GENERATION WHY?: Stuff Y people like, Vol. 3 (because we also like things that come in volumes)

Admit it, you still love video games, go crazy over a music fest and listen to bands with the most annoying names eVer!

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GENERATION WHY?: Stuff Y people like, Vol. 3 (because we also like things that come in volumes)

POSTED: Monday, August 22, 2011, 4:00 PM

Filed Under: Critical Mass

Matt Cantor puts Generation Y-ers on blast. That includes you Zooey Deschanel.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on stuff that my generation is really into, and it’s become a habit. Last week, we looked at free stuff, medieval-style epic movies and woodsy music. This week, I realized that we’re obsessed with:

Video games: Seriously? We’re still playing these things? We’re adults, yet we aren’t ashamed to control the actions of a mustachioed, stereotypically Italian plumber who eats mushrooms and fends off Goombas — something we’ve been doing since age six? We’re not embarrassed to forego actual sports and pretend to play them on our TV screens? Here’s my theory on this one: Generation Y is in a state of arrested development. We’ll be 50 years old and still playing these games, still excitedly reading Harry Potter, still checking out our friends on Facebook, possibly still living with our parents.

Music festivals: When Woodstock happened, it was a big deal — a decade-defining event. So when I went to the first Bonnaroo, I was pretty sure it was a big deal, too. “Look at us!” I thought. “A whole new generation coming together to celebrate peace, love, and rock and roll! Man, we’ve got it all figured out.” But now, music festivals are a dime a dozen. Every city, it seems, has at least one. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Just like the rest of Generation Y, I love ’em. Even if they’re basically overwhelming sweat fests where the shows are abbreviated and the food is a rip-off.

Incredibly annoying band names: This is probably because all the good band names ran out a long time ago. So now, we’ve got bands that define themselves using the “shift” key (see tUnE-yArDs, OFF!, HEALTH); bands that co-opt celebrity names, probably to take advantage of Google searches for them (see DANANANANAYKROYD, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Joy Orbison); bands with “fuck” in their names (see Fuck Buttons, Holy Fuck, Fucked Up); and bands whose names end in “club” (see Two Door Cinema Club, Bombay Bicycle Club, Tokyo Police Club).

(matt.cantor@citypaper.net)

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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