Old Fogey and the Beatles

[kairos12]

I was in a store today when a random Beatles song was piped in. My thought was that song, which I can't recall the title of, was better than anything I hear on the hear radio by miles.

Probably just means I am a grumpy old man shouting "get off my record player."

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. You and me both.

I think rock died in 1983 when The Police broke up shortly after the Synchronicity tour. They were the last excellent rock band I can remember. I saw them on the Synchronicity tour, summer of '83. There were a few good bands in the late 80s.

I decided rock was dead when Nirvana was hailed as being good. I couldn't see it.

[Archae]

2. Agreed with Nirvana.

I decided they were a "MTV manufactured" band, when I first saw them.

BTW, you like Stewart Copeland's post-Police work?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

4. Yes.

I've been watching interviews with Stewart on Youtube. The fact that he was raised in the Middle East means that he unconsciously absorbed the musical rhythms of that area. And that helps to make their rhythms strange and interesting.
Stewart made a documentary called "Everyone Stares" from footage he shot on Super 8 when they were touring America in '78 and Andy was shooting still frames.

I think Andy is a musical genius after watching his instructional jazz video on youtube. I am not a guitarist. I am a classical piano player. My head hurt from watching him go through jazz chords so quickly. He has classical and jazz chops, which most really good musicians have. And I hope the new documentary, "Can't Stand Losing You" based on Andy's book, comes to the nearest big city.

All three of them <----


"It's not a chord until the bass player says it is." --Sting

"There's no religion but sex and music." -- Sting

[cemaphonic]

10. Ok, I get not liking Nirvana

(I would rate them as "good, but overpraised" myself) but they were not remotely MTV manufactured.

MTV around 1990-1991 was mostly a lot of lightweight danceable pop (Paula Abdul, Madonna, Whitney Houston, etc.) equally lightweight hip-hop (Tone-Loc, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice) and hair metal. They had a couple of college rock/alternative shows, and some specialized hardcore rap and metal shows, all of which had some crossover hits, but most of the heavy rotation was upbeat pop.

Nirvana's weird blend of punk and gloomy 70s stoner rock wasn't really like much else that was playing on MTV at the time, even on the college rock and metal programs.

[MrMickeysMom]

3. Beatles forever….

You're probably right….

[KT2000]

5. it's mostly bubblegum music now

everyone has to have their Aviici track plopped into the middle of their song.

[WinkyDink]

6. Don't insult The Ohio Express!

[Art_from_Ark]

7. I liked roller skating to that song

That, and
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron
Winchester Cathedral
MacArthur Park
Penny Lane
So Happy Together
I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight

[WinkyDink]

15. Loved, and remember the lyrics to, them all!

[Art_from_Ark]

17. I was really into Snoopy and the Red Baron in those days

ever since I saw Snoopy "battling" the Red Baron in the Great Pumpkin special. And then I got a book with Snoopy vs. the Red Baron. And then that song came out, and I must have asked the DJ at the skating rink to play it a dozen times

[KT2000]

9. OMG - I remember that one!

just awful

[olddots]

8. there is always good music

but you gotta admit business practices now are all against art and tslent even though art can't be stopped the pigs will try to stop it .

[Arugula Latte]

12. But now with the Internet it is so easy to find all sorts of music.

We're not chained to the "this is what the radio has decided to play" thing anymore.

[Arugula Latte]

11. Don't do it!

Don't fall into that trap!

There is plenty of fantastic music being made today!

I mean, I like the Beatles, and I went through a short Beatles obsession when I was a young teen (early 80s), but I am constantly finding great new songs, great new bands. Don't get stuck in the past when the present is musically fabulous as well!

...Thus concludes A.L.'s Words of Wisdom segment...

[cemaphonic]

16. Yeah, if the Beatles are your yardstick for quality

then about 95% of music from the 60s is absolute garbage too.

The weird thing about music these days is that the corporate media is so centralized that most of what sells, and gets media buzz is lightweight pop or r&b and rap that are slowly melding into one another. (and then there's commercial country music, which is every bit as much Interchangeable Music Product) Meanwhile, production has become so cheap, and DIY marketing and distribution is so much wider thanks to the internet, that there are countless niche scenes flourishing all over the world. So there's lots of great stuff out there, but it can be hard to find, and it doesn't have the sort of "generational touchstone" reach that artists like the Beatles, or Micheal Jackson had in their time.

I also discovered the Beatles as an 80s teen, though more the mid-late 80s in my case.

[Dont call me Shirley]

13. I'm still stuck in those old fogey ideals too..

https://m.

[Enthusiast]

14. I'm with you, kairos12.

Listening to the Dead from 1981.