Millenial's Music Taste (vanity). Whats wrong with your generation?

[hecht]

Last night we watched ABC's Dick Clarks New Years Eve Show. When they began to show music performers, the first I saw was Billy Joel. You could tell that it was one of his bona fide live performance as he sounded different from the studio versions, some minor errors etc. In my genervation ( I'm in my 50s) the best albums were often live , where the performers would jam, experiment and ad lib. The Allmans Live at Fillmore East is an example , or the Live version of Led Zepellin's "Dazed and Confused" -filmed in San Francisco - where Robert Plant ad libbed" going to San Francisco" in the middle of the song. After Joel the show went to a series of Millenial performers who all had auto-tuned lip synched performances, where they basically just aerobic danced to songs written by someone else, don't play instruments and have a few clones dancing in synch behind them. I joked to my guests" imagine if the Beatles were part of the Millenial generation. John Lennon would be lip synching an aerobic dance with George , Ringo and Paul would dance in unison behind him. What gives Millenials? have you no sense ? don't you realize that these "performers" are manufactured pretty boys/girls ? they are live action "Archies" If your taste in music is so vacuous , is there any hope for them? Is there any hope to wan them from Obama?

Even the non song writing performers of our generation i.e..e Elvis could at least perform.

[ClearCase_guy]

I’d be interested in a ping to such a thread.

[Revolting cat!]

Ah, the “Rs” of Heino when he pronounces Rrrrrr-ee-yo, what’s better to play Russian roulette to?

[Revolting cat!]

Another theory (couldn’t sleep.)

It’s not just bonding with our pals at stadiums quarter of a mile from the stage that influences and even decides our so often bad musical tastes. It’s the approval of our peers, approval of the charts and the public in general. Note how many on these threads city sales numbers as proof of goodness of some guitar heroes. Do I have to mention that lowest common denominator again? So many are afraid to decide for themselves. The critics never count, how many besides a fool and myself know who Lester Bangs was? And how good he was?! The critics have agreed that “Dusty in Memphis” is one of the best albums ever, and “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” and “Frampton Comes Alive” two of the worst. How many have heard Dusty?

I think that most of the artists to whom I linked are extraordinary. I found them listening to hundreds maybe thousands of others on bandcamp, Music Fog, Noisetrade, a couple of others I don’t remember now. That’s what record company scouts used to do. It’s not I, me, mine, my exquisite taste, believe me I’m not trying to promote myself, only dispromote (sic!) the crowd and the marketing industry, you can do it yourself, make your own decisions, away from the crowd, have you tried? I “discovered” Bruce, yes The Bruce, ages ago at a New Jersey club I visited with friends, I was a kid then, he was a nobody with an acoustic guitar, and I told my friends that he’d be big and I’d love to manage him (HA!) We even spoke to him. I admit, the thousands that I hear on the ‘puter get 5 to 15 seconds of my time each (sometimes only one second or two when it’s a boring predictable guitar chord or drum banging), and if it goes over 30 seconds I’ll listen to the entire song. And I forever think that my crazy method must have cost me some important discoveries.

I took a film appreciation and production class in high school. Some new film came out and the instructor instructed us fools to go see it. We did, didn’t know what to think (it was an art film of some kind, though not particularly difficult if memory serves), so we aped the critics who destroyed it. The instructor encouraged us to see it again and make up our own minds, giving us a few hints. Maybe that was when I learned to decide for myself, instead of follow the crowd and still claim that I decide for myself as many do. (And I still read the critics and weigh their opinions.) But what do I know?!

[MD Expat in PA]

I'm going to start a thread next week about 21st century artists who are worth discovering. May I ping you??

Please do. Thanks!

[Revolting cat!]

Ping me, please.

[Revolting cat!]

Was, no liken Freddy no mo? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSYblBKZ75Y

[Fiji Hill]

I bought Freddy's Hundert Mann und ein Befehl (100 men and one command) at the Kaufhof department store in Darmstadt, Germany in July, 1966. It was the second record that I ever bought--the first was Louie, Louie by the Kingsmen, which I found at a London record store a few weeks earlier.

[Revolting cat!]

The 2nd record you should have bought at that time to go with the Kingsmen is/was ‘96 Tears’ by ? and the Mysterians. Get in your time machine right away!

[Revolting cat!]

OK, who were the others at the time, I can never find them through the useless Google? Caterina Valente, Hildegarde Knef (she was an actress, no?) Lolita, Adamo?

[Fiji Hill]

The 2nd record you should have bought at that time to go with the Kingsmen is/was ‘96 Tears’ by ? and the Mysterians.

That came out towards the end of August, 1966 and Boss Radio KHJ blasted it all around the Southland at 930 kilocycles, 50,000 watts strong. When they played it on one of the dance programs on TV-I believe it was Lloyd Thaxton's--they didn't show the group lip-synching, but instead showed some scenes of life among American Indians. Apparently, Question Mark & the Mysterians wanted to remain mysterious.

