When did playing bass(or guitar) become comedy?

[Gravedigger Dav]

This is why the song Money for Nothing was written. Some people think playing a guitar all day is daydreaming head in the clouds, waiting for the day when you "get your money for nothing and your checks for free." Some people think that you a can't be a hard worker unless you get your hands dirty, some believe you work hard if you spend more than 10 hrs at the office every day everyone else is slacking, it goes on and on.

LOL, I was playing full time back in the 70s and we were on a plane flying to a gig. The flight attendant found out we were in a band and got all excited and wanted to know all about it. Then she asked us what kind of "work" we did. It was only then I learned out band consisted of a chicken plucker, a mortitian, a shrimp boat captain, and an areonautical engineer who happened to be the designer of the plane we were on.

 

[starmann]

Well, sadly enough, I think the culture has moved on from the whole romanticism and mythology that Rock and Roll used to command. Rock is dead, effectively. I mean, the current scene in popular music is more or less stagnant, and has been so for over ten years. I'm not saying there's no good music out there, you can find it if you look for it, but when I was a kid in the 70s, music was EVERYTHING about growing up. It defined you. Kids today are not defined by music. They are into their video games, computers, smart phones, facebook, twitter, etc. etc. And usually the nearest a kid ever gets to playing a guitar is by playing a Rock Band/Guitar Hero game.

It's effectively dead. Probably the majority of the younger generation out there thinks that someone who practices guitar or bass is a total nerd.

Very Well Said

However, a kid like mine who is 12 and has been playing guitar since 9 and loves AC/DC and plays nothing but Classic Rock with me. He will re-invigorate his future "high school" band mates. I mean what is the first song everyone learns.....Smoke on the Water

He can't be the only one and like his old man, me, people like us will keep Classic Rock around/alive forever....The dream of becoming a Rock and Roll Star, that shipped may have sailed.

 

[jwj1701]

People forget that rock, at it's origin, was all about non conformity and doing your own thing. It was a counter culture thing, it was confronting and blatantly sexual. The forefathers of rock would not worry about what a few unimaginative people thought. It wasn't about fitting in, it was about rebelling.

Perfect answer

 

[Luke19Boarder]

http://elitedaily.com/humor/guitar-slug-solos-photos/703949/

 

[Watchootognbout]

Hey little girl is your Daddy home.....

Next thing you know, they'll take all my slugs away!

http://elitedaily.com/humor/guitar-slug-solos-photos/703949/

Hahahahahahah!!Thanks!I haven't had a good hard laugh in a long time!I'm in tears!!Thanks!!

OHH GAHHDD!!GET IT OFF!!GET IT OFF!!

 

[Jefff]

Wow, a lot of the people posting here sound like my dad....40 years ago.

 

[anavar]

Please fella, chill out.

You know something else your "generation" does? Completely lose their minds and hurl hateful rhetoric online over nothing.

You won't be making any points with anyone acting like that here. Grow up a bit, get some thicker skin, and come back when you've learned to debate a point without resorting to name calling.


Carefully typed, proofread, and edited to fix Autocorrect's strange choices on my iPhone using TalkBass

English is not my first language (dutch), so excuse my spelling errors.

and i will call names as i am called them, if someone will refer to me as a yougin and generalize an entire demographic of people i will do the same.

 

[GretschWretch]

To get back to the question of the thread title,

When did playing bass(or guitar) become comedy?

ever since this



(Note the use of the extremely rare, and at the time still in development, American Standard "travel bass")

 

[sneakyblueberry]

Sad to see product triumph over craft.

Nah man....it's dead. Sorry, Muse isn't a rock band and neither is Nickelback. Nikki Minaj, just surpassed MJ in billboard hits. That was the proverbial pee on music's grave.

The fact is that people get Billboard hits because the majority of the (non-'musical' minded) record-buying public buy the records. MJ was getting Billboard 1s in the 70s,80s etc when there were plenty of other 'rock' bands getting virtually nothing of the sort.

If Muse and Nickelback are the measuring stick for 'rock' nowadays, then of 'Rock' is buggered. Sure, the ethos of Rock is dead and buried (and rightly so), but that doesn't mean there aren't bands out there making good 'rock' music. You just definitely won't find any of them in the mainstream charts.

 

[Bigtruck1369]

English is not my first language (dutch), so excuse my spelling errors.

and i will call names as i am called them, if someone will refer to me as a yougin and generalize an entire demographic of people i will do the same.

