Althouse: "But for Boomers, it’s like when one of Gary Larson’s Far Side gorillas says to the other, 'You know, Sid, I really like bananas...'"

February 11, 2014

"But for Boomers, it’s like when one of Gary Larson’s Far Side gorillas says to the other, 'You know, Sid, I really like bananas...'"

"'... I mean, I know that’s not profound or nothin’ … Heck! We ALL do… But for me, I think it goes beyond that.'”

From an article by Bert Archer titled "Let Us Now Praise ... Bob Dylan? Really? Must We?" that ends "Fuckin’ Boomers."

And here's Banana Miscellanea, where, if you scroll down to the far nether region you'll get to the Far Side jest. On the way down, you'll find "Mayor Forced to Eat 12 Pounds of Bananas," "Man Gets 20 Days in Toy Banana Flashing," "Bananas and Cucumbers: Too Sexy for Women?," "Oldest Man, New Yorker, 112, Swears By Bananas, Anacin Tablets," and more.

46 comments:

MadisonMan said...: I have never understood DylanWorship as practiced by Boomers.

smh, as my son would have typed last year (Not sure what the up-to-date acronym is)

When I read/hear people yammering on and on about the greatness of Dylan, I am always -- somehow -- reminded of this great Dr. Who scene. (Bonus points if you can guess which one before clicking); 2/11/14, 12:12 PM
rehajm said...: blah blah blah blah BOB DYLAN blah blah blah BOB DYLAN blah blah blah

(The superior Larson analogy); 2/11/14, 12:13 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Even Bob Dylan doesn't care about Bob Dylan.; 2/11/14, 12:23 PM
rhhardin said...: Banana.; 2/11/14, 12:28 PM
SteveR said...: What the writer doesn't get is that a lot of people born during that time don't like Dylan and don't like the Beatles. Its a lot of people and some of them like George Strait or Reba McEntire. He's criticizing the cultural bubble he lives in, not the real world most people live in. Poor baby.; 2/11/14, 12:29 PM
rhhardin said...: A friend told me that a very super smart mutual acquaintance said that he'd never understood a single Gary Larson cartoon.

That's funny, my friend said. They're right down my alley.; 2/11/14, 12:30 PM
rhhardin said...: I get Dylan confused with Arlo Guthrie.

Alice's restaurant was nice.

Also some other song that told you to smile like you'd just crushed a cop.

Cultural conservatives were in charge then.; 2/11/14, 12:32 PM
Gahrie said...: I've always thought that Mr. Zimmerman was an excellent song writer...but I have never understood the "appeal" of his voice.; 2/11/14, 12:33 PM
donald said...: I met Gary Larson. In the Pioneer Square Blues Bar in 1984.

We got wasted (Not Gary, my navy buddies) and then we went to Pier 70 to see The Burgundy Express.; 2/11/14, 12:43 PM
donald said...: I did not know The Burgundy Express (Who were excreable) would be playing, I just knew it as the only place in Seattle where I could score decent pooner.; 2/11/14, 12:45 PM
donald said...: Cause man they sucked.

Unlike Bob Dylan who is truly as great as it gets.; 2/11/14, 12:46 PM
mccullough said...: Cate Blanchet was an excellent Dylan.; 2/11/14, 12:55 PM
Clyde said...: As a tail-end Boomer born in 1960, I'm not buying it. My iPod does have the Beatles and Dylan on it. It also has Frank Sinatra, Katy Perry and many musical artists from the period in between.

And Dire STRAITS, dude. Dire Straits.; 2/11/14, 12:56 PM
Henry said...: The reference to William Hazlitt is intentional, but you have to go pretty deep into the site to find it spelled out.

It's a good memorable name for a literary site, even for one as frothy as this one.

In 2012, Random House of Canada founded an online magazine, edited by journalist Chris Frey, called Hazlitt,[213] named after the writer, whom they characterise as "the original blogger".

