Who is moving music forward today?

[Actium]

Hip-hop is not moving music forward it's only a genre. Hip hop, rap whatever you call it is a lot like county. Country's been country as long as dirts been brown. Same old thing.

Who(m) moved music:
'50s - Chuck Berry
'60s - Beatles, Hendrix and Elvis
'70s - Allman Brothers, King Crimson, Greatful Dead and Pink Floyd (cross over)
'80s - The Cure, Joy Division, The Clash
'90s - Nsync
'00s - Deadmau5, The Chemical Brothers, Cocteau Twins
'10s - Arcade Fire

I'd ditch Deadmau5 and Chem Bros (lol?) and rewind to the 70s and list Kraftwerk. Then Aphex Twin for 90s. Some people argue grunge then alternative moved music forward in the 90s too but all it really did was kill metal, which resurfaced in the 00s anyways. Might be nice to fit Brian Eno in there somewhere too.

 

[JimmyM]

wow, too much thinking getting in the way of enjoying music but that's cool.

 

[pbass2]

not to mention tin machine, which most bowie fans hated but i freakin' love.

I loved that first Tin Machine album! Dunno about the rest of the world, but it influenced me

But yeah I agree with JMJ, particularly Low and Heroes, hugely significant. Heck, Young Americans had an impact too I would venture to say. His rock/funk/soul amalgam on that record was ground-breaking I think.

And did I say that Low and Heroes were HUGELY significant?

 

[JimmyM]

two words: sound + vision

 

[chuck norriss]

I loved that first Tin Machine album! Dunno about the rest of the world, but it influenced me

But yeah I agree with JMJ, particularly Low and Heroes, hugely significant. Heck, Young Americans had an impact too I would venture to say. His rock/funk/soul amalgam on that record was ground-breaking I think.

And did I say that Low and Heroes were HUGELY significant?

Tin Machine I & II both have some great songwriting. Very colorful & complex for what Bowie calls a garage band. I like how they keep it at that energy level.

Great rhythm section w/ the Sales bros who worked on Iggy Pop's (& Bowie's) Lust for Life. The opening for that song is Hunt Sales' great moment in rock history. Who doesn't like that contagious opening.

Gabrels' guitar playing can overwork the painting sometimes but it works. I wish they went with another guitarist--Vernon Reid/Living Colour? Dr Know/Bad Brains? Just my imagination.

I would love it if Tin Machine did more new work. Bowie's solo stuff is ok too just not as significant for me as his earlier work. Not raw enough for my taste.

 

[Aladinsane1969]

+1 for Black Angels--can't wait to see them at the El Rey on May 15 with Sleepy Sun, my other favorite "new" band.

Honestly, though--this is probably my favorite band right now. They're out of L.A., unsigned, and--with the right producer--going to make someone a LOT of money....
Link Removed. The lead singer is absolutely captivating....

And, the only artist who had a greater influence on modern music than David Bowie is The Beatles. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Clark Dark]

I'd add Motown to the 60's list

 

[jmjbassplayer]

This is getting really good.

 

[plekan]

Yup. It's not just Ziggy Stardust. Aladdin Sane, Station to Station, Low, Heroes Lodger are enormous Scary Monsters. Not just "cool records". Musically, they have a gigantic, resounding imprint on so much that came after.

+ 1 million
Without Low and Aladdin Sane I really don't know where we would be right now.

 

[Lammchop93]

Muse
Cage the Elephant

The 2 I can think of off the top of my head

 

[Aladinsane1969]

+ 1 million
Without Low and Aladdin Sane I really don't know where we would be right now.

Nowhere good, that's for damn sure!!!
(Station to Station as well--can you imagine???)

 

[plekan]

But "Forward" isn't always better - - Ornette Coleman, John Cage or Arnold Schoenberg leap to mind.. Can *anyone* actually listen to their music - yet they are considered master innovators that moved music "Forward" (In Coleman's case, I'm convinced that he's an example of the emperor having no knickers, but that's another discussion...)?

