LIFE - Getting Older

How do you know that you're getting older? When CNN runs a little segment about the breakup of a popular music group, and you realize that you've never heard of them.

The group in question is B2K. I don't listen to a lot of pop music, but I'm usually somewhat aware of what's on the charts. The name began to sound familiar, so I thought I'd check out what Rolling Stone has to say. That's when I had a good laugh:

After six years and three albums, R&B boy band B2K have split up.

B2K's recording history was brief but prolific, starting with the release of their self-titled album (which was certified gold) in 2002. A year later the quartet began to flood the market, releasing a new studio album, the platinum-certified Pandemonium!, as well as a pair of remix albums and a handful of EPs and singles.

Talk about setting your standards low. These guys (all around 18 years old) were together for six years (hey, 2004 is a year, too!) In the six long years since their 12th Birthdays, they produced two albums and a soundtrack to a movie (remix albums don't count unless you're doing the remixing, which they didn't). That's prolific? Come on. In the six years after these kid's births, Prince produced so much music that Warner Brothers refused to release it all, in fear of flooding the marketplace and saturating the fans.

There's not much of a point to this post. I just hate mainstream music (and its related journalism).

Of course, my father has a different theory about the onset of age... You know you're old when your legal drug budget exceeds your illegal drug budget. That's when it's time for the nursing home.