Thoughts On Musical Heroes, The Music Of Our Youth, etc.

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

New Cigars




PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,603
14,668
I'm the opposite--I can't stand most of the stuff I listened to in my youth! I should point out that I'm an ex-musician myself, so perhaps that adds an element to my current thoughts on my musical obsessions 10, 20, and even 30 years ago. Certain genres are different than others in this regard; jazz, classical, ragtime...these are all timeless, and I still love them the same as I did back then. The rock genre, unsurprisingly, is where it gets a little complicated! For example, I spent the better part of my teen years absolutely obsessed with The Doors. Beyond obsessed. To the point where all other music CDs/tapes were decaying from disuse. Had all the albums, compilations, singles, rarities etc., and even hit the zenith by meeting Ray Manzarek at LAX airport in 2004. But now? I honestly can't see myself ever voluntarily playing one of their songs again. If a Doors song came on in the background while I was out in the world somewhere, I wouldn't scream, cover my ears and drop to the ground writhing in agony (well I might, but it'd be for some other reason, like seeing the price tag on a bag of Stonehaven). Sure, Ray was a nice guy, and had some interesting chord structures in his arsenal, but Jim Morrison, to me, was just a really mediocre poet who enjoyed taking far too many psychoactive drugs and drinking to excess. I'm just an entirely different guy than I was 20 years ago.

Aside from the ambient genre, most modern music is simply out of the question. To put it simply, it sucks. I barely even listen to rock music anymore, new or old. Again, ambient is my preferred genre. Steve Roach, Thom Brennan, Andrew Lahiff, Phillip Wilkerson...the list goes on and on. The calming "space" it puts me in works very much in tandem with pipe smoking, which often puts me in the same place. And when I'm in that space, the material I was listening to back in the 90s and early 00s is about the farthest thing from my mind.
 

JackOrion

Can't Leave
Feb 3, 2023
306
2,911
West Yonkers California
The only music I still listen to from my youth, born in 70’, is The Bee Gees and the soul music from Stax and Motown. Ironically it’s not the disco era Bee Gees that I favor, rather their pre-Saturday night fever music.
The only music I still listen to from my early teens is Rush, Yes, Floyd….
By my late teens I was exploring Jazz and Classical music almost exclusively. That still lasts to this day but not exclusively.
During the 90’s I started to listen to Woody Guthrie which turned into a Bob Dylan obsession that still lasts today. As well English folk music from the likes of Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Nick Drake, Ralph Mctell and many others, all of which I still enjoy.
Lately I’m into polka. It’s simply fun music.
Very little current pop music interests me. There’s a few but honestly I don’t think they would even be considered current any longer.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,623
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I'm reading all of this and finding it very interesting because none, absolutely note of any of this applies to me. The music of my youth doesn't define me. While aware of it and it's odd effects on humans, I mostly ignored it.

When it comes to human activity Sturgeon's Law applies, no less so with music. And the popularity of certain genres didn't really interest me, except as a curiosity. So, Rock, and it's rebellious mythos, was just another form of theater, not real to me. I got that it could be real to others, but people are always looking for a group identity, a friendly cave, whether it's a genre of music, a hometown, or a political ideology, and Sturgeon's Law still applies.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sturgeon's Law, it's simply this:

90% of Everything is crap.

From a young age, like 2, I found myself drawn to a wide variety of musical forms, primarily classical going back as far as plain chant, and as late as mid 20th century, as well as jazz, and some rock, blues, gospel, etc. Never was much for Hawaiian, Country and Western, zither, or elevator music. Never was a fan of any band, just of particular songs that reached me or moments of extraordinary musicianship wherever I encountered them.

One of my favorite music videos:
 
I'm reading all of this and finding it very interesting because none, absolutely note of any of this applies to me. The music of my youth doesn't define me. While aware of it and it's odd effects on humans, I mostly ignored it.

When it comes to human activity Sturgeon's Law applies, no less so with music. And the popularity of certain genres didn't really interest me, except as a curiosity. So, Rock, and it's rebellious mythos, was just another form of theater, not real to me. I got that it could be real to others, but people are always looking for a group identity, a friendly cave, whether it's a genre of music, a hometown, or a political ideology, and Sturgeon's Law still applies.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sturgeon's Law, it's simply this:

90% of Everything is crap.

From a young age, like 2, I found myself drawn to a wide variety of musical forms, primarily classical going back as far as plain chant, and as late as mid 20th century, as well as jazz, and some rock, blues, gospel, etc. Never was much for Hawaiian, Country and Western, zither, or elevator music. Never was a fan of any band, just of particular songs that reached me or moments of extraordinary musicianship wherever I encountered them.

