Running out of music

[Koupe]

Apologies for starting such a (relatively) deep thread on NYE of all times, but it's only just hit me...

I remember listening to lots of mid-70s music when I was young, in the mid-90s - not the tacky chart singles of the time, but albums by 'proper' mainstream musicians like Cream, Nick Drake, Gerry Rafferty etc etc. While they were giants of their time, inspiring and emulated by many artists and bands of the 90s, you can still place them historically by their sound, even if you hear a digitally remastered version.
Likewise, while I'm sure many 70s artists in their turn were inspired by musicians from the 50s and 60s, they were all respectively 'of their time' - with very few exceptions, between 1950 and 1990 you can place a track to within a maximum of 7 or 8 years of its recording date just by listening to it.

Then, earlier tonight, I heard Linger by The Cranberries for the first time in many moons, and after I'd recovered from the shock of realising that it was 20 years old, it occurred to me that it wouldn't sound at all out of place on an album from the past 5 years or so. Then I began thinking of all the other music I'd been listening to for the last 20 years, and how a shockingly small proportion of it could be tied to a particular time period. While I'm aware that dance music* is still evolving into new forms, for better or worse, it seems that elsewhere, things are grinding to a halt.

I should point out that I make this observation after a bottle of Shiraz Cabernet, so feel free to tell me that I'm talking drunken sh1t. Personally, I think it makes sense

 

[Tazio]

A great frame of reference is that from Elvis Presley to punk was only 20 years!!

And just think of everything that happened in those 20 years.

 

[Retro Cat]

http://www.coveredinbees.org/node/264

You'd never think it though listening to the hit parade

 

[RadNomad]

nahh wouldn't say you're talking drunken sh1t, however Nick Drake was no giant in his time, he could barely get anyone to listen to him and that's arguably what killed him, disillusioned and broken by the apathy of the music industry and audiences. His music however is timeless and sounds - to me at least - like it could've been written last week.
But yes, you have a point.. lots of rehashed genres these days it seems.. Some of it is good though, some wheat in there among the chaff..

 

[legrandefromage]

I know exactly what you mean and even had this conversation with the missus. Even though I'm more a fan of electronic music, some of that could have been recorded yesterday or 20 years ago.

The same can be applied to some films too. Some look as fresh today yet can be 30+ years old. Films featuring tech fail this though as the hero grabs a 3210... Some music is let down by achingly obvious synths that date it.


It being 20 years of the Essential Selection, I have a dat recording with a time stamp of 25.12.93 when I stayed up to listen

 

[Koupe]

At least I'm not alone

@Tazio: I guess that the massive 50s-70s leap was due in no small part to the fact that for the first time everyone, including teenagers, had free music instantly delivered to them personally, via their own radio. That, along with cheaper record players and tapes/8tracks meant that the whole process of influence and creativity was opened up to a vast number of people, in a far shorter period of time. I suspect that since the 80s, you'd only see that kind of leap in electronic music.

@RetroCat: Very interesting link, but the human ear doesn't understand zeros and ones. While it makes sense in theory, it's a bit like asking a computer to analyse poetry - human musical (or verbal) creativity can never really be understood by machines.

@RadNomad: Very true - I guess I meant the term 'giants' retrospectively (assume you've read the Patrick Humphries biog? awesome book)

@TGF: While I agree that soundtracks can date an otherwise ageless film, I wouldn't hold props against them. They're the one thing that the director really can't help - look at The Matrix with the comedy 'futuristic' Nokia banana slide-phones. Oh, and the end of the Evening Session was the final nail in Radio 1's coffin. The biggest nail was the end of the Graveyard Shift with Mark & Lard (in fact my eyes moisten just thinking about it)

 

[The History Man]

It's your age not the music. I can remember my old man referencing older stuff when he heard the 70s glam. Same for me in the 90s and then again more recently.

Policemen look young too.

 

[mattr]

Try listening to some of the streaming service radio stations.

I've set spotify to an era and a genre of music before now and found loads of completely new stuff. It's sometimes a bit of a rush to get to the computer to see who is playing before it moves into the next track!