So much for Samuel Johnson.; 2/11/14, 12:58 PM
harrogate said...: Ahhhh, but this article itself raises the question: What's more Pissed Off than a Pissed off Gen Xer?; 2/11/14, 1:00 PM
Michael K said...: God, I am sick of Boomers !

At least they will all die soon and I will probably go first. If drugs prolonged life, they would live forever. What a depressing thought.; 2/11/14, 1:00 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Burt's right. At least the Beatles had enough sense to leave the stage when they had nothing more to say together. A good percentage of life is simply knowing when to exit stage left. Dylan coldn't do that so he reinvents himself as a performer every decade or so. Truth be told, afte his last show, I won't go to another reincarnation of Bob. Now, having lived through it and been a member of it owning and playing the prerequisite Rickenbacker, Surfing USA, etc, I listen to my parents music from the Big Band era. What fun it has been for the last 20 years to come to know Jack Teagarden, Fletcher Henderson and Jimmy Wells. But as a "Fucking Boomer" I digress from us Boomer's. I'm sick of us - no wonder he is too. Good article. Thanks for the link.; 2/11/14, 1:02 PM
Clyde said...: Also, we need another dog photo café so I can comment on Masahiro Tanaka's dog!; 2/11/14, 1:03 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/11/14, 1:06 PM
SteveR said...: I was listening to Rubber Soul and then Hoobastank and Evanescence, and then the Psychedelic Furs.; 2/11/14, 1:07 PM
mccullough said...: The article is a dig at post-boomers. The author needs new friends and acquaintances because his are apparently obsessesed with Boomer Americana. Many people enjoy Dylan and the Beatles from time to time, but they are a musical phase for most. I have no nostalgia for them. I don't think most post boomers are that into Boomer culture. They have their own books, music, films, etc. to like.; 2/11/14, 1:17 PM
FullMoon said...: Hahahahah,
Whole lotta people didn't get it, don't get it, and never will get it.

I am sick of "boomers " being some kinda catch all bad thing, like'Liberals". And anybody who doesn't know there was one fkin choice, man. Beatles or Stones, well I got nothin but sympathy for ya.

Remember, Hollis Brown traveled all along the watchtower with a gun in evry hand , reading Nietze by candlelight.

And by the way Sinatra was not a "genius".; 2/11/14, 1:37 PM
traditionalguy said...: Dylan makes no sense unless you are in Dylan's word, meditating on it and finding truth. And in the days after 1964, truth got scarce as hens teeth.

Most Boomers.never did that and gained no admiration for Dylan. He was and is an acquired taste, and blessed are those who acquire it.; 2/11/14, 2:01 PM
Kirk Parker said...: rhh,

Your friend-of-a-friend story is hilarious! What's not to get???

(Then again, I'm writing this literally from Gary Larson's monster-infested basement: we bought his childhood home.); 2/11/14, 2:09 PM
Wilbur said...: His albums from "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" era were extraordinary.

After that he was simply uninteresting and unlistenable.; 2/11/14, 2:11 PM
Clayton Hennesey said...: I can't help but thinking that people who don't appreciate the foundational role the Beatles and Dylan played in the musical culture they have today must believe that things just happen "because".

Like, we have iPhones just because someone finally picked them from the iPhone tree. Or electricity - it's because the Force is with us.; 2/11/14, 2:23 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "At least the Beatles had enough sense to leave the stage when they had nothing more to say together."

The Beatles as a group broke up because they couldn't get along.

The Beatles as individuals continued as long as they could, without regard to having something new to say… say say.; 2/11/14, 2:25 PM
FullMoon said...: And another thing.....I expected to transition to Big band and Sinatra and Dean Martin and perry como and Bing Crosby and Doris day and the Andrews sisters as I became an adult...
THEY SUCK.
Im gonna just keep on chooglin'; 2/11/14, 2:34 PM
Mitch H. said...: The Beatles as a group broke up because they couldn't get along.

