Generation Zzzzz

T he primary job of every generation is to horrify the generations that came before. But what happens when a generation’s most objectionable trait is its inability to manufacture any controversy at all?

Perhaps this weekend’s MTV Music Video Awards ceremony is an inapt vehicle for taking the temperature of Generation Z, given that many youngsters don’t know what “MTV,” “music videos,” or even “television” is. But the event, ostensibly put on to reflect the current state of the music business, instead exposed just how boring and turgid popular culture has become.

The broadcast began with a long performance by Madonna — yes, that Madonna, now 68 years old and once rumored to have dated Benjamin Franklin — gyrating and lip-syncing along with stars of a more recent vintage like Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX. (And, for some reason, Seth Rogen.) You may recall that Madonna first broke free from the New York club scene to become a household name in 1983, the same year Motorola introduced the first commercially available cellphone. And yet there she was, winning 2026 Artist of the Year on the back of her danceable yet characteristically insipid album Confessions II, released three months ago.

One would expect that in a technological era in which information cascades across our screens, innovation would be at its height in the musical realm. Nope. Most of the big stars in music today are the same artists making the same unchallenging music they’ve produced for decades or more. Taylor Swift, who is as controversial as peanut butter, has been famous for 20 years and still dominates the music scene, to the point where the awards show had to invent a bogus new award (“Artist Director Honors”) to bait her into showing up at the ceremony. (Her new single causing controversy is about her trip to Cleveland. Seriously.)

In the past, cultural styles would arrive, and then, within a couple of years, be replaced by something new through the process of social creative destruction. Hair metal begat grunge, which begat gangsta rap, which begat boy bands, which begat the era of solo female pop acts, which still dominate today. And those acts hang around forever — last year’s Artist of the Year winner, Lady Gaga, released her first album in 2008. Ariana Grande has been making albums since 2013, the same year Kacey Musgraves released her first notable album. Your mom’s favorite artist, 2026 VMA performer Bruno Mars, issued his first album 16 years ago.

The Beatles’ entire album-making tenure lasted about half that long.

Even the newer crop of solo songstresses is merely aping the style set by their pop foremothers. Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo, and a slew of K-Pop artists are just reheating the Madonna/Gaga/Beyoncé model, with great success: Every one of the “Best Pop Video” nominees was performed by a solo female artist. This summer’s biggest new artist, music industry nepo baby Stella Lefty, was nicknamed “Stella Thefty” after accusations that she has been stealing melodies from past artists.

(Gen Z can’t even come up with their own name, as the “Gen” formulation is simply a microwaved version of “Gen X.”)

But the true proof that the entertainment culture is out of ideas was the extent to which the VMAs tried to package nostalgia to the youngs. There were performances in honor of Dolly Parton and George Michael. The event was hosted by Snoop Dogg, whose toothless jokes about smoking weed would have been groan-worthy in 1994. And the Video Vanguard Award was given to the surviving members of Nirvana, 35 years after the release of their seminal album, Nevermind. Guitarist Pat Smear shocked people by lighting up a cigarette on stage, which might be the first controversial thing to be shown on MTV in two decades.

Certainly, music isn’t the only entertainment sector that has become sclerotic: The movie industry continues to crank out superhero slop, and most of the most bankable leading men are pushing 50 years old. (It is true that a glimmer of hope has sprung from young directors making low-budget horror movies like Obsession and Backrooms, but only time will tell if this welcome trend has legs.)

In an era when technology makes everything possible, it seems younger generations have settled for the familiar. Much like in politics, entertainment consumers don’t want to be turned on to new ideas; they simply want to have their tastes validated. News outlets used to take pride in introducing audiences to new artists pushing boundaries; now, the major papers spill gallons of ink explaining the titles of Taylor Swift songs, ruminating on Taylor Swift’s attendance at a Knicks game, and suggesting reasons why Taylor Swift’s wedding is meaningful to you.

The fun of being part of a young generation is irritating old people by setting new musical boundaries and creating something uniquely your own, not engaging in stolen Gen X valor by giving Nirvana awards.

My culture is not your awards show, Zoomers.