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Classic Rock "dead"?
- Thread starter RoadRanger
- Start date
I don't depend on it either, I'm a full time music teacher during the week. My joy from playing on the weekends is seeing the crowd go nuts when we just knocked a tune out of the park. Nothing is more of a downer than get a tepid response, and even the best bands get that when you play an obscure tune.
A couple of month ago I went to an outdoor concert to hear an Eagles tribute band. The place was sold out and PACKED. Easily 2000, maybe 3000 people there. The first 30 minutes, all eagles songs and the crowd loved it. The next hour they played tunes even I had never heard of. The crowd was at best bored, and just ended up talking to each other. Some were openly hostile that they payed money to hear that crap. The last 30 minutes they went back to playing the hits, but left off MANY tunes that people wanted to hear. the people sitting in front of us (that we didn't even know) turned around after it was over and named at least 3 Eagles hits that the band didn't bother playing. they were pissed and I don't blame them.
Know your audience, and give them what they want. Don't try to educate them or you end up looking like a tool
A couple of month ago I went to an outdoor concert to hear an Eagles tribute band. The place was sold out and PACKED. Easily 2000, maybe 3000 people there. The first 30 minutes, all eagles songs and the crowd loved it. The next hour they played tunes even I had never heard of. The crowd was at best bored, and just ended up talking to each other. Some were openly hostile that they payed money to hear that crap. The last 30 minutes they went back to playing the hits, but left off MANY tunes that people wanted to hear. the people sitting in front of us (that we didn't even know) turned around after it was over and named at least 3 Eagles hits that the band didn't bother playing. they were pissed and I don't blame them.
Know your audience, and give them what they want. Don't try to educate them or you end up looking like a tool
tuBass said:
No doubt but that's a very different deal. A tribute band I mean. I'm actually thinking about a Neil Young tribute band. We would play Cortez, Fu**in Up, Cowgirl in the Sand etc but we would have to play Heart of Gold and Rockin In The Free World too.
But I still don't see playing in a band like working at Burger King. It's not "your way right away". What we are talking about is akin to the difference between network tv reality shows that millions of people love and what HBO does with series like Sopranos, Rome, etc. If you do what you love and it's good then it will find an audience. If it doesn't then I can still walk off the stage knowing that I kept my integrity, fwiw.
jive1
Commercial User
I play in cover bands, I get off on entertaining and connecting with people. I rarely play obscure songs, and I'm personally not a fan of it. But, I think the whole "getting people to dance" mentality kinda short changes what music can be capable of. Getting people to dance is not the only function of music. In addition to getting people dancing, it can make people get in touch with themselves and with others, call people to action, get people to think, get people to feel, get people together, draw people apart, move mountains, stimulate people mentally, inspire them artisitically, heal old wounds, etc. And quite honestly, if the only goal is to get chicks to dance, I'd just go to a strip club. I pay $1 and they will not only dance, but they will take off their clothes too. Or I can be a DJ, and have a larger and younger crowd dancing.
Sometimes I think the whole "we got to get people dancing" notion makes musicians play it safe and play for the lowest common denominator and repeating the same old cuts again and again. I'll use Brown Nosed Girl as an example. Van Morrison has a pretty big library of hit tunes, but everyone does BEG. Why not Domino, Jackie Wilson Said, It Stoned Me, Gloria, Into the Mystic, or anything off his greatest hits album which went multi-platinum and was his best selling album of all time? Those songs are all hits. Surely you can dance to Domino, lots of people know it, it's gotten lots of radio airplay, and it's an easy tune, but no-one does that song (including bands with horns) nearly as often as BEG. Same with Skynyrd, as I mentioned in another post. Wilson Pickett, and the rest of the Stax roster have a ton of dance hits, but bands play Mustang Sally and nothing else. I have seen Land of 1000 dances, and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love just slay a dance floor, but most bands won't touch that, but have no problem playing Mustang Sally or Midnight Hour again, even if they are tired of that tune. You can talk about bands not having horns, but both the Commitments and Wilson Pickett version of Musty Sally have horns in them and it hasn't stopped cover bands from over playing that song.
I think part of the reason why people request Sweet Drone Alabama, Musty Sally, and Brown Nose Girl is because they think that a band will know it, and most bands do. Maybe they don't request other things because they have learned that bands don't know their favorite tunes, but they know those.
