Thoughts On Musical Heroes, The Music Of Our Youth, etc.
- Thread starter Sam Gamgee
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…if all the great musicians would just die at age 27, we’d know more about their music. 
I know virtually nothing about Amy Winehouse except they told her to go to rehab and she said "no, no, no" (and it shows).…if all the great musicians would just die at age 27, we’d know more about their music.
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.
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.
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:
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?
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.
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?Damn near impossible to find anything to play all of those wax cylinders on these days, aint it?
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:
Maybe you’re like Ullysses S. Grant who was tone deaf. He said he only knew two songs. One was Yankee Doodle and the other wasn’t.
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.
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.
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.
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.