Parenting & Family Quote by Rick Derringer

Derringer’s line is a tidy little piece of musician logic that reveals more than it intends. On the surface, he’s describing taste as maturation: his preferences have “grown up,” his kids’ music doesn’t move him, so the broader audience must be aging in the same direction. It’s a comforting story because it flatters the artist and the fans at once. If they’re “growing up” together, then changing course isn’t selling out; it’s evolution.

The subtext is where it gets prickly. “Grow up” isn’t neutral. It quietly ranks generations, implying the children’s playlist is a phase, while his is the destination. That’s a common rock-era reflex: treat youth culture as disposable noise until it cycles back to your own catalog as “classic.” Derringer’s assumption also dodges a harsher truth of pop: audiences don’t age as a single organism. A legacy act can tour to loyal peers and still be culturally irrelevant to the larger musical conversation. His kids are the closest available focus group for that reality, and he’s shrugging them off.

Context matters here. For artists who came up when rock signaled adulthood, authority, even craftsmanship, the rise of teen-driven, rapidly shifting genres can feel like the culture moving the goalposts. Derringer’s quote reads like an attempt to keep his footing: redefine relevance as alignment with his own aging, and call it growth. It’s not just about taste; it’s about control over the narrative of staying vital.