Again, I disagree. I listen to Ornette all the time. I think Free Jazz is one of the most beautiful albums ever. Regardless of taste though, it moved things forward. (Going into the how is another argument entirely.) And this wasnt his only great album. There are so many others that the masses find inaccessible, yet they influenced other musicians who were accessible. Others:

Sun Ra
Zorn
Mingus
Anthony Braxton
and dare I say... Schooly D or NWA?

 

[JimmyM]

sun ra i dug, ornette not so much, but i respect what he did. he went over people's heads and sometimes produced what i think of as "noise," but i really think he was expressing what he felt in his musical heart, which is all i really care about. schoenberg, however, to me was a bit of a whackjob playing up his eccentricity, and cage i think was just trying to see how much bs he could slide by the artistic elite of his day and laughing at them quietly to himself.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Yup. It's not just Ziggy Stardust. Aladdin Sane, Station to Station, Low, Heroes Lodger are enormous Scary Monsters. Not just "cool records". Musically, they have a gigantic, resounding imprint on so much that came after.

Hmmm - I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I thought that by "Low" he was phoning it in.

 

[plekan]

sun ra i dug, ornette not so much, but i respect what he did. he went over people's heads and sometimes produced what i think of as "noise," but i really think he was expressing what he felt in his musical heart, which is all i really care about. schoenberg, however, to me was a bit of a whackjob playing up his eccentricity, and cage i think was just trying to see how much bs he could slide by the artistic elite of his day and laughing at them quietly to himself.

Jimmy, that's exactly my point. The masses don't have to get what an artist is doing in order for it to move music forward. Many genius artists are looked at as very popular at the beginning and middle of their careers and by the end they do something that upsets their fan base. But is the music really bad, or are they so far ahead of us that we aren't ready for the medium that they are working in? There is a whole book written on this which is very intriguing. I do not agree with the whole thing, but he poses it as a theory, which is not foolproof. It's called the Advanced Genius Theory
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Genius-Theory-Their-Minds/dp/1439102368

Now, musicians don't have to be geniuses to move music forward. But if what Ornette was doing was noise, then what was The Art of Noise? Or how much of free jazz has influenced noise rock such as the hugely popular Animal Collective?

Schoenberg pretty much came up with a 12 tone system which revolutionized the way we use western tonal music. It also opened the flood gates to chance music and Cage. Like I mentioned before, I can't stand a lot of later Cage, but he was definitely not writing stuff that insane and laughing on the inside. He was dead serious. You have to watch some of his videos and interviews. His heart was definitely in it.

Schoenberg's disciples were very committed to taking what he did to the next level, and Berg took the 12 tone system and made it rather lyrical. Several years later we are only beginning to appreciate some of these works. Even in the classical world, artists are shunned for years. Mahler was not played in America for almost 50 years after his death. His music has been ripped off thousands of times by film scores since then.

And I hate to open the can of worms, but without Schoenberg and Cage, we probably would not have minimalism unfold the way it did leading to wonderful music of Glass, Reich, and even the ambient music of Eno. No Stockhausen either.

 

[JimmyM]

Jimmy, that's exactly my point. The masses don't have to get what an artist is doing in order for it to move music forward. Many genius artists are looked at as very popular at the beginning and middle of their careers and by the end they do something that upsets their fan base. But is the music really bad, or are they so far ahead of us that we aren't ready for the medium that they are working in? There is a whole book written on this which is very intriguing. I do not agree with the whole thing, but he poses it as a theory, which is not foolproof. It's called the Advanced Genius Theory
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Genius-Theory-Their-Minds/dp/1439102368

i've heard that before. might be merit to it. me, i tend to go along with what another great genius, huey lewis, once said..."sometimes bad is bad."

Now, musicians don't have to be geniuses to move music forward. But if what Ornette was doing was noise, then what was The Art of Noise? Or how much of free jazz has influenced noise rock such as the hugely popular Animal Collective?

don't know. only art of noise song i know of is "close to the edit," and never heard animal collective. however, there's no denying that people have followed coleman's work and used it. i may not care for it, but i'm down with what you're saying.

