Old music is better than new music

sonicred007

Does there come a time in all music fans lives where live album beging to make sense? I certainly can't enough of the stuff. 'specially the 70s. Live Bullet - Bob Segeris never off and now I have an Allman Bros live from 1970 American Uni

I'm only 35 - what's going on?

gavintc

You need to move on. Music has definitely improved in recent years. I have a wide range loaded to my Ipod, but seem to press forward when I hit an older track. I just get bored with the same old lyrics and thin melody.

nicklouse

there is some good music out there. but a lot of the OLD music is poorly produced (compared to current stuff) of the quality can be a charm. but again it depends on what media you are listening to it on. OLD on CD just can sound strange. but OLD on vinyl.... now that is a different matter.

also define OLD

Rhythm Thief

Depends. For every "I wanna be your dog" or "Whole Lotta Rosie" there's a "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep". There's lots of good old stuff and lots of good new stuff, and all points in between.
And as Nick said, how are you defining "old"?

nicklouse

old can also be defined in a few ways. Classic, decrepit.

and then there was the crass timmiy mallet with the teeny weeny yellow.....

the chicken song. Shawadywady and many more. Mud and tiger feet ( well a bit of a clasic really). :oops:

jibi

CD, Vinyl??

I still listen to Alma Cogan on the Grundig reel to reel

Music is music, enjoy

Rumours,, Fleetwood Mac
Marley,,,,,Exodus
Stevie Wonder..Songs in the Key of Life

You can define them, I just love them

george

nicklouse

George keeping it real.

bet you have an 8 track in the bus?

Tourist Tony

Rhythm Thief wrote:

Depends. For every "I wanna be your dog" or "Whole Lotta Rosie" there's a "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep". There's lots of good old stuff and lots of good new stuff, and all points in between.
And as Nick said, how are you defining "old"?

Did you ever see Middle of the Road"?

The words "statuesque" and "hot pants" spring to mind...

sonicred007

gavintc wrote:

You need to move on. Music has definitely improved in recent years. I have a wide range loaded to my Ipod, but seem to press forward when I hit an older track. I just get bored with the same old lyrics and thin melody.

Moving on is what has led me to older music - I got tired of chasing the new when there was all this music that has still not disappeared... I'm talking popular culture - so anything from late fifties onwards.

Although my tastes tend to land in classic rock of the seventies and garage rock of the sixties

I'd love to know what music over the last few years represents 'definitely improved'. I can't think of a single album in the last 10 years that is likely to be wanted 10 years from now

AndyGates

Self-selecting data. We don't remember the old dross, only the old good stuff, so the old music seems better compared to the current mixed bag.

I'm appalled that I'm now old enough to make that observation. Oy.

Red Lemon

There's still plenty of good music being made, it's just that the most instantly accessible stuff, i.e. the stuff on the radio, in the chart and on display in the most prominent positions is, IMO, crap.

For the record, I'm 23 and I believe music peaked in 1987 with the release of U2's "The Joshua Tree" and Guns N Roses' "Appetite For Destruction."

As sonicred007 said, I can't imagine wanting to hear anything that's big today in 10 years time. The Feeling? The Kaiser Chiefs? Rihanna? Get stuffed.

nicklouse

Red Lemon wrote:

For the record, I'm 23 and I believe music peaked in 1987 with the release of U2's "The Joshua Tree" and Guns N Roses' "Appetite For Destruction."

Mmm thats when i stopped buying U2 records. just did not get on with it.

Max Weber

Although my tastes tend to land in classic rock of the seventies and garage rock of the sixties

I'd love to know what music over the last few years represents 'definitely improved'. I can't think of a single album in the last 10 years that is likely to be wanted 10 years from now

I wouldn't say that music has got incontovertibly better, but there have been some great albums from the last 10 or so years:

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up Look Sharp
Air - Moon Safari
Daft Punk - Homework
DJ Shadow - Introducing
Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
Outkast - Speakerbox/The Love Below
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (I think that's what the albums called)

I'm sure others can think of many more.

Also, there's been a lot of amazing pop in the last 10 years which has resulted in great singles but not albums (much like Motown etc. in the past). The production of pop and hip-hop has given us some really interesting beats and sounds - something like Milkshake by Kelis, for example.

It's not that there's a lack of good new music, just that if you're mainly interested in a fairly stale genres you may not find it or like it.