I truly believe that there are lots of fan favorites that never get played, because bands think that people only want to hear the same 40 songs or won't take the time to learn something different. And when we play the same songs as everyone else with the same instrumentation and format, we just become a commodity like a bushel of potatoes, a bag of mulch, or barrel of cooking oil, etc. People don't care about your brand, they care about your product, and they will find another product that is cheaper or more convenient because there always is one.
Sometimes I think the whole "we got to get people dancing" notion makes musicians play it safe and play for the lowest common denominator and repeating the same old cuts again and again. I'll use Brown Nosed Girl as an example. Van Morrison has a pretty big library of hit tunes, but everyone does BEG. Why not Domino, Jackie Wilson Said, It Stoned Me, Gloria, Into the Mystic, or anything off his greatest hits album which went multi-platinum and was his best selling album of all time? Those songs are all hits. Surely you can dance to Domino, lots of people know it, it's gotten lots of radio airplay, and it's an easy tune, but no-one does that song (including bands with horns) nearly as often as BEG. Same with Skynyrd, as I mentioned in another post. Wilson Pickett, and the rest of the Stax roster have a ton of dance hits, but bands play Mustang Sally and nothing else. I have seen Land of 1000 dances, and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love just slay a dance floor, but most bands won't touch that, but have no problem playing Mustang Sally or Midnight Hour again, even if they are tired of that tune. You can talk about bands not having horns, but both the Commitments and Wilson Pickett version of Musty Sally have horns in them and it hasn't stopped cover bands from over playing that song.
I think part of the reason why people request Sweet Drone Alabama, Musty Sally, and Brown Nose Girl is because they think that a band will know it, and most bands do. Maybe they don't request other things because they have learned that bands don't know their favorite tunes, but they know those.
I truly believe that there are lots of fan favorites that never get played, because bands think that people only want to hear the same 40 songs or won't take the time to learn something different. And when we play the same songs as everyone else with the same instrumentation and format, we just become a commodity like a bushel of potatoes, a bag of mulch, or barrel of cooking oil, etc. People don't care about your brand, they care about your product, and they will find another product that is cheaper or more convenient because there always is one.
I'm hooked on Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and The Who. I'm 19 and I love listening to classic rock, so it's definitely not dead to me!
I agree with Jive1,
Go look at the cover band set list thread, Page after page of Sweet home Alabama, Brown eye girl and brick house. If I went to see a band and they started playing those songs i would leave. Its boring and the 21-35y/o bar crowd doesnt want to hear it.
Sure a few the classics is fine but you need to play what your targeted audience grew up with and if packing bars is what your trying to do thats gonna be 90s and later music not 50,60 and 70s.
Go look at the cover band set list thread, Page after page of Sweet home Alabama, Brown eye girl and brick house. If I went to see a band and they started playing those songs i would leave. Its boring and the 21-35y/o bar crowd doesnt want to hear it.
Sure a few the classics is fine but you need to play what your targeted audience grew up with and if packing bars is what your trying to do thats gonna be 90s and later music not 50,60 and 70s.
Well, like I said, we're always playing new songs. I've been in my band a couple of years now and we've probably played a couple of hundred different songs in that period. We're always looking for a song that someone else isn't playing. Not for the sake of educating however, but for a positive response.
Also we're weekend warriors, day jobs, families etc. average playing out twice a month. That's all we want to do. We can't cover the comple scope of our intruments or genre. For our next gig in a couple of weeks we have 20 new songs, which is more than usual but we're energetic this month I guess.
But still the criteria is whether or not it works with the crowd. Songs that seem to flop, we pretty much ditch.
I don't see myself as an artist, just someone out to have good time and be successful given the reality of my life.
klokker said:
I think were probably more alike than not but we just measure success and a good time differently, that's all.
Look, I have to say it. It's going to sound, well, whatever you think it sounds like, but here goes:
WE ARE ON A MISSION.
I endeavor to play Classic Rock, and really MEAN IT. I try to pick the BEST songs. Not just the biggest hits, but songs that stood the test of time because they were such good songs. I try to pick songs that suit us. Songs that we can do justice to. And songs that are worth doing justice to.
You all have your issues with "Mustang Sally," or "Brown Eyed Girl," or whatever. I have MY issues with:
All Right Now
Anything by Bad Company
Most Eric Clapton
Some Kinda Wonderful (can I get a Waitress?)
