Hey Boomer

Did you know over-65s account for almost half of the UK’s housing wealth? Did you know the older generation went to university for free? Did you know the older generation had the right to work and live in Europe, but overwhelmingly voted to take it away from young people? Can you really say society is working for the young, when the odds are stacked against them that badly?

The problem isn’t only limited to the UK. Even though we’re British, and live in England, we grew up in The Netherlands and see many of the same problems there: a broken housing market, an increase in short-term contracts, the young being saddled with debt for life. The UK and the US, however, are on a completely different level. We feel the odds are stacked against the younger generation in most western countries. Is the older generation really thinking long-term? Are too many decisions being made by the older generation?

We wrote "Hey Boomer" during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It felt like young people were having their lives upended in order to save as many of the older generation as possible. Of course, this was the right thing to do; however, this song was written in anticipation of the older generation — or at least the majority of them — not returning the favour in the future.

The path out of this crisis is going to be incredibly difficult, especially as governments around the world have taken on obscene amounts of debt (not all for the right reasons). This is all going to be shifted onto the next generation. Considering those under 40 will suffer the biggest economic blow, it’s only fair that ALL generations carry the burden of this pandemic. The word "again" in the chorus is a reference to the older generation overwhelmingly voting for Brexit here in the UK, which we felt was not their decision to make.