When has Dylan ever gotten along with himself?

I dunno, generational blather is the exact sort of delusional imaginary bullshit that zen koans are supposed to wipe from your mind, and Dylan's songs, when they work, work like koans.

Generations aren't real, or at least, are meaningful only in a genealogical, particular sort of way. I believe in Society, but generations are bollocks.; 2/11/14, 2:47 PM
FullMoon said...: "Wilbur said...

His albums from "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" era were extraordinary.

After that he was simply uninteresting and unlistenable."

WTF do you mean by"Freewheelin' era"? Are you talking about that one album? How many albums encompased that"era"?

Who else did you listen to in that "era".

I swear, I accept the least intelligent person visiting here, but there are some real morons in the room. ( not you, Wilbur); 2/11/14, 2:51 PM
FullMoon said...: "MadisonMan said...

I have never understood DylanWorship as practiced by Boomers."
Worship?

See what I mean? Nobody but you worships an entertainer/; 2/11/14, 2:54 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: The members of the Beatles had plenty to still say as individuals performers. But the Beatles were already gone by the time McCartney was released - in spirit if not in contract. They seldom played on each other's albums or ever appeared with each other at concerts or on tv. They had nothing left to say with each other. They left it all on the stage and exited to the left. My point still stands.; 2/11/14, 2:58 PM
FullMoon said...: Blogger The Crack Emcee said...

Even Bob Dylan doesn't care about Bob Dylan.

And there it is( I think)

Bob Dylan just doesn't care what you think.

Some people think he is a folk singer.
Some think he was rock 'n roll.

Some think he was country

Some think he was Cristian.

Some think he was part of a group.

He is all of those. Who else does that.

I expect the fkr to come out with a hip hop cd any time now; 2/11/14, 2:59 PM
FullMoon said...: Vrhhardin said...

I get Dylan confused with Arlo Guthrie.

Alice's restaurant was nice.

Also some other song that told you to smile like you'd just crushed a cop.

Cultural conservatives were in charge then.

I hear ya brother, I get confused between Dolly parton and Miley Cyrus.; 2/11/14, 3:02 PM
MadisonMan said...: Full Moon, your comment makes no sense to me.

Do I have to wait 'til 14 February to understand you?; 2/11/14, 4:14 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Bob can keep on doing shows. Its up to him if he thinks he still has something to say. But I'm tired of him musically. His are arrangements boring and he's all but unintelligible. I'm not buying anymore tickets. Haven't bought a Bob album since Blood on the Tracks. Every generation gets a shot at reinventing the wheel. It time for us to get the hell out of the way. By way of example, I still teach kids how to play guitar (for free)- but I don't teach them any songs unless they specifically ask. Boomers are done. Stick a fork in us.; 2/11/14, 4:39 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Also, we need another dog photo café so I can comment on Masahiro Tanaka's dog!"

Café is up (sans dog), but you can talk about anything.; 2/11/14, 6:00 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I used to spend hours puzzling over my parents' books of Far Side and Harman cartoons when I was a child, trying to figure out why they were funny, trying to see into the mysterious world of adult minds.; 2/11/14, 6:26 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Occasionally I would draw one and bring it to my mother and ask her if it was funny. I wanted to see if I could crack the adult humor code. She would say "yes" or "no," but I could tell by the lack of unforced laughter that none of them were funny.

