Music - Is the Best in The Past

[jamesblue]

I'm 35 yrs. Hard to admit.
There is alot of music I missed out on in the 80s when I was gorwing up ( stuck on hair metal and the like).
During the 90s I got into bass!! Funk, jazz etc...
I've written a few songs that are "good".
Music has changed alot! Most new music IMO is not as good and the old and the old musicians are just not around to perform and make a living doing it in there senior age group.
So, where does it go from here?
I've recently heard some good re-makes on prime time air waves, is this where we are going with the "art" of rock music, re-making the old (like clasical music in the last 50 yrs).
Is rock going the way of country music?
I'd just like some bass players opiniong, I think we're more in key with what's going on musicaly in general.

[Wil Davis]

There's Good Music, there's Bad Music - there always has been, there always will be - it changes as you get older - get used to it… welcome to Old Age…



- Wil

[nad]

There will always be great music made in the present, you just have to search for it.

Damn the mainstream!

[jamesblue]

Think you both have good points.
My taste in music has changed. As I've grown litteraly and musically, I know good music when I hear it.

I think I've forgot about the bad music in the past. There was pleanty out there.

There is some good music out there, and it does take much weeding to get to it. I'm usualy burned out after listing to 20 "so, so" bands until I get to some good stuff. I ususlay go to GarageBand.com and sometimes get links to myspace.

[ogyen]

Yeah, I think that people forget that for every classic song from the 60's you have a 'surfin' bird', and Zepplin was great, but that doesn't mean disco didn't happen, ya know? I think we all have a tendency to idealise the music of our personal 'golden era', IMHO.

[Figjam]

Bear in mind, you come form a different generation than the people playing todays music.

[Vorago]

They had bad music in the 60's and 70's, too, but it got filtered out, that's why a lot of people say that music used to be better in those days.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by nad

There will always be great music made in the present, you just have to search for it.

Damn the mainstream!

The point I always make in these threads-
There was a time when one didn't have to search for 'it'...'it' was the mainstream.
My parents didn't have FM in the car until '72; the AM station in those '60s Ramblers were playing The Beatles, Stones, Doors, Chicago, BS&T, Motown, James Brown, Sly, Santana, et al.
Even the 'schmaltzy' Pop of that day(Dawn, Bobby Sherman, Osmonds, etc) had players backing them up.

[calebplaysbass]

My main thought is how is the music from this time period going to be thought of 20 years from now? I mean sure you can say there was bad music back in the day but when it comes down to it, the bands that were remembered were (so far as i know but then again i am young) very famous. But you look at today's "pop culture" and it is mostly fabricated garbage. I really don't wanna be thought of as the generation that gave us visionaries like 50 Cent, Green Day, or No Doubt. It's sad that the most brilliant and innovative music today gets overlooked simply because it's not "the thing." Or bands that have genuine talent get picked up, used up, and thrown away when it's not popular anymore. Commercial America is ruining music and i for one would like to see more people look into the underground culture and give some attention to the great bands of this day.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by JimK

The point I always make in these threads-
There was a time when one didn't have to search for 'it'...'it' was the mainstream.
My parents didn't have FM in the car until '72; the AM station in those '60s Ramblers were playing The Beatles, Stones, Doors, Chicago, BS&T, Motown, James Brown, Sly, Santana, et al.
Even the 'schmaltzy' Pop of that day(Dawn, Bobby Sherman, Osmonds, etc) had players backing them up.

I think the point was that in those days - there were fewer distractions - no internet,no PCs in your bedroom, no computer games, no DVDs and TV was pretty crap!!

So people were prepared to put the time in and get good on their instruments and tight as bands - whereas nowadays we have an "instant culture" - I want it now - why bother learning an instrument, when you can sample a load of old records and play a gig as a DJ tomorrow night...

[jamesblue]

I don't think people have make the time to get good on an insturment like in the past. There is alot of distractions going on. I saw the Cream reunion on TV last night, man those guys can still play! They did it with just a 3 piece no add ons. That's rare today in the main stream.
I read a book recently, Future of Music, basicaly it said the money to be made is in "service" (i.e. filtering of music old and new and providing consumers fast and cheap access to it). If this is true it's disappointing. Live music will be secondary as ticket prices will likely continue to be high.