One of my favorite music videos:
Damn near impossible to find anything to play all of those wax cylinders on these days, aint it? puffy
 

tbradsim1

Lifer
Jan 14, 2012
9,093
11,011
Southwest Louisiana
Saturday night at the Airport club in my teens we had R&B, Rock and roll and we had fights, Damn that was a good time, band stand had 2 big fans on either side with chicken wire and 5 ft blades, New Iberia boys would come to take our Abbeville girls, fight started I was knocked into the blades while Stagger Lee was playing and spit out the club.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,623
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Damn near impossible to find anything to play all of those wax cylinders on these days, aint it? puffy
Who needs those. For example, if I want to listen to Furtwangler's famous 1942 performance of Beethoven's 9th where the Berlin Philharmonic's performance is a torrent of rage aimed at the Nazi officials in the audience, I can play it back in my head. Can't you do that?puffy
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,623
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
It’s only my opinion that music is the least interesting thing in the entirety of human civilization.
Fortunately, that's true, the bit about it being only an opinion.

Opinions are individual and everyone can have as many as they like.

Music is individual as well, and even well trodden parts of the repertoire can reveal fresh experience in the hands of an individualistic artist.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons, performed by Fabio Biondi and the Europa Galante is like no other:

 
  • Like
Reactions: agnosticpipe

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,603
14,668
One interesting aspect of this conversation to me is the notion of the timeless quality of any particular piece of music. A lot could be said just defining this quality, and I'm sure we'd not all agree on what it is.

I don't place this quality only on music I like to listen to. I'm not really into classical music for example, but I certainly understand its timelessness. I also don't place it only on music from my youth...the music I was really into then that I no longer care much for lacks this quality for me...but some of it does have it and endures to this day. And there is some music I didn't start listening to until well into my adult years that also has this quality for me.

So however you may define this timeless quality, I think it is really what determines the music we still enjoy late in life...and it seems to be something that is partly subjective and partly objective...partly personal and partly universal.
 

Sam Gamgee

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 24, 2022
648
1,678
49
DFW, Texas
One interesting aspect of this conversation to me is the notion of the timeless quality of any particular piece of music. A lot could be said just defining this quality, and I'm sure we'd not all agree on what it is.

I don't place this quality only on music I like to listen to. I'm not really into classical music for example, but I certainly understand its timelessness. I also don't place it only on music from my youth...the music I was really into then that I no longer care much for lacks this quality for me...but some of it does have it and endures to this day. And there is some music I didn't start listening to until well into my adult years that also has this quality for me.

So however you may define this timeless quality, I think it is really what determines the music we still enjoy late in life...and it seems to be something that is partly subjective and partly objective...partly personal and partly universal.
This is what I call lasting value. I believe there is music in each generation that will have it. Par example: Eddie Van Halen might not be everyone's cup of tea, but what he did with and on the guitar will have lasting value for generations to come. He was a pioneer and took the instrument to places no one really had before.
 
  • Like
Reactions: brian64

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,603
14,668
This is what I call lasting value. I believe there is music in each generation that will have it. Par example: Eddie Van Halen might not be everyone's cup of tea, but what he did with and on the guitar will have lasting value for generations to come. He was a pioneer and took the instrument to places no one really had before.
I would certainly agree what you're referring to there is a component of timelessness, but I wouldn't say it defines it as a whole. Eddie's guitar playing is timeless, I agree, but Van Halen's songs lack that quality for me. Which is a shame, because I really like some of their music, but the lyrics diminish their potential.

I've always been really into lyrical narratives and lyrical poetry...even as early as I can remember in my pre-teen years. I paid a lot of attention to the words. Of course there was a lot of stuff at that time that I couldn't understand or relate to, which is in part why my tastes changed as I got older.

On the other hand, there are also some groups or artists whose lyrics I appreciate but don't care as much for the music.
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,603
14,668
How does one define something as timeless in or near it's time of creation? Wouldn't a signifier of timelessness be that something's continued influence or resonance decades or centuries after it comes into existence?
Yeah, strictly speaking I agree...it would have to stand some test of time. How long? I guess that's where it gets subjective.

Most of the music that I personally think of as timeless is from the '60s and '70s, so it's over half a century now. There may be some in the 25 year range that I might think of that way too. But to me it just means that I still enjoy listening to it and it doesn't sound dated.

When it comes to rock/pop music, it's mostly the lyrics that determine whether it still holds up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sablebrush52