Bridging the Gap: Music

I was driving with my kids in the van. Among them are my two teen-age boys. The oldest, just turned 15, pops in a music CD. Though he likes to listen to such groups as Green Day, Three Doors Down and so forth, this CD has April Wine, Night Ranger and a collection of other great 8Os hits. At that moment there was no, so-called, generation gap. Going down the road together, belting out the tunes, whether we knew the words or not, was priceless.

My Dad understood this concept. He knew that if he could connect with his teenagers through music he could connect with them in other ways.

Though my dad prefered to listen to classical, country and such; he often broke out his Styx Pieces of Eight LP to test his new speakers.

But when the neighbor kid was blasting away on his stereo while washing his truck, we cheered as our dad brought out the great big "Styx-tested" speakers and cranked up the volume with Bach or Beethoven.

This lack of a gap runs two ways. The 80s tunes are not the only ones we meet up on. My teenagers and I have also been known to fill the air with "Bullevard of Broken Dreams".

So, I ask, is there really a generation gap? Maybe, maybe not.