Anything by Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, BTO
I could go on and on. There are songs I consider PEDESTRIAN. That's just MY OPINION. You may like them. Please go on liking them. I don't care for a lot of FM Radio staples, and I don't like much from the eighties, and I really don't like much SINCE the eighties, and that's because I am me, and I have my own point of view.
So I do songs that mean a lot to me, personally, and that I know people tend to like.
Some of the songs we do have been done by a LOT of other cover bands.
Freebird
Sweet Emotion
Voodoo Child (slight return)
Those are three examples.
On Freebird, I sing that thing from my heart, and it means a lot to me. We worked out the rhythm parts to mirror the original studio version, and tacked on the live ending. We take great pride in doing what Lynyrd Skynyrd intended, building the intensity, and we play it like it's the biggest deal in the world. We LOVE playing it, and will probably always close our show with it. Audiences seem to love it. I don't think our take on the song is pedestrian. Krystal replicates a lot of Wilkeson's bass line, (not all of it; it's kind of hard,) at least the main thrust of it. Tim does a fantastic job on Artemis' drum part, and Arthur is doing the work of three guitar players, while I play acoustic guitar. It sounds fresh that way, and not cluttered. It is played with emotion and enthusiasm, and we even try to choreograph our stage moves during the jam, like the original band did, back in the day. We don't JUMP, but that's because Arthur weighs over 300 pounds and has a lot of knee injuries, and I had a spinal fusion last year. But we move together, and rock together, and have a lot of fun doing it, and we think it matters.
On Sweet Emotion, Arthur is doing the work of two guitarists. He uses his "talk box," or "golden throat," or whatever appropriately. We go to great trouble to make sure it sits the same in the mix as his regular leads, so he can go back and forth smoothly. I play three maracas and a vibra slap, and try to do all the same percussion sounds you want to hear. Krystal and I sing that harmony part right, and I do the lead vocals with as much Tylerish attitude as I can muster. I go "sheeeeoooop" into my mic to emulate the backwards cymbal sound, as Tyler used to do in the golden days of Aerosmith, and we do the concert ending, just like the boys. I'm so proud of our version of the song, and yes, when I go see other cover bands, I look down my nose at their version, because they play it so flat; and just so missing the LOVE, and that's just what it is. If I heard another band cover it WELL, I would be happy about it, because it's a great live song. If I hear it on the radio, I don't much care.
Voodoo Child (slight return) is one of our few indulgent jams, and Arthur does the "behind the head," and "with the teeth" stuff, and he actually sounds great while he's doing it, not just playing some mindless noodling, but inspired, quality jams, and he's got the incisors to do it, too. I play my own bass lines on that one, and I really work with Tim on drums to make it a special experience. We rise and fall based upon Arthur's soloing, and try and read his emotion, and flow with him. It's different every single time we play it, and again, audiences seem to respond.
We try and pick songs that are hard to do WELL, and we are very critical of ourselves. We watch video, and we cut songs that aren't working, and we try to treat each piece as if we are a tribute band to that particular act, short of trying to LOOK like them, (although when we play GNR, Arthur looks just like Slash, and sometimes gets out the top hat, and Krystal does a fine Axl imitation.)
We play Classic Rock because we LOVE Classic Rock, and not because we think it's safe, or even the easiest thing to gig on. You would do better in this town on country, modern rock, or even metal, because the club owners want younger crowds. I keep saying, "please GOD, let us get in front of young crowds," for the simple reason that sometimes younger audiences haven't heard and seen these songs performed RIGHT.
If the day comes when we can no longer book with this material, I will be done playing covers. I play out for very specific reasons, and I do what is meaningful to me, and I do it honestly believing it is entertaining people.
But I can easily see how a lot of people could look at our act, and our set lists, and say, "man; what a bunch of cliched garbage; these guys are trying to re-live glory days."
I'm less than a year away from fifty, and I still wear my hair long, and enjoy being somewhat wild, and have my leather pants, and my earring, and my boots and hats, and all my little oddities, and I have left myself wide open to criticism that I am not acting my age, or showing any dignity, or a million other digs, and I'm not the least bit embarrassed about it.
And I honestly think that right now, our fortunes are on the rise. We will see if that holds true, but right now the phone is ringing, and we are having a great time!
WE ARE ON A MISSION.