[BassGod]

Originally Posted by Figjam

Bear in mind, you come form a different generation than the people playing todays music.

As someone who is a part of today's music generation, I can safely say that mainstream music does in fact blow. However, there's still good music out there, but you're not gonna find it on MTV, that's for sure.

Still, the majority of my CD collection is full of CDs from the seventies and eighties.

Graeme

[Jazzin']

I think there are a lot less musical geniuses around. There are less and less "classics" made.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Jazzin'

I think there are a lot less musical geniuses around.

I think the kids who might have been musicial geniuses going into rock music in the 60s and 70s, would now be using their computers as many hours a day as they can instead of a guitar or piano...

I've played some computer games - where there have been parts where I thought - this is a work of art, somebody has put real genius into this - but what a waste(!!) as it flashes past and mostly doesn't get noticed in the frenetic action...

[wateroftyne]

I'm not sure if it's the quality of the music or musicianship that is the problem... a good song is a good song, regardless of wether it's 1970 or 2010.

I can't help thinking it's the way it's recorded... a lot of recordings have no soul and depth these days, so the song just doesn't have as much impact as it should.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Well I think that as I was saying - bands played a lot and rehearsed a lot, so they got tight and there is nothing like a tight rhythm section!

So the original poster was talking about "bass related" interest....my view is - who nowadays, wants to spend the amount of time required to get a rhythm section together like this ...when there are all these other distractions....and anyway, you could just sample or programme a track...or even quantise it on Pro Tools - makes it sound perfect - but as you say soul-less...

[brianrost]

Music is always changing.

It's easy for guys my age (50s) to look at the rock and roll of our youth as the pinnacle...Jimi, Cream, Zeppelin, Beatles, Stones plus geat funk from JB, Isleys, Sly, etc. but I don't agree at all.

You don't see lots of bands playing like Louis Armstrong (well there are some!) any more, either. Consider that the period from Louis' first recordings to Led Zeppelin I is about as long as the period from LZ I to today...yet I still hear plenty of Zeppelin on the radio today and not much Louis. Some food for thought there...

Just because the current trends in music don't excite you doesn't mean the music has gotten worse, it just means it's moving in a direction you don't like. I've played a lot of "traditional" folk music over the years and the only thing about the tradition that DOESN'T change is the constant change All musical styles evolve constantly, it's OK to enjoy the old stuff (good music is always good music) but as times change so will the music and that's a GOOD THING otherwise we'd all still be singing Gregorian Chants.

[brianrost]

Originally Posted by jamesblue

I don't think people have make the time to get good on an insturment like in the past.

Remember that when your local school district cuts music programs because noone wants their taxes to go up

I learned to read (vocal) music in first grade. We had a music teacher come to the classroom twice a week and every classroom had a piano.

I was given free instrumental instruction (on clarinet) starting in fourth grade (my parents did have to rent or buy my instrument) and the band met 3 times a week and rehearsed our music in addition to the individual lessons.

I quit the clarinet after two years but for those who stuck with band or chorus got EIGHT YEARS of immersion in music.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by brianrost

Remember that when your local school district cuts music programs because noone wants their taxes to go up

...and there's a slew of us who attended private schools with no available music education.
If you want something badly enough...you'll find a way to do it yourself.

[Mr_Man]

Hi everyone,

I think a major part of it is how music is produced now. Back in the day there was no Protools, no massive effects racks etc. You had that lovely sound of tape instead of digital.. Bands had to learn to become tight, now they can rely on quantization. I've been in studio situations where the bands literally dont care if they make mistakes as they say "you can sort that on the computer cant you"?. And they can. The drums on When the Levy Breaks were recorded with one mic ! One mic, and listen to the sound - that's no reverb effect on there, that's REAL reverb. You just dont get that today. Also, compression has a massive impact on the sound of music compared to the "old days". Everything has to sound "fat" - you get no dynamics any more.

Of course, music changes, styles change, hell even peoples tastes change. But no matter what, there will always be good music and bad music, regardless of which time you are living in..

Play a 16 year old some Beach Boys and they would probably laugh at you! Well, those with no taste would!!