The younger generation...is there any hope (1 Viewer)

[Dome Vongvises]

This is not a rant per se, but more of a rhetorical question (I don't think I have the definition right, but fuck it, I'm not getting paid to remember).

I can honestly say one of the things I can be thankful for with my parents is my music education. I can remember long road trips where we would listen to Creedance Clearwater Revival, Bread, Simon & Garfunkel, the Bee Gees (their old stuff like "New York Mining Disaster"), Cliff Richard, Elvis Presley, The Dave Clark Five (?), The Beach Boys, The Eagles, and you guessed it, the Beatles. And I'm still leaving out a whole bunch of other things.

As I grew up, I started to discover my own generation's music. There was that period with Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Live, The Dave Matthews Band, and The Offspring. I also went the other way and discovered the following artists on my own like AC/DC (their older catalogue), Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac (funny story, I used to make fun of people for listening to Mac, now I love those guys), Led Zeppelin, Cream, and Pink Floyd, just to name a few.

I go through my dad's old records, and there's still crap I haven't even touched yet. I remember him telling me about Steely Dan, and I was like, "Who?" and he was like, "eh, they're okay, but too loud for me."

I look at music today, and I'm thinking, "well, there are some okay stuff here, but is it really going to stand the test of time?" Hell, even pop music like Michael Jackson's stuff is still around, but I don't think Britney and Duff stuff is going to be around much longer.

I'm still finding out older stuff like The Band, Allman Brothers, and even country like Merle Haggard and Hank Williams Sr. The only rap I listen to today is probably Outkast. Otherwise, for every rap hit out there, I still go back to Run DMC, Easy E, and Snoop's and Tupac's stuff. "Rubber Band Man" is absolutely terrible.

At least my little sister knows what "Immigrant Song" is now. It's fun to sing along.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Don't forget The Doors!


who/what is Duff anyway?

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Hilary.

And The Doors? Dig their music, especially my senior year of college.

 

[Evan S]

To answer your question, the answer is NO.

I can't stand most of the crap out there today and often get blank stares from friends when I want to put on an obscure, but great album, from someone they don't know or never heard of.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Yeah, yeah, kids today, etc.

As far as I'm concerned, Americans lost their way musically when they rejected their greatest art form, jazz.

See, I can out-fuddy-duddy the lot of you.

 

[Rachael B]

My dad made us listen to all those totally dead dudes like: Mozart...his fav, Ravel, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and the several Bachs.

 

[ThomasC]

I'm guessing you don't think Norah Jones isn't good enough. Sarah McLachlan and Aimee Mann are still going, and I think they'll stand the test of time. Sure, I don't think most of the current artists are going to make the historic greats, but then most artists don't.

 

[NickSo]

Hey, I'm 18, and I appreciate good music, just recently ive been listening to my dad's CD's and Vinyls more than my dad!

The Beatles were one of the first bands i really started enjoying... I've recently really started getting into Pink Floyd, and i've also listened to a lot of Queen, and The Eagles before...

Though i almost never listen to the radio anymore, i still enjoy some more 'mainstream' music, but not as much as the rest of my peers.

So, I hope i have some... er, hope... As for the rest of the younger generation... yeah its hopeless

 

[TheLongshot]

It's the same story with every generation. We like the popular music of our generation, and we don't appriciate our parents music until we are adults, and we think current music is crap. Nothing much changes.

Sure, there is going to be music that stands the test of time that is made right now. There was also music that was completely forgetable 20-30 years ago.

Jason

 

[Dome Vongvises]

And if I knew how to operate my dad's stereo without making it explode, I would too.

 

[Pamela]

I'm an old fart and I am more interested in the new stuff than the old stuff. Sure, I still listen Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles on occasion, but I find myself craving the new music. And I don't find it to be crap. Of course, I'm not into mainstream pop, per se. No top 40 for me. But I think there is a lot of interesting and vital music out there.



Don't forget, every generation has their "teeny bopper" throwaway music. Back in my day, it was Bobby Sherman, David Cassidy and Donnie Osmond (I guess I've just dated myself!). :b

 

[gene c]

I have a couple of uncles who still listen to big band music (the stuff before 1950) and then there is adult contempory from the next period, like Andy Williams and Frank Sinatra that is still popular in some circles. There has also been forgettable music from every generation, including todays. The problem with todays music is that it has so much to compete with. Play Stations, big buck movies, computers, 230 channels of sh*t on the TV, the internet etc. We old-timers didn't have any of that stuff. Music was pretty much it. Not much else to spend our hard earned allowance on. I have a 13 year old nephew who doesn't listen to music at all. Computers and video games are what he's into. And I'm sure 25-30 years from now (depending on what year this is!) when I'm 70, I will still be rockin' out to "Boston". In my rockin' chair of course! Gene

 

[Dome Vongvises]

David Cassidy and Donnie Osmond? Yep, you sure dated yourself there.

But musical history's a funny thing. You can appreciate the jokes much better.



I wonder what brand of dentures would be good for Foreplay/Long Time?

 

[gene c]

I'm thinking "implants" instead of dentures .

