A few people have mentioned this already, but to just to highlight it one more time because it’s key: the question is what you want to get out of music. That’s where the big gulf ultimately lies in my opinion. Most people don’t ask so much out of their music. They want something they can listen to while partying or studying or working or doing whatever, and that’s about it. So they tend to gravitate to things that are, to me, ultimately cheap and disposable. Basically a product. And I just can’t deal with that stuff, one because I tend to hate how it sounds, and two because the concept of music as a product actively pisses me off. Silly as that is it’s like it insults me for making such a big deal out of music. It’s like an art lover might be offended if someone used Monet’s Lilles for toilet paper. Although Gwen Stefani is no Monet.
As time has gone on I’ve discovered I’m not as much of a rock and roll fan as I assumed I was. Most of the bands I like fall under that umbrella and I like some of it, but as I’ve been listening to classic rock radio at work lately - which I do only because the CD/tape player doesn’t work, and because I can only listen to so much sports radio or the weirder college radio stuff - I find I’m actually pretty contemptuous of a lot of it. I don’t mind at all if people still dig the music of their youth, but it’s like there’s a lot of resistance to change, and that just makes things stale. Also the way it constantly celebrates itself is I guess a little wearying.
I appreciate everyone’s comments based on my rambling OP. I consider myself someone with pretty diverse musical tastes–I’ve loved jazz since my teen years, I know more about hip-hop than any of my friends, and I even appreciate country (either the old-school stuff like Johnny and Patsy, or recent alt-country, but not the poppy radio pap). In recent years I’ve discovered older rock I never appreciated or knew about as a teen (Waits, Bowie, Costello, Jackson) and discovered tons of new artists (Belle and Sebastian, the Shins, Neko Case, etc).
Along those lines, I hate most classic rock simply because it’s been played to death, and I’ll never have patience for the adult contemporary and New Age music of the world. I couldn’t help pondering who gets into that stuff in the first place, and if they actually like it, or feel that they’re old enough and settled enough in life to buy a bunch of Josh Groban CDs and write off the White Stripes and the Raveonettes as scary and alien and “children’s music.” I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s replies so far, and I’m glad to know I probably won’t wake up on my 40th birthday as a Yanni fan.
To clear one thing up, I wasn’t saying there weren’t any innovations in music in the 1980s (for the most part they weren’t terribly inventive; playing the same music faster or cranking the distrortion up), but since then. And there were all manner of electronic, ‘industrial,’ crunchy metal and so forth bands on small labels in the 80s.
“Old Man Going” is psychedelic?! It’s just a hard rock sound, and the type of thing that’s been imitated for decades now. It’s hard to say that “grunge” is a new genre of music; it’s just hard rock. The Pink Fairies recorded stuff in 1971 that Sub-Pop could put out now as a new band without anyone giving it a second thought. So are all of the other “alternative” bands… just hard rock. The Wax Trax label has been releasing electro-industrial stuff since around 1982. Any conceivable combination of loud, distorted, fast and angry was done before the end of the 80s (Tad, Tit Wrench, a thousand other small bands…). You get major labels picking it up in the early 90s, but that’s not innovation.
As I said, I only got to listen to a small clip, courtesy of allmusic.com. However, I just checked around and found this song also on an album called “The Pretty Things – The Psychedelic Years,” so apprently I’m not the only one to make the connection. I consider bands like the Who, the Zombies, and the Soft Boys as having large elements of British Psychedelia in their music. Perhaps you disagree. But that’s what I heard in “Old Man Going.”
I still think that electronica, as a whole, has only been coming into its own in the 90s and 00s. Sure, little electronica acts existed in the 80s, but I think the main innovations in the genre occured in the 90s and perhaps are still occurring. And part of the reason for that is accessibility to technology.
I think you’re right in saying that rock has almost been played out. With most genres, it seems that the most fertile period of experimentation occurs within ten to twenty years of it gaining mainstream appeal. But there’s still a lot of new ground to be covered, although innovation will happen less slowly because the genre isn’t as fresh anymore. I still think electronica, for one, has a ways to go before being played out–regardless whether you think Brian Eno or Kraftwerk had done it all before, they haven’t. They just laid down the foundation for the genre. Just like Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin’ Wolf may have laid down the foundation for the Rolling Stones, it doesn’t mean what they were doing was rock music in the sense of the Stones. By the same token, Aphex Twin isn’t Psychic TV or Einstürzende Neubauten or any other electronic or industrial act you can think of in the 80s. Sure, their music may have developed out of those influences, and influences stretching further back like Eno et al, but I feel their musical genre is quite distinct.
