Wednesday, February 3, 2010
GADFLY: Today's 'Cool Sounds?' Bah, Humbug!
Posted by Marty Aussenberg on Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 4:41 PM
Of course, horrified as we were by our parents' stuffiness and judgementalism, we all aspired not ever to be as uptight as they were about music, and so it was with a great deal of dismay that I recall my revulsion to rap and hip-hop as being an epiphany that, at least in that way, I had become my parents. I guess it's the same feeling we have when we realize that, in spite of our best efforts, we've adopted some of the less attractive aspects of our parents' methods of child rearing.
Of course, they were wrong about Elvis and the Beatles. As I watched the Grammy Awards the other night (mostly for the visual rather than the auditory experience), I was, once again, struck by how vastly superior my generation's music was to what passes for music these days. I asked myself whether Beyonce, Kanye West or The Black Eyed Peas are likely to have their music played thirty or more years from now, the way The Rolling Stones', Bob Dylan's or Paul Simon's still is. Will we remember, fondly, U2, the way we remember the Supremes or the Temptations? Will there be rap retrospectives as fund-raising vehicles on public TV decades from now the way doo-wop is? Will there be pilgrimages to hear Green Day the way there have been for the Grateful Dead? Forgive my skepticism in asking those essentially rhetorical questions, but what passes for music today is, as I saw one commenter on the Grammy say, frozen TV dinners trying to pass as real food.
So, is it fair to judge a musical genre by its ability to stand the test of time, or should we just accept whatever the latest thing in music is as a barometer of current taste? Whatever happened to New Wave and Punk Rock, anyway? Where are the Talking Heads and Devo, now that we need them (not)? Or, for that matter, disco? Were they just a tribute to our musical fickleness? I believe longevity is an absolutely appropriate criterion for quality. If that weren't so, symphonic music audiences, regardless of their sophistication, would prefer hearing Phillip Glass or Charles Ives to Beethoven or Mozart, which they overwhelmingly don't.
I'm no musicologist, but what is it about music that gives it a lasting quality? Take a look, or better yet, listen, to the music of the 50's and 60's and what you'll find is that the common thread is tonality. Harmony and ensemble were still important in that era—-not so much, anymore. Many of the singers of my day had something called a voice. The players also had something called musicianship. The singers understood nuance and modulation. Sure, we had some screamers even back then (e.g., Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee Lewis), but fewer of them saw the need to compensate for a lack of voice talent by cranking up the volume, as seems to be so prevalent today.
So, are rap and hip-hop the new rock 'n roll? I doubt it. Music must be, above all, musical, and it takes more than decibel levels, pulsating rhythms and rhyming verse to make music. Yeah, I know; our parents thought (hoped, really) that rock 'n roll was a passing fancy, just the way some of us feel about today's music. But, they were wrong, and we're right.
Comments (19)
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Gadfly, for every Elvis or Beatles, there were hundreds whose music is not remembered today, even though they were hot in their day. Same thing applies today. Who knew, when they heard I Wanna Hold Your Hand, that this band would last?
And by the way, U2's debut album was in 1980 - 30 years ago. I think the question of their standing the test of time has already been answered. It's like questioning The Beatles longevity in 1993. Tis a silly question.
The real question is, will bands still be recording Beatles songs in 2180, the way symphonies still record Mozart today? The answer is - only if they pay a royalty to the Beatles estate. Damn copyright law - get off my lawn!
To my reckoning, this otherwise good read was marred by a failure to appreciate the lasting value of the Talking Heads. Listen to "Nothing but Flowers" and tell me that future generations won't be humming that tune. For that matter, you seem to have missed out on Brian Eno entirely.
While it's certainly true that the best music of my generation is influenced by the best music of yours, to recycle a cliché, it sounds like you just haven't heard the right music. Tell me what your preferred listening format is and I'll be happy to put something together for you.
To add something which should always be noted in discussions like this:
Talking about the music of the Baby Boom generation is like talking about the Renaissance. They started something new and different. There was a pregnant moment in history full of creative potential and they took full advantage of it, to their everlasting credit. The fact that much of what followed is either a derivative of or otherwise influenced by the Boomers' music is not an indictment of the following generations, or at least, it shouldn't be.
Another point to be mentioned is the change in the commercial market for music that immediately followed the Boomers' innovations in content and style. If you were only listening to the radio, you were not hearing the most important music. For quite a long while, the better music of a whole generation was kept locked away in the vault of commercial obscurity. Again, I wonder if you've really heard the best of what's out there.
Certainly good points. But our (x in this case) generation did something new too. And like it or not....it is called Rap. I remember how it all began. I used to sing dirty raps to my east side friends. Listen up cause I wanna keep you in step. Jockin the bitches slapping the hos. Whaaaat, Okaaaaaaay.
Every generation has its geniuses and every generation rewards its crap. Watching Jersey Boys this weekend I was reminded that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons never won a single award until that show opened on Broadway in 2005. To really get the irony there you have to know that in 1963 when "Big Girls Don't Cry" raced up the charts on the heels of "Walk Like a Man" and "Sherry" the Grammy for best new artist went to Robert Goulet--a great voice for the New York stage who didn't write his own material and left no real creative legacy to speak of.
