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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Don Firth Date: 05 Jul 12 - 01:26 AM No serious takers, eh? Hoppy's horse was named "Topper." The editor of The Daily Planet, the newspaper that Clark Kent and Lois Lane worked for was Perry White. And there is a little more to the relationship between the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet than starting on the same station. The Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet. First of all, John Reid, a Texas Ranger, became the Lone Ranger when he and five other Texas Rangers rode out to round up the infamous Cavandish Gang. The Cavandish Gang ambushed them and left all six of them for dead. But an Indian named Tonto happened on the scene of the carnage and found that one of the rangers, though badly wounded, was still alive. They talked matters over, and Tonto buried the five rangers and then dug a sixth grave and put a marker on it as well. One of the dead rangers was Dan Reid, John Reid's brother. John Reid cut a piece of material from his dead brother's vest and made himself a "Domino Mask" from it. The only one of the Texas Rangers to have survived the treacherous bushwhacking, John Reid was—the Lone Ranger. After he had been nursed back to health by Tonto, he donned the mask to hide his true identity, and he and Tonto went after the Cavandish Gang—and successfully brought them to justice. Then, the two of them went on the fight for law and order in the early West. Late in the radio series, the two were joined by the sixteen-year-old nephew of the Lone Ranger, Dan Reid, Jr., and had many adventures with his uncle and his faithful Indian companion. When Britt Reid—the son of Dan Reid, Jr., and the Lone Ranger's great-nephew—becomes editor and publisher of the crime-fighting Daily Sentinel newspaper, emulating his great uncle, he adopted the secret masked man identity of the Green Hornet and fought crime, not only behind the editorial desk, but out there where it existed. Initially, Kato, a martial arts expert and Britt Reid's chauffer, valet, and "houseboy", accompanied the Green Hornet in his crime fighting adventures. Kato started out as Japanese, but in when the Japanese invaded China in 1939 and relations between the United States and Japan deteriorated, Kato somehow strangely morphed into being Filipino. So now you know. Is Batman really a "superhero?" No. Not in the idea that he, like other costumed and masked crime fighters, has superpowers. He doesn't. He is a normal human being, but through rigorous training became very athletic, managed to learn a number of exotic hand-to-hand combat methods. He's just very good at what he does, but he is not endowed with "superpowers" like the Marvel Comics stable of "Superheroes." I'm talking here about the old Detective Comics Batman. The first Batman movie with Michael Keating was very well done, but I haven't actually followed some of the mythology that has been piled on by some of the more recent Batman movies. My info comes from Bob Kane's original conception of the character. And my Shubb capo? How the hell did it get in the refrigerator!?? Don Firth P. S. Since I was born shortly after the Big Bang, I used to listen to these programs. On the radio. You know, like television, only you had to make the pictures yourself, in your head. For reference material for anyone who wants to do some in depth reading on the subject—two paperback books I picked up some time in the Sixties, The Great Radio Heroes and All in Color for a Dime, about comic books. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 05 Jul 12 - 12:31 AM [The following exchange is from Youtube. I am the OP and you can see what people responded. Some of these young people are wiser than many who didn't know anybody than to display their ignorance on this thread.] Oh how spoiled I was in the 80s. I didn't like this song when it came out. Now after listening to all the worthless shit garbage fucking up the airwaves today, this sounds fantastic. I'd give anything to back to this level cuz it is just shit today. You are such a close minded individual. But I'm a close-minded individual with taste. Someone said I was closed minded when I said Im 24 years old and love music from the 80s instead of today's music.. I was a hardcore punker in the 80s so I considered this song to be all wimped out although it was admittedly catchy. But if I heard a band do this today I'd think, "Say, they're pretty good! Better than the shit other bands are putting out." I didn't know how good I had it. I thought there would always be variety and integrity in music so I could be choosy. I don't know what the hell happened. It's just sickening though. This may be my time and generation (22yo) but I completely agree. My family raised me on classics from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I picked a few things up on my own in the 90s, but I have always thought the 80s styles were my cup of tea. (Of course, I'm talking about music... I don't think I'll be loading my hair with hair-spray.) It really upsets me where the artistic genres are going: movies, music, books, etc. It all seems to be dying. The 90s was the last great decade for music and television. Both turned to shit about the same time. Both sacrificed quality to maximize profits. It upsets me that people have settled for this and don't see anything wrong with it. Maybe it's my punk training talking but our culture has been hijacked by corporate mediocrity. Except scrubs and two and a half men ever other comedy show was shit , except friends that ended in 2004 but started 1994 |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 04 Jul 12 - 11:36 PM /////How are the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet related? They are, you know!///// That's easy. Both started on WXYZ right here in Detroit. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Don Firth Date: 04 Jul 12 - 07:29 PM Okay, this'll take you back a notch. What was the name of Hopalong Cassidy's horse? What was the name of the editor of the newspaper that Clark Kent (Superman) worked for? How are the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet related? They are, you know! Oh! This may offer a clue to that question. What was the Lone Ranger's real name? (Not the actor who played him on the radio, the Lone Ranger's real name? And for MANY extra points, how did he become "the Lone Ranger?") Is Batman really a "superhero?" And where the hell did I leave my brand new Shubb capo? Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Allan Conn Date: 04 Jul 12 - 02:53 AM Id doesn't seem very sensible or fair to berate youngsters for not knowing all the music of past decades etc. Heck the early 60s were 50 years ago! I suspect many of the folk who attended the Cavern to watch the Beatles would have had limited knowledge of what music was around in 1912 etc. I've got a 16 year old son who is really into music and a hell of a good guitarist and it is great watching him discover things even if some of it is stuff most people over 30 or 40 would know pretty well. Once he wants to listen to something he has all the facility to delve into it though. If he wants to listen to what an artist is like then he can log on to the on-line music service we subscibe too and the likelyhood is that many of the said artist's albums are there to download free of charge to him at the press of a button! Plus he can browse youtube to see what the artist is like. Let's get real these are brilliant facilities that we all would have lapped up. I had a 36 mile round trip to our nearest record shop and often came back with an album (which I'd spent a sizeable chunk of my teenage income on) which turned out to be not so great as I'd expected it to be! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Rob Naylor Date: 16 Jun 12 - 08:53 PM True, John...and what Josepp doesn't realise is that an awful lot of new indie music IS released on vinyl. All my children, and all their friends, have decks as well as digital devices. Normally if you buy a vinyl disk you get a digital download included in the price. And the vinyl does have artwork and sleeve notes, just as in the "old days". |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: johncharles Date: 16 Jun 12 - 04:04 PM what really depresses me is grumpy old men. John |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 16 Jun 12 - 02:55 PM I agree, Al, that the new technologies have played a role in the dumbing down. I do miss the days of 12-inch LPs. I mean I love the digital techonology and all that but all the fun has been taken out of record hunting. And, yes, a lot of kids, probably most, don't even buy CDs anymore--they just download them or get them from their friends. No record reviews, no liner notes, no nothing. Even with CDs, the liner note print is so damn small I can't even read it half the time. I think it makes music appreciation classes all the more needed but I don't see it happening. Kids today can't even do math or science in this country. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 16 Jun 12 - 02:21 PM I got a lot of my education in shops reading covers for LP records that I couldn't afford. Children today are disadvantaged in that respect. They can download it - in those days though, you had an authority telling you what was on offer nad how to look for it. Were you to ever get the chance to hear it! You couldn't afford the music - but much more intoxicating were the words of pseudo intellectualism and intellectual snobbery. Ah! Those were the days......but to be young was very heaven! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 16 Jun 12 - 09:10 AM Naylor doesn't get it but that's not surprising. I berated no one. My point is that younger people today are not being educated in music sppreciation today to the point that stuff that should be easily known by them is something they are not even aware of. The quiz was very general and an attempt to see if they were educated in music properly or by pop culture. Not many people would know Salieri taught Schubert but I was trying to see how many people really think he murdered Mozart because of the Amadeus movie. Some people here suspected it wasn't true and chose something else and that's all I was really looking for. But some respondents under 30 really do think Salieri confessed to killing Mozart (actually two thought it and the rest never answered it). Beyond that question, none of the others should have been hard. Asking about diddley-bows is a bunch of diddley-shit. The questions were general and deal with our culture and therefore have some importance and should not have required any serious amount of study. No American under 30 should have any trouble knowing who wrote of the Gettysburg Address (although I assure you many Americans don't know). No American should have to admit to not knowing the first verse of the National Anthem but many don't. People today think culture is an island unconnected to what came before and with no concern of what is to come next. I don't believe I should have stumped anyone by asking them to name a Holland-Dozier-Holland song but I did. I mean, christ, they wrote some of the most well-known music of the 20th century and we're already forgetting who they are. Do you really think most Americans have the tiniest interest in Beethoven or Bach when music written 40 years ago in their own country has already been forgotten? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 16 Jun 12 - 04:00 AM To which I can only thumb my nose and 'awopbopalooma a wop bam boom!' My turn. What oats did Roy Roger's horse Trigger invariably turn his nose up at - and quite distinctly , on one occasion, say 'Nay!' - or it could have been, 'Neighhhh!' Opinions were divided. but someone at Berkley has done a brilliant PhD thesis on this very subject. Like many major controversies(including the one under discussion) there DOES seem to be no one final definitive answer that we can turn to, as the absolute truth on this vexed matter. Sad, really..... |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Rob Naylor Date: 15 Jun 12 - 10:06 PM I'm with Don here. I'm into a wide variety of musical genres and regard myself as a "reasonably knowledgable layman". But when I was under 30, even though I was nearer to the eras severasl of the questions refer to than are today's under 30s, I would have had problems with some of them. To berate youngsters for not knowing that "Bang A Gong" was originally a T Rex number is faintly ridiculous. As a 20 year old ~I had no idea that some of the songs recorded by rock or prog-rock bands were covers of old blues numbers. I must have been 25 before I realised that "Crossroads" and "Going Up The Country" to name just 2 of many, weren't original to Cream and Canned Heat, and probably near 30 before I became aware that Barbara Ann was recorded by The Regents several years before The Beach Boys had success with it. I also notice that the eras covered by Josepp's questionnaire essentially end in the mid-late 60s, so there's about a 45 year gap up to the modern day. Perhaps it says more about the biases in Josepp's own knowledge? Yes, a lot of modern music is crap, but so was a lot of the older stuff. In the 60s my own parents were aware of the "plastic" pop put out by bands like Freddie and The Dreamers and Herman's Hermits but blithely unaware of the more progressive or interesting stuff their kids were *actually* listening to. They'd never heard of Pink Floyd, The Nice or Fairport Convention at the time. I suspect it's the same now. The "oldies" in my (and Josepp's) generation are aware through mainstream media of people like Justin Bieber, but some good stuff, put out by bands on their own labels, or on indie labels like Rough Trade or Unlabel (usually on vinyl as well as CD and download) passes almost all of us by. Here's a couple for you Josepp, to be answered without looking them up: - What bands did Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts play for before concentrating on playing as a Duo? - What other band does Katriona Gilmore currently play with in addition to the Gilmore-Roberts duo? - What band does female violinist Geri Holton play with? - What is Geri Holton's second instrument? - What is the real name of British teenage blues artist/ Diddley Bow maker "BluesBeaten Redshaw"? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Don Firth Date: 15 Jun 12 - 03:05 PM By the way: Ringo Starr's real name is Richard Starkey. No, I didn't look it up. Didn't have to. I knew that pretty much from the first appearances of the Beatles in this country, on "The Ed Sullivan Show." ". . . We have a really big shoe for you tonight. . . ." Sullivan also introduced This lad into an unsuspecting world. Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Howard Jones Date: 15 Jun 12 - 07:44 AM I don't see why having a broad knowledge of a wide range of music is morally superior to having a detailed knowledge of a single genre. Actually, a lot of people I know who enjoy a wide range of music don't really listen to it. Again, is it better to enjoy a lot of music at a fairly superficial level, or to listen properly to a narrower range? The truth is that none of it matters, because it's entirely a matter for the individual. Some people like music, some don't. Personally, I'm not greatly interested in the visual arts, which would no doubt horrify some art enthusiasts. People are different - thank god. Get over it. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Tootler Date: 15 Jun 12 - 06:09 AM I will say this for josepp. He doesn't do the classic troll trick of making a provocative statement and then, having stirred up a hornet's nest, runs. He stays to defend his corner. I may not agree with him but I can respect that. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Tootler Date: 15 Jun 12 - 06:04 AM I'm starting to get back responses to my questionnaire and, sure enough, people under 30 have trouble with it. A European girl could answer most of the classical music questions including knowing her classical music eras. American kids? Forget it. etc, etc, etc. As I said earlier, so what?? When I was in my twenties my musical horizons were also pretty narrow. I discovered early music when I was in my late thirties as a result of taking up the recorder again when my kids started it at school and it is now one of my main (but not sole) musical interests. Don Firth had it spot on. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 15 Jun 12 - 03:52 AM Yeh I could answer all the questions, but I'm not sure if its Justin Beiber, or Justin Bieber, or be bop a lula, come to that. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Bettynh Date: 15 Jun 12 - 01:26 AM My kids (who are 30) know who Ringo Starr is - he's the conductor on "Shining Time Station" who introduces Thomas the Tank Engine animations. They don't know what his real name is, and really see no reference to music in the question. Actually, they were a bit old for Thomas when the series came out, so they think Ringo's pretty lame. My kids have heard Beatles' music, much as I heard big band - old folks play it all the time. Some of it they even like, but they're just now beginning to admit it. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Don Firth Date: 15 Jun 12 - 01:11 AM Well, actually, I'm not greatly surprised that people under 30 couldn't name these folks or were generally ignorant of what they did. I can't say that I found it depressing though. People that age are not necessarily stupid, it's just that they don't know a lot yet. Hell's bells, at my advanced age, I've learned one helluva lot of stuff and could best nigh most anyone in "Trivia." But being generally fairly alert, I learn new stuff every day. It's the human condition. Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 14 Jun 12 - 10:07 PM I'm starting to get back responses to my questionnaire and, sure enough, people under 30 have trouble with it. A European girl could answer most of the classical music questions including knowing her classical music eras. American kids? Forget it. None yet can name Pete Best or know Ringo's real name. Nearly everybody knows Mozart's full name and every single responder knows Yo-Yo Ma plays the cello. Everyone knows the Supremes recorded for Motown. No one could name a Miles Davis song or album. None heard of Doc Watson or knew that he had just died. None heard of T. Rex or could name a T. Rex song. One guy guessed that Coltrane played sax. None heard of Johnny Ace or Howlin' Wolf. One guy guessed Charley Patton but admitted he really didn't know who was the King of the Delta Bluesmen. One person believes that Salieri confessed to killing or trying to kill Mozart but he didn't elaborate. No one else even answered the question. None could name a Duke Ellington song but all had heard of him. None knew who Cole Porter was and so could not name any of his songs. So that's where we're sitting so far. I'll give it to the end of the week and I'll post up the answers for their benefit. It should not have been a hard test if kids are taught music appreciation properly but I truly expected better than this. Now I know this is hardly all that conclusive but the pattern is there: older responders can answer most of them and the younger cannot so I think the results are accurate in a general sense. And that's not good. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Don Firth Date: 14 Jun 12 - 03:25 PM Theodore Bikel sang a concert here in 1962, during the Seattle World's Fair. Sang in Seattle's brand new 3,100 seat opera house. The following day, I, along with a couple of other of Seattle's "folkies," had a chance to sit and chat with him for a couple of hours. Very interesting man! He commented during the concert that he was glad to get back to singing folk music concerts. He had created the role of Baron Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" on Broadway, and he said it was a relief to get on the road again and escape from a routine of night after night with seven children and twenty nuns! Last time I saw Bikel, he was in an episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation in which he played the human foster father of Lieutenant Worf, and a retired starship engineer. #### There was quite a number of singers of folk songs extant before the "Great Folk Scare" of the Sixties. Cynthia Gooding died quite young in 1984, someone told me of ovarian cancer. And the "Great Folk Scare" completely bypassed Susan Reed for some reason. She ran an antique shop first in Greewich Village and then on Long Island. By the way, josepp, I heard Lightnin' Hopkins live at the 1960 Berkeley Folk Festival, and wound up at a private after-concert party where he was jamming with a couple of other bluesmen from the Bay Area. Does that count? Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 14 Jun 12 - 02:22 PM Theodore Bikel The man they couldn't tickle If you don't know him You know very lickel. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Bettynh Date: 14 Jun 12 - 11:27 AM :::In sequence because often one tracks segues into another and shuffling breaks the continuity.::: Yes, but if the collection is your selection in the first place, the continuity becomes YOUR BRAIN, not the selection of some other. I find the mix that I've come up with interesting, if only to show myself how weird I am, and to bring up music i enjoy but have forgotten I have. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Josepp Date: 14 Jun 12 - 08:14 AM Yes, I know Theodore Bikel. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Don Firth Date: 14 Jun 12 - 02:32 AM Susan Reed and Cynthia Gooding were two "biggies" in the early days of serious interest in folk music in this country, before it hit the pop charts. They were well before Joan Baez and Judy Collins. This was also well before the Kingston Trio even met. The Rooftop Singers were one of the later groups. Susan Reed. Sang in a lovely, sweet soprano, accompanying herself on either Irish harp or zither. Sang songs from America and the British Isles. She was in one movie in 1948, playing a young girl dragged up from the southern mountains to sing in a New York night club. Lousy movie, but beautiful singing by Susan Reed. Cynthia Gooding. She sang folk songs in several languages in a rich, strong contralto. I first encountered her album of English folk songs, but later I learned that she knew songs in several languages. It was inevitable that she and Theordore Bikel would do an album together: "Young Man and a Maid." You do know who Theodore Bikel is, don't you? Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 14 Jun 12 - 02:23 AM I'm still a bit confused as to what the bone of contention is...can someone enlighten me? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jun 12 - 11:52 PM Threads aren't the personal property of the person who started it. Never have been, never will be. You took a shot at starting a conversation, and if it's a reasonable premise, people will generally stick to the topic and it will flow. But this was a flawed premise and you're now going to waste a lot of time defending that original position. For what it's worth. Dismissing the remarks of people who think you're a bit nuts is your prerogative. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 13 Jun 12 - 11:50 PM /////Do you guys listen by the "album" (coherent recording of one group) or do you shuffle?///// In sequence because often one tracks segues into another and shuffling breaks the continuity. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 13 Jun 12 - 11:43 PM /////Apparently, when Johnny Ace was doing his thing, I was busily practicing my first guitar chords and learning songs out of A Treasury of Folk Songs by John and Sylvia Kolb and The American Songbag by Carl Sandburg, and from the records of Burl Ives, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Susan Reed, and Cynthia Gooding. You've heard of them, josepp?