Music: the greatest generation.

[Bob Duncan]

I can listen to Flogging Molly, the Real McKenzies and the Dropkick Murphys endlessly. (even if it costs me another marriage )

I agree. Anyone who hasn't listened to Flogging Molly should check them out. There are some good videos of them out there like "Seven Deadly Sins". It's like drunk Irish slam-dancing. Frenetic.

[tandfman]

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

The Beatles were indeed special. I thought they were geniuses at the time and I still do.

[TN1965]

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

I love my '80s music, but I also love '60s, '70s, '90s and '00s music. I even have some CDs by artists whose prime was earlier. (I don't have any favorite artists who debuted in this decade... yet. I think that will eventually change.) I never stop discovering something interesting... both old and new.

And I have to agree with gh as well. Some of the "pop" music could eventually become timeless classic. Some CDs from '60s and '70s still have strong catalog sales, and they are not just bought by old people who used to listen to their music back in the days. Some old songs are also repeatedly covered by contemporary artists, and given "new life" every now and then. I bet that 50 years from now there will still be people who are listening to some of the "pop" songs from the 20th century either in original recordings or in some cover version.

[TN1965]

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.

By definition, it is harder for later generations to be "ground breaking" because there are already more things done by previous generations. I think Mendelssohn once said something to the same effect regarding his generation compared to Mozart. I mean, how could Usher or Chris Brown possibly do anything that has not been already done by Michael Jackson?

And the Beatles might have been unique in the same way Mozart was unique. But that did not mean the classical music maxed out in 1790s, and everything composed in the 19th century was meaningless. The same goes for the Beatles and all the rock bands since 1970s.

[DrJay]

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.

Refine that a little, shift the frame of reference a half-decade and look at 1965 to 1975. Whoa! What percent of truly relevant, ground-breaking, legendary, memorable, they'll-still-be-playing-it in 50 years rock/pop/R&B music was recorded then?

[gh]

most of the music crafted in '60, '61, '62 (Beach Boys notable exception) and most of '63, I would posit, is undistinguishable from the stuff of the second half of the '50s.

in other words, '60s = British Invasion (and what it spawned).

[cullman]

Refine that a little, shift the frame of reference a half-decade and look at 1965 to 1975. Whoa! What percent of truly relevant, ground-breaking, legendary, memorable, they'll-still-be-playing-it in 50 years rock/pop/R&B music was recorded then?

...and then Disco took over...ouch!

[DrJay]

Refine that a little, shift the frame of reference a half-decade and look at 1965 to 1975. Whoa! What percent of truly relevant, ground-breaking, legendary, memorable, they'll-still-be-playing-it in 50 years rock/pop/R&B music was recorded then?

...and then Disco took over...ouch!

And then punk, which at least had some balls.

[dukehjsteve]

All music except between 1955 and 1965 is crap.

[bambam]

All music except between 1955 and 1965 is crap.

Steve - this sentence can be re-written by probably everybody as:

All music except between [when I was between 14 and 24 years old] is crap.

[gh]

Refine that a little, shift the frame of reference a half-decade and look at 1965 to 1975. Whoa! What percent of truly relevant, ground-breaking, legendary, memorable, they'll-still-be-playing-it in 50 years rock/pop/R&B music was recorded then?

...and then Disco took over...ouch!

And then punk, which at least had some balls.

and sex pistols too

[dukehjsteve]

All music except between 1955 and 1965 is crap.

Steve - this sentence can be re-written by probably everybody as:

All music except between [when I was between 14 and 24 years old] is crap.

Check out the big brain on bambam !!!

[gh]

from an xmas day post by me earlier in this thread

<<...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.>>

[DrJay]

Poor kids these days! Just imagine having Justin Bieber stuck in your brain for 50+ years. Oh, the humanity!!

[Marlow]

Apropos of something, here's where I have to re-admit that I (gasp!) watch American Idol. Check out this performance if you think there ain't no music(ians) of merit. It gave me chills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KcO0MHytH4

[Flumpy]

She actually sang it even better in the Final and that wasn't even her best performance on the show. This is probably the best thing in all 12 seasons........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7acuT6Sydc4

[TN1965]

Poor kids these days! Just imagine having Justin Bieber stuck in your brain for 50+ years. Oh, the humanity!!

You mean, just like some old folks having Monkees or Patridge Family stuck in their brain for decades?

[lonewolf]

Or, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys...

[Marlow]

Or, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys...

The WORST music is the bubble gum pop of the late 6os, precisely because it IS so infectious you can't get it out of your brain, so it just burrows through your cranium like a worm, until it's eaten all your brain cells. I DARE you to listen to this one, the worst of the worst, and then TRY to forget it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JywK_5bT8z0

[cullman]

Not so fast amateur musicologists. I'm unashamedly a fan of Bob Wills, The Monkees, Partridge Family and yes...even the Archies.

Did you know that a chap by the name of Ron Dante had two songs simultaneously in the Billboard Top Ten but didn't get credit for either until recently. Dante did the lead vocals on "phantom bands" the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" and the Cuff Links' "Tracy". That's not the record though. It's on another Things Not T&F thread as England's Tony Burrows had 3 songs in one week (5 in his career) all under different phantom band names.