You write about voice, nuance, and modulation as if these were useful metrics for measuring beauty. Robert Goulet had all that good stuff but I'll take Tom Waits thank you very much.
So you know my biases: I have an incredible collection of 78's featuring artists nobody remembers making noise as free as any jazz and as wild as any rock and roll. When I play them I understand why my grandparents thought my parents music was crap. I also have a magnificent collection of 45s and albums from the 50's and 60's. I listen to them and understand why my parents were baffled when I wanted to see Run-DMC when they came to Nashville on the 80's. I have a massive collection of country and after a few shots I've been known to preach a heretical gospel wherein Haggard edges out Dylan for top songwriting honors. Neither feels quite as urgent or honest as NWA at the top of the 90's. I was a teenage punk and a 20-something indie rocker. I play Miles' Kinda Blue every day of my life and am well known for posting obscure soul singles on Facebook deep into the night. Screw Clapton by the way, Louis Armstrong is God and Bob Wills is his prophet. And the kids today... well, as usual they're alright.
Marty, people do go on pilgrimages to see Green Day, you just can't do it year round like you could with the Grateful Dead. Instead there are hundreds of good bands that comingle their touring schedules so that folks are never without some concert to go to.
The Talking Heads (or at least David Byrne) are very much alive and they/he even come to Memphis once in a while and I just saw Bono and Edge on Elvis Costello's show.
Grammys are given to artists that produce recorded music for the profit of recording companies. The music you seek must be sought it's out on the road working for a living.
You are showing your age - plenty of good music is being made today, but it's not on the grammies
Fascinating that those least capable of discerning good music, are the first to apply the label to anything that is familiar and safe.
I write jingles for a living, so I have no choice but to keep up with everything that's out there stylistically. A client might say something like, "We want an Arvo Part minimalist type thing", or, "I'd like the first 15 seconds to sound like Drake's new song." It's up to me to get inside their heads and then attempt to interpret what they're hearing. As a result I've come to realize that music (though I generally prefer the '64-'74 era when I grew up) is an ever-evolving thing, and much of it is wonderful. The new stuff has every bit as much merit as the old. I keep my iPod on shuffle, and it's a hoot to hear an aria from "La Traviata" followed by Lil' Wayne.
I just finished downloading Phlo's greatest jingles from bit torrent. My favs are "Smitty's Keeps it Light, and Smitty's Makes it Bright", "don't confuse Turner Dairy with Turner Diary, we make milk not race wars" and his adaption of the Rob Base hit "I got a used car, that I want to sell, you don't like, so then drive a lemon."
Zip: Since you brought up the Smitty's Midtown Anal Bleaching jingles (hilarious) I thought I'd give you a heads-up about his new lobby design. Now proudly displayed on the walls are fabulous portraits of Smitty's work. It's truly mind boggling. All were done at Olan Mills, so you'll see rectums in all kinds of settings (i.e., baby blue backdrop, fireplace setting, ranch fencing, Christmas tree etc.). Amazing stuff.
Phlo: Nothing like the shuffle. I never saw the links between Chrlie Rich and the Cure till I heard Lonely Weekends and Friday I'm in Love back to back. It's also fun when some Andre Popp weirdness gets followed up by some bubblegum.
So far, Derek's second and Chris', but sociology and economics play an even greater role in what gets popular now.
Classical musical skill and the first real youth culture coincided in the late 60's and early 70's. Soon, other factors messed up that often awesome brew.
I make some mad condemning recordings that extol violence in general and especially violence against prostitutes getting outside help they don't really need.
Speaking to the locals, you abandon the alloys that made your metallurgy world-renowned at your own peril and generally sound like some dreck from anywhere with no bargaining power.
I emphathized w/the gadfly earlier today when I saw that Nick Jonas dissed Bob Dylan's singing to Jimmy Kimmel. Arrogant little Disneytron.
I make no claim to being an authority on the quality of music, but I couldn't help but notice how much criticism was leveled at the Grammy performers by the majority of professional critics (and most of the commenters on discussion forums) for a lack of talent. Taylor Swift's label even had to publicly come to her defense.
I know the Grammys are an insiders' night, but they're touted as presenting the best of the best to us, the musically unwashed masses. All I'm saying is, if this is the best they've got, it's not surprising the music-buying public is voting with its feet.
As for my "they don't make 'em like they used to" attitude, I stand by that. If that makes me a "fogy," I'll wear that badge proudly. I feel the same way about cars. Toyota, anyone?
Gad, but you are wrong about cars. When odometers rolled over at 100K that was seen as a real milestone. Now it is time for regularly scheduled maintenance. A friend of mine recently broke down 600 miles from home in a 1978 classic. The mechanic said "Hell son, the highway was littered with these things in 1978, why'd you drive it down here."
Yo,Gadman, get over it dude. Yo granchillin are gwoin b listnin to T-Pain on Throw Back so dig that schizzle. In the music world of '10, it's all about workin for de man. Record companies are like everytang else---corporate, man, corporate.
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