemed to gravitate towards one type of music or another.

And sometimes, one could find a “metal head” (heavy metal fan) mocking or making fun of the kid who was into Michael Jackson, for instance.

It went from being acceptable to find Michael Jackson cool in the early or mid 1980s to being considered nerdy by other kids if you still admitted to liking him or his music by the late 1980s or so.

I remember one day, in my sophomore year of high school, before math class started, that the resident stoner metal head guy (who normally wore “Iron Maiden” band t-shirts to school) was being teased by a black guy about his metal fandom when the white metal kid shot back, “And I guess you’re a big Michael Jackson fan!” – That was considered a put-down.

By that time, MJ was out of favor with a lot of kids. If you were a MJ fan, you were supposed to keep it to yourself and not advertise it around other kids.

Anyway, that’s about as heated as things got.

But kids in the 1980s more or less politely agreed to disagree with each other over whatever singers or bands other kids enjoyed. Another kid may find your favorite singer or taste in music lame, and even tell you so, but things never got terribly heated.

Not so today.

Today, on social media, even among 20- and 30 something adults, one can find the fan groups (fandoms) of various singers going at each other’s throats.

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