Old music

[jag872002]

I started off listening to Slipknot, Mushroomhead, mudvayne and bands like that. When I got out of high school I started to listen to more variety of music.
Lately i've notice that music sucks. You look at all these old bands like Hendrix, Beatles, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Van Halen and even Metallica they were all geniuses in there own styles, but I cant think of any band in pop, rock or any other kinds of music that I think are like that now. The only people that will be in any kind of hall of fame as been around for more than 10 years. Eminem, Spears, maybe Nickelback, crap like that. Cant think of any that will besides may Lady Gaga or Lil wayne.

Anyway, is there any older people aka old timers that can help me out with some great stories about when they got into these great bands. When and why they decided to listen and play that kind of music. Also, tell me what bands do you see changing the face of music and who you think will be like these bands.

[OPBASSMAN1994]

Im no old timer, but I do listen to the music. and man, Zeppelin, Hendrix, The Beatles, Van Halen, they're all just tips of the ice burg. A big friggin' phenomenal iceburg of music that will blow your mind.


Check out the following:
ARTIST: SONGS:

Rush Bastille Day, Limelight, Tom Sawyer,YYZ, Xanadu, La Villa Strangiato,
By-Tor and the Snow Dog, Red Barchetta...
(I'm a huge Rush fan, so I have a lot of songs I consider essential. XD)

Cream White Room, Crossroads, Sunshine of Your Love

Yes Machine Messiah, Owner of a Lonely Heart, Close to the Edge,
Tempus Fugit


King Crimson 21st Century Schizoid Man, The Court of the Crimson King

Styx Miss America, Suite Madame Blue, The Grand Illusion

Genesis The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Behind the Lines, In the Cage,
Dance on a Volcano, Watcher of the Skies

Stevie Ray Pride and Joy, Leave My Girl Alone
Vaughn

Aerosmith Dream On, Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way, Back In the Saddle

The Who The Real Me, Who Are You, Behind Blue Eyes, Won't Get Fooled Again, Love Reign O'er Me
Happy Jack, The Seeker


Theres a ton more, but I'm too tired to think. X)


I got into the music via learning about Rush from my church's guitarist. And everything blossomed out from there. It changed my ideas about music, because the power and quality of the playing, the writing, everything was so much better than anything I'd ever heard. The bass in Rush's music in particular inspired me to be a better, more musical bassist. It broadened my ideas of my role as the bass player, and what music could be like.

[robbotbass]

Big band lovers said the same thing about Zep the Stones, so on so forth. The 60'
s and 70's bands couldn't stand hair metal, Hair metal of the 80's hated grunge. It's just the cycle

[quilttopjazz24]

Originally Posted by jag872002

Anyway, is there any older people aka old timers that can help me out with some great stories about when they got into these great bands.

Well sonny, when Alice and the boys released I'm Eighteen, I was 18

Led Zeppelin moves me the most, along with 60s British groups such as the Animals, the Stones, Cream and American stuff like the MC5, Johnny Winter, Doors, Airplane and so many more. Can't forget Black Sabbath either...

[Faderoktopus]

I respectfully disagree. The fact that few newer bands will probably never be as big as the old greats has more to do with changes in the music market than with lower quality. There are tons of good modern music out there, but if the styles you enjoy don't include any of that then you are out of luck.

Eminem is definitely a talented artist who will be remembered for much of his inspired work. I don't know if I would say the same for Nickelback, whom I personally despise. Lady Gaga doesn't look like a keeper to me, weird outfits or not her material seems kind of bland. IMO, of course. If you want examples of newer music that has quality rivaling the old legends as well as some success and staying power I might mention John Mayer, Opeth, Tool, Porcupine Tree, Jellyfish (broke up, so staying power is theoretical), Velvet Revolver, Monster Magnet, Foo fighters, System of a Down, Justin Timberlake, Muse, Kaisers Orchestra and many more that I enjoy listening to. I also love Slipknot, especially the two latest albums. I think these bands have earned their successes and will likely be remembered as greats at some point.

Of course, definitions of 'old' might be relevant here: very new bands simply will not have amassed the huge following of fans that the legends have, and might not have reached artistic maturity or recognition. I don't consider anything from my own lifetime truly old, you might feel differently and/or be older or younger than me. Also, some of the old bands are still going strong. You mentioned Metallica and Sabbath, I would add the Stones, AC/DC, Tower of Power, and Iron Maiden are bigger than ever and continue to put out great material. Is this to be considered new music or old?

The reason that we often think all of the old stuff was great is also because much of the mediocrity has been sifted out over the years, and the good stuff has had enough airplay to become part of how we define 'good' music.

