Posted on 01/01/2014 7:18:16 PM PST by 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.
That’s true. Remember how cool it used to be to pull up to a red light and hear someone in the car next to you listening to a song you loved? Never happens anymore.
I only recently discovered them and my jaw dropped. To use the cliche, ‘It speaks to me”. No other way to explain it really.
I have to disagree with you, hecht. There have always been great performers and songwriters, and not so great performers and songwriters throughout our music history.
Some of today’s gifted artists who possess true talent in writer and/or performing are:
P!nk
Bruno Mars
Hunter Hayes
Carrie Underwood
Adele
Trombone Shorty
Tal Wilkenfeld
Esperanza Spalding
You may not enjoy their type of music, but these younger artists along with others are truly talented.
I do sympathize with you, though. Many of the young artists in our pop culture are famous mainly for either for notorious behavior or over-produced recordings.
As a matter of fact, one of our children enjoy Lana Del Rey’s music. As a matter of fact, so do I. My child was recently disappointed when they watched Lana during several live performances. Apparently she could sing her way out of a paper bag.
It all comes down to your taste in music.
I always think of Adam Sandler in “Billy Madison” going in with his “REO Speedwagon” T-Shirt, and all the other students looking at him like he was from outer space.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZjviMmXIY8
That’s a cogent observation. But you also have admit that this ‘bonding’ is also behind a lot of bad music, such as (getting behind my lead shield) the Dreadful Grape, the stadium rock, or ___________ (your favorite to hate), and also behind nostalgia for those good times with people who shouldn’t even have been your friends.
I just remember my high school days and the endless arguments we would get into over who was the better guitar player, drummer, etc.
But where would we be without all those mistakes we may or may not have made? They ARE our memories. It’s what made the given experience what it was and left it’s mark on us. For better or worse.
What did the Dead-head say after coming down from a high during a Grateful Dead concert?
Don’t know.
Maybe...
“Bobby’s so stuck up....”
Or
“Jerry’s so torqued out on heroin...”
Or
“Without Jesus there’d be no heart chakra...”
The above are all things I heard Dead Head’s say.
Duuuude! This band SUCKS! ;)
Sorry, but I disagree. Beck, Clapton, Young, Dylan, PF were not immediate stars. Furthermore, that era in our history played a pivotal role on the impact these artists had on their fans as well as the way in which the socio/political landscape shaped their music.
You should listen artists such as Brad Paisley, Johnny Hiland, Tal Wilkenfeld, and Esperanza Spalding. Grant it, their style may not be your cup of tea, but nonetheless, these artists are exceptional.
True of course, but it’s good to avoid projecting one’s nostalgia for the past onto today’s cultural products. Shakespeare was good, better than anything since, Oscar Wilde was good and Louis Armstrong too. All of them better than Jimmy Page, that’s for sure!
The promoters of cultural products aim for the lowest common denominator, people in the music business are not Eastern European Jews as before but highly educated accountants and MBAs who know how to calculate their marketing moves with near-scientific precision, and as our educational system produces less educated less well-rounded people, as the economy promotes more of the lower class people, that lowest common denominator just gets lower. Who listens, who knows how listen to opera or even operetta today?
:^D
Exactly
“This band sounds like sh!@!”
I went to college 5 years after HS so I was around kids that were infants during the eighties
In college in the late 90s, I just laughed when the freshman girls would say how they love 80s music... because the "music" they liked was the pop music crap or faggoty whiner English emo douchebaggery only the lesbians and theater brats in HS listened to.
For me grade school was the early 80s... highschool was the late 80s... and "real" 80s music was dominated by pretty much rock and roll and metal like Van Halen, Slayer, Anthrax, Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth... I was at a party once at college and one little freshman chick was playing her "80s music"... I let her play her stupid Madonna or Hall and Oates or Bon Jovi or whatever... and then I queued up Quiet Riot (Metal Health), Twisted Sister (You Can't Stop Rock and Roll) and Slayer (Raining Blood)... for a dose of reality.
Kudos to you and your daughter.
There are probably a hundred million record buyers (past and present) who would strongly disagree with your take on Led Zep, but that's really neither here nor there.
What sort of music (or bands) did you like when you were in high school?
I didn’t ck out the link. Internet woes.
Have you seen her live performances with Beck and Caloiuta?
Also, check out her playing on Don’t Give Up on Herbie Hancock’s session (P!nk and John Legend on vocals). They kill it.
There is some good ones in there.
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