Sign of getting old

I shared a story on the air this morning about a conversation I had at my gym the other day (shout out to The ROC!) with a kid who is a college freshman.

He recognized me from Facebook and asked "you're that radio guy, right?" I said "yes" and we proceeded to chit-chat a bit about my job and music and he asked me what type of music is my favorite. I let him know that I will always be partial to the music of my youth, which being 37 years old means music from the early to mid 90's.

I told him "I grew up on a mix of gangsta rap and grunge, I loved 2Pac, Ice Cube, Nirvana and Pearl Jam." It was at this point that the guy gave me the "oh wow" look and asked "so you were alive when 2Pac and Kurt Cobain were still alive?" To which I told him "well, yeah" not giving any thought to his age until I realized that Cobain had died two years before this college freshman was born, and 2Pac died the same year he was born.

That was truly a mind-blowing moment for me! I realized that those two guys are my generation's Elvis and John Lennon, from the perspective of making enormous contributions to pop culture, and now having a new generation of adults that were not alive when they were around.