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. Yes, I am a curmudgeon, and proudly so. I'll defend small shops and record/cd meets till I keel over.
I have a friend who lives in Austin and she goes to South by Southwest every year. It sounds wonderful.
Double, I don't think that makes you a curmudgeon--it's great to support the mom and pop shops. Actually, McGowdog, the mom-and-pops were where I got some of my best bootlegs--I still have a turntable and play vinyl all the time.
It's just that I think a real music lover recognizes that quality is not limited to a certain timeframe.
I definitely agree that the music industry has become all about profit.
And some of my most favorite tunes are now selling products on television.
For me, this is all the more reason to keep seeking new music.
I keep looking, and I don't buy near the amount I used, but I do buy. Just different genres, that's all. In the last month, I've purchased the new Alison Krause/Robert Plant release, the last couple cd's by Loreena McKennitt (terrific lady), some Iris Dement, the latest String Cheese Incident, the latest cd by Coldplay (they were on the Today show not too long ago), played a great set. But I do buy a lot of back catalog as a lot of great stuff went by me that I am discovering now, particularly in the jazz field; Hubert Laws, Stan Turrentine, Yusef Lateef, Esther Philips, Freddie Hubbard, and many others. Whether it just came out 4 weeks ago or 44 years ago, that doesn't matter. Good is still good.
Whether it just came out 4 weeks ago or 44 years ago, that doesn't matter. Good is still good.
Yes!
I too buy (and revel in the discovery of) older music; that can be just as fun as hearing the brand new stuff.
Most of my finds are from the 80's and 90's, I was raising kids then and kind of distracted.
Desert sun41 and Sassberto made a couple good points on yesterdays posts. What the kids are buying now and money. A lot of todays kids are disinterested in buying music- period. They like it allright, but if there is something they want, they just burn the cd. And you can't blame them. Paying close to $20 for a Cd is uncalled for. What I don't get is the pricing structure for back catalog. When stuff has been out for decades, the royalties have been paid for, and I see stuff that has been issued 30 years ago and is priced like a new release. The record labels have shot themselves in the foot over this issue and they still don't get it. Sassbertos comment on the video games is right on the money. The curmudgeon part of me never realized how expensive a lot of those videogames go for in stores until I went in one just recently. No wonder they don't buy cd's. SHEESH!!
heh
Philip Bailey [from Earth Wind and Fire] graduated from my high school a couple years before I did.
I do love those guys.
If all a listener wants is classic old school, then I guess all you need to do is keep recycling that stuff. Listen to the Boomer stations, you'll hear Hotel California, Free Bird, Maggie May etc etc over and over again to your heart's content. But to me this is wallowing in nostalgia. It is not growing.
If you want to join the 21st century, it is not that difficult to find good new music.
This is just ONE source: Last
There is a whole world of NEWER funk out there!
I'm sorry, y'all, but while I agree that the sources have changed, I disagree that good music ended with the 60's or 70's.
I guess some listeners don't want to move on?
Of course I love the older stuff, guys like the Meters and the Brothers Johnson have an honored place in my musical library.
But to be stagnant, to be stuck in 1972--wow, that's sonic anathema to me.
Im glad to see that you have not fell for the baby boomer propaganda mantra that has plagued the culture for years. There is a lot of great music out there. The popularity of it or accessibility is of little concern to me. I like it and if others want to focus on listening to Fleetwood Mac for the umpteenth thousandth time then, whatever.
I have two big issues with current (popular) music:
1) Lyrics. There's always been songs about sex and general immorality, but never before has hit music sunk to SUCH a low level. Even going back to the late 90's, you could turn on a CHR (contemporary hit radio / top 40) station without almost being certain you'll hear some stupid, debased song about sex - at least one that isn't nearly unveiled in its subject matter. Examples: "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry, "Lollipop" by Lil' Wayne, "I Wanna Love You" by Akon. Songs like that wouldn't even have been likely to make it to radio play at the time, or at least it seems. Women now, thanks perhaps to feminism, are taking the debased horny male role, with songs like "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and "Shut up and Drive" by Rihanna. And when they're not singing about sex, they're assuming a trashy "sexy" persona. "Umbrella" wasn't a sexual song at all, but Rihanna appears in the video dressed something like a prostitute. Likewise, Nelly Furtado "re-invented" her image when she came back into the music scene. Back in 2001, with "Fly Away" and the like, she was a likable, mostly clean A/C - type singer. She returned as, well, she sang a song called "Promiscuous Girl" - enough said.
Really, does anybody know why this is? What really annoys me is when a song with a very likable melody / beat and a lot of potential - like Akon's aformentioned song and Metro Station's "Shake It", has to have immoral lyrics (at least they seem to be that way in the latter case).
2) Quite a bit hit of "music" today, mainly rap / hip-hop, has almost no melody. Examples: "Soulja Boy", "Laffy Taffy", "Drop It Like It's Hot", and to a lesser extent, "Low" or "In the Ayer" is little more than a slow beat. Now, I love eurodance and pop-trance music: I don't expect a great amount of meaning or true musical excellence, but can you at least compose a nice, enjoyable melody? I don't get how this music gets so popular when it barely even has a "tune".
I have two big issues with current (popular) music:
1) Lyrics. There's always been songs about sex and general immorality, but never before has hit music sunk to SUCH a low level. Even going back to the late 90's, you could turn on a CHR (contemporary hit radio / top 40) station without almost being certain you'll hear some stupid, debased song about sex - at least one that isn't nearly unveiled in its subject matter. Examples: "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry, "Lollipop" by Lil' Wayne, "I Wanna Love You" by Akon. Songs like that wouldn't even have been likely to make it to radio play at the time, or at least it seems. Women now, thanks perhaps to feminism, are taking the debased horny male role, with songs like "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and "Shut up and Drive" by Rihanna. And when they're not singing about sex, they're assuming a trashy "sexy" persona. "Umbrella" wasn't a sexual song at all, but Rihanna appears in the video dressed something like a prostitute. Likewise, Nelly Furtado "re-invented" her image when she came back into the music scene. Back in 2001, with "Fly Away" and the like, she was a likable, mostly clean A/C - type singer. She returned as, well, she sang a song called "Promiscuous Girl" - enough said.
Really, does anybody know why this is? What really annoys me is when a song with a very likable melody / beat and a lot of potential - like Akon's aformentioned song and Metro Station's "Shake It", has to have immoral lyrics (at least they seem to be that way in the latter case).
2) Quite a bit hit of "music" today, mainly rap / hip-hop, has almost no melody. Examples: "Soulja Boy", "Laffy Taffy", "Drop It Like It's Hot", and to a lesser extent, "Low" or "In the Ayer" is little more than a slow beat. Now, I love eurodance and pop-trance music: I don't expect a great amount of meaning or true musical excellence, but can you at least compose a nice, enjoyable melody? I don't get how this music gets so popular when it barely even has a "tune".
Regarding lyrics, I think that one of the problems is that the "art" of subtlety has been lost. Everything is blatant, in-your-face, matter of fact these days. Song lyrics today require very little thought or imagination.
I also think that the introduction of the music video was a turning point . Music became less about music and lyrics; now it is more, if not all, about image. A lot of the bands pre-MTV would never have made it because the artists were not photogenic/videogenic.
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. Music became less about music and lyrics; now it is more, if not all, about image. A lot of the bands pre-MTV would never have made it because the artists were not photogenic/videogenic.