I endeavor to play Classic Rock, and really MEAN IT. I try to pick the BEST songs. Not just the biggest hits, but songs that stood the test of time because they were such good songs. I try to pick songs that suit us. Songs that we can do justice to. And songs that are worth doing justice to.
You all have your issues with "Mustang Sally," or "Brown Eyed Girl," or whatever. I have MY issues with:
All Right Now
Anything by Bad Company
Most Eric Clapton
Some Kinda Wonderful (can I get a Waitress?)
Anything by Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, BTO
I could go on and on. There are songs I consider PEDESTRIAN. That's just MY OPINION. You may like them. Please go on liking them. I don't care for a lot of FM Radio staples, and I don't like much from the eighties, and I really don't like much SINCE the eighties, and that's because I am me, and I have my own point of view.
So I do songs that mean a lot to me, personally, and that I know people tend to like.
Some of the songs we do have been done by a LOT of other cover bands.
Freebird
Sweet Emotion
Voodoo Child (slight return)
Those are three examples.
On Freebird, I sing that thing from my heart, and it means a lot to me. We worked out the rhythm parts to mirror the original studio version, and tacked on the live ending. We take great pride in doing what Lynyrd Skynyrd intended, building the intensity, and we play it like it's the biggest deal in the world. We LOVE playing it, and will probably always close our show with it. Audiences seem to love it. I don't think our take on the song is pedestrian. Krystal replicates a lot of Wilkeson's bass line, (not all of it; it's kind of hard,) at least the main thrust of it. Tim does a fantastic job on Artemis' drum part, and Arthur is doing the work of three guitar players, while I play acoustic guitar. It sounds fresh that way, and not cluttered. It is played with emotion and enthusiasm, and we even try to choreograph our stage moves during the jam, like the original band did, back in the day. We don't JUMP, but that's because Arthur weighs over 300 pounds and has a lot of knee injuries, and I had a spinal fusion last year. But we move together, and rock together, and have a lot of fun doing it, and we think it matters.
On Sweet Emotion, Arthur is doing the work of two guitarists. He uses his "talk box," or "golden throat," or whatever appropriately. We go to great trouble to make sure it sits the same in the mix as his regular leads, so he can go back and forth smoothly. I play three maracas and a vibra slap, and try to do all the same percussion sounds you want to hear. Krystal and I sing that harmony part right, and I do the lead vocals with as much Tylerish attitude as I can muster. I go "sheeeeoooop" into my mic to emulate the backwards cymbal sound, as Tyler used to do in the golden days of Aerosmith, and we do the concert ending, just like the boys. I'm so proud of our version of the song, and yes, when I go see other cover bands, I look down my nose at their version, because they play it so flat; and just so missing the LOVE, and that's just what it is. If I heard another band cover it WELL, I would be happy about it, because it's a great live song. If I hear it on the radio, I don't much care.
Voodoo Child (slight return) is one of our few indulgent jams, and Arthur does the "behind the head," and "with the teeth" stuff, and he actually sounds great while he's doing it, not just playing some mindless noodling, but inspired, quality jams, and he's got the incisors to do it, too. I play my own bass lines on that one, and I really work with Tim on drums to make it a special experience. We rise and fall based upon Arthur's soloing, and try and read his emotion, and flow with him. It's different every single time we play it, and again, audiences seem to respond.
We try and pick songs that are hard to do WELL, and we are very critical of ourselves. We watch video, and we cut songs that aren't working, and we try to treat each piece as if we are a tribute band to that particular act, short of trying to LOOK like them, (although when we play GNR, Arthur looks just like Slash, and sometimes gets out the top hat, and Krystal does a fine Axl imitation.)
We play Classic Rock because we LOVE Classic Rock, and not because we think it's safe, or even the easiest thing to gig on. You would do better in this town on country, modern rock, or even metal, because the club owners want younger crowds. I keep saying, "please GOD, let us get in front of young crowds," for the simple reason that sometimes younger audiences haven't heard and seen these songs performed RIGHT.
If the day comes when we can no longer book with this material, I will be done playing covers. I play out for very specific reasons, and I do what is meaningful to me, and I do it honestly believing it is entertaining people.
But I can easily see how a lot of people could look at our act, and our set lists, and say, "man; what a bunch of cliched garbage; these guys are trying to re-live glory days."
