Music: the greatest generation.

[Bruce Kritzler]

How about the Pogues?

[26mi235]

A couple others that I think of are also women: Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs, then solo) and Nancy Griffith.

[26mi235]

After going to a Leonard Cohen concert last night (two 1.5-hour sets at age 78!), I'm reminded that he's right up there with Dylan as a poet.

Oh, and what a voice! (although some would construe it as lack thereof)

I have always liked Leonard Cohen (when I was growing up we had a album or two from him, circa 1960). I think his recordings of late are a little too late for even his voice, however, and I prefer ones from at least the 1990s.

[Dutra5]

And there have been plenty of great singer-songwriters in the last 20 years, just like in 60s and 70s. While it is true that you have to search for them, it is also far easier to search today compared to '60s and '70s.

In my experience not remotely true, I still say singer/song writers is today mostly a lost art.

Then that means you are not searching hard enough. And that's okay. You don't have to.

Three "singer-songwriters" (though they all play with back-up bands!) of the past 20 years....all women....are....

Alanis Morissette (Had MEGA-best selling CD --Jagged Little Pill--in 1995, and several CD's since. Writes mainly of love gone bad....with anger and retribution in her stark and eloquent lyrics.

Sheryl Crow has been around since the early 90's, I believe, and is fairly well known. She, IMO, has had a hit-or-miss career....and was once intimately aligned with Lance Armstrong!! My favorite song of hers is "Everyday is a Winding Road"....and I love the CD that song was on.

The third is Lucinda Williams...now close to 60 years old (57 or 58??)...whose biggest selling CD was "Car Wheels On a Gravel Road"!! There's a great 2-disc CD of a live concert she played at the Fillmore in SF in the late 90's!! A must....it includes versions of most of her "greatest hits" from the 90's. Her latest CD came out earlier this year.

Conor Oberts (Bright Eyes), Adele, David Gray, Taylor Swift, Jewel, Amy Winehouse, Norah Jones, Ryan Adams, Tori Amos, Matt Nathanson and a boatload of others.

The issue isn't that singer songwriters aren't around. It's that the music industry is so fractured in the presentation that we are basically limited to our own soundtrack.

[rhymans]

gh - is flogging molly a group or a euphemism?

[skiboo]

I've got no beef against rap- it's just a different form and a lot of the lyric is really clever- but there's no melody to the 'music' anymore.

To me, that means it's not music.

I always thought rap was the "music" that lost a letter.

[skiboo]

I'm reminded of the joke about how they came up with a new form of music that combines country with rap and called it crap . . .

Didn't see your post prior to mine above.

[rsb2]

I'm reminded of the joke about how they came up with a new form of music that combines country with rap and called it crap . . .

Didn't see your post prior to mine above.

If you can't find something to like within the length and breadth of "country" music, you need counselling, or perhaps you are beyond help!

[Marlow]

If you can't find something to like within the length and breadth of "country" music, you need counselling, or perhaps you are beyond help!

Where and when it intersects pop/rock, I like it, but REAL country music? Not so much. When I'm flipping stations in the car, as soon as I hear a fiddle or a whiny slide guitar (as opposed to what Eddie or Keith can do), or 'my dog, Blue', I'm outta there!!

[kuha]

On this general subject, anyone who doesn't know about & use allmusic.com is really missing out. An amazing resource.

[rsb2]

Dr. Marlow, I presume, of course musical appreciation has a considerable subjective element attached. But, just to gently joust, you could listen to country music for many hours without a mention of a dog, or a pickup truck for that matter. Also, I would suggest that the best country pickers and players, of whatever instrument, are extremely good and would rank with the best instrumentalists of any genre, regardless of whether You like that particular sound or not... just sayin' !

[gh]

heaven is finding a station that plays classic country

[tandfman]

heaven is finding a station that plays classic country

I wouldn't go that far, but I agree that classic country beats the hybrids.

[Marlow]

I would suggest that the best country pickers and players, of whatever instrument, are extremely good and would rank with the best instrumentalists of any genre, regardless of whether You like that particular sound or not... just sayin' !

Totally agree. The same could be said, of course, of almost every genre. One of the best musicians I ever saw was playing bluegrass. Cellists to fiddlers, it's all good!

