Chicago Parent’s IT guru Graham Johnston went to Lollapalooza this weekend and, now that his ears have stopped ringing, shares his thoughts.
I’ve come to two conclusions after the spending the weekend at Lollapalooza.
1. I might have to break down and buy a fedora.
2. Hipster/punk/alternative babies and kids are the cutest thing ever. The spray-painted hair, gelled and spiked into mohawks, and rub-on tattoos and ratty t-shirts from their (or, more likely, their parents’) favorite band are just adorable.
I was struck by the fact that these kids, at the average age of 7, have achieved a level of coolness far surpassing my own. And who do they have to thank for that? That’s right: their parents.
My parents never took me to a rock show, they never dressed me up in an eighties punk band t-shirt and I’m sure any talk of coloring my hair would have been a non-starter with my dad. By far the best thing my parents did for me was buy me my first CD – Green Day’s “Dookie.” Granted, this was before the days of parental warning labels, and if mom or dad had listened to more than a minute of any track on that CD, I highly doubt they’d have gotten it for me.
Saturday night, the seeds my parents planted with that first CD — the memories of that first insane guitar riff, the first drum solo and the first time I heard four letter words used repeatedly as song lyrics – all came rushing back as I watched Green Day perform. I’ll spare a complete retelling of the show and just say it was incredible, and, just like that first CD, unlike anything my 9-year-old ears had ever heard before.
Maybe that was mom and dad’s plan all along: Pretend we didn’t know what we’re doing, pretend we weren’t trying to making him cool. So thanks, Mom and Dad, but please don’t freak out if one day your grandchildren show up with pink hair, tiny fedoras and Green Day t-shirts.
Closing thought, the coolest parent-child combo from Lollapalooza? The parents who sent their daughter up on stage during the Green Day concert.