I'm less than a year away from fifty, and I still wear my hair long, and enjoy being somewhat wild, and have my leather pants, and my earring, and my boots and hats, and all my little oddities, and I have left myself wide open to criticism that I am not acting my age, or showing any dignity, or a million other digs, and I'm not the least bit embarrassed about it.
And I honestly think that right now, our fortunes are on the rise. We will see if that holds true, but right now the phone is ringing, and we are having a great time!
good post, even though personally I like All Right Now, Bad Company, and Some Kind of Wonderful
Part of the problem is that the age group that supports it the most doesn't go clubbing like they used to. So as it relates to the bar scene and the dance clubs that were so prevalent in the 80's, 90's and even early 00's that bunch is no longer packing into clubs and going out to party like they used to. As a result the demand for bands playing "their music" has dropped.
60's, 70's and 80's Classic Rock isn't dead but the venues for bands playing it has changed quite a bit. There may less demand in the clubs but at private parties and other social events it's still there and it's still a biggie at outdoor concerts and festivals provided as a band you have something special to offer in the way of a theme or a show. The Casino's here attract an older crowd so Classic Rock still plays well there but if you're talent level is not much above that of a garage band none of those gigs will book you.
We have a Denver based band called The Nacho Men who have been doing 60's - 80's Rock, Motown, Dicso, Doo-Wop and other stuff of that genre for 30 years and they still play as much as they care to. I know some of the guys in the band and the other night I watched them play to a thousand plus at an outdoor gig nearby. They had people dance clapping and having a great old time because they have a theme and a comedy schtick to go with it.
But what was very noticeable is that the crowd was pretty much age 40 and up and those folks don't go out and hit the bars much anymore like they used to. There's a club just a block away from where the concert was held and very few wandered over there after the show was over. So Classic Rock isn't dead but you're not gonna find it in all of the same places you used to. JMHO
60's, 70's and 80's Classic Rock isn't dead but the venues for bands playing it has changed quite a bit. There may less demand in the clubs but at private parties and other social events it's still there and it's still a biggie at outdoor concerts and festivals provided as a band you have something special to offer in the way of a theme or a show. The Casino's here attract an older crowd so Classic Rock still plays well there but if you're talent level is not much above that of a garage band none of those gigs will book you.
We have a Denver based band called The Nacho Men who have been doing 60's - 80's Rock, Motown, Dicso, Doo-Wop and other stuff of that genre for 30 years and they still play as much as they care to. I know some of the guys in the band and the other night I watched them play to a thousand plus at an outdoor gig nearby. They had people dance clapping and having a great old time because they have a theme and a comedy schtick to go with it.
But what was very noticeable is that the crowd was pretty much age 40 and up and those folks don't go out and hit the bars much anymore like they used to. There's a club just a block away from where the concert was held and very few wandered over there after the show was over. So Classic Rock isn't dead but you're not gonna find it in all of the same places you used to. JMHO
We don't play "classic rock". I think classic rock is guano like Foreigner.
Led Zep, The Faces and stuff like Humble Pie are in a whole different stratosphere...way above stuff like that.
What we're seeing that goes over with "younger kids" is early MTV (I guess that's '80s but not the crap '80s stuff), stuff that was on "120 Minutes" and some of the older hippie tunes, many of these peeps listened to that stuff when they were babies.
Led Zep, The Faces and stuff like Humble Pie are in a whole different stratosphere...way above stuff like that.
What we're seeing that goes over with "younger kids" is early MTV (I guess that's '80s but not the crap '80s stuff), stuff that was on "120 Minutes" and some of the older hippie tunes, many of these peeps listened to that stuff when they were babies.
Nice read. I think I would like your band.
Although, like tuBass, I like All Right Now and Bad Company. Some Kind Of Wonderful... eh, I'm with you. Can I get a waitress... funny!!
Anyway, keep doing what you're doing man, no doubt you will be in demand for many years to come!!
Classic rock isn't dead. It will never go away completely but there will be an ebb and flow to it's popularity.
I teach a blues/rock workshop at a local music school where the students get to come up on stage and jam with an experienced bass player and drummer. The youngest student is twelve, and all these kids want to jam on is Zeppelin, Hendrix, SRV, etc.
I also have a day job in an auto shop where the shop helper is 18. I had the radio on classic rock one day and he walked by and commented that Joe Walsh was playing. I was shocked that he even knew who that was. Turns out he loves classic rock and his favorite band is The Who!
