Why Do Adults Hate on Teen Culture?

I am a follower of Harry Potter’s dark wizard Lord Voldemort on Twitter (@Lord_Voldemort7).  While usually good for a Harry Potter joke or two, a few recent jokes he has made has started a Twitter war with the tween fans of pop icon Justin Bieber.  Poor Justin…  While beloved by his fanbase of teen girls, he is the target of near constant ridicule by everyone else.

At what point did adults start just outright start attacking the stuff popular with kids?  And I’m not talking Maude Flanders “What about the children?”-style protectionism.  This is a near constant skewering of Miley Cyrus, Twilight, and whatever the younger generations like, usually by those around my age on TV and on the web.

Here’s the funny thing…  C’mon Gen X’ers, looking back on it, was the shit we had at that age any cooler?  Lets use my timeline as an example.  I was “tween” (age 12) in 1989.  Looking at the top 10 songs in 1989, two came from what you’d consider teeny-boppers:  “Hangin’ Tough” by the New Kids on the Block and “Lost in Your Eyes” by Debbie Gibson.  While I remember some New Kids jokes, usually it was at the expense of Donnie being “old”, being the thug, and of course the time when he set his hotel room on fire.  Not at all the vitriol spewed at a 16 year-old kid like what’s happening to Bieber.  And really, the only thing I remember adults talking about Debbie Gibson was the “Who’s hotter?” game between her and Tiffany.  Were there the jokes about them like they made about Miley (and I’m not talking about now, but during her Hannah Montana heyday)?  While not comparable to Twilight and the whole vampire/werewolf craze, 1989 brought us about a dozen slasher movies including Friday the 13th Part VIII, Halloween 5, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5.  In my mind cheesy-is-cheesy, no matter the genre.

I heard a great comment on Sirius XM’s Covino & Rich Show a few months ago.  Following the video of the little girl crying on YouTube because she loved Justin Bieber so much, co-host Steve Covino said that he would never let his baby daughter grow up to be the type who would like bubble gum pop music.  One of the listeners, a father of a young girl, called in with this – No matter how much he hated the music, no matter how much he thinks the lyrics are garbage, it made his daughter so happy that, in the end, he didn’t care.  They will grow up to realize that the music was dumb, but they will have great memories of that time in their lives.  In my opinion, to crap on Justin Bieber music to a 12 year-old girl is like telling a 6 year-old there’s no Santa Claus.

Personal Tidbit:  I have a great memory of pushing my newborn baby brother in his stroller around the Central Florida Fairgrounds, jamming to my Walkman and the newest tape I had bought at the Musicland in Altamonte Mall that I had gotten on the way there.  The tape I was bopping-around to and picking up my brother to dance with – To the Extreme by Vanilla Ice.  Yes, horrible music, but 20 years later I still remember that day.