Attention Fellow Seniors

[GaryE]

There's no accounting for tastes, but the Sixties were short. It must have been great fun to be over 11 when they ended, although my bones say they wish I'd been born 40 years after they ended. My favourite Sixties bands are the Velvet Underground, The Stones, some Motown, some Hendrix, CCR, James Brown and the KInks. Marley came later, in the seventies. Later sixties ska and rock steady were great, but reggae came in a different period.

The idea that Sixties music was the best became like an article of faith for my generation. We were constantly told by old hippies (who were over 30 and untrustworthy) that they had been part of something superior. But to my ear, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and a dozen others made blues Eric Clapton could only dream of copying. A lot of what came before and after was far better stuff, in my not humble musical opinion. Sixties music was the best for people who were there.

Who had better music is a useless debate. My British friends thought I'd know bands well that no one in North America cared about, and vice versa. There were Australian bands that never crossed the ocean. The internet has the kids listening to Korean pop and Burna Boy, and knocks out 'regional'. There are a lot of international hit factory scenes now.

Finding different bands now is like finding good fish. You need to do some homework. The Spotify algorithms hone in on my age and offer me awful stuff. But while the Archies and the Monkees were big popular Sixties bands, if you dig back, you'll find some good stuff in all eras. You'll find a lot now, and a lot then. I hated disco in the seventies, but in retrospect, there were some gems in that era. Funky town. What a bassline.

I had great fun pogoing in British punk clubs, listening to King Tubby's dubs and dancing to post punk bands, but I wouldn't say they were the greatest bands ever. I'd rather listen to them and current bands than the Beatles or Pink Floyd, but that's my generation (the early Who were good). If you're 30, it's all ancient music anyway. I don't listen to my late seventies early 80s favourites much now, but as I've aged, listen to the whole range of 1920s to 2020s. There were just as many good bands in 1954 as in 1968 and 1978 and so on. In 1968, the odd stuff went mainstream and got heard for a very short period.

Maybe my Dad was right. It all went south when the swing bands broke up after WW2.

 

[gimme30]

Who had better music is a useless debate.

Agreed. I can find something I like from any decade I might choose to explore, none being any better than the rest.

Something I find odd is that today's generation doesn't seem to have any interest in what came before. I asked a close friend if she'd ever heard any new age music and she asked 'What's new age?' She's 25. New age peaked in the late 80s, early 90s. Not THAT long ago in the overall scheme of things. She's every bit the music lover I am but has absolutely no interest in knowing a particular song she likes was actually done before and was a cover of the original to begin with. I think this is where we old timers have a leg up.
My parents listened to Jimmy Horton, Al Martino and the like. Mom liked Neil Diamond and Elvis. As a kid, I couldn't stand any of it. But it stuck with me and I eventually learned to appreciate it.
Of course, my parents think everything that came after is just noise. Pops favorite line was "TURN THAT CRAP DOWN!'

 

[fishorama]

I was surprised a younger friend said she liked "nu metal" (??) & sent me a playlist. The 1st song was 1 we knew as an "angry song" for yelling along to after a bad day, lol. But she liked some of my old punkish music too, even her young son liked a Japanese pop-punk I sent.

My husband's old bandmate sent some newer Australian punk band songs & said "this made him think of us". We liked the Chats now & were disappointed when they came to our area, we had no chance of staying up long enough to see them.

I think many bands "ripped off" early black blues musicians. Or do we call it "covers" or "paying tribute" to their styles? I still love Buddy Holly, he died too young. But his Bo Diddly beat songs were not his alone. I think of the Kinks as "proto-punks" in some ways.

My husband was insulted when I referred to 1 of "his bands" songs as "cowboy" music. Not the lyrics, but slow it down it sounded like that to me & another "band wife", lol. I also differentiate between beach music (Jan & Dean, etc) & "surf guitar" like Dick Dale, the Japanese Surf Coasters etc. It all depends on where your lifetime connections hook up into the music over time.

I "try" to keep an open mind about music I don't know. A friend sent some Lady Gaga & I did like some. I've never heard any Taylor Swift or many other current artists. It often depends on my mood. If they'd just call rap music "beat poetry" maybe I'd like it better...but I'm doubtful.