It seems to me there is a young, future generation who will be if bar going age in five to fifteen years so keep your cheat sheets!!!!!!
I teach a blues/rock workshop at a local music school where the students get to come up on stage and jam with an experienced bass player and drummer. The youngest student is twelve, and all these kids want to jam on is Zeppelin, Hendrix, SRV, etc.
I also have a day job in an auto shop where the shop helper is 18. I had the radio on classic rock one day and he walked by and commented that Joe Walsh was playing. I was shocked that he even knew who that was. Turns out he loves classic rock and his favorite band is The Who!
It seems to me there is a young, future generation who will be if bar going age in five to fifteen years so keep your cheat sheets!!!!!!
I see a lot of that too. You also see a lot of that in the comments section of YouTube videos... young guys saying they love classic rock.
As I mentioned earlier, my kids all love it. (More pop/rock than hard stuff, but still classic.) I had classic rock on the other day and when Bohemian Rhapsody came on, my 13 year old daughter said, "I love Queen!" I was kinda surprised she knew the song, let alone that she could name the artist...
I was talking with my oldest daughter about this very subject recently, and she mentioned how much she likes the Beach Boys. So I got her a copy of Endless Summer and she has practically worn it out. She loves it!
It's been mentioned in this thread before, but somehow popular music from the last fifty years has stayed relevant in a way that previous generations of music didn't. It still resonates with people of all ages unlike my parents' and their parents' music... at least that's the way it seems to me. When I was 13 I would have never said "oh wow that's so-and-so!" when I heard Dad listening to stuff from the 30s and 40s. I just laughed and shook my head with nary a thought as to liking it... and had no idea who the songs and artists were, except for one or two stand outs...
Maybe it's because the age of super-stardom started around that same time, late 50s early 60s. I guess the bigger the star, the more light it puts out, and for a longer time....?
Here's my theory:
The music your mom and dad (and my mom and dad) listened to was much, much different than the rock we were raised on. There were changes in attitude; major social changes; but there were huge technological changes as well. Our music used electrified, amplified instruments, and sounded like "noise" to our parents.
The rock of today sounds much like the rock we listened to! The modern bands still play guitars and basses and drums. The vocal styles have always been many and varied. Vocalists sing, vocalists scream, vocalists make guttural grunts. They always did.
Many of the bands today, to my ears, sound like BAD Classic Rock. Too much monotone. Too little emotion or passion. Kids whet their appetites on this stuff, and then you read interviews with the band members, saying how much they liked this or that Classic performer, and you think, "well, instead of listening to you distill that performer down into your groove, why not put that performer on myself, and see why you like them so much?"
I run into this at our shows all the time.
We pull out a song from the SIXTIES, for God's sake, almost FIFTY years ago, and kids think it sounds fresh. That's because when it was written, it was so fresh it set the world on fire. When Jimi Hendrix took the stage, people just sat there with their mouths open. Everyone watches the footage and goes, "wow, they must've all been stoned, or on acid," and maybe they were, but that's not why they're acting that way.
They are BLOWN AWAY. They have NEVER EVEN IMAGINED anything like what they are witnessing. Their world has changed.
Now, if you went to see a modern act, and that act blew you away because you had never experienced rock and roll before, I would think the "better" (in my opinion, of course,) acts of the past would REALLY blow your mind!
There is power in good music. Sure, I enjoy Glen Miller, or Tommy Dorsey, or any of the big band stuff my parents like, now that I'm older. It's good music! But it is very hard to find a big band orchestra in the proper setting, playing all out like some of those cats did in their glory days, and it doesn't have the excitement that came as early as the mid fifties with some of those first rock and roll acts.
I'll bet if you got a band doing the very best songs of the fifties or sixties, with powerful, emotional vocals, and played with intensity, and not treated as NOSTALGIA, you could STILL sell that to teen agers and twentysomethings, with ease! As long as it's LIVE and LOUD.
I'm not talking doo wop here. Little Richard. Chuck Berry. Buddy Hollie. On through the Beatles, Stones, Who, Hendrix, Cream, Mothers, Janis, Stooges, Blue Cheer; any of that!
That is some INSPIRED music, and it seems to me that much of the music that came since is a bit of an IMITATION of it, at least to some degree.
