I wish one of these essay prompts would ask me what generation I really should have grown up in. That seems like a more meaningful question than any others I’ve come across. Honestly, it’s no secret. I was born in the wrong generation. My taste in music gives it away completely: I’m stuck in the 1970s. I dare you to go through my iTunes library and find more than 25 songs that weren’t written, performed, or produced in the 1970s. I belonged in the 70s. David Bowie. Cheap Trick. Led Zeppelin. Queen. That’s when I should have grown up.

I’m the fortunate girl who was born about 40 years too late. I should have been a teenager in the era of vinyl records, flower power, and glam rock. Instead, I’m a teenager in the era of iPods, internet, and (this pains me to say) dubstep. I dream of being the ultimate 70s teenager. Being an audience member for David Bowie’s last performance as Ziggy Stardust in 1973, covered in glitter and near tears at the prospect of Ziggy’s rock n roll suicide is something I wish I could have seen. I’d have been in Rockford, seeing Cheap Trick play small venues and going on to witness them make history At Budokan. That one kid irritated both my parents and next-door-neighbors by blasting any and all Led Zeppelin albums? That would have been me, responding to the “turn it downs” by cranking the volume louder and louder and louder.

Growing up in the present time has doomed me to witness my favorite musicians as a bunch of old fogeys, which is a complete shame. No one ever understands my nostalgic cultural references either. I always get weird looks when I say “far out” or “don’t let the man bring you down”. Only middle aged people laugh, which is completely tragic. My seventeen year old body possesses the soul of a fifty five year old. My dad is to blame, for exposing me to 70s culture since I was a toddler. I couldn’t be more grateful. While my friends listen to pop-punk, screamo, dubstep, and hip hop, I’m sitting there thinking “I’d so much rather listen to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, or the Rolling Stones right now.” Sadly for me, they’re either old or dead. The culture of the 70s is completely obsolete to my peers, which makes me a lover of nostalgia.

Being “born in the wrong generation” has made me stand apart from my friends. I can take a more unique perspective of today’s culture. Granted, people my age don’t always understand my musical and cultural preferences, but at least I’m an individual. I suppose that growing up in the wrong generation benefits me. Had I been a teenager in the 70s, I would have simply fit in with every other teenager. I much prefer to be that one weird girl that was “born in the wrong generation” than just another teenager growing up in the new millennium.