BlissFullU

I assume you all know The Twins, AKA The New Trend AKA First Time Hearing. It is two young men, twin brothers Tim and Fred Williams, 22? I think, and living in Gary, Indiana (Broadway baby me connects that with The Music Man, but ignore that unless you are a Broadway baby as well). Anyway, it is a YouTube channel by two brothers who say that due to their religious upbringing, they were never exposed to much different music growing up, other than gospel and some varieties of rap. So they tape videos of themselves listening to absolutely CLASSIC rock (or sometimes country or other genres) music for the first time, and give their impressions.

I love, love, LOVE these guys for a few different reasons:

1. They are so unassuming and unembarrassed about the fact that they have never heard of or have no knowledge of some of the greatest names or songs in rock or popular music.
2. They are so open to what they are about to hear, regardless of whether or not they have any clue about what the genre or reputation or anything about the song is.
3. They just love great music, which everything they listen to really is. And so they are so positive about everything they post, which is GREAT!

Honestly, how great would the world be is we were so openminded about things we had never experienced or knew nothing about as these young men are about music? They enjoy and look for the good in every song they video themselves listening to for the first time. They are definitely increasing the positive energy in the world during a year where it is so easy to focus on things that bring us down.

So I love them and their energy and their ability to find the threads of gold in all these songs, many of which have played such great roles in society before they were even born. For those of us who grew up with these songs, or who marched to or danced to or cried to these songs, it is so uplifting that a new generation can see their beauty and their power as well.

The other thing I love about the Twins is that it brings me back to when I heard these songs for the first time myself. One of the videos that really brought them to public attention was Phil Collins’ “Something In The Air Tonight.” It is so wonderful to watch their video when that fantastic surprising drum solo kicks in during the middle of the song, catching us all by surprise…at least for the first few times. It is great, after YIKES? REALLY? nearly 40 years, to watch these young men react to that unexpected musical bit and remember how, all those years ago, we experienced the same thing:

I will close with this video, which I think is just so sweet. The brothers are musing on a 1964 song by Bob Dylan, who they don’t know at all, called “The Times They Are a-Changing,” because it is on a playlist around the book A Promised Land by Barack Obama. The surprise to the boys–and they are definitely surprised–is that Obama listens to them and reacts to their response, as well as answers their question in general. It is a great showcase on both sides, so I suggest watching it here:

So many great posts I could do about The Twins. If you don’t know them, check out their YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCopm4iCRGWS6PkLB8uDe-Wg

I think they are one of the greatest gifts of 2020