Schoenberg pretty much came up with a 12 tone system which revolutionized the way we use western tonal music.

i would debate that. small pockets of music at best.

It also opened the flood gates to chance music and Cage. Like I mentioned before, I can't stand a lot of later Cage, but he was definitely not writing stuff that insane and laughing on the inside. He was dead serious. You have to watch some of his videos and interviews. His heart was definitely in it.

maybe some of his prepared pianos stuff was a little more serious, but i have a theory that john cage was a very good actor

Schoenberg's disciples were very committed to taking what he did to the next level, and Berg took the 12 tone system and made it rather lyrical. Several years later we are only beginning to appreciate some of these works. Even in the classical world, artists are shunned for years. Mahler was not played in America for almost 50 years after his death. His music has been ripped off thousands of times by film scores since then.

not as familiar with mahler as i should be, quite honestly.

And I hate to open the can of worms, but without Schoenberg and Cage, we probably would not have minimalism unfold the way it did leading to wonderful music of Glass, Reich, and even the ambient music of Eno. No Stockhausen either.

ewwwww!

 

[I<34080]

Who(m) moved music:

'00s - Cocteau Twins

What? I think you're off by a few decades.

 

[Rockmusician]

Nobody has moved music forward since Hendrix....but I am just a bitter 45 year old man

Well I'm 50 and I respectfully disagree. Then again, I never liked Hendrix very much. Having said that, there hasn't been a band that has come out in the last 20 years that I have gotten excited about or made me want to buy their cd. The music industry is in a sorry state.

 

[bassinplace]

Muse, hands down. Jack White moves music...I just can`t figure out if it`s forward or backward; interesting either way.

+1. I was really sad to see the Raconteurs go. God, they were good. That Dead Weather dealio ain't half bad either though...

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Jimmy, that's exactly my point. The masses don't have to get what an artist is doing in order for it to move music forward. Many genius artists are looked at as very popular at the beginning and middle of their careers and by the end they do something that upsets their fan base. But is the music really bad, or are they so far ahead of us that we aren't ready for the medium that they are working in? There is a whole book written on this which is very intriguing. I do not agree with the whole thing, but he poses it as a theory, which is not foolproof. It's called the Advanced Genius Theory
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Genius-Theory-Their-Minds/dp/1439102368

Now, musicians don't have to be geniuses to move music forward. But if what Ornette was doing was noise, then what was The Art of Noise? Or how much of free jazz has influenced noise rock such as the hugely popular Animal Collective?

Schoenberg pretty much came up with a 12 tone system which revolutionized the way we use western tonal music. It also opened the flood gates to chance music and Cage. Like I mentioned before, I can't stand a lot of later Cage, but he was definitely not writing stuff that insane and laughing on the inside. He was dead serious. You have to watch some of his videos and interviews. His heart was definitely in it.

Schoenberg's disciples were very committed to taking what he did to the next level, and Berg took the 12 tone system and made it rather lyrical. Several years later we are only beginning to appreciate some of these works. Even in the classical world, artists are shunned for years. Mahler was not played in America for almost 50 years after his death. His music has been ripped off thousands of times by film scores since then.

And I hate to open the can of worms, but without Schoenberg and Cage, we probably would not have minimalism unfold the way it did leading to wonderful music of Glass, Reich, and even the ambient music of Eno. No Stockhausen either.

I'm with Jimmy on the Schoenberg thing - I had to study 12 tone music in college and found it... well, interesting at best. I even composed a 24 tone piece using a synth I had that did quarter tuning (yeah, aren't I all avant garde & stuff) - I got an A, but it sounded like a jet engine coming apart.

I've studied music a fair amount (less so that many on this list, no doubt) and I've concluded that there always are guys who do "interesting" stuff that isn't exactly music. No harm in that, but nor should one read too much into it.

As for Ornette - well, if you enjoy it then great. I find his music to be silly - and I have tried... LORD I have tried to embrace it. Alas...