 

[gimme30]

If they'd just call rap music "beat poetry" maybe I'd like it better...but I'm doubtful.

That's a far more polite term than I'd use. It doesn't look like the study in the OP differentiated between genres but I wonder if the results would be the same for people that listen to rap exclusively. I can tolerate it in small amounts, IF it's funny.

 

[GaryE]

I read a history of the blues once, and in it, the researcher noted that genres meant nothing in the early days of recording. He'd found old radio playlists that had classical followed by jazz, then blues, then vaudeville, then the pop of the time. We divide things into needless categories.

What an artist sings matters to me. What does he or she have to say? Lyrics are important, and good songwriting is key. I like a lot of rap/ hip hop. There are some smart people working in that genre. But if you sit with me and talk about guns, hating women, boasting, religion and money, I won't want to listen to you. Put it to music, be it country, rap, metal - I still won't want to listen to you. Talk about life in a creative way and if your life is different from mine, you have my ear.

There's been a lot of really dumb writing in songs, and stuff like gangster rap is boring. I've known a few real gangsters, both of the legal and illegal variety, and wish I hadn't. They're awful people. So whatever beat you put on it, I have no interest in listening to that side of society. But turn a good phrase, come up with a sharp observation on life, have something constructive or creative to say - then you have my interest.

A song has to pass the "would you want to sit and have a conversation with this person" test. A lot of rap and hip hop does, although I'm not sure the young artists would want to have a talk with an old geezer whose mind is still thrilled at the musical explosion of 1977.

There's something in what I hear as good music that's hard to define. It's an edge, a humanity, a passion. It's there in some recordings of medieval music, and in baroque. In jazz, blues, and all the styles since. It surfaces in countless singers and bands in all genres and eras. it's a little magic I recognize, but don't know a name for.

 

[gimme30]

It all depends on where your lifetime connections hook up into the music over time.

I completely agree. Funny how hearing a certain song can take you back to the moment you heard it, regardless of when it was written or published. I like reading as much as I do listening to music but books don't have the same effect.

I've never heard any Taylor Swift or many other current artists.

I was curious about her popularity myself but none of my usual sources play that kind of stuff, so google to the rescue. I can see why she's popular with the younger crowd. I watched her tiny desk concert on youtube and came away impressed. She's a very talented young lady! Still not my thing...most 'pop' isn't, but I like this one:


Apparently she's a crossover from country music. Speaking of....
What the heck happened to country? It used to be men singing rough and tumble songs and the women doing the ballads. (generally) When did things reverse? Now it's the women who are sassy and the men are whiney little crybabies. Not that I listen to a lot of it but sheesh, if you want dementia....

But if you sit with me and talk about guns, hating women, boasting, religion and money, I won't want to listen to you.

Since you're Canadian I'll explain that one to ya.
'Murica!

 

[gimme30]

I know this thread is circling the drain but, well, this is as good a place as any to post this and appropriate to the OP. A sombering departure from their usual delta blues

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The human race has been around for a very long time and so as music in some form. But until the invention and subsequent ubiquitousness of radio and then TV/film combined with amplified instruments, music was a lot different in terms of how it was heard. The lasy 150 years have greatly changed the nature of music in terms of its breadth and appeal and of course volume.

I have listened to a variety of music styles and even working in the industry as an owber of and worker in the sound system side of things. I worked with rock, bliues, gospel, jazz, countryand even a bit of classical, We did sound system installations as well and one such was for a church, so we had to attend a service to makes sure it all worked properly.

I listen to a variety of styles today. I like turn of the century (early 1900s) jass, I like big bands from the 30s and 40s, I like a variety of rock and blues. Like everybody else I like what I like and I also do not listen to certen types of music. I am not big on opera nor classical. I do nor consider rock to be music and I am not into heavy metal etc.

If you listen t the music I post in the weekend musical treat thread, then most of it is music I like, though not all. But even if I so not like something, I am still able to know if it is quality or not. It takes ability and skill to sing well, to play any instrument well and especially to write music.