Every other kid in my daughter's high school is either playing guitar or drums. The jazz band has no shortage of members either.
Stringed instruments were supposed to go extinct back in the 80's when the keyboard was huge IIRC. Acoustic drums too.
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Every other kid in my daughter's high school is either playing guitar or drums. The jazz band has no shortage of members either.
Stringed instruments were supposed to go extinct back in the 80's when the keyboard was huge IIRC. Acoustic drums too.
I very much doubt it.
Also I know people who make electronic music. It can be quite a bit more challenging than you imply.
Very different music market now.
My mom and dad had sometimes talked about how when they were kids, most stations played a wider variety of music than they do today, and there were far fewer radio stations to listen to, but they were also mostly regional and independent of each other. Now music radio stations tend to cater to one particular genre, and tend to be owned by giant conglomerates who own an enormous number of stations. This is a very different environment for original music, and a far more risk-averse one. That tends to reward formulaic approaches to music composition and production.
At the same time, there was a ton of garbage that came out at the same time as Led Zeppelin. The great bands that we remember for years are always the exception, not the rule.
60's and 70's for me is about 15 or 20 percent that still holds up.
2017 about the same.
80's and 90s is much higher. Of course I grew up then so I am much more partial to it. Just like all the people who grew up in the 70s and believe it's better.
Sure there was garbage that came out at the same time - but the idea in the post I quoted was that most good music has always been on the fringes. I'd say that that's more true now than in the earlier days of pop/rock. That's all.
There are huge hits today that have almost zero melodic/compositional integrity. That's not to say that they don't have as much or more relevance to today's young people, or that they don't have sociological relevance. Just that in terms of melody and other markers of musical quality, they don't hold up. It's just that the art form has evolved.
Yeah, we'll just have to agree to disagree if you think that in terms of melody and song quality, 2017 biggest hits are anywhere close to 60's and 70's biggest hits.
I was there at a pre show meat and great
Edit. While I was shaking Stanley’s hand I noticed that I could not see mine anymore. Saw one of their early acts at Aire Crown in the 70s. I will always admire their talent.
Reread the second part of my post. That's why it seems more like good music is on the fringes now. The radio market is way different now than it was during the 60s and 70s, in ways that tend to reward formula and penalize risk-taking and thinking outside the box.
And like I said earlier, if the only new music you hear is what's on the radio, you're missing out, because that's not even the way a huge proportion of younger people get their music. I stopped listening to the radio over half my life ago, and spotify, pandora, bandcamp, etc. didn't even exist then.
The radio market? Does such a thing even exist vis-a-vis current best 'selling' music? Please note the quotes.
The biggest hits of today as taken as a whole (from Rockstar by Post Malone to Ed Sheeran) don't hold up, in terms of universally accepted markers of musical quality (like melody) to the biggest hits of the 60's, 70's even 80's.
My students have shown me that there's amazing music being made and the fact that I know about it is down to the democratization of creation and dissemination engendered by technology. All good, great even. But that doesn't mean that today, there aren't huge hits that have no real musical value. Do they have sociological relevance? For sure, more than The Beatles or Led Zep even.
Likewise. And learning and loving everything from Pink Floyd to The Black Keys. So this is for you Al, you old curmudgeon
There were hits back then that were absolute garbage. Led Zeppelin (who plagiarized a lot of their music, but that's a different discussion), and the Beatles were the exception, not the rule.
Just a lot of older folks seem to be basing their criticisms of "music nowadays" on what's playing on the radio.
There is no "universally accepted markers of musical quality." No one is an objective arbiter of music. And honestly, I'd take today's pop music over the entire pop output of the 80s.
Much as people might deride today's popular music, there are Lady Gaga songs that sound really good when adapted as rock songs or even piano numbers.
A lot of the hip hop being derided on this thread is actually kinda old now.
Well you've really got 2017 at a disadvantage since you're comparing it to 20 years worth of songs.
All the talent in the world can’t buy class, apparently. I’m sorry if Al’s starving because the rappers are stealing his gigs and the kids aren’t being exposed to what he seems confident would be chart toppers if not for Clear Channel, but that’s just the way it is. News flash: Even if Clear Channel and the record companies were tripping over themselves to get his music out there and managed to, the kids probably still wouldn’t like it...at least the ones not studying theory and playing jazz guitar at Berkeley. The most sensible thing he said in the whole interview (and it almost sounded like a cry for help, nearly lamenting Carlos Santana’s success) was that he could see his projects sharing bills with jam bands, but if anyone has been to a festival or looked deeper into the shell of what that once was not very long ago, they’d spot the writing on the wall quickly. It must really suck being an aging virtuoso. I get it. It’s just you never hear cats like Vic or Marcus Miller spewing this c-r-a-p.
Last two times RTF toured it was with Frank Gambale on guitar. Frank had just graduated from MI Hollywood the year before I attended and he'd just become an instructor when I started. And although he looked like a mean, wrestler/bouncer type he was truly the nicest in guy in the world. Very friendly and willing to help his fellow musician. Personality-wise the opposite of DiMeola. I'd much rather spend time around ( and listen to ) Gambale! Just sayin'. 
It actually would be a gas to see Gambale wrestle DiMeola.
Who would you bet on?
It actually would be a gas to see Gambale wrestle DiMeola.
Who would you bet on?
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We can agree to (totally) disagree about that.
I'm a big Lady Gaga fan. No one can watch this and not understand how totally into it she is.
I had no clue who this dude was but decided to check it out based on the interview where he thinks he's the bees knees. I can't explain how much I didn't enjoy the noise he was making but that's just my preference/opinion of course.
Do I like pop music today? No. With that said I think this is the most exciting time in music and I honestly feel like I discover great new artists every week from the heavy scene.
I rolled my eyes so much reading that interview my head hurts. Dude is great at modeling for pics though.
Do I like pop music today? No. With that said I think this is the most exciting time in music and I honestly feel like I discover great new artists every week from the heavy scene.
I rolled my eyes so much reading that interview my head hurts. Dude is great at modeling for pics though.
I'm confident that she'd succeed in the music industry regardless of era.
But I am adamant that no one is objective. I can't stand dubstep, but I'm not going to say the people making it are talentless.
Everything being said about the music of today was said about the music of the 1970s by people of my grandparents' generation. And about the music made by their generation by their parents' and grandparents' generations. And so on.
Yeah, that's relativism. I reject it.
Oh, this has nothing to do with 'kids nowadays'!!
I am by no means saying that modern musicians (in rap, hip hop, rock, pop, R & B, country) don't produce stellar music that stands up to any any level of artistic scrutiny. All I'm saying is what I originally said about ratios. That's it.
I read the interview, like most it was a waste of time, absolutely sick and tired of people talking about the “music scene” in the negative.
Everyone has biases. You, me, everyone. And all are prone to conflating "I don't like this" and "This is bad."
And everyone is susceptible with looking back on the days of their youth through rose tinted glasses.
Of course, I play music that has limited marketability. I expect people to dislike it and insult it.
