Posted on 08/31/2002 5:55:28 PM PDT by Illbay
Ever since I began subscribing to the Rhapsody listen-on-demand online service, I have been building an extensive "library" of music both old and new, including many albums to which I haven't given a listen in twenty years or more. Many of them I owned only in vinyl all those years ago, and it is fascinating--sometimes BREATHTAKING--to hear them in digital remasters, with all the clarity and depth that provides.
Now, I have a VERY eclectic taste in music. I went through my adolescence in the early to mid-70s; I turned 21 right about the time the Sex Pistols were romping their way through their one and only U.S. tour, and although I was slightly older than the typical fan of New Wave music, I absolutely ADORE the Eighties.
But during the Seventies, my particular tastes--while still somewhat eclectic even then--ran mostly toward the so called "Progressive Rock" (back then, we called it "Art Rock" or "Classical Rock").
In fact, during most of the day as I've been catching up on some office-work, I've been having my own private Genesis festival. During the past week, I've had hearings of Yes, King Crimson, Rush, Gentle Giant, Mike Oldfield, OLDER Pink Floyd (hey, it was all downhill after "Meddle", IMO!), Wishbone Ash, and the like.
It occurs to me that this was one very complex genre of popular music that seems never to have had a "revival", however.
Normally, pop music goes through cycles that are very often characterized by "reaction" to that which has immediately proceeded it.
Thus, the Art Rock, Glam Rock, and Power/Supergroup era, characterized by extravagant production and stadium venues gave way to the "punk" revolution, with minimalist instrumentation (often played by musicians with minimal talent) in small venues.
The ethereal, hopeful tone was replaced by stark cynicism.
Punk seemed to have fed upon itself and committed suicide (though it's nearly always with us), and soon itself gave way to the New Wave movement, heavy on electronics and "wall of sound" instrumentation, simple, danceable melodies and an attitude that ranged from the wide-eyed ("Tears for Fears") to the cerebral ("Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark") to the simply fun-loving ("Go-Gos", "B-52's").
Without belaboring my point, other "movements" have come and gone since then.
But whereas many of the music and musicians of the late-70s through the early 90s are appreciated as "roots" of the current "serious pop" genre--my 24 year old son is and always will be a big fan of the Police, for example; while his younger sister still spins the Violent Femmes, The Cure and The Smiths--the ProgRock era seems to be lost in the mists of time.
Modern recording technology, meeting up with the very meticulous analog production values of the late-Sixties/early-Seventies when this music was first laid down, ensures that we will have the oeuvre of these incomparable artists in perpetuity. But I wonder if people like me, about age 40 and up, are the only ones who are listening to this music?
When my kids were very young, in the early 80s, I would spin Yes, Gentle Giant or Genesis quite frequently for them to hear (and my son LOVED "Trick Of The Tail" when he was just learning to talk), but I've asked, and it wouldn't even occur to them to listen to any of this "old music" with any degree of seriousness, any more than I would listen to, say, The Beau Brummels with high respect.
Well, that's my kids, but are there others of that generation out there, maybe in FReeperdom or among the sons and daughters of FReepers, who REALLY ENJOY classic ProgRock?
In attempting to keep up with stuff, I've learned that there are some groups from the late Eighties or Early 90s that might loosely be considered to have some Prog roots--Tripping Daisy comes to mind, as well as Enigma--but it's really not the same. I don't hear anyone out there doing Concept Albums, or doing anything like "Supper's Ready" or (perish the thought!) "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway". Considering that Genesis and her components such as Peter Gabriel departed from that voice in the early Eighties and never really returned to it, one wonders if they consider it the sins of their youth.
Interested to see if this is a topic worthy at all of discussion.
But my REAL question is: How old are you guys?
So tell me: Are there any current acts that tend in that direction? I guess my main curiosity is why the same ol'-same ol' "grunge"/garage band stuff seems to come out with great regularity. It's mostly vapid music, and I suppose, very easy to play, but I can't figure out why it remains the stuff of choice for the current generation.
It would be like if the "garage band" acts of the sixties just begat more and more garage bands just like them, for fifteen years or so.
Instead of Yes or Led Zeppelin or King Crimson, we'd have more and more Beau Brummels, Dave Clark Fives, and Kingsmen. It would be totally stagnant.
In fact, there is a wide variety of stuff out there today--I listen quite a bit to jazz and so-called "trip-hop" (most of which is heavily influenced by Be-Bop), as well as lots of 70s-80s stuff that, as I said, sounds very fresh with the updated recordings, and of course also Classical.
There's not much I DON'T like, except for the "strictly commercial" junk, whatever the genre.
But I can't stop wondering why the "younger generation" hasn't evolved their musical tastes as you have. It seems they could start making their own complex music, instead of just more twanging guitars.
BTW, I HAVE heard several by Phish--which is actually a long-running act that started I believe in the 80s--and I do like what I've heard, but they don't have much company.
I, too, am a big fan of SD--and I have the DVD video release of 2vN, as well as the CD. I wasn't aware that there would be much difference in the audio tracks (I admit I'm not really up on the latest audio technologies that I suppose are geared to the "home theater" environment).
I first heard Steely Dan when I was about 15, when they had "Reelin' In The Years" and "Do It Again" out on radio! When I was a teen growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, there was a local FM station that played what we then called "underground" music--where I got to hear a lot of the ProgRock stuff that I enjoy today. Anyway, they often played entire LP sides, and I first heard "Countdown to Ecstasy" that way. Even though I hadn't heard it in years, when I bought the CD reissue of CtE, I was amazed at how well I remembered "Boddhisatva".
Just some off-topic meanderings. I MUST be getting old.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.