//// Not Reed or Gooding. Then again, I might. My older brother was a folkie when I was just a tyke and I grew up hearing all kinds of folk stuff. My oldest sister too. It's a large universe. Someone here mentioned sea songs and chanteys, I have a lot of those too--Johnny Collins, A.L. Lloyd, John Townley, The Boarding Party, etc. So I'm still discovering the folk universe. Burl Ives was probably the first one I ever heard. I remember hearing "Blue Tail Fly" when I was very, very young. But I also remember the Rooftop Singers from around that same period. //////Josepp - I have been teaching for 10 years - 100 percent pass mark for all exams across singing guitar and bass. I teach flamenco guitar - jazz and blues piano - singing - bass - acoustic and fingerstyle - flat picking = rock and blues guitar and musicianship. I am not employed by anyone so if people do not like me they vote with their feet - that to me is the acid test//// But if some kid wants to play blues guitar, do you teach him a bunch of Jimmy Page licks or do you teach him about, say, John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters? Hopefully, the latter two. Not that there is anything wrong with Jimmy Page but if he wants to learn blues he needs to be learning about the men who founded it and made people like Page want to play it. Sure, teach him some Clapton stuff--nothing wrong with that--but he needs a real background in blues to understand blues. When I studied blues, I bought books and read articles on sharecropping. I felt that an understanding of blues required an understanding of the conditions that spawned it. It was eye-opening. And while I am not totally opposed to teaching online, I am skeptical of its effectiveness. How does a student know when he is doing it right without a teacher right there to correct him? If he's having a problem executing, there's no teacher standing there to show him how to proceed. I've seen double bass lessons on youtube and they are worthless. You can't learn the bass that way. A real teacher is so critical that there is no point to learning without one. Guitar may not be quite that hard to learn but still... |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 13 Jun 12 - 11:20 PM Folks, if you don't like my thread, you're perfectly free to flee to another. If this is just so offensive to your oh-so-sensitive natures, go post on somebody's 90-year-old Uncle Fred in the hospital thread and have a ball. Or are "WE" finding this thread just a tad more interesting? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jun 12 - 07:26 PM I agree with Tootler. josepp said I don't care about people who don't listen to music. It's people who listen to it but have no idea what constitutes good from bad--that one is as good as the other. If that makes me intolerant then I'm goddamn proud of it and if that makes me bitter at the world then you bet I am. Probably should have stopped the thread right there. Clearly it isn't interested in sharing, it's about showing off and simultaneously dismissing personal tastes of others. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,johncharles Date: 13 Jun 12 - 07:10 PM josepp starts with I and moves to We. implying that I is somehow right.Democracy appears to have no place when it comes to music. p.s. Will fly is the business, OK. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,tony Rath aka Tonyteach Date: 13 Jun 12 - 07:05 PM Josepp - I have been teaching for 10 years - 100 percent pass mark for all exams across singing guitar and bass. I teach flamenco guitar - jazz and blues piano - singing - bass - acoustic and fingerstyle - flat picking = rock and blues guitar and musicianship I am not employed by anyone so if people do not like me they vote with their feet - that to me is the acid test |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Tootler Date: 13 Jun 12 - 06:48 PM I looked through Josepp's quiz and thought "Yes, I can answer most of those questions". Then I thought "So What?" What I really find objectionable about the Josepp's original post and about his subsequent ones is his dictatorial attitude. It's good to try and broaden youngsters musical horizons, but you can't bludgeon them into it. As the saying goes, You can lead a horse to water... |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Don Firth Date: 13 Jun 12 - 06:39 PM When I was a kid taking in the Saturday matinees (double feature, newsreel, cartoon, previews of coming attractions, and the thirteen chapter serial—"The Masked Marvel," "The Mysterious Dr. Satan"), I saw a lot of Hollywood-style bio-pics such as "A Song to Remember" (Cornel Wilde as Chopin, Jose Iturbi doing the piano playing), "Song of Scheherazade" (Jean-Pierre Aumont as Rimsky-Korsakov), and the excellent "Tonight We Sing" with David Wayne as impresario Sol Hurok, with all sorts of great people playing earlier performers, such as Ezio Pinza as Russian basso Fyodor Chaliapin and Tamara Toumanova as Anna Pavlova). I was exposed to some really great music when I was in my early teens, but it didn't take me long to figure out that, as entertaining as they were, these movies could hardly be relied on as authoritative biographies of the people being depicted. I brought that early-learned awareness to "Amadeus," and indeed read up a bit on the lives of Mozart and Salieri before I saw the movie. So, although the movie was quite entertaining, I was aware that any similarity between what I saw on the screen and actual historical fact was purely coincidental. Among my other studies at the U. of W. School of Music and Cornish was music history, which included much about the composers. Apparently, when Johnny Ace was doing his thing, I was busily practicing my first guitar chords and learning songs out of A Treasury of Folk Songs by John and Sylvia Kolb and The American Songbag by Carl Sandburg, and from the records of Burl Ives, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Susan Reed, and Cynthia Gooding. You've heard of them, josepp? Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 13 Jun 12 - 05:40 PM You don't have to like any of that stuff, Don. That has nothing to do with anything. I asked about T. Rex because "Bang a Gong" is extremely well-known song and has been redone countless times. I want to know how many kids today even know who did the original. Another example is "Coconut" by Harry Nilsson. Kids today know the song because Danni Minogue redid it some years ago. And one admitted to me that he had no idea there was a previous version. When I asked him if he ever heard of Harry Nilsson he shook his head. Johnny Ace was the world's first rock and roll star. He was dead by the time Elvis started his career. He was also black with a huge audience of white fans--particularly females but a lot white kids liked him. He could croon sweet love ballads and belt out badass R&B with booming bass and drums. He was also a top-notch pianist and started off playing piano in the WDIA house band that was led by BB King. When BB left to record, Bobby "Blue" Bland took it over. When Bland got drafted, Johnny took over the band and hit it big but his career was over in only about two years. He killed himself Christmas Day in Houston in 1954 between two sold-out shows. No one really knows why. Believe it or not, David Alan Coe is a huge fan of Johnny Ace and said that for years he couldn't sing Johnny's last (posthumous) hit, "Pledging My Love" without choking up. I met a guy on Youtube who told me he and his buddies cried when the DJ on the car radio announced Johnny's death. Ace's career lasted as long as Buddy Holly's but we have to concede that Holly is remembered better because he was white. And Antonio Salieri was the teacher of Franz Schubert. The movie forgot to mention that in its zeal to depict him as a talentless hack whose only thought was to destroy Mozart. Salieri was considered one of the finest composers in Vienna. He was quite brilliant and was famous for his comedic operas and was not the dour-faced character portrayed by F. Murray Abraham. He knew Mozart but there was no particular rivalry between them. Also in the movie, Handel's music is mentioned to Mozart whom he dismisses with "Nah, I don't like him." In fact, Mozart loved Handel's music and said so. I tip my hat to guys like Kurt Cobain who popularized Leadbelly to young people after he covered "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". THAT is what people with influence today need to do. Introduce the young to what they missed. When Steve Vai tried out for Zappa's band, Zappa handed him a bunch of 45s of old doo-wop songs. He told Vai if he wanted to play with the Mothers, he had to know the basis of the Mothers' music--doo-wop. Vai hated doo-wop--or so he thought. He loves doo-wop now because Zappa taught him how to listen to it. It's an endless well-spring of ideas. Yes, every generation has its own music but we don't need to teach this generation its own music. There's no point to teaching them what they already know. I'm just thankful that the old recordings are still around. No one taught me to listen to that stuff. I found it on my own but thank god there was still something to find. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Don Firth Date: 13 Jun 12 - 04:23 PM I had to ponder a bit about songs written by Duke Ellington and Cole Porter—plus a few others—as to who wrote what, and no, I don't know who Johnny Ace is. Very fuzzy about Howlin' Wolf. Heard more than I wanted of T. Rex when, in 1971, KISW-FM, a classical music radio station I was working for switched over to progressive rock, and for three months, I did a stint as a "rock-jock." Bailed out of that cacophony and possibly saved both my hearing and my sanity by getting a job at a station that played "elevator music" (i.e., "easy listening"). But after a few months of that snooze, I got a job at yet another classical music station. Great job. I got to play some of the kind(s) of music I love (which, contrary to the idea of many who don't listen to "classical" music, is not just ONE KIND of music, but encompasses a wide variety under the loose and not necessarily accurate label, "classical"). I did a little news at the top of the hour, read a few commercials, and sat back with a cup of coffee and just listened. And they PAID ME QUITE WELL to do this!! My musical tastes are quite broad. I performed traditional folk music for years in coffeehouses, in concerts and recitals, on television, and at folk festivals. And I have given occasional classical guitar recitals for the Seattle Classic Guitar Society. I enjoy almost all kinds of music. I do not, however, listen to any of the "acne-rock" stations on the radio. Styles change every few months, often the same old stuff under a new and "hip" sounding moniker, all "disposable" music. In vogue for a few months or a year or two, then sinks from sight to be replaced by another musical fad. Most of them tend to be aesthetically shallow and uninteresting. And the commercials these stations play! I refused to do "screamer" commercials when I was in radio and I hate them with a purple passion. Fortunately, the stations I worked for didn't call for them. I taught music for many years: private lessons in folk and/or classical guitar, and class lessons in folk guitar. My main idea in teaching was to give my students the technical skills to play the kind of music they wanted to play. By the way, I have studied voice for several years with two different teachers, I took many years of classical guitar lessons, plus a couple of months of flamenco guitar lessons from one of the guitarists at the Spanish Village exhibit at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. I also had two years of study at the University of Washington School of Music, another two years at the Cornish College of the Arts (a sort of conservatory), and private lessons in composition and arranging from Mildred Hunt Harris. Oh, yes. I am also a season ticket holder to Seattle Opera. So if I don't know who Johnny Ace is, and I'm a bit fuzzy about who among Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and Johnny Mercer held the pencil and who sat at the piano when they were assembling "Satin Doll," I hope that doesn't leave you TOO depressed, josepp. . . . Don Firth P. S. But all of my study and practice and performance of "serious music" does not prevent me from getting a big snort out of stuff like the parody of a Kenny Rogers song in which a guy has an automobile accident, and the chorus line goes, "You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel!" P. P. S. By the way, if I were to do it all over again, I might take a somewhat different approach. I think I might strive to appeal more to Early Music enthusiasts. After all, I know a number of songs that go back many hundreds of years. Accompany myself on the lute or Baroque guitar for the first half of a concert, then do more recent, American folk songs, in the second half, accompanying with a modern classic guitar. Jus' thinkin'. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Brian May Date: 13 Jun 12 - 04:17 PM I don't see that it matters one jot what music I like, it's my business. In fact I'm re-buying the stuff I played and listened to in the 60s and 70s (mainly). If I WANTED to listen to the new stuff, I would. Each generation has 'their' music, so let the younger ones listen to what I prefer not to hear. If you are that eclectic then good for you - but being 'depressed' by what others are happy with is really my wife's territory (she's a psychotherapist and can help disturbed people). I find very little attraction in the newer music I hear, I am missing absolutely loads and I couldn't give a monkey's. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Bettynh Date: 13 Jun 12 - 04:08 PM This thread has made me think about the music I prefer to listen to. I know the Ipod has had a huge influence recently - I can almost instantly find and listen to any sounds that I want to, and the things I want to hear surprise me. Echoes of my childhood (50s pop, occasionally 40s big band - from AM radio when I was a kid??), echoes of my childrens' childhood (lots of road trips and I worked HARD to find tapes we all could listen to), music from my young adult life (60s and 70s, a great era for all sorts of things) and some music I've found here on Mudcat (how could I have missed Art Thieme?) all come into it. I learned to hear modern jazz while rocking babies to late night radio, but there's certainly not much on my Ipod. My kids bring me music now, and some of it is great - William Elliott Whittemore, Great Big Sea, the Wiyos, Natalie McMaster, Michael Franti, Rani Arbo and Daisy Mahem, Gogol Bordello, among others - the kids know my tastes, but they bought it first. The things that surprise me are: Robert Frost reading his poems, Julie Harris reading Emily Dickinson, Frank Crummit singing "The Prune Song," a proper rendering of "Nola" on piano (that took lots of browsing, I settled on Mark Tavener's version), and most recently, Beethoven's 9th conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Also the original 3 Hitchhiker's Guides, Richard Feynman telling about Los Alamos, and a reading of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." I rarely listen to a whole album anymore, but just let itunes shuffle it all up. I do edit occasionally to remove introductions, long unbroken tracks (I know they can be edited, but I haven't got there yet) and whatever doesn't suit today's mood. Do you guys listen by the "album" (coherent recording of one group) or do you shuffle? If you shuffle, what are the next five tracks to hear? Mine are: The Honeydipper, Gamble Rogers Sometimes, Michael Franti Matinicus, Bok, Trickett, Muir Every Living Thing, Four Bitchin' Babes All of Me, Billie Holiday |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 13 Jun 12 - 03:58 PM What Will seems to do is very consistent with the best psychological/educational research for helping people to make changes. You start from where the client/student is at! And you help them create a curiosity and a sense of "discrepancy" between where they are at now and where they would like to be....then you are assisting them in guiding them toward their own goals. It's not effective to suggest to a student that their own interests or taste is inadequate. While I suspect that Josepp is an excellent musician with taste in music that is very similar to mine...and I respect his right to his opinions.....he is making a choice. (Back to the theme of the thread, Big Al) to stay in the 'damned bloody depressing' way of thinking and to stay frustrated about how rigid and non-exploratory people are about music. My own choice (and it's a choice that seems to have worked well for Will Fly) is to try to do something about it in a way that is effective. And Will is demonstrating that it works to come from the place where the student is......and motivate them to move further because they want to. Josepp is making a different choice....and that's fine. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 13 Jun 12 - 03:25 PM I've forgotten what this thread was about. Don't be nasty to Will though - he's allright. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 13 Jun 12 - 03:23 PM Oh - and here's a little postscript about showing people new stuff that they hadn't heard before. Comments on YouTube videos: Wonderful Tune. Where did you dig all these fabolous songs from? Thank you for the tab again. I learning some thing new about these great old songs, Thank u Will! Thank you, Will. I'd never heard this one. I was surprised to find several vocal recordings of it on YouTube, including this nice one by Marion Harris: /watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=r2bUjmYqpec This is really infectious after one or two listens. I very much enjoyed your playing. You do a terrrific version for solo guitar. Out of curiousity I searched and found the Charlie Byrd version and as you say it's "wonderful" I also liked the Sidney Bechet's rendition. Many thanks for sharing these old standards with people like me who may never have heard them before. These comments are from just 2 recent videos. The only thing that's "Damned bloody depressing" about this thread is your attitude. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 13 Jun 12 - 03:05 PM They have the Will Fly attitude If you want to know what my attitude is, Josepp, go to my website or to my YouTube channel. Here's the YouTube blurb: After 40+ years of playing, my purpose on YouTube is - among other things - to help others to play guitar. I create simple acoustic guitar demonstration numbers - played fingerstyle - and also easy-to-use guitar instructional videos. I play some electric blues, and acoustic traditional music on tenor banjo, mandolin and mountain dulcimer. You'll also find a large and ever-growing set of tabs/music sheets, written by me, which are freely available from my website plus free, downloadable audio files of many of the video soundtracks. And here's the blurb from my website: I started playing piano and blues harp as a teenager, and bought my first guitar in 1964. Over the years I've added tenor banjo, bass, mandolin and tenor guitar to my instrument collection. I've been a professional and semi-professional musician for over 40 years and now live in the county of Sussex in England. When I started playing, all those years ago, I had the good fortune to play with and learn from some great musicians who took the time and patience to help me along the road. A few years ago I decided it was time for me to pass on what I've picked up over the years to new generations of players. You'll find a wide variety of music, chord and tabs on my site - all freely downloadable - relating to over 300 videos on YouTube. I hope you find something to interest you... I have helped hundreds of budding guitarists over many, many years. My YouTube channel currently has over 5,600 subscribers and over 5,000,000 video views. Now, whether my stuff is any good or not - or whether you personally like it or not (which matters not a jot to me) - it should be plain to you that I care passionately about passing on my knowledge, such as it is, to other people. My website has around 200 PDF documents of music, chord and tablature - all created by me - freely available for anyone to download and use as they feel fit. And yet I repeat to you that it is NOT my business to tell other people what they should or shouldn't like - or to act as some superior god and make pronouncements on other peoples' tastes. Neither is it my job to make irritable, bad-mouthed judgements on the likes and dislikes of others - which it what you seem to enjoy doing. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 13 Jun 12 - 02:45 PM ////I make my living by playing and singing and teaching//// So does my bass instructor and he says that I am BY FAR his most musically astute student. He can mention any artist or song and I know it. Usually, I have that song and that artist somewhere in my collection. Although he's teaching me double bass, I have played bass guitar for decades. When I played one his bass guitars, he was impressed that I had my own style but that he could hear so many other bass guitarists in my style. He complained that too many bass guitarists today sound like Jaco Pastorius. Now there's nothing wrong with Jaco but there's more to bass guitar than him. When I look for an influence to improvise my way through a passage, I have so many to choose from because I've listened to so many. These other guys have only Jaco to reference so guess who they sound like? So I hope as a teacher, you are teaching your students songs and techniques by people other than the ones they listen to. It's YOUR job as a teacher to make them aware of new things. If you don't do that then, sorry, you're not teaching. No, you don't tell them that what they like is bad. Who does that? But you open them up, expose them to more than they were ever aware of. Otherwise, they are not learning anything. Frankly, I'm afraid Americans don't do that anymore. They have the Will Fly attitude: "Oh, just let them listen to whatever they want. It's not my job to teach them anything about music." Fine attitude for a teacher but it's not surprising. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 13 Jun 12 - 02:13 PM ////What's the pass mark? I think I got them all except #24. I know in the play Amadeus there is the implication that Salieri murded Mozart. I suspect that's false. I'd probably choose "D".//// We'll see if someone gets it but I hope they remember not to look it up. Yes, I included the question to see who is educated by pop culture rather than by proper sources. /////Thanks Josepp. That was a fun quiz.//// It should be fun. Shouldn't be hard at all. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 13 Jun 12 - 01:46 PM Indeed, GUEST. When I taught regularly (and I only teach occasionally these days), I always asked the pupil what he/she wanted to learn and play. It mattered not one jot what the answer was - whether I liked it or not was irrelevant - as long as what they did improved their playing, and as long as the lessons fuelled their enthusiasm for music. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST Date: 13 Jun 12 - 01:30 PM I find the original post rather judgmental in sweeping statements about music. You either like something or you don't. I make my living by playing and singing and teaching I simply cannot afford to say to pupils "no thats bad music you cannot play/sing that" result poverty and no food on the table It would be very arrogant of me to be critical of their choices -my business is to make them achieve their goals not be negative I think with Justin its a case of Bieber Las Vegas |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 13 Jun 12 - 01:27 PM What's the pass mark? I think I got them all except #24. I know in the play Amadeus there is the implication that Salieri murded Mozart. I suspect that's false. I'd probably choose "D". Thanks Josepp. That was a fun quiz. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 13 Jun 12 - 01:14 PM I don't care about people who don't listen to music. It's people who listen to it but have no idea what constitutes good from bad--that one is as good as the other. If that makes me intolerant then I'm goddamn proud of it and if that makes me bitter at the world then you bet I am. I made a little survery and have posted at various websites. No trick questions, just very basic stuff. This is the type of info anyone should have in their heads and should be able to dash it off. These questions should be EASILY answerable. Gender: Age: What other recording artists do you listen to on a constant basis? Without consulting any sources, answer the following questions (if you don't know the answer, go with your first impression): 1. Do you know who Miles Davis is? (Simply answer yes or no) 2. Can you name a Miles Davis number or album? 