• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

I Feel Like A Dinosaur

#142
Bands are out of fashion for young partyers lots of places. an hour ago, some young ladies at work were talking about how much they like a local club, which mostly features dj music. I said "you should swing by, cuz we're playing there on the 10th." They snarkilly replied " eww, why would anyone want to dance to a band?" Now plenty of people danced there at our last show, but that mentality is becoming all too common, I'm afraid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rocker949
#143
40Hz said:
...As far as co-opting goes, that's the American way. I forget who said that the thing that makes the American way of life virtually unassailable is the American practice of absorbing the totem of any social movement or revolutionary trend, reprocessing it, and turning it into a consumer product. Whether your movement is wearing tie dye or camo, you can be sure you'll be able to buy it on 5th Avenue at all the chichi shops within a few months. New style of music like punk or rap? No problem. There will be 200 "me too" bands appearing on America's Got Talent within six months. Write a book? The hack writers will cop your subject, arguments, and style before you know it. And dozens more will claim you "stole" their song, story, look, or idea - and possibly sue over it before the year is out.

The USA is like the tar baby. Hit it and it takes the punch, sucks it in, and then spits out something you can buy on Amazon. Even the tragedy of 911 spawned entire industries offering everything from keepsake mementos and flags, to survivalist supplies and training programs.

Look at how polluting technologies adopted and perverted the term "green." Or how the food industry got legal definitions instituted to make sure the term "organic" can be applied to many foods that are anything but. Reframing the debate, and redefining terminology, is a constant process in our society. The specter of Newspeak dwells among us. No two ways.

Up against a machine that commoditizes and monetizes everything that gets thrown at it, what chance does 99.999% of all music stand?

It's very different now. If the next generation doesn't see things the same way as the dinosaurs might it's hardly surprising. And really not something to blame them for. It was our failure to educate that's mainly at the bottom of it.

Or so I think. And I could be wrong.

So yeah. Brave new world indeed. :cautious::jawdrop::oops:
Click to expand...
This is all so painfully true :meh: I was incredulous to see the first 'Because Better Matters' billboard ad from Verizon a few months ago, when the Black Lives Matter movement started to gain attention. I pictured some Dockers wearing white think tank lacky getting applause and pats on the back after the advertising meeting where he first suggested co-opting the latest buzzword from a social movement to generate more Google hits. Barf :vomit:
 
#144
Medicine Man said:
Bands are out of fashion for young partyers lots of places. an hour ago, some young ladies at work were talking about how much they like a local club, which mostly features dj music. I said "you should swing by, cuz we're playing there on the 10th." They snarkilly replied " eww, why would anyone want to dance to a band?" Now plenty of people danced there at our last show, but that mentality is becoming all too common, I'm afraid.
Click to expand...
I DJ'd for fifteen years and I honestly don't know why most people would want to dance to most DJs these days. Then again, with the volume levels at so many clubs and events being as ridiculously high as they tend to be I can only guess that a lot of club goers are well on their way to being deaf. Having said that, my impression is that the number of good dance bands has been in a sharp decline for the past twenty years or so (at least around here).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rocker949
#145
Wandering Bass said:
Fools have said "nothing modern is worth listening to" untold times over throughout history as styles changed, and changed, and changed. Fixating on a single point in musical history is dismissing all of the rich musical heritage that came before, while arrogantly assuming that this time it really is the best so there's no point in moving forward. Context and perspective expose statements like "nothing modern is worth listening to" for the lazy thinking that they are. This kind of stagnant thinking is counter-intuitive to any art form.
Click to expand...
Like I said..."My Opinion". Don't have to like it, don't have to agree with....Doesn't matter to me!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rocker949
#146
The radio no longer represents modern popular music in the way it once did. I think a lot of people complaining about "new music sucks" are still thinking about music in old terms: buying an album, listening to radio, watching MTV. Even /watching/ a band. The listener and listening environment has changed - its more about creating a mood with music, not sitting and giving full attention, nor standing and watching musicians.

I was playing in bars up til recently and we as a band are there to entertain ~ to provide an engaging visual/auditory stimulus. We were followed by a DJ, who selected great tracks and built a mood for people to enjoy themselves - like amidst their own friends and their own attentions, not be stuck watching a guy on stage. Music is a nonstop grease on the conversation and socializing. There is a lot of great new music in my opinion; it serves a slightly different purpose, in addition to being a shift in composition and "instrumentation". Electronic music has a number of excellent composers but they don't generally include lyrics and they use the computer and plugins as their instrument. A good DJ creates a 2+ hour live composition matching and guiding the mood of the people. There are lots of great tracks Ive heard over the last 3 years ~ for those settings. YMMV.
 
#148
pnchad said:
Not so. Someone's getting royalties even if not the original artist.
Click to expand...
I didn't say
pnchad said:
Not so. Someone's getting royalties even if not the original artist.
Click to expand...
Sorry bud, but if music is in the pubic domain there are no royalties. Do some research on Public Domain to find out what it means...