Red Lemon

Max Weber wrote:

The production of pop and hip-hop has given us some really interesting beats and sounds - something like Milkshake by Kelis, for example.

Hah. Hah. Hah. Hahahahahaha oh my god....

shockedsoshocked

Personally, I believe that old music is much better. Of course there are still great albums to be found in the last 10 years or so (I'd add The Decline of British Sea Power - British Sea Power and Is This It? - The Strokes to Max Webers list) but generally I find the music scene (especially in Britain) to be pretty stagnant. I'm fed up of "Northern" bands singing about getting pissed and chatting girls up in nightclubs, but I supposed it's what people want to hear.

Music nowadays just doesn't seem to have that lasting effect, and once the current fad of indie fades out the majority of albums will (hopefully) be forgotten.

Tourist Tony

The reference to hip hop reminds me of a "Bloom County" strip, where the penguin is marching across the grass in a scowling way when he gets hailed by a friend:
"Where you off to?"
"I'm going to a rap gig"
"You're going to pay good money to be shouted at by 4 ugly, fat, black guys who can't sing?"
"Er....yeah...you're right.....forget it!"

Max Weber

Hah. Hah. Hah. Hahahahahaha oh my god....

It's a good tune, it's got a good beat. Are you deaf or narrow-minded?

Yorkshireman

I have a sort of theory :- Old pop music is a sort of 'memory trigger', when you listen/hear it you are subconsciously taken back to your youth (at the time that the music was popular, or something good/memorable was happening). Think ... Old photographs/snaps, when you look at them you remember the occasion and tend not to notice the condition of the pic itself .. Just my thinking on the subject .

ChrisLS

...there's good old stuff and bad old stuff. There's good new stuff and bad new stuff...we all have our favourites, and opinions of what's good and bad...hell, I have a mate who could give you a good and bad list of Eurovision songs(which, I think are mostly all bad, aside from Abba)

Red Lemon

Max Weber wrote:

Hah. Hah. Hah. Hahahahahaha oh my god....

It's a good tune, it's got a good beat. Are you deaf or narrow-minded?

Well given that I listen to music, I can't be deaf.

And given that I have and pretty broad range of music, I can't really be narrow minded. While I don't like labelling things as one specific type of music, you'll find classical, rock, all forms of "alternative", metal, hip hop, trance, reggae, pop and a whole bunch of other crap in my collection.

Maybe I'm just racist. My favourite hip hop group are white, after all...

Or maybe it's the incredibly irritating lyrics:
"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And they're like
It's better than yours,
Damn right it's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge"

Standard bearer for modern music and a future classic? Not a chance. It's just another utterly disposable pop song put out to make millions for a record executive.

Rhythm Thief

sonicred007 wrote:

I'd love to know what music over the last few years represents 'definitely improved'. I can't think of a single album in the last 10 years that is likely to be wanted 10 years from now

What about "Mule Variations" or "Orphans" by Tom Waits? Or "Chutes Too Narrow" by The Shins? Or The Libertines' albums? Or Modest Mouse's "Good News for People Who Love Bad News"? Or The Kills' "Keep on your Mean Side"?
As others have said, the stuff you hear in the mainstream (radio, telly, etc.) is generally rubbish (and yes, I am including the Killers and similar bands in that). But search out the more obscure stuff and you'll find a lot of it's very good.

Max Weber

Lots of great songs have lyrics of questionable worth. The tune and beat are great, that's what matters (to me at least).

Maybe I'm just racist. My favourite hip hop group are white, after all...

Beastie Boys? Ill Communication is a great album.

nicklouse

One of my favorite albums is thePros and Cons of Hitchhiking.

whatever happened to the concept albums?

Red Lemon

As an ex-drummer (was never serious, but played in a few bands when I was in school) I agree that a good tune and beat are important, but if the lyrics irritate me, I just can't ignore them.

I also prefer more basic rhythms, probably because I can't dance for shit. When I end up in a club I have no idea what the hell you're meant to do with Milkshake aside from watch girls dancing. Jump Around by house of pain, on the other hand....

John Stevenson

nicklouse wrote:

One of my favorite albums is thePros and Cons of Hitchhiking.

whatever happened to the concept albums?

That one was so bad it killed the idea forever?

Waters really did go off the deep end there.

