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Are you not glad?

Are you not glad?

  • Um, sure.

    Votes: 14 27.5%

  • Whatever he said.

    Votes: 2 3.9%

  • Not really.

    Votes: 10 19.6%

  • Once. 1978. August. For about an hour.

    Votes: 13 25.5%

  • Rutabaga (I did win, right?)

    Votes: 12 23.5%
  • Total voters
    51
#21
BobKos said:
how many great musicians / bands haven't bothered going for the gold because there is no gold to go for? I mean back in the day there was money and fame at the top and it was accessible if you were great or even just talented and unique. Now it seems to be an insider's club certainly with little reward to non-club members. Keep your day job, right? I would say that if the internet was available then, many of the greats probably wouldn't have bothered.
Click to expand...

No kidding. As a young musician, I was blissfully unaware of how many tens of thousands of bands were out there trying to "make it". We just had to be the best in our immediate vicinity. Even when I became a touring cover musician, my scope of awareness was fairly localized. Occasionally, a compilation of local bands from another part of the country will filter through, but that was someplace else and wasn't relevant to me, somehow. Now, the internet has given every single musician/band an international voice. C level acts, trying to make it, roll through town every weekend in white vans trying to get new fans, selling merchandise and hoping to get noticed. Fame and fortune? It's always been an insiders club. Back then we just didn't realize exactly how many outsiders were trying to get in. And those that do get in probably never realized how small the pie has gotten and how many ways ways it being split these days.
 
#22
I wasn't alive 50 years ago. But when I started the internet was still a young kid, very slow and through the phone line ... So I wasn't on it that much.

what I guess is they wouldn't be as big as they are. There is so much stuff to listen to and that cater directly to what you want to you don't have to rely on the radio to listen to the same thing millions other people listen too.

So since you can listen to whatever you want with the internet a band like Rush can't become as big since all bass player of a certain age won't be floored by it since there is other stuff as impressive/creative or more avalaible which wasn't the case during those times.
 
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#23
I grew up in the 60's and all the 'gear discussions' were at the local music store where we would be run out now and again cause the owner got tired of us hanging around.
It was more difficult to learn about music and musicians then. I recall a teacher talking about Miles Davis and Don Ellis (I was studying trumpet at the time) and jazz. I went to the local library to see if there were any recordings. The librarian wrote down "Jass" on a piece of paper and went to look; came back with some 78 rpm's of Al Jolson and some others of the Casa Loma orchestra. If you were born after 1980 and don't know those name or their music, I know can check them out on You Tube in minutes... and that's my point. I had to order the records for Miles and Don Ellis just to hear them. No radio stations around us played that music.
Life is better now, no question about it. The fact that people have get G.A.S. from TB is just a testimony on the love of distraction that all humans have.
 
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#24
Kmonk said:
One of things I miss from the pre-internet days is the mystique of bands and individual musicians. Information was somewhat limited so the only way to learn about them was through magazine articles and liner notes in albums. There was a sense of trying to get to know the musicians. In some ways, they seemed larger than life. I used to love getting an album and reading the liner notes while listening to the album. A lot of that mystery is gone now because we can find out almost everything about every band and musician within minutes.
Click to expand...

Agreed, you really had to go out, discover, experience it all on a personal level instead of sitting behind a computer or iPhone.
 
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#26
Anyone else think the op was Nobody in disguise?

No mention of p basses though...probably not Nobody.

But I get it, and as an IT person, I feel the Internet is the greatest and worst invention ever. Ransomware is a nightmare, but having access to basically all the music ever written and lots of good, free instruction is priceless.
 
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#27
comatosedragon said:
*disclaimer -This thread has no point. As such, it should not be viewed by anyone, let alone responded to or voted on. You have been warned*

Aren't you glad the internet wasn't available 50 years ago?

Could you imagine if Geddy Lee, Mel Schacher, JPJ, Chris Squire, Lemmy, John Entwistle, Geezer Butler and Paul McCartney were all members of TalkBass back then, and spent their days arguing about the perfect scale length of a bass guitar? The pros and cons of Flats vs Rounds? Perfect strap button locations? The difference .5mm makes in string spacing? The obvious tonal superiority of (this wood) over (that one)? The importance of Tort? What color bass is best for rock? And of course, the thread where JPJ wants to buy that new Jazz bass, but needs to make sure Entwistle and McCartney validate his choice first, and while he is interested to see Lemmys comments, he will most likely just ignore them, or respond back with a snide 'I'm better than you so your opinion is not valid' post ... priceless.

I'm just glad they went out to the garage and make rockin tunes instead!
Too many choices (America), it's not healthy!
Click to expand...
Im sure none of those guys mentioned would have time to be chating on TB back then! especially Mccartney!
 
#28
I'm just glad I can now vote for
poster-rutabaga1.jpg
 
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#30
Most of the bassists named in the OP were never that interested in gear. McCartney for example, has said that he's the least technical-minded person you could ever meet. They got whatever they could get their hands on and let their talent out; too much obsession over specs can sometimes be cover for lack of ability. I knew a guitarist who had a different instrument every week it seemed. Couldn't play. So I don't think the Internet would have mattered that much to a lot of them; they'd be busy playing.
 
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#34
This is not directed at OP, but I've definitely noticed a similar trend in *certain* older individuals that seems to increase as their grasp weakens on a changing world. It's almost as thought they've given up on learning and would rather revel in nostalgia, pretending they're a wizened and weary Gandalf who's grown tired of the modern world.
I'm sure these same individuals complained when their grandparents said the same thing back in the bronze age, however, that doesn't change or necessarily excuse their behavior.

Nostalgia is inevitable, but it doesn't make you wise!
 
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#37
@comatosedragon - I think you're assigning far more weight to what gets said online than most of us do. This isn't a schoolyard. Somebody may argue a point of minuscule importance with somebody else here. But I doubt very many people allow that to interfere with what they were already doing or planning to do.

I'll listen to almost anybody's opinion on something. But I rarely let it influence me. And I don't think I'm unique in that regard.
 
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#38
I agree with @Frank77. I remember the supposed good old days much differently than most. I remember being out of cash and the bank is closed. I remember putting in a new cassette and my stereo eating it, or wanting to hear a certain song and waiting a week for it to come back around on the radio. Three channels on tv, one of which barely came in, and they were all three filled with inane sitcoms and sports. You want to learn bass guitar? Good luck, the only teacher is two towns over and the only music store is an hour drive. You have old Navy shipmates you lost contact with? Gone forever.

I like it now. I could do without the 24 hour news cycle, but overall things are better in every way. I would have never heard of many of the basses and artists talked about everyday if not for this place, and the internet.
 
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