Best of Music behind us?

[1dgbass]

Hey All,

I didn't know where to post this so I figured bassists would be best. Anyway, I just got back from the rock and roll hall of fame and I feel that the best of music is behind us. What do you guys think. Will anyone ever touch the legends? I seriously doubt it.
I mean, who is this Jimmy Cliff guy? Nothing like the music of the Hollies or Genesis at all. Madonna in the Hall of Fame too? Terrible. I have a feeling Lady Gaga will be in the Hall of Fame one day. Today it's so much more about image. For example, Green Day rock band? I think the hall of fame loves that and will definitely be considered when they are put into the Hall. I have a feeling they will be in on their first year up for induction. Does anyone here agree? They should almost stop inductions for like 10 years and just rethink things. Put in The Cars, Rush, and The Steve Miller Band. They are just like the artists that are already in. What is going on?
Anyway, I could go on for weeks about this, but with the internet and such a "modernized" age (that old culture is gone) we will never get the music of the past back.

Douglas

[optikhog]

You're right about not going back to the past because music continues to evolve. If everyone made a Rush album it'd be pretty boring out there.

[OmnitzGarima]

I wouldn't worry about it. The beauty of the past is that we have so many good recordings, we never really lose that music. I listen to what I enjoy, play what I enjoy, and if something new and good comes along, great! Music does continue to evolve.

[Bassmunnky]

This question depends on how old you are. My 75 year old parents feel the same way about their generation of music...it's all crap since 1968, cept for Elvis and Frank.

R&R Hall of Fame...hmmm - Cheap Trick ain't in there. Makes no sense to me

[iri5h_punk21]

I still believe that there are amazing bands out there today, but people these days just seem to value whatever is simple and easy, just like with everything else in life...well not everyone but lots of people

[peledog]

Jimmy Cliff? One of reggae's pioneers?

If you look at older LPs (on vinyl) - for example Bob Marley or Third World records - it will usually list the bass player and the instrument is a 'Fender Bass'. LOL

[Gawd]

I disagree with people completely when they say that music is getting worse, it's the classic "good ol' days" argument that fails in every regard.

First off, there has always been terrible music in the popular scene, that won't change soon. The really good stuff has always been the stuff you have to dig for, if you're looking to the pop scene to produce great music than you're misleading yourself.

I could just as easily say that a lot of music of the 60's and 70's isn't as good as Handel, and that we missed the good ol' days by a few hundred years, but that would be dishonest. You can't take a small portion of music and generalize a generation of music based on it. Especially these days when they're are lot more recording musicians than there used to be, the variety is incredible.

Second. The music of the past, hasn't gone anywhere, thanks to tradition, thanks to recording, and thanks to transcriptions of pieces by classical composers. Music is continuously evolving. A good way to think about it is like a snow ball, the new builds on top of the old. New musicians have always taken influence from past musicians, and through a combination of influences something new arises, and it continues.

[St Drogo]

Exactly. Who cares who is put in the rnr hall of fame? I mean, sure, it irks me when madonna is granted that honour, but I know she's more of a really savvy business woman than an artist. Plus I don't really like her music. so I don't listen to it.

I try to listen to all the great music that is out there, because it is out there. You have to go out there and look for it more than in ye olden days, but it's there. The thing is that in a capitalist society, the business of music will always win from any other aspect of music. (That goes for everything btw, art, love, sex, healthcare, and now more and more even friendship). In the golden days of (rock)music (let's say, from 1955 to halfway through the seventies) it was just that the great music you know happened to be the mainstream too. That changed forever with the advent of disco IMO, because there the idea of great music and music that would make money drifted apart.

What we have now in the mainstream musicbusiness is not a bustling creative, emotional idea, but more of a laboratory. We are not an audience of musiclovers anymore, but we are targetgroups, divided by gender, age, social class and standing, and so on. Using these and other variables, you can almost input them into a computer to make "music" that sells well. It's a sad affair, but it is what it is. Find a pretty face with it, and whammo, instant (financial) succes. That's why real musicians are ugly.

Then there's marketing. This is an evil practice akin to mind control, and I say that without an ounce of irony btw. The marketing of music is mostly geared toward young children who are impressionable and for whom buying the right stuff (music, clothes, shoes and so on)is not a personal decision with no further consequences. What they like and possess will determine for a large part the people they hang out with. In some extent it's also the other way around, but I'm guessing that is to a much lesser extent so.

Anyhoo, There is still real music out there, because for all the great things capitalism has done for us and the bad things it has done to us, we are still human. You just have to look for it.

EDIT: IMO, btw

[the general]

Originally Posted by iri5h_punk21

I still believe that there are amazing bands out there today, but people these days just seem to value whatever is simple and easy, just like with everything else in life...well not everyone but lots of people

+1. but bands similar to the bands of old are getting harder and harder to find. However i like to listen to old and new.
As Dire Straits put it: Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and chicks for free.

[BigOldHarry]

I just had this conversation about companies/corporate culture. Everyone pines for the "Good old days", even while others are thinking that THESE are the good old days.

