Bruce wrote:Henrik wrote:
Someone wrote:Bruce, I'm just hoping that you will say to yourself......you know, the forumers are right. I pretty much only listen to old music. My lists of favorites have a couple of token 80s-10s items here and there, but by and large I only really like music done before 19xx. From there maybe you try and figure out why this is.
I know why it is. I knew why it was long before I ever came to this forum. I started not to like much current music anymore 40 years ago in 1974. There was somewhat of a revival in the late 70s and early 80s with new wave and some R&B and funk, but by 1985 or so there was little that appealed to me anymore. One of the biggest reasons is the influence of acts like the Velvet Underground on much of the white rock and roll of the late 80s and beyond. Since I've never had any interest in lyrics I do not like the fact that musical acts in the modern era feel that it's important to have a "point of view" in their music, and that most acts insist on writing their own songs for this reason. I much prefer to hear song stylists like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sinatra, Crosby, and others who were not songwriters. Not every musician has songwriting ability. Most don't have any songwriting ability. The skill of playing an instrument and/or singing is an entirely different skill than songwriting.
I prefer the eras of music where most of the great songwriters were not performers, and vice versa.
I know this won't go over well here, but I think one of the main things that ruined music for me was music critics. Their insistence in analyzing the lyrics and supposed meanings of songs slowly but surely made the performers feel like this was very important. Instead of just being entertainers like Johnny Cash, Little Richard. mJerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, BB king, mand most acts from that generation, the performers all wanted to be looked at the way that Bob Dylan is looked at in this article.
http://musichistorian.tumblr.com/post/2 ... len-willis
I have ZERO interest in this kind of stuff. And this is what music has become in the past 30 years or so. Even in black music, where in the past it was mainly about rhythms and harmony, hip hop is now more about each acts words than anything else.
Give me a jam like "Cold Sweat" or "Doing It To Death" with meaningless words and great grooves anytime over ANY "message" music.
Then this is the wrong forum for you, pal. I suggest you just leave, since this forum is all about what you just suggested.
Though I would like to say that, aside from your Henrik example, there are plenty of people on this forum who enjoy older music from before the Beatles/Dylan era. Nicolas, Honorio, Romain, Mindrocker, Jonathan, myself... there are probably many more who don't post regularly as well. The thing is though, all of us listen to everything, from every era, every style, every genre, and know that certain music genres and styles have a emphasis on certain musical elements.
It is all music, though, and great music at that. This is what this forum most appreciates, regardless of whether we all enjoy the exact same kinds of music or not. Henry and Moonbeam are polar opposites in terms of tastes, but they still can respect each other's views without having to belittle the other. I really don't like Kanye that much at all, and neither does, say, Jirin, but do you see either of us injecting ad hominem attacks into our expressions of dislike to his fans on this forum?
Everybody here would be willing to listen to your arguments, if you didn't: A) Be so rude and condescending in your expression of those arguments and B) Would be more open-minded to their favorite modern music.
And BTW, if you had followed the former, you may not have been as pressured by others to follow the latter. Just a suggestion though...