I was about eight then. I can remember one of them because I thought it was the most promising before I showed it to her. There was an old woman about two strokes into digging a hole with a pick axe. A thought bubble above her head read, "This is going to take forever." The caption read, "Mother Nature begins work on the Grand Canyon." Adult humor code remained uncracked.; 2/11/14, 6:35 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Herman not Harman; 2/11/14, 6:35 PM
Phil 314 said...: I thought Dylan's car commercial was some of his best work.; 2/11/14, 7:33 PM
Jeff with one 'f' said...: My Gen X adolescence in the 1980s was spent with smug crap like this (Big Chill Clip) being shoved down my throat everywhere I turned. This shit was everywhere except for Mtv and college radio. The funny thing is that much of my favorite music is late-Boomer created (70s punk, New Wave and No Wave) but I had to scrape around it find it. Or I could just tune into Top 40 and listen to Mick Jagger cover Dancing in the Street.; 2/11/14, 10:00 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Freeman,

Your mom is a dufette. Your mother nature digging the grand canyon is awesome!; 2/11/14, 10:15 PM
Bob R said...: Articles about the self absorption of the boomers are as repetitive and annoying as the boomer. We boomers, I guess. (b.1957)

Still, I get tired of the hagiography and "in depth" interviews. Just listen to the music and shut up. (I like Crack's comment at 12:23pm.) There are no "important" bands, just music you like. I haven't thought about who was the "greatest band ever" since I was old enough to shave.

I'll make an exception for the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, though. That's a whole bunch of weird circumstances coming together at the same time: large generation of young people; mass penetration of new technologies (TV, electric guitars), limited choices for TV; hit cross-generational TV show watched by a huge fraction of the country; and a group that hit the sweet spot of just new enough, just old enough (steeped in recent American pop music), young, good looking, great trousers. Nothing like that is likely to happen again.

I don't remember it. Parents never watched Sullivan. I was too young. More interested in cartoon,s westerns and spy shows than pop music. But when I was a teenager I was listening to bands that had watched those shows and run out and bought guitars.; 2/12/14, 6:22 AM
Pianoman said...: What cracks me up about the Beatles are those people who compare them to classical artists.

I had a bass-player friend once say (in all seriousness) that the Beatles were more important in the history of Western Music than Mozart. We went around and around over that one for a while, until I realized that his adoration for the group was really adoration for Lennon ... and that much of the adoration originated from Lennon's death.

Martyrdom syndrome, or something.

Anyway, he started going on and on about how important a philosophical and religious figure Lennon was -- almost like a Christ-figure. He compared Lennon to MLK, Ghandi, and other historical figures of the period.

"Martin Luther King? You think Lennon was as important as King?", I said.

"Yes, actually more important", said Mr. Bass Man.

"So why does Martin Luther King have a Federal holiday named after him, and John Lennon hasn't got squat?", I asked.

Silence. I didn't get an answer, because his face began contorting in rage. He stormed off, fuming ... and we never discussed the subject again.

What did I learn from this experience?

* Some people are just psychotic when it comes to major musical figures of the period (Beatles, Dylan, Guthrie, etc). They've been severely personalized. They're no longer "just bands" or "just singers". They have been elevated to the status of religious icons.

(That's not just Boomers either -- you get the same thing with current music stars. And rap fans are willing to kill each other over it. But it seems to me that this kind of "musician-worship" started with the Beatles, and only intensified with Lennon's death.)

* When you encounter these people, the best thing to do is nod sagely, then change the subject. Like Basil Fawlty says: "Don't mention the War. I mentioned it, but I think I got away with it."

* As the Boomers die off, their substitution of the Beatles and Dylan for God will die off with them. Idol worship will continue (it always has), but at least these idols will fade away.

Grove's Dictionary devotes only a single page to the band, describing their influences, their history, and their legacy. The fact that they "made it in" to Grove's is an accomplishment in itself; however, their impact on Western music is wildly overstated by Beatles worshippers, and will eventually fade over time.

I'd rather listen to the Stones myself. I think the songs are better. But when it comes to musical accomplishments within the sphere of Western Music, the Beatles are a very minor component.; 2/12/14, 2:47 PM
John said...: Yeah, only Dylan is not a membert of the boomer generation. Neither the Beatles, the Stones, or Hendrix.

The real thing that makes Boomer music nostalgia so funny, is that, barring Stevie Wonder and a few others, most 60s legends weren't boomers at all.; 3/4/14, 2:26 PM