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.
Yep. Dick Clark isn't around anymore. I found this stuff through FR a couple of weeks ago. Indie band, Welsh boys, they look about 16 but this is sort of old-school stuff and I like it.
Catfish and the Bottlemen
You are right, But it isn’t hard to “know where to look” with the Internet. I had to slow down and go cold turkey in the past month listening to unknown artists at the sites that present them and offer free downloads, or ask for voluntary contributions, because I just couldn’t keep up and felt overwhelmed by the amount of superb music I was hearing (I’m absolutely serious.) (I listen and look for Americana which is the healthiest genre of popular music, as far as I know. Supposedly electronic is healthy as well. I don’t watch the tube or listen to the radio, except classical in the car.)
Most music produced was always trash, going back as far as records were made. Once, it was the Top 40 and payola, but at least the music producers had a system, more or less, for sorting things out, and bringing you something new on a regular basis, the better to sell more records. Today, I don't think that system works anymore, and you have to do the sorting yourself. What I like to do is go on Amazon and start exploring their MP3 music. Just follow one thread after another, listening to the 15 second samples, and you will survey a remarkable variety of different styles and find quite a bit of new music that is very good.
I think Zappa here nails down exactly what happened to the music business...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GowCEiZkU70
“now imagine Jerry G
aerobic dancing to a lip synched recorded Ripple with Phil Lesh et al dancing in unison behind him”
In my opinion that would be a huge improvement over the mind-numbingly boring, drug-addled Grateful Dead.
There is some great electronic but it is hypersaturated. Thats pretty much what I was refering to with everyone and a computer making music. But you dig more than you will find. However when you DO find something good, it’s often great.
You are absolutely correct.
I am 45 yeas old......not near the age of the kids this post is putting down. But I do know that some very good music is being written and produced today.
The music that is upfront and shown to be mainstream is for the most part, substandard. I agree.
If you go digging around, you will find real talent in almost every genre of music. For instance, I love bluegrass. There is some wonderful bluegrass music being performed today.
Everyone should know better to not just take the “guided tour” when it comes to music, news, or religion for that matter. Go deeper and you will definitely find something wonderful.
I do not deny that bad music has always been with us. There was crap in the 50s, 60s, 70s and on and on. I get that.
For every Fabian there is a Justin Bieber.
For every Britney Spears there is a -- I don't know who.
But here -- Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, or Pink Floyd -- give me some pop stars today who are at that level.
There is always crap in every time period. That isn't the point.
There is not always Quality. We used to have that, and it used to be easy to find. That is no longer the case.
Selective memory has nothing to do with it.
Hound Dog Man--Fabian (Forte), 1959
I agree with the point of this thread, but I have to say 80’s metal is the worst music ever made. I’d rather hear Justin Beiber.
There are exceptions, of course. Good is good, no matter what the genre or label. But good is few and far between.
Bingo.
When the original mp3.com launched in the late nineties I went indie artists in a big way.
The better acts never see top 40 because they never sign their music away to the big labels.
They don’t have to.
In 1998 Bassic built a home studio equivalent to the Memphis Sun Record studio that launched Elvis and Johnny Cash...for only thirteen thousand dollars. It could be done much cheaper than that now.
The pay wall is gone.
If you mean Bullet Boys and the tail end of the hair metal thing (when they were hiring ANYTHING with long hair and a guitar, I agree. It killed itself and Cobain is innocent.
But The stuff like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC DC and a few others were great bands and many still are today.
Hooty Sapperticker--Barbara & the Boys (1958)
I'm definitely not in the music business, but I see in my field that people refuse to take any risks. They play everything safe, confident that they have all the answers to all the questions. And I see these people churning out hopeless crap.
This country used to take chances. Now we live in fear.
... and it's not even hard to do. There are so many "custom" music sites now with algorithms that "learn" your musical taste over time as you give thumbs up or down to songs played. Spotify, Pandora, I'm sure other FReepers could name more outside iTunes and Amazon. Just set up a free account, name your "station," enter an artist and song, and just let it go to work. It'll begin serving up great music that you like in a matter of days.
The generation that gave us the Bee Gees gives us now the tone deaf ‘millenials’.
“used to be easy to find”
????????
By that do you mean presented to you on a platter by production companies?
Go on line, search a little....it’s not hard.
Like I said a few posts up, get away from the guided tour.
Very good. People don’t have a right to complain if they don’t support bands such as this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMAhDUKBrLQ
Or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml_i06pzLv4
Or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml_i06pzLv4
This one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uImJES2upI
This one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uImJES2upI
Another one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7Pxh0Dugds
One more, (there are many more, but I’m tired):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC4GufIBps8
“My mom worked for Logitech”
I cannot tell a lie. Her work inspired me.
The original poster did not just address the superiority of earlier styles but also the fact that today’s acts are largely studio created marketing vehicles. Many do not perform live but rather lip sync to recordings.
On the other hand, no one has suggested that these acts are on the New Years Eve shows due to demographics. They are pop music acts, not rockers.
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