 

[Yee-Ming]

Nice going Nick!

Being a child of the 80s, listening to Queen and the Eagles' contemporary stuff was a no-brainer, but that led me to exploring the back catalog from the 70s.

Pink Floyd, on the other hand, I only first heard in the final year of college (92). Well done young man for picking up on one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, rock bands ever at such an early age (relatively speaking)! Considering how "uncool" the Floyd must be by now amongst teens, no mean feat!

Then again, hanging around HTF with us "fuddy duddies" is going to do that to ya...

 

[David_Stein]

the problem isnt so much the music of the younger generation, but the lust for power/profits of our parents generation (and the generation before them) who now own all the companies and are hellbent on consolidating the control of the mainstream media into a small oligarchy.

as people have already mentioned, there is plenty of throwaway music (and typically the looks of the singer/members are more important than the actual music) in every generation, but today they are all thats played on radio/mtv/etc because they are "marketable". everynow and again a radiohead or a QOTSA makes the cut, but why didnt Kyuss get a chance?

there were TONS of great records out there (off the top of my head these bands put out great records in 2003: ligtning bolt, ted leo, the postal service, the shins), and at least one or two of them will stand the test of time for those who actually listened to them. its a shame more people didnt have the chance. its a shame a band has to go platinum for their label to care. its a shame there arent more people who legitimately love music running the labels.

 

[David_Stein]

oh crap, i forgot to mention The Kickass. this band is so amazingly good. here is a review of their 2003 album: Death Metal is for Pussies:

"Math-metal-instrumental-electro-dreamy-sketchy-weird-keyboard-crazy-riffy-radical--this is The Kickass. Don Caballero meets The F--king Champs. The songs on this album are impossibly technical and long. This is some serious mathed-out, drum solo, guitar-wizard shit."

if you have ever heard don cab or the f--cking champs you will realize just how good this band must be. when i saw them live they were sooo tight.

i think i am going to start a one man HTF push to make people listen to them, here are some mp3s (linked from their site):
Catch On 11
Strongest Dead Man Alive

there may or may not be any hope for the music listeners of this generation, but there is certainly some hope for the music.

 

[Alex-C]

There's plenty of good music out there. It's just not on the radio. You have to know where to look and listen but its out there.

 

[NickSo]

Yeah, I dont know, one day their music just 'clicked'... I've heard my dad listen to them while i was growing up, i knew how their songs sounded, but didnt pay much attention... But one day i just decided to throw it in and... *click* a light came on, and wow, this stuff is awesome.

During high school, i didnt even go near the older stuff my dad listened to, but now ive totally started going back to older stuff, and discovering stuff on my own (picked up Nellie Mckay's album this past weekend, )

David: Funny you mention it, I was just planning on picking up THE SHINS' new album soon (i havent heard them before, but from a short demo session a few weeks ago they seemed pretty okay)... Just too bad the big chain electronics store with the low prices dont carry it, only the smaller ones do, but prices are higher :frowning:

I think one of the main reasons why teenagers today aren't finding all that good music out there is because when they listen to the radio, they hear the songs they like, and they go and DOWNLOAD the singles. They dont buy (or even bother downloading) the whole album. SO they're in a never ending cycle of only listening to radio, top 40 music.
One of the ways, i think, people can begin to expand their musical horizons is to listen to the whole album of an artist. Then when you hear something slightly different from the artist (thats not similar to their hit singles), you may go and look for other artists who have a similar sound to that particular song, and then you gradually branch out to new music that you dont hear on the radio.

 

[David_Stein]

I agree with Nick here to a point. The first step is listening to the whole album of an artist, but i feel the real reason is that its about beimg willing to listen to music that is different from your friends. obviously the easiest (safest) way to do that is to find another "good" song on any particular album, once you have made that seperation (without being chastized by your group of friends, presumably) its then makes the next step (finding similar artists) that much easier, especially if you get the reputation among your friends as "the one whose good at finding new music).

im not saying that i agree with this. i would much rather people just have a backbone and do their own thing, but thats not how joe6pack operates, especially when hes joe-adolescence-raging-insecurities-6pack, but that is one way.

and nick, wrt the shins: you should be able to find them in some big chain stores because they are on subpop which has been either distributed by or owned by a major since the time of nirvana (at least). While i certainly stand by their 2003 album "chutes too narrow" as being a great lo-fi indie pop album (perhaps even more lo-fi than its predecessor), I think i would recommend you get their 2001 album "oh, inverted world" first, if for no other reason than i think the first song "caring is creepy" is perhaps a perfect song.

other notable artists on subpop right now are:
1) Iron and Wine: soft/quiet folk music courtesy of one guy and his guitar from florida. dude has a beard.
2) the postal service: sugary sweet synth pop music with sugary sweet lyrics from a duo (singer from death cab for cutie *boring* and the guy who records as dntel *interesting, though not something i listen to on the regular*) who were never in the same studio as each other, hence their name.
3) david cross: one of the comedians behind Mr. Show, doing standup. most of his material is of a political nature, but it is still comedy.