Posted on 04/11/2020 9:01:29 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Don McLean, the 74-year-old singer best known for his 1971 hit “American Pie,” says he is not impressed with the music of today.
The singer-songwriter believes times have certainly changed since his early days in the music industry, and he’s claiming there is no longer music of substance when he turns on the radio.
The folk-rock singer sat down with Tom Cridland for his YouTube series “The Greatest Music of All Time” to reflect on his musical career highlights. During the candid conversation, McLean partially discusses his political views, claiming that politics no longer “really mean anything,” and he likened it to drastic shift he’s noticed in music.
“The music doesn’t mean anything. The music reflects the spiritual nature of the society. We have a kind of a nihilistic society now,” McLean told the host. “No one believes in anything, no one likes anything, no one has any respect for anything much. The music shows that.” […]
The singer-songwriter added that today’s catchy songs involving notes and choruses “repeated over and over again” end up becoming “drummed into your head or makes you want to hang yourself.”
“It’s not a hook,” he said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I have to check it out. Right now I’m listening to let it ride
I saw him at the 30A Songwriter Festival in late January. He did a good set, was worthwhile.
More importantly, I got to see John Prine twice, once on the main stage, and once in a microbrewery with maybe 250 people. Had to pay extra for that, above the festival ticket. We got there early, were 2nd row on the center aisle. Really glad the wife found that and scarfed up tickets, given recent events. RIP John.
now,its just another temporary activity to pass the day....
Yes, and now we're supposed to do it without touching anyone else.
Another triumph of the Left.
I'd be interested in just what song you were/are able to figure out.
Remakes of Roy Orbison’s Crying and the Skyliners’ Since I Don’t Have You.
Another anonymous quote I liked about someone was that they played guitar like a semi trailer jack knifing on a bridge.
Great stuff! Melody Gardot is new to me.
Thanks for posting.
“...Paul McCartney’s output for the last several decades. Absolute dreck.”
Couldn’t agree more. “In this everchanging world in which we live in” (lyrics from Live & Let Die)
I hated Yesterday, too. “Oh I believe in yesterday” ?!
Sheesh.
Castles In The Air, And I Love You So, If We Try
He’s right as far as I’m concerned - most of the crap today can’t hold a candle to earlier music...these days we have the echo/vibrate/syncopated masks for substandard voices and tunes that just don’t connect.
I forget free for all I’m healthy I do declare
I like his song, “Chain Lightning” with the refrain,
It’s like chain lightning, this love that I feel.
Who know’s where it strikes or when it will hit,
How long it will last, or when it will quit.
And I love his cover of “Crying”.
So...the music didn’t really die when he wrote that song.
You might enjoy Leonard Cohen’s By The Rivers Dark, also inspired by Psalm 137.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JLyKrioSFRw
There’s been little to no good music period since then.
I sent my kids a youtube today of a song called The Easter Song, written in 1974. It has a catchy tune and very meaningful lyrics as it weaves a portrait about the resurrection of Jesus.
1965 to late 1970’s was about the heyday of good music.
Rock, top 40, R&B and Jesus Music was all at it’s zenith then with memorable meaningful music.
Listen to what gets played in shopping malls. It’s nothing new.
Many of us on FR are fans of Leonid and Friends, a band that plays real music, all covers of Chicago along with a few other great horn bands.
My church doesn’t do many 7/11 songs but occasionally something creeps in.
I can’t stand modern “worship” style music. it’s mostly wimpy and doesn’t reflect the strong masculine Jesus I know.
I recently started listening to more stuff from the Christian rock era of late 70’s through the late 80’s. Some of those songs have such depth they could have been written for today.
With a video.
Always with a video.
Must release simultaneous video.
That is why music is in decline in the “popular” environment. Videos are released causing a lack of creativity in the hearer. Currently, the videos aren’t even the brainchild of the artist but something the “record executives” think you want to see (like the artist’s half-naked gyrations).
Professional has a lot right. What SOUNDS good to you?
Go find an artist that plays it at a live venue.
The progenitors of “pop-rock” didn’t get popular from their videos, kids bough their 45s because the saw them LIVE on the Ed Sullivan show.
The Beatles “videos” were full-length cinema and art in the own right.
Video killed the radio star, indeed.
Old person says today’s music sucks compared to their “day”. Story at 11. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. My grandfather hated Elvis and the Beatles while my parents loved both. Shocking I know...
Do I like the music my teenagers listen to all the time? Nope. But I see why they like it. End of story.
Yeah, I know it cost $10 a month or so and yeah, some grumpy Freepers are going to indignantly point out that they can still get free radio on their trusty "AM/FM receivers" thank you very much.
But you will not discover any good new music there. The typical terrestrial music radio station literally has a playlist of under 400 songs and they give you a minimum of 20 minutes per hour of commercials and inane chatter. How many more times must they play that Coldplay song or that Five for Fighting song? Thousands and thousands of times. That's how many more times.
Satellite radio is where you will find a slew of great new music, not to mention allowing you to discover music you might have missed from the past. Outlaw Country, The Loft, The Spectrum, Tom Petty's Buried Treasure, Underground Garage and Willie's Roadhouse are just a few of the stations in which you will discover tons of great music.
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