By Thomas Welch, Staff Writer
EDITORIAL
10/15/26
ROCKLAND- Music is a way of life for many people. Music can make you happy or sad. But I believe the current generation isn’t knowledgeable when it comes to music from the 80s.
80s music is such an important piece of culture that needs to be known by generations to come. The music of today is also key, but you need to understand the culture and the significance of music from the 80s.
I took a poll, and out of the 32 people I interviewed, 15 students knew the artists I was asking about, from Journey to James Taylor. 17 students said they didn’t recognize the artists’ names or work.
Ms. Nikki Kubek, a special education teacher, said 80s music is important because “it is historical.”
She thinks that Elvis’s music will be forgotten about, but people will know of him. She thinks that this is bad because “he is a personality and a legend.”
Freshman Gavin Gilmore said, “1/5 of my grade listens to music before the year 2000.”
Gilmore also said he prefers older music to newer, adding, “I hate the music from my generation.”
Sophomore Colin Barrett said, “There's a lot of new music that's upstaging music from the 80s.”
He also thinks that music has affected his life. “Due to my feelings, like when I'm down, I listen to happy songs.”
Shane Paton, a junior, said that most of his music “is music before the year 2000.”
Paton also said, “About half of my grade listens to music from the 80s.”
Junior Colin Flaherty said that music from the current generation will not be shared with future generations due to the fact that there are many changes in styles and a variety of genres.
Flaherty said, “I think that 80s music has good music, but our generation has better music”
Music from the 80s, 90s, or maybe even the 70s is being lost within the current generation. Time will tell whether music carries over to future generations.
We need to introduce the new generation to old music because it shows a different side of what music was for some people. By using a streaming service like Pandora or Spotify, users can be introduced to music across many generations.
Streaming music services does a good job of mixing in music from different generations into users' playlists, which could lead to people discovering music from past generations.