3. Do you know who Doc Watson is? 4. Was Doc Watson in the news lately and, if so, why? 5. Do you know who Duke Ellington is? 6. Can you name a Duke Ellington song? 7. Do you know who Johnny Ace is? 8. Do you know who Howlin' Wolf is? 9. Who was the driving force behind the band T. Rex? 10. Name a T. Rex song: 11. Complete the following sentence: John Coltrane played the ____________. 12. Who was the Beatles' drummer before Ringo Starr? 13. Ringo Starr's real name is: 14. The Supremes recorded for what label? 15. Do you know who Big Joe Turner is? 16. Name a Big Joe Turner song: 17. Complete the following sentence: Johan Sebastian Bach was a classical composer during the ________ period. 18. Name an early form of European liturgical music: 19. Name a Holland-Dozier-Holland song: 20. Richard Strauss composed which piece? A. Blue Danube, B. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, C. Rite of Spring, D. Also Sprach Zarathustra, E. None of the above, F. All of the above 21. Name a Cole Porter song: 22. Complete the following sentence: Yo-Yo Ma plays the ________. 23. What is "the Carter lick"? 24. Antonio Salieri is important because: A. He invented many of the principles of modern music theory, B. He was the teacher of Franz Schubert, C. He murdered Mozart, D. He wrote many pieces for the pipe organ. 25. What was Mozart's full name? 26. Beethoven's teacher was: A. Johan Bach, B. George Frideric Handel, C. Antonio Salieri, D. Josef Haydn, E. None of the above. 27. Beethoven is credited with starting what period of classical music? 28. Name a Scott Joplin piece: 29. Most of Joplin's pieces were written in which decade? A. 1890-1900, B. 1900-1910, C. 1910-1920, D. 1920-1930. 30. Who was "the King of the Mississippi Delta Bluesmen": A. Charley Patton, B. Blind Willie McTell, C. Lightnin' Hopkins, D. Mississippi Fred McDowell. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 13 Jun 12 - 12:33 PM I basically agree with Will Fly But I do have a lot of fun throwing interesting and different songs onto the Music Share facebook site.....where a lot of young people who are often just 'acquaintances of acquaintances'.....just to see if anybody will bite. Occasionally they do listen to the song and make an interesting comment. Then I feel gratified that I've contributed to the expansion of people's tastes....which, I view, as one of my many duties in life. But I have no problem with the majority who indicate no interest whatsoever in my own eclectic tastes. People grow in their own way, in their own time. Even Josepp. Maybe some element of the message of respect and tolerance might grab him! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 13 Jun 12 - 10:34 AM Josepp (I take it you were the last GUEST post) - you give the impression of being forever irritated at the world around you - thus: That's his audience--unbalanced idiots who have made this vapid schmuck one of the top "entertainers" in the business I'm actually a blank towards Bieber. i don't care if he lives or dies. It's his stupid fans I feel nothing but contempt and hatred for. 6-year-old girls listen to him If you can listen to both Miles Davis and Justin Bieber and think their both great, you're just an idiot who doesn't have the slightest idea what constitutes good and bad music--you just listen to anything because you're a twit if you can't see that then you're too goddamn stupid for me to waste a nonsecond arguing with about it I hate his shit and i won't listen to it he's history and some new annoying asswipe will have taken his place I have no patience for teens who listen to crap I don't accept excuses for mediocrity in what we choose to listen to It is YOUR responsibility and duty to branch out so branch the fuck out There are millions of people out there in the world with different tastes to you and me - not just in music but in many other ways - so why not let them get on with it? You don't have to listen to what you don't want to. As Leeneia sensibly says, "Let them be". Life's too short - we should work on improving what we do. As Voltaire said, let's cultivate our gardens. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 13 Jun 12 - 09:45 AM Different people have different brains. It's hard to believe, but some people just aren't interested in music. It doesn't stir them at all. Let them be. One stormy afternoon I was riding my bike and took shelter at my sister-in-law's house. She had a record on the turntable, and finally I said, "Jane, are we going to listen to Carmen for the fourth time?" She said, "Oh! Do you actually LISTEN to music? To me, it's just something going in the background." She's different from me, and there's no point in getting worked up about it. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST Date: 13 Jun 12 - 09:17 AM /////Well, you know, folks don't have a RESPONSIBILITY - as far as music is concerned - to do anything but listen to what they want to listen to//// I said you have a responsibility to branch out not that you can't listen to what you want to listen to. Why the hell would i tell anyone they can't listen to what they want to listen to. You can do that and should naturally branch out in the process. ////But, in the end, it's their business.//// It's your business too. Like it or not. /////Why on earth should we, of an older generation, give a hot damn about what the current crop of teens like in the way of music?//// Why should we not care? Perhaps you never heard the old saying that are children are our future. Obviously, you don't care about it--you just said so. ////Let them get on with it and let's not be pejorative.//// Why not? Am I to pat every kid who listens to gangsta rap on the ass and say, "Good job, keep it up"? You think that stuff does not influence them?? Do you care it if influences them? /////How they grow and when they grow doesn't concern us.//// Correction: It obviously doesn't concern you. It concerns me a great deal. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 13 Jun 12 - 05:32 AM Well, you know, folks don't have a RESPONSIBILITY - as far as music is concerned - to do anything but listen to what they want to listen to. We can pooh-pooh what other people listen to, if we want to. We can consider their musical tastes to be no better than a worm's, if we want to. And we can feel unutterably sorry for them, if we want to. But, in the end, it's their business. Why on earth should we, of an older generation, give a hot damn about what the current crop of teens like in the way of music? Let them get on with it and let's not be pejorative. How they grow and when they grow doesn't concern us. When I was 12 (in 1956), "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Rock Around The Clock" hit me like a bolt from heaven. Since then I've listened to, and played, a vast quantity of music in all manner of styles and from all manner of genres. But, last Sunday evening, at an acoustic singaround in my local pub, I was suddenly bitten with the urge to blast out "Heartbreak Hotel" at full volume - key of E. It brought the pub to a temporary standstill for about 5 seconds - until everyone else joined in and two women in the corner started a slow jive. So - you never know, do you...? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 13 Jun 12 - 12:23 AM Yet it's so unpredictable as to what stimulates us to branch out. Like many, I discovered traditional music through the 'hootenany' groups like Kingston Trio, Chad Mitchell Trio, Highwaymen, etc. I was introduced to earlier versions of their songs and found it fascinating. And I'll never forget the day my mother accidentally was mailed, through her record club, Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste bw Ernest Bloch's Concerto Grosso. (Rafael Kubelik conducting) She hated the record and gave it to me (I would've been about 10). I loved it! And it took me to a totally different direction, eventually discovering Ligeti, Penderecki, Luciano Berio......absolutely loved the stuff! I don't know what what have happened if my mother had never ordered that record by mistake. I guess what it means is that all of us have a duty to 'turn on' people to different kinds of music. So Josepp, give a listen to The Hold Steady: Stay Positive cd. Or, if that's a bit too extreme, try The Eels: Beautiful Freak. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 12 Jun 12 - 10:11 PM There's such a thing as growing as an artist. To grow as an artist if you start young is to be able to look ahead and realize you need to be appealing to an older and more diverse crowd. The Beatles did exactly that. I can't see Justin Bieber doing it. Like most teen pop crooners, he's locked into this one demographic and once he's too old to appeal to them anymore, he's history and some new annoying asswipe will have taken his place. Likewise, there is also growing as a listener or consumer of music. I started off listening to rock music--what's called classic rock these days--but I branched out. I didn't force it, it just naturally happened--sort of like when your voice cracks in puberty. That's why I have no patience for teens who listen to crap. I don't want to hear, "What else would you expect teens to listen to?" I expect them to start branching out as I did when I was a teen. By the time I was 16, sure, I had a lot of rock schlock shit but I also had more cerebral stuff as King Crimson, Kraftwerk, Gentle Giant, Eno, Ravi Shankar, even American Indian chants recorded by field units, old jazz like Chick Webb, Karlheinz Stockhausen, stuff by Tomita, Edgard Varese. I remember having the guitar music by John Dowland and an album called "Music of the Hoch Baroque". Sorry, but I did it as a teen and I expect other teens to do it. I don't accept excuses for mediocrity in what we choose to listen to. It is YOUR responsibility and duty to branch out so branch the fuck out. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: sciencegeek Date: 12 Jun 12 - 02:43 PM well... I grew up litening to classical, broadway, swing & the occasional folk tune... and the only radio station I tune to in the car is the all classical public station... in my teens my favorite ablums were Toscanni conducting Beethovan's Pastoral Symphony, A L Lloyd's Blow Boys Blow & Alex Campbell's Best Loved Songs of Bonnie Scotland. And they are still high on my list today. and I will admit to enjoying the Monkees and the Doors both then & now. I believe I saw the Bieber during the Rose Bowl parade? or some such holiday show... it didn't float my boat... but I was also turned off by the screaming fans for Sinatra & the Beatles... insane behavior for what? it took me 20 years to appreciate the Beatles - of course, listening to Hey Jude on the bus for 8 hours during my senior class trip could have been a factor there. I find I can deal with rock & roll more now than then. but it's still "death before disco" in my book. but I find that I still gravitate to traditional music, and sea music especially, for an enjoyable time. I'm comfortable with my choices. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Joe_F Date: 11 Jun 12 - 08:07 PM *My* cutoff is about the time I was born (1937). |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Songbob Date: 11 Jun 12 - 02:18 PM I can't help but agree with Rick Nelson: I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends A chance to share old memories and play our songs again When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name No one recognized me, I didn't look the same CHORUS But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well. You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself .... If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck But if memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck. I suspect people who get stuck on one musical era aren't reacting to the music, but the era, and that era is where they live. Adding other music means leaving home. Bob |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Jack Campin Date: 11 Jun 12 - 11:03 AM over the last 10 or 12 years I've been exposed to a lot of pop music it would never have occurred to me to listen to otherwise. Do you know what? Some of it is fucking great! But not so great rendered by a gang of 8 middle-aged guitarists doing it in the style of Neil Young. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser) Date: 11 Jun 12 - 07:02 AM Dunno. Growing up in the Irish community music has always been an inter-generational thing so successive generations are always looking back to old tunes and old records as well as pinching tunes from Scottish, American, European and even English(!) traditions. On the other hand, a lot of young acts seem to have done nothing more strenuous in search of material than trawling through Youtube or going through their parents' record collections. If 'originality' just means a new generation of willowy young things with acoustic guitars and eating disorders I wonder how far we've really come. On the other hand, I became a parent in my 40s and over the last 10 or 12 years I've been exposed to a lot of pop music it would never have occurred to me to listen to otherwise. Do you know what? Some of it is fucking great! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Bobert Date: 08 Jun 12 - 08:16 AM Yeah, lotta folks find that life in the rear view mirror is more appealing than moving forward... I like to listen to new stuff as well as old stuff... But most of the time that I listen to old stuff is to either borrow licks or redo an old song my way... B~ |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Allan Conn Date: 08 Jun 12 - 07:34 AM "Its been going on for about thirty years now" There's always been some pretty lame stuff in the charts. For some reason some periods appear worse than others. Top of The Pops has been getting repeated on a weekly basis starting off from 1976. With our rose tinted glasses on both my wife and myself thoguht it'd be great as we were in our mid teens at that time and look back on it fondly. It's been week after week of pretty grim stuff with only the occasional gem thrown in. Luckily we record it on hard drive so can skip through. Up to mid 1977 now so hopefully it will start to get better! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: autoharpbob Date: 08 Jun 12 - 04:49 AM I have a 35 year old daughter, who is getting a bit past this now, but all through her teenage years and beyond, she kept making me mix tapes (CDs) of the music she was listening to. I had an input of modern music. More recently I found another source - the gym! They always have some sort of MTV programme on the screens around the place, so I have heard all of Lady Gaga, JLS, One Direction and so on. And like all. USC there is good and there is bad I.e. stuff I like and stuff I don't. Maybe not my listening material of choice, but stuff I don't turn off. Try some Bruno Mars, Florence and the Machine, Elbow or Ed SHeeran - you might like them. Me, I'm still trying to work out Stairway on thef Autoharp. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Johnny J Date: 05 Jun 12 - 07:02 AM Just checked out some of Justin Bieber's music and it's not really my cup of tea but, then again, he didn't make it with the likes of me in mind. However, he seems fairly talented to me in his own field and not to bad a singer although you can make most things sound OK in a studio these days. It's not beyond the grounds of possibilty that he may, some day, come out with something I might like or even mature into a better more rounded artist in years to come. Who knows? Of course, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'd ever buy an album or see him concert. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:10 AM Its like this Jack. Every year even poor kids these days get a record of their choice bought for Christmas. So along comes the music industry and packages a dogturd in a shiny wrapper. The week after Christmas - the kid realises the turd really stinks. Its been going on for about thirty years now. Pete waterman really kicked it off with Jason Donovan's first album. A ponger of epic proportions. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:04 AM Been listening to some Justin Bieber. 'Fraid it's not my cup of tea - but then I'm not a teenage girl - and I've no interest in breathy singing and mushy words. But what does it matter when, as I said earlier, I've 14,000 tracks of stuff I do like on my iPod? As an old (German) friend of mine often reminded me, "In Germany, we have a saying - 'for every pot there is a lid.'" |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Johnny J Date: 05 Jun 12 - 05:02 AM I listened to lots of Scottish music especially dance music when I was even younger than six years old. Also to American folk acts such as Burl Ives, Odetta to name but a few(They were often featured on Childrens Favourites by Uncle Mac) plus all the skiffle music which was the rage back then. Lots of older people enjoyed the same music and I didn't mind at all. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Jack Campin Date: 04 Jun 12 - 08:59 PM If the six-year-old girls are being provided with entertainment they like, how are they victims? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 04 Jun 12 - 08:18 PM hatred and contempt - those kids are victims of the music industry, just as much as jelly Roll Morton getting his diamond tooth out of his head as he lay dying, Marc Almond getting paid £45 a week while his record was number one in virtually every country on earth, Arthur crudup - in rags when Elvis had had huge success with That's Alright Mama, Robert Johnson and Ella Fitzgerald made to use the good entrance of the hotels they had business in. Read gordon Haskell's thread on mudcat. It seems to me the only people who think, god's in his heaven and all's right with the world - are the English traditional music lobby. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 04 Jun 12 - 07:56 PM "It's his stupid fans I feel nothing but contempt and hatred for. 6-year-old girls listen to him". Interesting quote. I'm not going to comment! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 04 Jun 12 - 06:18 PM Next year Justin will be doing Cambridge unplugged. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 04 Jun 12 - 06:14 PM I saw Justin Bieber in Matelan, weymouth last week - or someone who looked a bit like him. Justin is a style icon. Like jamie Oliver used to be. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 04 Jun 12 - 05:18 PM Well now, I've never heard of Justin Bieber or his fans or his enemies or his reputation or anything else. He's just a name, so - if someone said to me, "Have a listen to this track by Justin Bieber", - what should I do? Have a listen, of course - then form an opinion. And I've never actually heard any music by Justin Bieber. So I'll now go and have a listen. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 04 Jun 12 - 05:02 PM If you put yourself in that category that is exactly how I will regard you--not that I care if you care, that's your fault too. My opinions are just that and you know what they say about opinions so don't try to make me feel bad about having one, I don't. I don't know anything about Miley Cyrus so I can offer no opinion of her. I'm actually a blank towards Bieber. i don't care if he lives or dies. It's his stupid fans I feel nothing but contempt and hatred for. 6-year-old girls listen to him. So if you're 18 and ready to go to college, why are you listening to the same music as a damn 6-year-old and posting obscenities on Esperanza Spalding's website because she beat him out for an emmy? Who takes a cardboard cut-out of Bieber to their prom as their date (yes, that actually happened according to MSNBC)? That's his audience--unbalanced idiots who have made this vapid schmuck one of the top "entertainers" in the business. Sorry, I'm not entertained not even in a wrong way. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 04 Jun 12 - 03:06 PM Hmm. Now I'm curious about Eva Cassidy. Maybe I'll google her. I must confess I still haven't really listened to Mr. Bieber. I guess what I'd need would be a "reason" (eg. I wonder why this person with normally good taste wants *me* to listen to that song), combined with the opportunity (I'm on youtube now and just thought about it), plus some time (i.e. time for a distraction from my 'real' work). I must confess, though, that I did find a song by Miley Cyrus that interested me. I was preparing a community radio program I called "Man Walks Among Us" focusing on songs that described how humankind has impacted the environment....particularly in terms of global warming. Somebody listed a Miley Cyrus song called Wake Up America as related to that topic...so I listened to it, and used it. It's certainly not Gershwin or Porter, but it seemed to be a great description of the confusion many young people have about their own role in dealing with such significant issues. So, for that reason, I judged the song as being 'worthwhile'. Believe it or not I'm actually extremely particular about what I enjoy listening to. But I've found that by being open to my own sense of curiosity, I've had more 'payoffs'. And it's such a personal thing as to whether the 'benefits' of exploring certain genres outweighs the costs. And I have no judgments about that. I do have judgments about categorically dismissing anything that we know little about...and referring to people who don't totally dismiss them as "an idiot who doesn't have the slightest idea what constitutes good and bad music". In fact, there is music that I know is really 'good'....but I just can't resonate with it. (eg. Arnold Schoenberg). And music I know is really bad that invoke certain associations and I will sometimes gravitate toward (eg. some late 50's early 60's pop.....certain songs that made it up to #89 on the top 93). I guess that makes me an inferior person....a twit who Josepp would simply have no time for. C'est la vie. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Tiger Date: 04 Jun 12 - 02:55 PM If you're so well-rounded and eclectic, how come YOU'RE depressed? Sounds like it's your friends that have the problem. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 04 Jun 12 - 02:48 PM What Larry is actually saying is, "Would you have the time, the patience and the adventurousness to listen to something out of your normal orbit?" Larry isn't saying is that you have to like it - it's just whether you have the open-mindedness to take a punt on it. I've kissed many a frog - with just the odd princess popping up occasionally... |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 04 Jun 12 - 01:46 PM well I'd listen - but I doubt I'd 'get' a good Justin B song. I've seen him on telly. I'm sure the song must have been pretty good, as everyone was bumming it up. I think I would have to be surrounded by his sort of music to get into him. I'm just not that open minded. I didn't get Amy Winehouse for a long time. I could see she had a good voice, but her songs seemed sort of half written compared to the Gershwin, Cole Porter things that I associated with that sort of voice. Finally, I sort of got it. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Josepp Date: 04 Jun 12 - 01:44 PM Eva Cassidy I listen to. Justin Bieber not under any circumstances whatsoever. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Johnny J Date: 04 Jun 12 - 01:40 PM I'm afraid to say that I've also got many CDs which I've only played once or twice...so far. Others can get repeated exposure. Like some others here, I find it can depend on the circumstances or occasion as to when and where I listen to certain recordings of music. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: The Sandman Date: 04 Jun 12 - 01:30 PM that sums up JackCampin, he has a cd and cant even be bothered to listen to it. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Johnny J Date: 04 Jun 12 - 01:28 PM I might do so as well. After all, with access to sites such as You Tube, Spotify etc, it's quite easy to listen to most things these days...some rare recordings excepted. It only takes a few minutes of your time and who's to know? :-) |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Jack Campin Date: 04 Jun 12 - 01:22 PM I suppose I might, but without much enthusiasm. The last time I got a recommendation like that, it was for Eva Cassidy. Okay, I could see what he meant and there was something substantial there, but I wouldn't have gone out of my way to hear much more than I did. I think I've got the "Songbird" CD somewhere but haven't listened to all of it even once. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 04 Jun 12 - 12:30 PM Bill D, Johnny J, and Will Fly speak my mind in this issue. I'm still hoping to hear some response to my question: "If somebody whose musical tastes were normally 'pretty good' and not that dissimilar to yours told you that "hey, I just discovered a Justin Bieber song that's actually really good" how many of you would give it a listen? How many of you would say absolutely no way!? Just curious." |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 04 Jun 12 - 12:26 PM /////But I did hear some Lady Gaga, and it wasn't bad//// I haven't heard any but I have heard she's classically trained on the piano so I figure she must have something on the ball. You learn a lot about music with classical training so she has to know a thing or two. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Johnny J Date: 04 Jun 12 - 12:23 PM Being able to appreciate and enjoy different kinds of music doesn't necessarily mean that you have to like everything you hear. There's good and bad in all genres and even the great majority of so called folk music is shecht too although we are usually too nice to say so most of the time. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Johnny J Date: 04 Jun 12 - 12:18 PM "Have you ever noticed that people who say, "I like all kinds of music" generally don't know what the hell they're talking about, and aren't music lovers at all? " You're an expert, of course, Elmore? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 04 Jun 12 - 12:15 PM /////Have you ever noticed that people who say, "I like all kinds of music" generally don't know what the hell they're talking about, and aren't music lovers at all?//// Yes. It's a damned bore to get lectured by people because I refuse to listen to rap. Hey, I've heard it, I loathe it and that's all there is to it. Yes, I can respect Justin Bieber for being a success selling crap to stupid girls who only buy records by some boy they're supposed to like. But, no, I hate his shit and i won't listen to it. No, he isn't the same as Tommy Dorsey or Elvis Presley were in their day--not even close--and if you can't see that then you're too goddamn stupid for me to waste a nonsecond arguing with about it. Not all music is good. A huge amount of it complete shit. It's not all equal. If you can listen to both Miles Davis and Justin Bieber and think their both great, you're just an idiot who doesn't have the slightest idea what constitutes good and bad music--you just listen to anything because you're a twit. Sorry but I had to get that off my chest. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Bill D Date: 04 Jun 12 - 11:51 AM With the advent of 'modern technology', (resiliencete 'stuff'. And with radio, TV and internet/WWW that 'stuff' pours out at an astounding rate. Not just music, but film, TV programs, photography, 'reality' shows...etc. ad nauseum. Of course there are gems in most genrés of stuff....if you have the resilience to filter out all the shallow, copycat, weird-for-the-sake-of-weird dreck that people do just be noticed. I cannot begin to follow all the music, as I am not primarily a musician. I sing & play just for fun, in amateur settings. I love mostly older, 'traditional' folk music, with odds & ends of newer stuff that moves me. It is really hard to find 'stuff' on casual radio listening, so I take CDs that I KNOW I like when I drive. I still play older LPs at home often. I DO find it "Damned bloody depressing" to see what crap I would have to suffer thru to find the gems in 'other' genrés of music. It IS the case that YouTube stuff posted in Mudcat can allow me a quick glance to see if I want to explore further....so that is one advantage of the new technology. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Elmore Date: 04 Jun 12 - 10:32 AM Have you ever noticed that people who say, "I like all kinds of music" generally don't know what the hell they're talking about, and aren't music lovers at all? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Will Fly Date: 04 Jun 12 - 04:26 AM If someone asks me, "What's your favourite kind of music?", I can't answer that question - never have been able to. I've put every track from my CD collection on to my iPod - there are 14,000 tracks or so stored on it now, with everything from classical to folk, blues to jazz, rock to reggae - fiddle music, guitar music, sax music, Ruth Etting and Kathleen Ferrier, Elvis Costello and the Balfa Brothers, Dean Martin and Doc Watson, Billy Pigg and Bobby Bland - and so it goes on... All of which might imply that, for me, anything goes - which actually isn't true. There has to be some intrinsic character in the piece - a melody line, a harmonic sequence, an instrument set, a lyric - which hits the spot. It's difficult to define - but I know what I mean by that! And the thing which, more than anything else, has probably kept my ears open to different music is conversations/sessions with friends both musical and non-musical. "Have you heard...?" conversations, and stuff like that. I also have a son whose taste is different from mine - but who also has got me going down different musical roads from time to time - for which I thank him. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 04 Jun 12 - 01:28 AM Dick, of course liking a broad range doesn't mean liking every variety of what's called 'music'. It's really a case of finding a balance. I respect people who have set certain boundaries in what genres they'll pay attention to. Even though they risk missing something wonderful and exciting in one of the rejected genres. I just think it's hypocritical to moan about people being 'rigid' and refusing to explore music (other than what they're familiar with from their past) if you are going to build a huge wall around certain genres and say "it has nothing to offer". I think that my way of doing things.....dabbling in every genre...has it's problems too. I risk getting overwhelmed (and sometimes I do), and losing musical energy. And there's also the 'musical shallowness' risk. So each one of us needs to find our own balance. If somebody whose musical tastes were normally 'pretty good' and not that dissimilar to yours told you that "hey, I just discovered a Justin Bieber song that's actually really good" how many of you would give it a listen? How many of you would say absolutely no way!? Just curious. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: dick greenhaus Date: 04 Jun 12 - 12:21 AM Having a taste for a broad range of music doesn't require one to like every variety of pop commercial stuff. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 03 Jun 12 - 10:24 PM I remember taking a music appreciation course in high school which got me into Debussy and Varese as well as introducing me to the fundamentals of blues such what I-IV-V and 12-bar means. I first heard of Gunther Schuller and heard his "Night Music." I also learned a bit about sound waves such as the fundamental and the partials. First time I heard Big Broonzy. Actually, it wasn't but it was the first time I realized the song I had heard a few years before was by Big Bill. I'm having a difficult time believing kids today are getting anything like this in their curricula. Even when I took it, it was an optional course and the class was small and 3/4 of the kids in it had no interest, they were just filling in graduation requirements. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 03 Jun 12 - 08:51 PM getting old that's depressing. I got more friends who are dead than alive. But that's how it is when you get old - live with it. Its better than the alternative. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Wesley S Date: 03 Jun 12 - 08:50 PM I think a lot of it has to do with whether you are a musician or not. We've talked about that in other threads. Musicians have "bigger ears" and are willing to listen to more types of music than non-musicians. As a general rule. At least that's my experience. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 03 Jun 12 - 08:47 PM another thing is - a lot of these people were our mates - we bought each other drinks, they kipped on our sofas, and now they're dead and we miss them. Tony Rose, Gerry Lockran, Roger Brooks.... Are we not entitled to treasure the memory of our friends? |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Charley Noble Date: 03 Jun 12 - 08:42 PM I've about given up on expecting to hear any "popular music" to be of interest to me. I don't think I've heard anything of interest for 20 years that was "popular music." I know what I like to hear, and there's always enough innovation within that set of music so I don't run the risk of getting bored. But I'm also a creator of that kind of music, an active participant, and that adds to my interest. As long as there are a few friends to encourage me, I won't get depressed. Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Stringsinger Date: 03 Jun 12 - 07:24 PM We have reached a state of illiteracy in the US, today, which corresponds to a musical illiteracy on the part of the public. Music appreciation and other music courses are being cut from school budgets. There needs to be more music schools to pick up the slack such as The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, The Folk School of St. Louis, John C. Campbell in N.C., Swallow Hill Folk School in Colorado, Passims in Cambridge, Mass and McCabe's Guitar Shop in L.A. There are countless schools in the British Isles that could be included such as Scoil Egse (Sp?) in Ireland, the work of the Comhaltas Ceoitoiri Ereann and I'm sure many more that I don't know about. The Musical Folk School is an antidote to the narrow public taste in music as well as a loosening of the imprisoning music business on media-driven music. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: melodeonboy Date: 03 Jun 12 - 05:36 PM I feel just the same as you, Josepp. I find it sad that so many poeple shut off from music at such an early age, and what they listen to after that just seems to be cliche, memories or some attempt to hop on the time machine back to youth. Basically, they stop using their ears! I couldn't live without the thrill of discovering new stuff! It's just a shame I know so few people who are able to share the excitement with me! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 03 Jun 12 - 05:16 PM Well, maybe 'obsession' wasn't the best choice of words. But what I find is that within every genre....even commercial pop...you can find the occasional gem. Of course I've found a lot more gems in certain times of music (i.e. western swing, jazz, old-timey American, world music, rockabilly, folk) than in others (mainstream C&W, Industrial or Heavy Metal, Rap, Mainstream pop). But I think every genre of music has a 'purpose'. To tell you the truth, I've never listened to Justin Bieber (although I've heard an excerpt or two). But I did hear some Lady Gaga, and it wasn't bad! And, like Big Al, I find going 'back' to selected older stuff and hearing it in a different light can be quite exciting! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 03 Jun 12 - 01:36 PM I think maybe my problem was that i didn't get things first time round. Nick Drake, Robert Johnson, Joe heaney, Christy Moore - I didn't get them - or something about them put me off. I did a songwriters open mike today for Wessex Folk festival - of course -talent is always springing up - but theres a lot of the old stuff that I don't know either. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 03 Jun 12 - 01:34 PM I didn't get an occasional obsession. I became obsessed with every genre I explored and would buy everything I could get my hands on. Moreover, I never lose the interest. I still love 50s music, still listen to Bob Wills, still like electronic new wave and industrial. I have all this stuff ripped onto a terabyte portable drive that I can carry with me anywhere and listen to in my car. Everything from avant-garde to ancient Hebrew hymns to Top 40 AM hits of the 60s and 70s. Anything I want. Sometimes I listen to the radio while driving around and if I dial past a station and BTO's "Blue Collar" starts playing, I might just let it play and think back to those days. But it's not something I listen to everyday year after year. Mozart? Yes. BTO? No. If you're the opposite, that's fine, but would it kill you to branch out a little? As for discovering Justin Bieber--all the genres I explored had substance. He doesn't. You don't explore mainstream pop, you learn to tune it out so it doesn't drive you insane. For some incredible inane reason, he remains highly popular with young, white females going into their 20s--something really wrong there--so I have to get used to tuning him out. He apparently is not going to go away. Which only shows how little choice there is today. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Larry The Radio Guy Date: 03 Jun 12 - 01:11 PM Like Josepp, all my life I've explored different genres of music....although I too would get into the occasional obsession with a particular genre. I don't find it depressing when people are into one genre ......although I do yearn for like minds who are as exploratory as mine. Sometimes I envy people who can really enjoy the stuff they grew up with.....provided they are 'really' enjoying it and not just responding because it's 'sort of' familiar. I will often buy magazines with sampler cd's of songs from new releases...and while most of it doesn't interest me, I would make the occasional exciting discovery, creating a new obsession (or at least 'flavour of the month'). Through that I discovered a great love for The Eels and The Hold Steady. As a performer, my problem is the opposite. I can't settle on a style....so to some people's perception I'm all over the place and they can't really get a grip on what I'm doing. Oh to be able to find a musical focus! Maybe the best solution is to set up some music appreciation clubs. Even on-line. I'm part of one called "Music Share" and I get to hear a lot of material that young people (and not so young) who are friends, distant relatives, acquaintances, and acquaintances of acquaintances. Some of it's stuff I'm familiar with, some of it's brand new....and occasionally I discover an old gem that I had never fully appreciated in it's day. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 03 Jun 12 - 12:17 PM Everytime I "discover" another genre, it opens a new world and I just have to explore it. I should also mention that I listened to a lot of punk, metal and industrial in the 80s. Also listened to a lot of electronic new wave. At the same time, I remember buying a Hank Williams anthology and playing it to death. I know everything by Hank now. And if I perform anything by him, it will be something not well known and I'll do it in a different style like, say, "Moanin' the Blues" in a rockabilly style. I haven't done an open mic in months. Danny down at the teahouse must wonder what happened to me. Last time I saw him, he said, "Could have used you last week. We had a bunch of people who didn't know one end of a guitar from the other." I hear Doc Watson stuff in folkier places but in my end of town, people don't even know who he is. They think he was Sherlock Holmes' sidekick--honest to god. I try to bring them Billy Eckstine, Jimmy Reed, Stan Rogers and Joao Gilberto but you can tell they don't really get it. I remember once doing the Ravens' version of "Old Man River" and a girl in the audience--probably the only one that had any idea what I was singing--actually thought I got that song from watching "Dharma & Greg". I guess they must have sang it or something. Of course--where else would I have gotten the idea to do a song like that? Certainly not from listening to the Ravens. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Elmore Date: 03 Jun 12 - 11:32 AM I've been a lover of traditional (?) music of North America and the British Isles for 50 years. Still am. But, in recent years I've gotten turned on to Leonard Cohen, (yes,Laughing Lenny) folk music of the middle east, and above all, opera. The opera has opened up an entire new world for me. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: JHW Date: 03 Jun 12 - 08:28 AM I guess I don't have an INPUT of new music and must have missed all sorts over the years. I know I have because as a session degenerates out come songs that everyone else knows but I don't. (But am only too happy to have missed) Way back when I used to know what was happening, hear songs, buy albums. I've got a load of independent radio stations preset in the car but I can't listen to rubbish all day in the hope that a gem may pop up. There is so much utter sh! out there on pub thumping music systems etc. I used to swim a lot and heard stuff I thought was specially recorded for pools. Turned out it was Karen Carpenter but new featureless stuff still features in such places. Out and about I only hear crap. Why does anybody buy it? RIP John Peel. But I don't keep playing the old stuff. The record player sits there silent most of the time now. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: breezy Date: 03 Jun 12 - 08:13 AM we all venture our own musical roads. cept some dont venture very far, they stay at home. Its all out there to be discovered but very few are explorers. as long as they are happy and content what the heck What is gratifying is when someone listens then says 'that was interesting Ive not heard that before' Life takes its toll on our time, not all have time to explore. mass media is usually mass old dross BBC chuck out the same old songs that are so stale if it were bread the birds would ignore it. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Johnny J Date: 03 Jun 12 - 08:03 AM Talking Heads have also recorded many more great songs than Psycho Killer too! I've always enjoyed all types of music although I'm not necessarily conciously chasing after or seeking out the latest thing or fashionable genre. There was a time..... but good music(if it is) will remain so in years to come and I can catch up with it somewhere down the road. I can see what Jack means too though and it's not only 40 year old music which becomes very wearing after a while. Many of the newer "hits" e.g. "Wagon Wheel" and so on become a bit tiresome when they are played "ad nauseum" all the time. It's also a bit depressing that the most popular and busiest nights at the local folk club are with acts whom would also have been on the programme any time from the late sixties onwards. Of course, some of them are still very good and have moved with the times(so to speak) but others are caught in a time warp along with much of their audiences. |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Jack Campin Date: 03 Jun 12 - 05:27 AM That kind of thing is why I so rarely go to "acoustic music" sessions around here. People of the buspass generation playing stuff I got bored with 40 years ago, and nothing else. The musical version of what Samuel Beckett described: life begins to ram her fish and chips down your gullet until you puke, and then the puke down your gullet until you puke the puke, and then the puked puke until you begin to like it |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Big Al Whittle Date: 03 Jun 12 - 04:27 AM You think its depressing that we had the luck to be young when some of the best music and musicians were around. We were dammned lucky! Try the evening news....now that's depressing! |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Allan Conn Date: 03 Jun 12 - 03:44 AM I'm always discovering new (to me) artists from all of kinds of genres and all eras. When in our 20s I used to introduce my then girlfriend to them and she was open to listening and giving everything at least a try. I'm afraid now when we're in our 50s whether in the car or just listening in the house she only wants to play things that she already knows. So yes it is a bit frustrating when someone won't even give something a try. Lucky that I love everything else about her :-) |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Dead Horse Date: 03 Jun 12 - 03:16 AM So josepp, ya dont like Cajun then. Your loss. :-) |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: Beer Date: 02 Jun 12 - 11:58 PM josepp, you are right on or is it dead on. I go thought the same thing. How many time's have I got to hear "Your Cheating heart'! God bless Hank Williams because he is number one in my introduction to music. I played and sang his "Cheating Heart" to many times. But I moved on and at 65 still moving on. God .... how can (and in this case.)musicians get stuck in this time warp and never learn other songs. Sorry if I am off beat a bit. You were talking about listening to music and i am trying in a poor way to express my self as a musician. Adrien |
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Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,Larry Saidman Date: 02 Jun 12 - 11:25 PM Have you caught on to Justin Bieber yet? (heh heh) |
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Subject: Damned bloody depressing From: GUEST,josepp Date: 02 Jun 12 - 11:21 PM I was talking with some old high school acquaintances today--using the chat feature on Facebook. It blows my mind (and not in a good way) to realize how many of them listen to exactly the same music they did when we were 16. I mean, I still listen to a lot of that stuff too, don't get me wrong. But they've never branched out into other things. I stopped listening to most of the stuff I listened to at 16 for years and years and listened all sorts of other stuff. For example, when I was in the Navy, I went through this period where I only listened to music from the 50s. This was like a two-year period. I don't mean just doo-wop or just rockabilly but everything from the 50s including blues, jazz, R&B. I bought Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, Big Joe Turner, Bill Haley, Fats, Eckstine, Al Hibbler, Chuck Berry, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Burnette, Roy Brown and listened to them until I knew every song by heart. Then someone gave this really nice Elvis anthology that I played to death. By the time I started listening to contemporary stuff again, I was a 50s aficionado. There is little from the 50s I haven't heard including obscure stuff like Professor Longhair ("No Hair Down There"). I went through a bluegrass and western swing period. That was when I couldn't get enough Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, Ralph Stanley or Bill Munroe. From there, I decided to explore the roots and started listening to the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Eck Robertson, Frank Jenkins and all these cowboy artists like Harry McClintock and Dick Devall. Again, I became a connoisseur of old country and hillbilly including Johnny, Merle Travis, the Delmore Bros and the great Ernest Tubb. Then it was blues--new and old. Charlie Patton, Skip James, Arthur Crudup, Son House, Howlin' Wolf (every single song), Muddy, Leroy Carr, BB, Blind Lemon, Memphis Minnie, Blind Blake and I just LOVED John Lee Hooker. Again, I listened to this stuff incessantly--everyday. Then it was onto jazz--new and old: Jelly Roll, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Kid Ory, Louis, King Oliver, Duke, Count, Miles, Coltrane, Bennie, Glenn Miller, Herbie, Mingus, Harry "the Hipster" Gibson, Modern Jazz Quartet, Ornette Coleman, Frank, Jimmy Lunceford, old stuff from the 20s, you name it. Then it was ragtime, classical, music from India, Iran, China, Africa, etc. I had a buddy that was Columbian and he lent a bunch of Columbian stuff that I copied and that got me heavily into Brazilian music. I have recordings of all this stuff. And yet I run into these old acquaintances and they listen to the same stuff they've always listened to and have never listened to much of anything else. I can't even imagine never having moved onto other things and developing new tastes and exploring new musical territories. Sorry but I don't feel like listening to Bad Company and BTO. Nothing against them, but I've moved onto other things. And Pink Floyd is rumored to have recorded more than "Dark Side of the Moon." Listening to Rick Derringer singing "Teenage Love Affair" was fun when I was a teenager. And I'd would far rather listen to Captain Beefheart than anything by Kiss. It just depresses me. There's a huge universe of music out there and we're ignoring it. We have this little comfort zone and nothing new is allowed to penetrate it. The mental stagnation is staggering to think about. How could anyone miss that much music and not care? Damned bloody depressing, it is. |
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