The same slaps folks lay on kids to day are the slaps they laid on us when we were kids in the '70s. Same as it ever was. That's one of the reasons I refuse to listen to "classic rock" when I drive around - I *want* to hear what younger musicians are playing, even if I don't always "get it" - I want to try. Lord, if I hear another Skynard song again ever again it will be too soon...

It's the same old "Everything that is old is great / everything that is new is crap" thing. It used to be that old folks were the biggest proponents of this view... Any more, it seems to be younger folks. Go figure. At least *that* has changed....!

[peledog]

Go with Indie stuff to find the 'gems'.

Don't go by the Billboard charts.

[Time Consumer]

Originally Posted by peledog

Go with Indie stuff to find the 'gems'.

Don't go by the Billboard charts.

I think this mentality is wrong too, I listen to some of everything, some popular some not so popular but I think its a lil weird to dismiss something for being "too popular" if music is good its good, if it isn't it isn't, all there is to it IMO. Dont give a **** if its on the charts or not.

[omnimutant]

Tool is still writing amazing original Music and it keeps getting better. That's just one example of the best is still to come. Nothing wrong with looking at the past and admiring great works, but there's still tons of music to be made. Music is ever evolving and infinite with possibilities. The next great work maybe just around the corner.

[bass4u]

Originally Posted by peledog

Go with Indie stuff to find the 'gems'.

Don't go by the Billboard charts.

so true!

[fourfinger]

Originally Posted by Bassmunnky

This question depends on how old you are. My 75 year old parents feel the same way about their generation of music...it's all crap since 1968, cept for Elvis and Frank.

+1

It's 100% human nature -- literally, it is how we survived as a species:

Humans up until about age 35 or 40 are instinctively drawn to new and different things (including new and different music, but all new things).

After about that age, we are instinctively drawn toward the tried-and-true. It makes total sense -- if our ancient ancestors even reached middle age, they personified "survival of the fittest" so it was important that they teach the younger ones how to survive too. The more we like something, the more likely we are to share it, and teach it, and remember it.

In all societies, some are always old while others are still young. Therefore human nature ensures that the best of the new can still be discovered and passed on, without losing the best of the old knowledge in the process.

So if your grandpa ever goes on and on about how great Elvis was, remember, he's wired to do that!

And even if he TRIED to favor Tool over Elvis, he probably wouldn't be able to, unless that music reminds him of something from his youth.

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by 1dgbass

I didn't know where to post this so I figured bassists would be best.

Misc or maybe Recordings would have been MUCH better choices IMHO

Originally Posted by 1dgbass

Anyway, I just got back from the rock and roll hall of fame and I feel that the best of music is behind us. What do you guys think.

Absolutely not... and basing the opinion of modern music on a Commercial entity isn't the best way to go about forming an opinion.

Originally Posted by 1dgbass

I mean, who is this Jimmy Cliff guy? Nothing like the music of the Hollies or Genesis at all. Madonna in the Hall of Fame too?

Madonna is no more different that the Hollies are from Genesis. Rock and Roll is just the name, it's really "Artists That Shaped Popular Radio Music Since The 50s Hall of Fame"... but that isn't quite as marketable as a business name

Originally Posted by 1dgbass

Anyway, I could go on for weeks about this, but with the internet and such a "modernized" age (that old culture is gone) we will never get the music of the past back.

I hear this same statement ALL the time on the net and in my real life... from musicians and from non musicians. It baffles me every time... I'm able to find great new music ALL the time.


fourfinger: I'm 42 and still got an ear to the ground for new tunes... I guess I'm just in that 'still young' group

[PluckyThump]

Where are the best places to find good new music?

I always seem to find the screamo/emo garbage and get discouraged.

[iabssplyr]

Mozart's mother said the same thing back in the late 1700's...

[MNAirHead]

maybe you've outgrown rock.

[Joe Gress]

Originally Posted by PluckyThump

Where are the best places to find good new music?

I always seem to find the screamo/emo garbage and get discouraged.

There's lots when it comes to rock and roll. Some suggestions a-z but in no order of who's the best:

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Arctic Monkeys
The Atomic Bitchwax
The Bakerton Group
Ben Folds Five
Ben Harper And the Relentless 7
Benevente Russo Duo
The Black Keys
Cage The Elephant
Clutch (Been around since the early 90's, but are still making kick ass records)
Colour Haze
Dispatch
Eagles of Death Metal
Earthless
Fang Island
Galactic
Gov't Mule
Hacienda
John Butler Trio
Kaihoro
Minus The Bear
moe.
Muse
My Morning Jacket
North Mississippi Allstars
O.A.R.
Ok Go
Pepper
Queens of the Stone Age
Red Fang
Rusted Root
Seasick Steve
Them Crooked Vultures
Umphrey's McGee
The White Stripes
Widespread Panic


No metal, screaming vocals, emo kids or anything like that in these bands. A bunch of stright up rock n roll bands, blues or blues influenced stuff, and killer jam bands.