But I love it when people like an album I hate though - that's what's fun about music. It's like Red Lemon liking Joshua Tree. For me that's U2's pompous, humourless nadir. Give me Boy or War or Zooropa or How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb any day.

Ultimately, there's only music that moves you and music that doesn't. And that's personal for everyone. We should accept people's freedom to love any sort of music and not denigrate them for their choice.

Except boy bands; they suck.

Yorkshireman

john_stevenson wrote:

Ultimately, there's only music that moves you and music that doesn't. And that's personal for everyone. We should accept people's freedom to love any sort of music and not denigrate them for their choice.

Except boy bands; they suck.

Er, um ... That`'s Girl ban ...

I'll get me coat .

shockedsoshocked

Red Lemon wrote:

Max Weber wrote:

Hah. Hah. Hah. Hahahahahaha oh my god....

It's a good tune, it's got a good beat. Are you deaf or narrow-minded?

Maybe I'm just racist. My favourite hip hop group are white, after all...

Or maybe it's the incredibly irritating lyrics:
"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And they're like
It's better than yours,
Damn right it's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge"

I wouldn't say thats Hip Hop really. Good hip Hop (my opinion of course) is stuff like Public Enemy, Wu Tang Clan, stuff I guess that has some kind of political slant.

Another good hip-hop/rap artist I like is a Welsh guy named Akira The Don. Very good recent album.

babyjebus

There are plenty of concept albums around right now- everyone from the Streets to the underrated Thermals is at it. It's just that the, er, concept is not confined to one particular style anymore. The new Shearwater album, supposedly a meditation on the life of dead German junkie Nico, is particularly striking.

I suspect the Lbertines will fill the Oxfam shops of the future, while examples like the Shins (fine album that) and the ever mediocre Modest Mouse don't actually innovate. The best we can hope for is someone becoming the apotheosis of a style (and Arcade Fire could only manage one decent album before turning flat and pompous).

But sonicred's point is valid I think. As music becomes less special and ever more background (artists today are more likely to make money from licensing their music for advertising than through record sales), it's hard to escape the conclusion that less and less of it is made through some desperate urge to express and more because the performers have easy access to the means of production and, increasingly, distribution. Ian McDonald's 'The People's Music' is an interesting essay where he suggests (quite rightly I think) that since the genuine innovations of the sixties music has just become a series of variations of 4/4 forever being resold as' innovation', particularly supposed 'innovations' in electronic and dance musics. No wonder he topped himself.

Also old records sound better than new records. They are warmer on the ear. Except for the new Edgar Jones album. That sounds like something from 1959 or maybe 1961- jazz, blues, soul, ska. It's great. (Unlike this Interpol album my daughter has just put on. She's two and a half though, so it's aimed at her age group not mine)

Each to their own of course. I'm not a schoolboy. I won't fight with anyone over their terrible taste. But I'll always know...

HJ1976

I think my music taste definately falls into the varied category, at 31 (sniff) my ipod is chock full of he Killers, Kaisers, Automatic, Fratellis, but also has Queen, U2, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Doris Day and quite a bit of classical mainly due to the fact that I find different genres of music suit different situations.
What song beats Queens 'Don't stop me now' when you are doing a nice round 70 down an empty motorway?
Unfortunately there is one album on the pod that gets played alot against my wishes...'Charlie and Lola bestest music ever' but it keeps my daughter happy! :?

jibi

Old music? How old?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLHq7rgHOLk

chill out. turn up the volume
works for me

Time to say goodbye

george

tstegers

Red Lemon wrote:

As an ex-drummer (was never serious, but played in a few bands when I was in school) I agree that a good tune and beat are important, but if the lyrics irritate me, I just can't ignore them.

Absolutely agree. The fatal flaw in Led Zeppelin for me was the lyrics - too much self pity/ teenage angst. Understandable in teenagers but singing about it in your late 20's/ mid 30's? Last week my mother heard Ginger Baker playing Cyril Davies from his album Coward of The County in my car. She asked me what it was, explaining that a friend of her grandson, my nephew, was interested in all things drumming. I put togther Cyril Davies, Going Wrong, Traintime, Crossroads, What a Bringdown (all GB playing in Cream) and Do WhatYou Like, GB playing in Blind Faith, on a CD for her to give to the boy. Who comes remotely close to that lot today?

As for those producing new stuff today: for lyrics, extraordinary out put and wit of every sort it's got to be John Hiatt, that is if you are over 21...