[no one]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23XD7zNvQSA

one of the real big men
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_DKWlrA24k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUv-4dNX6Jw

more danny - bluesy - sounds a bit like Link Wray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32IryQtd5W4

tommy emmanuel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo8U20LicdU

this is magic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x346VoDX3pA

jj
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlppIdtLw5A

princely solo with big names
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_2tSGxGnJQ

and I'm classic R&R fan actually

[rsb2]

Thanks - some great music there. And the affiliated links lead to many of the greatest guitar players !

[no one]

hopefully some tasty snacks

just entertainment - talent I think - we'll see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fviQQ03fq0I

beatnik mood music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IhqYu8RRlk

somethin about this guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPnOEiehONQ

some more big names here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzePqXEJrBY

more easy blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx3yXUunEq8

plain ol slow pace R&R - listen for piano and horn section -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUv-4dNX6Jw

lou - garage band goes new york fm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FdWPeHFAMk

pipes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJv4KiPJkcs

rock plays classic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZVebSr-MFM

I like this version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Odigi-IYA

easy listnin and not a bad video either
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Odigi-IYA

okay - I'm done .... for now?

[lovetorun]

Lots of good discussion re: music preferences in this thread...but I have to say it's interesting (and slightly frustrating to me) that, except for the first of 86 responses, no one really addressed the thesis of my post!

[rsb2]

Still dodging your question (not really , but just watching a PBS show called "Folk Rewind", 2 hours reviewing 1960's folk music, and really enjoying it !

[gh]

Sevendutst is a fine band. Here's a quick cross-section of my favorite styles:

Blind Guardian (Germany) "Euro" Power Metal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AfNOKQdY-U

Cage (USA) "American" Power Metal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT7qIc5VXQg

Antestor (Norway) Black Metal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT7qIc5VXQg

Mortification (Australia) Death Metal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=194oXgDULCg

Tyr (Faroe Islands) Viking Metal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRKqd4CLSmI

Warbeast (USA) - Thrash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVSyIWIfqlw

Crescent Shield (USA) "Traditional" Heavy Metal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx0zuanWrRw


There are SO many bands out there. This short list is painfully limited, but it gives one an idea what I'm into and what's out there.

And the ultimate Xmas song: Jingle Bells by Austrian Death Machine !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MntZ2oPDPnM

[Marlow]

Lots of good discussion re: music preferences in this thread...but I have to say it's interesting (and slightly frustrating to me) that, except for the first of 86 responses, no one really addressed the thesis of my post!

To wit:

the 1960's and 70's produced the greatest music.

By and large, we are all stuck in the music of our teens and 20s, and since the 60s-70s represent exactly that to me, of course I agree. But what you're reading in this thread is that not everyone is a Baby Boomer with post-50s/pre-90s (I love the 80s stuff too) predilections. As it should be.

[tandfman]

By and large, we are all stuck in the music of our teens and 20s

That's probably true, but at some point some of us find music that is timeless. I was very, very much into the popular music of my time until about when I was 15. At that point, I discovered classical music. Then about 6-7 years later, I discovered opera. I've listened to almost nothing else since. I think classical jazz may be a similar genre that can hook anyone, regardless of age or generation.

[kuha]

By and large, we are all stuck in the music of our teens and 20s

This is largely, but not entirely true. It is clear that we are strongly SHAPED by what was current when we "came of age" mentally. There's no getting around that. However, there is never any need to STOP there, and many folks obviously do not. I certainly agree that there is a "comfort factor" with the music that was hip when I was 14 to 20 years of age. However, as others have stated, any larger interest in music will (or "should") lead to many more discoveries--including the vitality of what's happening NOW and the "timeless" appeal of classical, jazz, opera, and any number of other great genres. It's the sheer variety & quality of any/all of this that is so exciting.

[Conor Dary]

By and large, we are all stuck in the music of our teens and 20s

This is largely, but not entirely true. It is clear that we are strongly SHAPED by what was current when we "came of age" mentally. There's no getting around that. However, there is never any need to STOP there, and many folks obviously do not. I certainly agree that there is a "comfort factor" with the music that was hip when I was 14 to 20 years of age. However, as others have stated, any larger interest in music will (or "should") lead to many more discoveries--including the vitality of what's happening NOW and the "timeless" appeal of classical, jazz, opera, and any number of other great genres. It's the sheer variety & quality of any/all of this that is so exciting.