When did "youngin" become a derogatory term? I think you're being a little too sensitive.


Carefully typed, proofread, and edited to fix Autocorrect's strange choices on my iPhone using TalkBass

 

[1stnamebassist]

Watching me, who is over 6' tall and 210lbs play rock on a Kala Ubass is probably amusing! But it works so well and sounds so good I can't stop!

 

[Son of Wobble]

View attachment 462713Hey little girl is your Daddy home..... View attachment 462709 Next thing you know, they'll take all my slugs away!

Hahahahahahah!!Thanks!I haven't had a good hard laugh in a long time!I'm in tears!!Thanks!!View attachment 462710 OHH GAHHDD!!GET IT OFF!!GET IT OFF!!

As these pictures prove, guitarists themselves are to blame for the comedy.

Don't ever see men making these kind of faces when they are operating other kinds of machinery, such as vacuum cleaners...

 

[Son of Wobble]

I can't concentrate on reading this thread for all the loud crying. Maybe we should call Oprah and have her do a show about musicians and their butt-hurt.

One punctuated with repeated and relentless adverts for Geezer Butler Signature Pickups, presumably...

 

[JimmyM]

One punctuated with repeated and relentless adverts for Geezer Butler Signature Pickups, presumably...

Available at your local music stores now!

 

[metron]

Ha! This thread is good stuff. Old v young, dicks at work, geezer pickups. Where are the Nazis?

 

[Big Brother]

As these pictures prove, guitarists themselves are to blame for the comedy.

Don't ever see men making these kind of faces when they are operating other kinds of machinery, such as vacuum cleaners...

Exactly. The first question I wanteds to ask about the original post is whether he was making those faces while demonstrating....

I cringe every time I see someone making a 'musician face,' it is so self-absorbed and contrived and exactly opposite of what music is about. These guys are the ones who ruin rock, who made it about the musician and the act instead of the tunes. In my opinion rock has become a stage act and another false hero-in-a-box for those who are seeking something in life that they dont quite understand. Just like all the other pre-packaged heroes and role models for sale in the media.

Music, sports, skating, surfing, fashion, outdoors.... Just pick the one with the costume you like the best, subscribe to the fanzines and spend away!

As said previously, rock is about rebellion and there is nothing rebellion about pretending to be a celebrity.

 

[Big Brother]

And oh yeah, if you live at home, if mom and dad pay any of your bills, if you are still coasting on the clothing, the car or the goods you took from your bedroom at home, if Christmas means getting new gear...

Hush now and quit whimpering about respect. Adults are speaking.

 

[mistergoats]

No one mentioned Paul Rudd in "I Love You, Man" "slappin' da bass, mon!"

 

[squidtastic]

I found these by accident, and never took things quite as seriously again.

I've seen more of these than I can recall, but they still crack me up every time . I'm at work, and I was laughing so hard just now during the Manring clip that I had to stop playing it or risk my coworkers scorn.

 

[squidtastic]

I was a kid in the 50s. We got our first TV in 1953. We lived over 100 miles from the nearest station and could get 1 channel some of the time. Other times there was too much snow. (The kid wont understand that). We listened to the radio. We rode our bikes. We fought BB gun wars in the woods behind our house. We played board games. We built model airplanes and ships. We built soapbox racers. If we wanted to talk to someone, we went to their house and knocked on the door. And my family all played music, so we would get together and play. On Sundays the entire extended family gathered at my grandmother's house. That would be 20+ adults and 6 or 8 kids. We went fishing and frog gigging. We played mumblety-peg during recess at school. And we read books.
Movies were once a week, maybe, on Saturday morning at the Strand Theater where there would be 15 cartoons (not an exageration), 2 serials, and 3 movies. It started at 10:00 AM and let out between 2:00 and 3:00 PM. We ran up and down the aisles and threw popcorn from the balcony.
We had 1 phone in the house. It was in the hall way. All it could do is make and receive calls. No text, no voicemail, no answering machine or service.

So, I agree that the culture has changed so dramatically the younger generation doesn't understand the difference at all. But, in all fairness, I would guess we didn't understand our parents' generation completely, but I think the generational difference is greater now than then because of the technilogical differences that seem to isolate us rather than bring us together.

I agree with your assessment, and I wanna thank you for giving me a wave of smile-inducing nostalgia.