Kick out the jams and rock the block

[GaryE]

Most of the better bands and musicians these days are on smaller or independent labels, many even start their own record label. They do it for the love of it and to create art.

To me, that's it. There are a lot of bands now I love. But almost all run themselves or are on small labels. They don't get invited to the grammys. And they get by - few become super wealthy. They play small clubs.

I find pop from the sixties, 70s, 80, 90s 00s, and now to be generally pretty bad, with a few exceptions every year. We've discussed before - I don't think 60s music was better than bands now, or bands in the decades that followed. There was an opening for bands and talented people got through and got heard. Bob Dylan or the Kinks did something different, and the industry then supported that. It doesn't happen now. Great songwriters often don't get heard much.

For a very short time, the creative edge was in the centre, and mainstream included some surprising musicians and writers, and not just music business algorithms. If you look at the old hit parade, the Archies and other manufactured bands did very well too. The industry music sold a lot in the 60s. I never once heard Little Feat on the radio, and where I worked, it was rock radio every day. I didn't know that band til I followed the leads in the other thread.

I worked in a factory for $2,25 an hour, and an LP cost $4.99. But shows were far cheaper until it all went corporate.

I think it's pretty normal I'm a musical dinosaur who doesn't get most current pop. I like Bad Bunny, but not many other hitmakers. I'm old and my tastes are from the past century. My Dad thought electric guitars were gimmicks, and that music ended when ww2 did. That's what happens. We all love the music of our youth because it was part of the fun of being young. It doesn't make it better.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Again I'm lucky to have grown up in Chicago and I was able to listen to 93.1 WXRT. Their format hasn't changed, and many of the DR'S from my teen and young adult years are still there. I listen to them on the internet now.
I just took a couple of screen shots from the songs played in the last few hours. Look at the variety of artists. You never know what you'll hear, including one William Shatner apparently.

 

[fishorama]

My husband is, or was, a guitar & bass player & a big Hendrix fan. We both liked Monte Mongomery's Little Wing. He started by saying "that sounds like a Martin guitar" to "I might like this better than Jimi's". Both are high praise indeed & I didn't have to play "name that guitar" for acoustics, lol. We also liked the 1st Urge song for at least half, it got a bit repetitive. Punk made us have short song attention spans.

Blue Oyster Cult is a long time fav we've seen many times, I may have said. Some early stuff is what I'd call metal (as opposed to "nu metal", a term I didn't know before Cass told me). Often more straight rock with a few pop songs & dirge-y 1s., they're much more than "Don't Fear the Reaper". We sang "Pretty Girls" to our lovebirds, we all loved its pop lyrics! Sometimes angry music fits the mood like Godsmack & Limp Bizket but not often.

We're often stuck in the 60s-80s for our happy tunes. Motown, rock, pop, punk, ska...& Bugs Bunny for opera & jazz. Music is memories!! Let the good times roll as the Cars sang.