Teacher asks students to ID singers in 1985's "We Are The World" video

A lesson to current celebrities in how fame is so fleeting.

Teacher gives me vibes she puts out on the first date

If I were asked to identify a comparable group of 2015 singers I would fail just as miserably. Wrong vintage.

What struck me is how disrespectful the students are in their attitude.

They're kids. They just want to be seen and loved, and they think that's how. We did, too.

True, R4. I knew my 1920s through 1950s singers when I was at that snotty age in the 1980s. I credit Bugs Bunny. I don’t know what kind of irrelevant shit these bastards are raised on these days.

They are not missing much.

Not knowing Kenny Loggins, or Kenny Rogers, or Stevie Wonder, or Darryl Hall, or Billy Joel, or Bruce Springsteen isn't such a terrible thing.

I did that with "Do they know it's Christmas" this year. The kids knew Boy George and a few others that surprised me.

Teacher should have been spitballed for her rant about Steve Perry.

That was a video from almost 40 years ago. I’d have been 20. That would be like asking me who singers from the 1940s were. I’m not sure I’d do any better than these kids did. Mind you, they have the benefit of technology to learn about them. We didn’t.

Would you recognize Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Dinah Shore, the Andrew Sisters, Doris Day, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Frankie Laine? These were all music stars of the 40s.

If you showed me the top twenty pop/hiphop/etc musicians on this week’s Billboard chart, I’d honestly be surprised if I were able to identify four or five of them.

DLers would do no better identifying the most famous people now, because they're all social media influencers/streamers who don't appear on TV. It's better that way. You'd be depressed if you knew about Adin Ross or Sneako or Tana Mongeau.

R11 A fair amount. Until television and print media completely died for young people you'd learn a lot about the history of pop culture just through osmosis. Whether through documentaries on channels like VH1 and Bravo or magazines or whatever. It's not like that now, there's no overarching media monoculture that everyone more or less observes.

Now let those smarty pants students identify THESE singers

Having worked for years in the public school system, the extent of kid's 80s music knowledge is Jacko, Madge, Prince and Whitney.

Okay, DLers, identify these contemporary recording artists, all of whom were up for awards this yr.

Loved that, R14. So many recognizable people from so many fields, including our beloved Arlene.

I’d recognize most of them, r11.

In the thumbnail to R14’s link, I recognize Pam Eldred, who must have been the then-reigning Miss America (she was crowned in Sept. 1969), &, in the row ahead of her, longtime Celtics coach/GM Red Auerbach.

Everyone knows who Huey Lewis is. These kids are just embarrassed and fearful of the mockery of their peers!

They didn't know who The King of Pop was???

R14 I recognized Dr. Spock, the stuffy wife from Caddyshack 2, Jennifer Grey's father, and Jamie Fox.

Serious question: Why the fuck is this being given time in the classroom? We have a nation of kids who don't know the difference between North and South Korea or how many ounces are in a pound, but they are being challenged with this?

My hunch is that the teacher is not up to teaching anything complex, so she leans on this light fare....

How many correctly identified Kim Carnes???

[quote] [R14] I recognized Dr. Spock, the stuffy wife from Caddyshack 2, Jennifer Grey's father, and Jamie Fox.

Do you mean Jamie Foxx, who would've been a toddler at the time of this shoot?

Apart from Leonard Nimoy, Dina Merrill, Joel Grey & the others who've been mentioned, I recognized Arthur Goldberg, Bayard Rustin, Roy Wilkins, Peggy Cass, Orson Bean, Whitney Young, David Susskind, Chet Huntley, Ray Charles, Ali MacGraw, Will Geer, Gwen Virdon, Daniel Inouye, Johnny Carson, Greg Morris, Bob Cousy, Merv Griffin & Jack Klugman. There was someone who looked from afar like Henry Fonda, but I'm questioning that one, thinking he would've merited a close-up, like some of the others.

What is a Dua Lipa?

The thing is too, these artists aren’t even their most of their parents artists!

A teenager in high school today has a parent who most likely grew up in the 90’s.

They would probably be able to recognize Kurt Cobain and Britney Spears.

Lol

R13 Commercials and movies on TV.

I’m pretty sure I learned old music through “Best of the 80’s / 70s / etc” commercials and hearing songs in movies that I watched on TV.

And of course VH1.

Kids don’t watch commercials and they barely watch TV.

TikTok does revive music though. There are younger people I know who learn older songs through TikTok.

TikTok has definitely replaced the radio in terms of relevance.

Full cheat sheet for the r14 PSA. Yes Henry Fonda is there.

Steve Lawrence … Cast

Eydie Gorme … Cast

Henry Fonda … Cast

Myrna Loy … Cast

Leontyne Price … Cast

Robert Alda … Cast

Roy Wilkins … Cast

Eli Wallach … Cast

Ali Macgraw … Cast

Leonard Nimoy … Cast

Arthur Goldberg … Cast

Merv Griffin … Cast

Peggy Cass … Cast

Orson Bean … Cast

Ralph Abernathy … Cast

Ray Charles … Cast

Jim Backus … Cast

Carl Reiner … Cast

Johnny Carson … Cast

Dan Blocker … Cast

Anne Jackson … Cast

Cannonball Adderley … Cast

Gwen Verdon … Cast

Dina Merrill … Cast

Cleveland Amory … Cast

Flip Wilson … Cast

Helen Hayes … Cast

Ossie Davis … Cast

David Susskind … Cast

That’s not a complete list, R14/29.

Poor Al Jarreau. The teacher shrugs, like, "Don't worry, I don't expect you to know this guy."

OP- I was 19 years old in 1985 and I would not be able to identify almost none of the people in the video because at the time I detested contemporary music, fashion, culture. I liked music from the mid 1960's to early 1970's only.

So, I was 14 in 1985. That’d have been like my teacher asking me to identify singers from 1947. I wouldn’t have had a clue.