The worst Pop music in the world? Voila, Eurovision Song Contest Winners 1956 - 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLQR5Jh70rw

[lonewolf]

[The WORST music is the bubble gum pop of the late 6os, precisely because it IS so infectious you can't get it out of your brain, so it just burrows through your cranium like a worm, until it's eaten all your brain cells. I DARE you to listen to this one, the worst of the worst, and then TRY to forget it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JywK_5bT8z0

Ok, I admit the beat is catchy but the lyrics need work.

[Marlow]

Ok, I admit the beat is catchy but the lyrics need work.

Indeed, I think they have linked Type-2 diabetes to the listening of them.

[lonewolf]

Not so fast amateur musicologists. I'm unashamedly a fan of Bob Wills,

I was not knocking Bob Wills, Turkey, Texas favorite son...
Heard him play live at Cains Ballroom in Tulsa, circa 1949
He was a neighbor of mine in Fort Worth after his retirement forty years ago.

[JayIsMe]

I have teenage sons and have to hear some pretty godawful 'music' when we're in the car together. I already cringe when I've heard Led Zeppelin on Cadillac commercials- I wonder what advertisers are going to use 30 years from now to attract this generation of consumers? Imagine what a golden oldies station is going to sound like.

[cullman]

They're still going to be using Led Zeppelin to shill cars 30 years from now. I've been in the ad biz...these people are stupid.

[Flumpy]

The worst Pop music in the world? Voila, Eurovision Song Contest Winners 1956 - 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLQR5Jh70rw

Nonsense. Some right shit has won Eurovision but the likes of 'Waterloo', 'What's Another Year', 'Making Your Mind Up', A Little Peace', 'Let It Swing', 'Diva', 'Take Me To Your Heaven', 'Wild Dances', 'Molitva' and 'Believe' etc are all great pop songs.

I mean if you think the winners list is bad then surely the users list must be way worse.

The worst pop music in the world has almost all been made by one act.........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Eyed_Peas

Eurovision has nothing on their heinous output.

[Marlow]

The worst pop music in the world has almost all been made by one act.........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Eyed_Peas
Eurovision has nothing on their heinous output.

What - My Humps is not timeless virtuosity??!!

Their I Gotta Feeling is another of those brain worms that you can't get out of your head. Every time I hear "I gotta feeling", I answer, "yeah, it's called nausea!"

[TN1965]

A coworker of mine wondered how they could go from "Where Is the Love?" to "My Humps."

I said, "well, Marvin Gaye went from 'What's Going On' to 'Sexual Healing'..."

[Blues]

Ok, I admit the beat is catchy but the lyrics need work.

Indeed, I think they have linked Type-2 diabetes to the listening of them.

I think they've linked a massive surge in Pepto Bismol sales to the listening of them too....

"Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies was bad, but I think my worst of the worst vote from the bubblegum era has to go to recordings by Ohio Express, primarily their ubiquitous 1968 hits "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" and then "Chewy, Chewy"..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u21Kg_PzmMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9qb6Qtk7Kg

Ohio Express wasn't quite as bad in 1967 when it was actually a different group of musicians, with their first major hit "Beg, Borrow, and Steal", below, that I liked at the time, maybe because they kind of borrowed the riff from the song that The Kingsmen made an all time classic, "Louie, Louie", and since the song was a little more rock oriented...

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

[cullman]

It may have been the best of times and the worst of times. Pepto-Bismol sales spiked in 1959 with novelty songs like Paul Evan's Seven Little Girls (Sitting In The Back Seat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1cjaheraq8

[DrJay]

Poor kids these days! Just imagine having Justin Bieber stuck in your brain for 50+ years. Oh, the humanity!!

You mean, just like some old folks having Monkees or Patridge Family stuck in their brain for decades?

I prefer "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things" by the Cowsills.

[DrJay]

I'd link it here but it's probably copyrighted (heaven knows why). Check youtube for "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat - DeFranco Family." You'll need a lot more than Pepto Bismol after watching that video, maybe four or five pints at the pub.

[bambam]

I prefer "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things" by the Cowsills.

How about "Incense and Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock - loved that song.

[JayIsMe]

How about "Incense and Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock - loved that song.

Maybe the start of another thread- Best Worst Band Names. My favorite from that decade is Question Mark and the Mysterians, who did "96 Tears"

[CookyMonzta]

A coworker of mine wondered how they could go from "Where Is the Love?" to "My Humps."

I said, "well, Marvin Gaye went from 'What's Going On' to 'Sexual Healing'..."

It took only 2 years for the Black-Eyed Peas to go from "Where Is The Love?" (2003) to "My Humps" (2005), and that was after they replaced their original vocalist Kim Hill with Stacy 'Fergie' Ferguson in 2002.

[It is one of many methods which are a part of the backdoor strategy; in this case, take one or more members of a failing group (in this case, the Black-Eyed Peas), and merge with one or more members of another failing group (namely, Fergie of the group Wild Orchid), and in some cases as this, abandon your original approach for another.]

For Marvin, it took 12 years to go from "What's Goin' On" (1970) to "Sexual Healing" (1982). Of course, he made a pit stop in 1973 with "Let's Get It On".