But there were a lot of groups like that on KHJ:

• Seven and Seven Is--Love

• The Younger Girl--The Hondells

• Talk Talk--The Music Machine

[Revolting cat!]

My favorites from 1966:

Little Girl -- Syndicate of Sound

Time Won't let Me -- The Outsiders

[Fiji Hill]

OK, who were the others at the time, I can never find them through the useless Google? Caterina Valente, Hildegarde Knef (she was an actress, no?) Lolita, Adamo?

I like 'em all.

I prefer Heidi Brühl's version of 100 Mann und ein Befehl to Freddy's--I didn't know of it until Youtube caame along. I also love her 1966 hairdo.

I also like the Dik Diks' version of Sognando la California (California Dreaming).

Il Silenzio by Nino Rosso was a monster hit in Europe in 1965 but did nothing in the US. In fact, I never heard it again after 1965 until I found it on an Internet site in 2000.

And don't forget this one:
Ich Sitze im Schlauchboot (I'm sitting in a dinghy)--Fausti (1969)

[Fiji Hill]

"Little Girl" and "Time Won't Let Me" were in the juke box at our local cafe in Lincoln Village, but not on the playlist at the Armed Forces Radio Network station in Frankfurt. In early June, 1966, the song they ranked as "Number One" was Dominique's Discoteque by Mel Tormé--a song so obscure that I was unable to hear it again until Youtube came along.

[Revolting cat!]

Great recordings, thanks. And then there was one I forgot, the Czech Elvis, somehow allowed by the Reds to travel to West Germany and record there:

Rot Und Schwartz -- Karel Gott.

[a fool in paradise]

Great recordings, thanks. And then there was one I forgot, the Czech Elvis, somehow allowed by the Reds to travel to West Germany and record there

Look up Polish Funk of the 70s sometime.

http://www.amazon.com/Polish-Funk-Henryk-Debich/dp/B000VWIFOK

Between the 3 volumes, there's maybe a CD's worth of listenable content (away from disco, covers, and cliches).

[a fool in paradise]

I know some yoots, they are dumb even when they get “good grades” the indoctrination centers. They will literally listen to the same song over and over for hours.

"Yep! Yep! Yep!"

http://www.kabl960.com/docs/kabl_debut-article.html

[...In this column from Monday, May 11, 1959, he gives his first-hand impression of the possible direction that the new KABL Radio may take following a "stunting" period that featured repeated playing of the theme song from "The Giant Gila Monster." In mid-column, however, Mr. Foster is caught by surprise when KABL signs on with a format that doesn't feature Top 40 music....]

Still available TO-day...

Various - GIANT GILA MONSTER Vol.1 - Norton EP Rare 1959 West Coast rock n' roll from the vaults of Cascade Records! Joe Johnson - Gila Monster / Bob Norris - Party Time / Joe Johnson - Cool Love

V/A - Giant Gila Monster: Volume 2 7" EP (Norton) More wild sounds from Cascade Records! Tracks: Tommy Knackin: Worry Worry Worry - Joe Johnson: Gila Monster (alternate take) - Three Dimensions: Alone

http://www.squoodge.de/prestashop/img/p/1166-1540-large.jpg

[a fool in paradise]

Gee, I guess that’s why there are so many “classic rock” and “oldies” radio stations all over the country still getting audiences young and old playing 70’s and 80’s rock. How many “oldie 90’s” stations are there?

Give it time. It's about age demographics, not about music.

In the "classic era" of the 60s and 70s you could find "good time oldies"/"golden oldies" stations on the air. You could even find "adult contemporary" stations that played Sinatra and big band music through the 1970s and into the 1980s.

The "classic rock" stations have moved from playing "60s & 70s" to "60s, 70s, & 80s" to "70s and 80s".

[hecht]

I’ll accept your premise that there are good contemporary artists if you search for them.
However in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s you didn’t have to search.

[Revolting cat!]

No question. But keep in mind that the music scene in previous decades was not as fragmented as it is today. In the 1960s it was possible to know more or less all major recording artists in rock, r&b and country. Today?

Still, the best have always come out of the margins, out of the left field, I think. If not the ‘best’ then certainly the most interesting and unusual. And to hear that, you had to search. Who ever heard of Doug Sahm or Delbert & Glen in the 70s, to cite just two Texas examples?

[a fool in paradise]

I certainly had to search on my own in the 70s. Didn’t want disco, KISS, etc.

I started listening to the Beatles on my own as a yute because I saw Help on tee vee one Saturday afternoon. Got the soundtrack and went from there.

They weren’t on the radio in the mid-70s. Too busy playing the “New” sounds from the boys like Wings (”Somebody’s Knocking At The Door”, et al), Solo Ringo, Solo Harrison, Solo Lennon...