Damned bloody depressing

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.

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)

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

Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing
From: Dead Horse
Date: 03 Jun 12 - 03:16 AM

So josepp, ya dont like Cajun then. Your loss. :-)

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 :-)

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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."

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.

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?
:-)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Subject: RE: Damned bloody depressing
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 04 Jun 12 - 06:18 PM

Next year Justin will be doing Cambridge unplugged.

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!

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.

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?

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.