Music is considered to be in the Invalid Link Removed if it meets the following criteria:
  • all rights have expired,
  • the authors have explicitly put a work into the public domain, or
  • there never were copyrights.
 
#149
DJs are not musicians. They steal others material and "remix" into something they call their own. I agree with the previous post that EDM creates an ambience, a mood. But people still are engaged when they see a talented musician. You know you are on your game when people shut up and start really listening to the music. Its just not that entertaining do watch some guy with a globe on his head fist pumping. There is no substitution for real musicians playing live music.
 
#151
aprod said:
DJs are not musicians. They steal others material and "remix" into something they call their own. I agree with the previous post that EDM creates an ambience, a mood. But people still are engaged when they see a talented musician. You know you are on your game when people shut up and start really listening to the music. Its just not that entertaining do watch some guy with a globe on his head fist pumping. There is no substitution for real musicians playing live music.
Click to expand...
It's not very entertaining to watch most DJs but how much entertainment in the form of a stage show do most people need? These days I'm not so sure that most people seek out such a form of entertainment. I heard a talk being given by Wally Badarou a few weeks ago during which he suggested that most people go to shows to be in the presence of the band rather than to really listen (and be entertained by what they're hearing). I think there's some truth to that. So a small- time band full of unknowns? Most people couldn't care less, unfortunately.
 
#153
aprod said:
DJs are not musicians. They steal others material and "remix" into something they call their own. I agree with the previous post that EDM creates an ambience, a mood. But people still are engaged when they see a talented musician. You know you are on your game when people shut up and start really listening to the music. Its just not that entertaining do watch some guy with a globe on his head fist pumping. There is no substitution for real musicians playing live music.
Click to expand...
Everybody is a "DJ". Some kid goes to Best Buy and gets the newest software and suddenly he calls himself DJ this or DJ that as he works his Beats in his bedroom at his parents house!
 
#154
Every generation thinks there music is best, and the new generation is not doing anything fresh, original, or requiring talent. Drop back to the 80s, the 60s, the 40s, etc., people were saying the same thing. Pianos and organs were replacing other instruments, electric guitars and basses were replacing talent with volume, synthesizers were replacing other instruments, so was sampling...

Or am I repeating myself?
 
#155
RichardW said:
Except I've heard from two people with teenage children over the last couple of weeks that "house parties" that feature kids getting together with instruments and jamming in someone's basement are now a "thing." So maybe there's hope.
Click to expand...
I sure hope so. Playing music has brought me so many of the highs and lows in life. I would hate for a generation to miss out on all of it.
 
#158
At least one of my few favorite new bands is still as fresh as a daisy to my ears. Check out Snarky Puppy if anybody hasn't heard them yet. Bassist and Composer/BL Michael League is an amazing musician. And the ensemble is one of the best things to come along in a very long time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jerry
#159
GregC said:
I know Dr. Cheese didn't really start it out this way, but I am completely unsurprised that this has turned into "old dudes bitching about new music, Part 1257."
Click to expand...

problem.png


Problem? Contrast that with young dudes around here when they're bitching about the old dude music and Graystock. :laugh:

At least the old dudes tend to be more polite about it. I'm waiting for somebody younger to show up on this thread and start screaming. Or asking a moderator to shut the thread down because it's "getting political." :wideyed:

That can be a problem. Because you really can't discuss the music of the "old guy" era without discussing the politics of that era as well. Politics was what drove about 90% of it. :cool:

But "politics" wasn't the dirty word it's become today. Or considered an unacceptable topic like now. Intelligent people and grownups expected to be able to discuss political and uncomfortable topics. P.C. (along with the IBM PC :laugh:) hadn't been invented yet.

Like I said, it's a different world. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Rocker949
#160
aprod said:
DJs are not musicians. They steal others material and "remix" into something they call their own. I agree with the previous post that EDM creates an ambience, a mood. But people still are engaged when they see a talented musician. You know you are on your game when people shut up and start really listening to the music. Its just not that entertaining do watch some guy with a globe on his head fist pumping. There is no substitution for real musicians playing live music.
Click to expand...

DJs are not stealing anything. They're providing a packaging service. No different than a person producing a movie. Nobody "stole" the script and the talent of the actors.

The problem (for me) is when it's being done without the knowledge or consent of the person who created the original material. I still think the content creator deserves the final say in how their work gets used. But that's me.

And not all music is intended for careful and critical listening. Some music is written just for background noise or dancing and having a good time. Not evreybody is a music connoisseur. Nor should they have to be. Because the audience gets to decide on what level they want to interact with the musician and his/her music. Not the composer or the performer.

Artists who insist on their works being experienced purely on their own terms usually end up without an audience. Unless they're an absolute genius. And there aren't too many geniuses.

Or so I think anyway. :laugh:
 
  • Like
Reactions: wmmj and FilterFunk

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back