This is very subjective, my preferences might not fit yours at all, but I certainly think that there is plenty of good options if you look for them. And if not, don't worry. Old music is a large and diverse matter that will keep you satisfied for a lifetime anyway.

Cheers

Martin

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by OPBASSMAN1994

Im no old timer, but I do listen to the music. I'm actually 17,

I went to high school in the 80s, and I don't think of myself as an "old timer", either, but I'm old enough to remember when the stuff on your list was on the radio, and your list is a pretty good one. I have been a huge Rush fan since the early 80s and listening to that band makes me feel like a million bucks.

Aerosmith started to suck in the 80s but their 70s stuff is great.

To jag872002: I hear a lot of younger people saying that today's music sucks, which is kind of odd. Rock and roll (and all pop music) history has always been about embracing the the new and rejecting the old, but starting in the late 90s I noticed younger people turning to "classic" rock for inspiration. As a guy in his early 40s I think there is a lot of good music today, but you won't hear it on the radio. The business has changed and genres have splintered so much that the really creative stuff is scattered across the interwebs.

[BurningSkies]

If you were into 'heavy' newer stuff and looking for older stuff I'd suggest you check out stuff like

Mountain
Ten Years After
Johnny Winter And (especially the live album)
Blue Cheer

[Spectrum]

For a killer 70s sound that holds up today check out Budgie: BUDGIE - BREADFAN - YouTube

[rythman6969]

I thought you said " old music " . Try listening to the stuff the bands listed in this thread listened to for their inspiration. Then you'll be getting closer to the real deal.

I'm 41, grew up on the bands listed here. But the older I get the further back I go in music history and it really only gets better the further back you go. Really. It's true.
ALL music is / has evolved. The source , if it can be found , is so much more pure and is what I want to listen to.
Aso the Hall of Fame don't mean a thing.


And....there is ALOT of incredible music out there today. They just don't play it on POP radio. You gotta look a little. Or alot.

[jag872002]

I love some new music today. I think if mastodon would be a lil more big they would be a huge part of the new hard rock/heavy metal scene. Mastodon, maybe the black keys, maybe foo fighters. But foo fighters have been around for a min and so has mastodon. I was wondering if what else is out there. Slipknot korn and system of a down have been around since I was just starting high school. What else is out there? i Dont really listen to rap, but I think lil wayne is on top of his game. He is kind of like the new tupar of biggy.

[jag872002]

come on people i see alot of views, just put ur point of it. U dont have 2 be older

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by jag872002

I Also, tell me what bands do you see changing the face of music and who you think will be like these bands.

I'm an old timer, (58). The Beatles changed the face of music.

Unfortunately you missed it, and it won't happen again. Not in you're life time.

Your grand children might see it. When your old and grey make sure they fill you in on what's happening.

[mellowinman]

Rock is dead they say...


LONG LIVE ROCK!

[jag872002]

The Beatles didnt excist when my mom was born, let alone when I was born. They were already broke up and Jimi had already dead. Dont be a dick, I want 2 hear some good stories from people that were teenagers or older when the late 80's happened.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by Faderoktopus

I respectfully disagree. The fact that few newer bands will probably never be as big as the old greats has more to do with changes in the music market than with lower quality. There are tons of good modern music out there, but if the styles you enjoy don't include any of that then you are out of luck.

Eminem is definitely a talented artist who will be remembered for much of his inspired work. I don't know if I would say the same for Nickelback, whom I personally despise. Lady Gaga doesn't look like a keeper to me, weird outfits or not her material seems kind of bland. IMO, of course. If you want examples of newer music that has quality rivaling the old legends as well as some success and staying power I might mention John Mayer, Opeth, Tool, Porcupine Tree, Jellyfish (broke up, so staying power is theoretical), Velvet Revolver, Monster Magnet, Foo fighters, System of a Down, Justin Timberlake, Muse, Kaisers Orchestra and many more that I enjoy listening to.

You have named several very good and talented artists, especially Lady Ga Ga. However, none of them have or will change the face of popular music.

blue

[lucas vigor]

I wouldn't feel too bad. We were saying and thinking the same things too, back in the day.

I grew up late 70's, and I honestly did not like a lot of music being made at the time. (maybe because I was not mature enough to understand a lot of it) But at the time, I really believed that the best had already come. it was always someone's older brother who could talk about the epic concerts they had gone to! A lot of bands I loved at the time were on their last legs, their glory days gone...

my god. I just realized that I saw Asia's first tour!