How true. As tandfman notes, you get introduced to new music like classical, jazz and the Ring, stuff I never listened to much when I was a teenager. It is like saying the friends you are stuck with for life are the ones had when you were 20.

[Marlow]

the "timeless" appeal of classical, jazz, opera, and any number of other great genres. It's the sheer variety & quality of any/all of this that is so exciting.

I guess I suffer from severe aesthetic arrested development, because in college I tried to cultivate an appreciation for all three and failed miserably, primarily because none of them have given me the visceral effect that classic rock does. Rock . . . rocks me like nothing else . . . my father listened to swing and jazz, my mom listened to classical, folk and contemporary pop (Sinatra, etc. ), but all of that leaves me cold. C'est la vie.

On the other hand, I love this, which is classical, pop and jazz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLTJ2ykad-k

[Pego]

By and large, we are all stuck in the music of our teens and 20s

That's probably true, but at some point some of us find music that is timeless. I was very, very much into the popular music of my time until about when I was 15. At that point, I discovered classical music. Then about 6-7 years later, I discovered opera. I've listened to almost nothing else since. I think classical jazz may be a similar genre that can hook anyone, regardless of age or generation.

Yes, for me it is classical, opera and classical jazz.

[kuha]

I guess I suffer from severe aesthetic arrested development, because in college I tried to cultivate an appreciation for all three and failed miserably, primarily because none of them have given me the visceral effect that classic rock does.

That may be just fine. No one HAS to like everything, obviously! Our larger point is that tastes can grow/evolve with age. You're not the same person now that you were in college--right?. Is your taste in other things (food; movies; books; whatever) the same as it was then? I hope the answer is no!

[Marlow]

You're not the same person now that you were in college--right?. Is your taste in other things (food; movies; books; whatever) the same as it was then? I hope the answer is no!

If you mean - have I grown up? Absolutely not! Exhibit A: my taste in in food, movies, TV, etc., has not 'evolved' at all! My only 'improvement' is my ability to fully appreciate the simplest things in life like family, friends and TRACK & FIELD!!!!!

[Marlow]

Oops - dupe!

[kuha]

OK; so now we have our answer! (Twice!)

[gh]

Allow me to suggest that both "sides" are correct here. There are all kinds of timless music (classical, jazz, opera) that if people don't like when young they can grow into.

Then there's "popular" music and that's tougher/impossible to grow into. And I think you tend to stay stuck with the music that was popular when you were most impressionable. So there's about a 20-year stretch (5-25) that will remain in your wheelhouse forever.

[SQUACKEE]

A music lover should always seek music to love but we didnt create the term Renaissance for no reason did we? and if we did, I would like to argue that the 60's were special. Explosions in creativity are not linear.

[kuha]

Allow me to suggest that both "sides" are correct here. There are all kinds of timless music (classical, jazz, opera) that if people don't like when young they can grow into.

Then there's "popular" music and that's tougher/impossible to grow into. And I think you tend to stay stuck with the music that was popular when you were most impressionable. So there's about a 20-year stretch (5-25) that will remain in your wheelhouse forever.

I'd agree--this is a very good way of putting it.

[Bob Duncan]

One of the great track moments ever was when the greatest Metallica cover band of all time, Apocalyptica, played at the opening ceremonies of the '05 World Championships in Helsinki.

Or how about Helmut Lotte and Isinbayeva singing the Russian National anthem at the Van Damme Memorial in 2004 after her 4.92WR? (see "Isinbayeva nationalhymne" on youtube).

Also awesome (no track reference) was Apocalyptica performing "SOS (Anything But Love)" with Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil. Total heaviosity, as Alvy Singer might have said. I think that video is on you tube as well.

[SQUACKEE]

Either the 60's are special in the history of music or we will see every decade boast bands as good and memorable as these- Beatles, Stones, Cream, Pink Floyd, Beach Boys,Stevie Wonder, Hendrix, Janis Jopin, Procal Harem, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, James Brown, The Animals, The Temptations,The Doors, Otis Redding,Simon and Garfunkel, The Who ect ect.

If it was Just the Beatles it would be a special decade.