When I first heard the term “post-rock” about a year ago, I dismissed it, but in the time since then I’ve realized that it makes sense. “Rock” is a very elastic label, but at some point there has to be something beyond it and somebody has to start playing it.
Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Talking Heads/David Byrne, U2, Daniel Lanois, REM, XTC, Kate Bush, King Crimson, The Police, The Pretenders, just to mention a few, were all in their prime putting out amazing if not ground-breaking music.
Sampling/digital recording was the big up and coming technology - for those that could afford it. By the end of the decade most people could.
“World Music” was making more inroads into popular music.
I’m 47. I think what’s happening with me may be fairly typical for those who are more in the ‘live-and-breathe music’ category…which is that I still like to find out about new music, but I don’t really care about keeping up. After all, I’m not working in a record store.
Also, in my particular case, like someone mentioned already, I find my tastes growing to include jazz and jazz vocals, to which I"d never paid attention before.
From the sounds of it, you might just end up forming “a mid-life-crisis rock band” (thanks for the definition, Wordman). Along with Wordman’s unnamed act (how about a link, buddy?), and An Arky’s Yell Country… last year, I found myself being in a band again for the first time in 16 years: The Nervous Breakdowns. Are there any other mid-life-crisis rock bands out there in Dopeland?
Well I’d love to put a band together again, once I am finished studying for the Bar Exam at the end of July. The time I spent in my ska-punk band in college was among the happiest of my life, and I really miss practicing regularly, playing with other musicians, and especially performing gigs.
My band’s name is The Weekenders - we don’t have a site to link to - we play in local bars and at local fundraisers. We are playing at our town’s Street Fair in about 10 days - should be a ton of fun since the kids go nuts…what I love about the band is the guys are just great guys to hang out with and my rhythm section are seasoned pros each with over 20 years of band and touring experience, record deals, etc…really a joy to play with, even if we are knockin’ out cover songs…
Well, I’m 26, and if anything, I’m becoming more interested in music. A lot of that might have to do with having more disposable income yet no depdendents to spend it on. Just yesterday, I got albums by LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, and this awesome, awesome Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A..
I’ve been a “music person” pretty much since high school, but now I’m finding that I’m actually hearing about bands and owning their albums before they score so much as a blip on the mainstream radar. (Introducing people to Arcade Fire has been one of my life’s goals since October 2004.)
WordMan, excellent post. My mom is very much someone for whom Music Once Mattered. I grew up knowing that my mom listened to Journey and Neil Diamond, so I about had a heart attack when we were watching a segment about the MC5 on some VH1 countdown show and the woman yells out, “Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!!” Something shocking dawned on me: My mom was once cool. She was seeing the MC5 in dank Detroit clubs back when that was the thing to do.
(And I ended up liking both Journey and Neil Diamond, though my enjoyment of both is fueled more by irony than sincere appreciation. That said, “Don’t Stop Believing” is one of the best pop-rock anthems of the past 30 years.)
Keep in mind also that a lot of people can’t understand anyone who is “into” something a little out of the ordinary. It’s like there’s a small approved list of things you can be obsessed with and outside that people think you’re a little weird. Guys can be into sports, cars, and golf. Women have a similarly short list of “approved” obsessions. Someone who is into, say, the Civil War is probably going to get just as many odd looks when he talks about some battle he’s been studying as I might get when I’m talking about The Arcade Fire.
Well said - that is the point I was trying to make about being in a work setting - there is a grind to having to make sure you smooth off your rough edges and try to avoid presenting the “wrong impression” - whatever that means.
It is kind of like high school all over again - everyone MUST be vanilla and any deviation from that is fodder for talk. So you suffer in high school, find a sense of yourself in your early 20’s, then have to go below the radar again.
Which is why mid-life crises tend to happen…
NOTE: you DON’T have to choose this way - it is just one possible future, right? I basically did choose this way and hated it - but have found a better path for now…
I’m 53 and I have been buying music for 30 odd years and am always finding new stuff I like, recently Green Day and White Stripes and Ben Folds and NIN. Because I live in Australia I have no problem keeping up with modern music because the radio station I have listened to for 20 years plays it all. Triple J is a government funded station available all over the country and they stay right at the forefront of what is going on. I am pretty sure it is the best music/culture radio station on earth. They broadcast over the net. They aren’t what I play at work but they are what I play in the car and at home.
Here is their current list of songs on high rotation:
Antony & The Johnsons For Today I Am A Boy
Apsci See That?