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by jag872002

The Beatles didnt excist when my mom was born, let alone when I was born. They were already broke up and Jimi had already dead. Dont be a dick, I want 2 hear some good stories from people that were teenagers or older when the late 80's happened.

There were many great groups in the late 80s. But none of them changed the face of music.

blue

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by jag872002

The Beatles didnt excist when my mom was born, let alone when I was born. They were already broke up and Jimi had already dead. Dont be a dick, I want 2 hear some good stories from people that were teenagers or older when the late 80's happened.

He's not being a dick, he's probably right. I grew up in the 80s and while it was a wild time in a lot of ways, there was no huge culture shift like there was in the 60s. Big changes in music come with big changes in culture, which don't happen very often. In the meantime, music changes more gradually. Hard rock today is still just an evolved version of hard rock in the 70s, but before the 60s/Beatles era something like Led Zeppelin or Tool would've been unthinkable.

As for stories, I can tell you that while Motley Crue's music never did much for me back in the day, their concerts were definitely worth the ticket, just to hang out with an entire sports arena full of chicks with black nail polish and lipstick wearing leather miniskirts and fishnet stockings and enough hairspray fill a few tanker trucks. I even ran into Heather Locklear once in the Spectrum in Philly...well, almost, I actually got run into by her bodyguard.

[elgecko]

Everything after Gregorian chanting sucks!

[abngourmet]

I will be 50 later this month.

Here's my take: Bands like The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Yes, Cream, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, etc. came about in an era where there was no digital anything. Sampling wasn't an option, nor was storing something on a hard drive to be manipulated later. You either got it right during recording, or you got to do it over. In other words, one focused on technique, because technique is what made it possible for you to do a track in one take. Bad technique made it possible for you to do it over again, meaning more time, money etc.

Today, technology is such that you can often just edit out a small part of a track that didn't work, and insert something else at the click of a mouse button. Not possible back then.

What all this means is that the "artist" part of being a musician was more prevalent back then. Today, you don't even have to be able to play a major scale on any particular instrument. You can program a computer to do it for you, and call it "music."

IMHO, divorcing the human aspect of making music (e.g., actually learning an instrument, playing it well, practicing, performing with others, etc.) from what is technically possible (no lessons, no practice, sampling, etc.) is what distinguishes what went before in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and what we see today. There is no incentive to actually learn an instrument or learn how to sing when technology can make up for a lot of shortcomings. I think a lot of people (to include the OP) can discern this difference.

Ask yourself - what do you still hear on the radio today? Pick your favorite rock station, and you won't hear Donna Summer, The Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, Nirvana (with a few tunes excepted), Pearl Jam, Hootie and the Blowfish, Christina Aguilera, Madonna (with some exceptions), Duran Duran (though I like them), etc. You will hear the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, The Police, etc. There is a reason for that, and a common thread being that they actually had to play their instruments.

I'm not knocking modern technology - it makes a lot of things a hell of a lot easier for most folks. But, I do think that it's been abused far too much. Sampling? Christ, that's not music - it's taking something someone else has already done/composed/created, clipping it, and then calling it "yours." Talk about disingenuous. And lazy if you ask me.

A year or so ago, I recorded a tune with the singer I was working with at the time. He'd laid down the vocals, and we had a drum/guitar track to work with (none of which was sampled). I went in, and did that track in one take. Not bragging here - I could just have easily made a mistake, necessitating a re-do. But the fact that I came up in an era where mistakes cost a lot of time (and money) in re-dos made me concentrate much more on what I was doing. Today, you don't have to have that level of concentration to the degree you had to back in the day. This is both good and bad - it makes it easier to fix mistakes, but it also makes mistakes more prevalent due to the lack of focus (IMHO).

"Anyway, is there any older people aka old timers that can help me out with some great stories about when they got into these great bands. When and why they decided to listen and play that kind of music. Also, tell me what bands do you see changing the face of music and who you think will be like these bands."

Why did I get into Yes, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, ELP, Frank Zappa? Because what these bands were doing wasn't easy, nor was it simple to play. In short, playing that kind of music was a challenge, and it made me a better player, technically.

When and why did I choose to play that kind of music? Again, because it challenged me, early on, as a young bassist, and ultimately made me a better technical player.

Who do I see changing the face of music? At the moment, no one. I'm sorry, but when Pete Wentz has/had a signature bass (even Gene Simmons never had a signature Gibson bass back in the day), it doesn't bode well for the future.

Who do I think will be like these bands? I don't know. I don't see a lot of incentive for them to achieve the level of technical prowess given the level of technology today. Again, my two cents. Take it for what its worth.