Pop Culture

In class today, students gave presentations about an English song of their choosing. Here are the songs they shared:

"In the Morning" by the Bee Gees

"Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" by Air Supply

"On the Line" by Michael Jackson

"Stand" by Jewel

"Love Story" by Taylor Swift

"Perhaps Love" by John Denver

I continue to be baffled by my students' pop culture education. They've never heard of Bruce Springsteen, they think that Green Day's first hit was "American Idiot," and any conversation about The Who would most likely be humorous, but ultimately frustrating.

Let's consider these song choices. The Taylor Swift song makes sense since she's so popular with the young folk and whatnot. The Michael Jackson song sort of makes sense since he's so popular here, although "On the Line" goes a little deeper into his catalog than I would expect. But an obscure non-disco Bee Gees song from 1972? An equally forgotten Jewel single from her pop-vixen stage? John Denver? What gives? Why are students so in to soft rock?

Lest you think that this was an isolated incident, maybe I should mention that last year, I witnessed an entire auditorium sing along to this song:



Think back to 10th grade. If you gave a presentation about your favorite song and then played anything by Michael Learns to Rock, how many of your classmates would have known all of the words? Zero? Less than zero? Would they share your love of the Danish pop outfit? Is there a chance that you might have received some ridicule?

Getting back to my original question, one possible explanation for students' soft rock preference involves their language ability. Being non-native English speakers, students often have trouble understanding the lyrics in faster, louder songs, so they gravitate towards soft-rock and power ballads. My problem with this argument is pretty basic: Any sane person would rather lose their sense of hearing than have to listen to Michael Learns to Rock for more than 15 seconds. I'd also love to chalk up my students' odd taste in music to cultural differences, but Asian pop music isn't really similar to any of these bands.

I think the explanation is actually a little more simple. You see, I've been hitting the "streets," asking the youth what's hip and what's total grade a square city. Turns out most students don't listen to English songs unless it's for a school assignment* That John Denver song? They heard that from their S1 (approx. 6th grade) teacher. The Bee Gees? They learned that song during a class in S3. In fact, English language acts that seem to be most popular with students include Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne, and the Black Eyed Peas. As usual, I have to throw my initial assumptions totally out the window and ask a new question:

Why are teachers so into soft rock? Unfortunately, I have no idea. But hey, on second thought, Michael Learns To Rock isn't so bad, you know? I mean it's got a nice hook and it's really easy to sit back and listen to. Kind of catchy, actually.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


*Most of them prefer J-pop and K-pop. The language barrier doesn't explain this, because last time I checked, people here don't speak Japanese or Korean.