The Arcade Fire Une Annee Sans Lumiere
Architecture In Helsinki Wishbone
Asian Dub Foundation Fly Over
Audio Bullys Shot You Down
Audioslave Your Time Has Come
Be Your Own Pet Damn Damn Leash
Beck Que Onda Guero
Ben Lee Close I’Ve Come
Black Mountain Druganaught
The Books Smells Like Content
Boom Bip Do’s & Don’TS
Brilliant Fanzine One In 10,000
Busdriver Unemployed Black Astronaught
Caged Baby Hello There
The Cants Rebel’s Roost
The Cat Empire Party Started
Chris Joss Wrong Alley Street
Chris Joss You’Ve Been Spiked
Cog My Enemy
Coldplay Speed Of Sound
Combat Wombat
The Coral In The Morning
Dappled Cities Fly Die In Your Eyes
Daughterboy Jao One Last Time
The Decemberists 16 Military Wives
Deep Dish Say Hello
The Detroit Cobras Hotdog Shock
DJ Format 3 Feet Deep
The Drones Sharkfin Blues
Edan Fumbling Over Words…
Emiliana Torrini Sunny Road Rough Trade
Faker The Familiar
Fdel Ladies And Gentlemen
Foo Fighters Best Of You
Four Tet Smile Around The Face
The Futureheads Hounds Of Love
Go-Betweens Here Comes A City
Gorillaz Dirty Harry
Gorillaz Feel Good Inc
Hilltop Hoods Twilight
Hundred Strong Hardcore Poetry
Indigenous Intrudaz Reprezent
Interpol C’Mere
Jean Grae P.s.
Juliet Avalon
K-Os Crabbuckit
Kaiser Chiefs Everyday I Love You…
Kid Confucius Words
Layla Sugar Trails
Lazyboy Police Dogs Bonfire
Led Zeppelin Immigrant Song
Lemon Jelly The Shouty Track
Little Barrie Long Hair (Remix)
Live@Subs Holiday In Japan
The Lucksmiths The Chapter In Your Life…
M.I.A Amazon
Malente Funk The Rich Creative
The Mars Volta L’Via L’Viaquez
Martha Wainwright Bloody Mother…
MC Lars Mr Raven
Mel Robinson Rain
The Mess Hall Disco 1
Michael Franti Love Me Unique
Mneumonic Ascent Hold Back
Moby Raining Again
Morcheeba Wonders Never Cease
The Mountain Goats Dance Music
Mountains In The Sky Noah’s Arkestra
Muph & Plutonic Paracetamol
Neon Dizziness
Nine Inch Nails The Hand That Feeds
Nitin Sawhney Dead Man
Out Hud It’s For You
The Panda Band Then You Appear
Peabody Wrecking Ball
Peanut Butter Wolf Umbrellas
The Pictures Pissin’ With The Catman
Poxy Music Our Break
The Red Paintings Walls
Roots Manuva Too Cold
Ryan Adams Let It Ride
Sage Francis Sea Lion
Shihad All The Young…
Sophie Koh Anywhere
System Of A Down B.Y.O.B.
System Of A Down Revenga
Tambalane Little Miss Liar
Ted Leo The Angel’s Share
Time Machine A Million & One Things…
Transport Sunday Driver
Treetops Gospel
Tucker B’s The Turning
Turbonegro All My Friends Are Dead
Unkle Ho Grace Of The Guru
White Stripes Blue Orchid
Wolfmother Apple Tree
Yep, I’m Paxyl. Yep, it is pretty damn fun. dont ask… the CBC here in Canada also does a pretty good job of playing newer and uncommon songs. Check out their web site CBC Radio 3. They also have a free site where indie Canadian bands can upload mp3’s and band info… New Music Canada
I’m gonna check out Triple J online, happy to find out about it.
I’m a 34-year old computer-tech type guy with a wife, a kid, two dogs, and a mortgage, yet I find myself turning up the radio far too loudly to listen to Beastie Boys and The Prodigy. Just because you are growing older doesn’t mean your tastes in music have to.
I don’t “collect” music the way that some people do because when I was younger, I just didn’t have the money(I had quite a few LPs/cassettes, but most of the time, I checked out music from the library). When I got older, I sold my LPs and cassettes when I got more and more CDs, but I also sold a lot of CDs. So, I don’t have as much as I could have.
As for music tastes, they vary and most genres are like waves. I never hate a genre I once loved, but interest can wane in favor of other genres, and then change back. Only electronic music has remained as a sustained “genre of choice”. I doubt that’ll change when I get older.
