Do you count 1945 through 1963 as part of the Golden Era?

[jamespowers]

Aren't you closer to hippies than I? Being from the Bay area and all....

Yes, I am near The World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum. That is why I have hippiedar. I know what hippiness comes next----- way ahead of time. :doh:

 

[1mach1]

At least you aren't close to the clowns that make our laws. I'm just a stones throw from the White House. It makes me feel dirty sometimes.

 

[jamespowers]

At least you aren't close to the clowns that make our laws. I'm just a stones throw from the White House. It makes me feel dirty sometimes.

Yeah, well it ain't any less dirty and filthy here. I'll send you some hippies so you can see.

 

[vitanola]

Lizzie, you should give "newer" music a try. Perhaps, start with Elvis, and work your way forward. Much great music has been made since the 40s. Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton? You know you like something post 1945.

It is impossible to exist in American society without being force-fed thousands of hours of the, er, "stuff" that you mention here. Jangly, noisy, pointless electric guitar. Would that Adolph Rickenbacker had been born without hands...

 

[vitanola]

It's a law. Every middle-aged white person in America *has to* be "into blues."

What's not to like?

[video=youtube_share;JFMW828CsDM]http://youtu.be/JFMW828CsDM[/video]+

 

[jamespowers]

What's not to like?

[video=youtube_share;cQmOV6MgncU]http://youtu.be/cQmOV6MgncU[/video]+

 

[Guttersnipe]

In the UK, you are made to feel like a Philistine if you dare to say that sixties music, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, et al, are not to your taste. You don't have to say that you don't like them, just daring to suggest that there might be other popular music is seen as a sacrilege.

This is also largely true in the U.S., especially regarding the Beatles. My dad was an original rock 'n' roller in the '50s, who subsequently got into delta and jump blues and my Mom is a classically trained opera singer. Needless to say, I didn't grow up in a house where the Beatles were even mentioned.

It's much to my amusement that I've often been accused of musical illiteracy by folks who couldn't name a single piece by an composer, other than perhaps Beethoven or Mozart, because I'm not familiar with the entire Beatles catalog....

Rheinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and the exponents of Gypsy Jazz should also get a mention. The movies of that era were also something else, an age when the cinema was known as The Silver Screen.

One minor point. Django Reinhardt's music should really be called hot jazz rather than "Gypsy" jazz for two reasons. First of all, classifying the man's music by his ethnicity is limiting. And secondly, the term Gypsy is very much disliked by most Roma people. Some Roma actually consider the term "gypsy" racial slur (although I'm sure that's not what you intended at all).

 

[KayEn78]

I enjoy a lot of music from the '30s to the '70s and yes, I'm a Beatles fan. I also a fan of Julie London and many, many others.

I love '50s and '60's rock 'n' roll. As for '70s music, as the decade went on, the less I liked. I can't stand '80s, 90s, 2000s, and today's garbage.

But I can see where you are coming from LizzieMaine. Being born in 1978, it was hard enough for me being a visually impaired person who was a Beatles fan; I sure as heck wasn't going to tell anyone I also enjoyed music from the '30s and '40s. A lot of the older music I get from OTR shows and there's a lot of it that's really great!

-Kristi

 

[Stearmen]

So where does every one stand on this peace, of modern music. [video=youtube;Tg9-H403m4I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg9-H403m4I[/video]

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

What's funny is that I'm sure that the people who came of age in, say, the 1890s, thought that Gershwin and his contemporaries were rubbish, lol. Each generation thinks their own music is the best. I'm sure that people who were in their prime during the Golden Era got a lot of eyerolls from their elders on their choice of music and style of dress.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

it's a law. Every middle-aged white person in america *has to* be "into blues."

lol!

 

[LizzieMaine]

What's funny is that I'm sure that the people who came of age in, say, the 1890s, thought that Gershwin and his contemporaries were rubbish, lol. Each generation thinks their own music is the best. I'm sure that people who were in their prime during the Golden Era got a lot of eyerolls from their elders on their choice of music and style of dress.

Oh, absolutely. When Paul Whiteman held his landmark concert at the Aeolian Hall in 1924 premiering "Rhapsody In Blue," there were plenty of penguin-suited critics who denounced it as "gutter music." To which my response would have been something like "So what? What's wrong with the gutter?"

I think a lot of criticism over various types of music over the years are class and race driven, not aesthetically driven -- certain types of music get attacked because they're favored by The Wrong Kind Of People, while others get praised simply because they're favored by The Right Kind Of People.

People don't seem to have the guts to stand up to say they don't like something simply because they *don't like it,* they have to come up with a lot of rationalizations for why -- and I think that's the bunk. If you don't like something just stand up and say so -- you don't owe anybody any kind of explanation or apology for your own tastes.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

Yes. Class driven, race driven and plain ole generational differences can define the clashes of taste in music and dress. I like 70s disco and soul music but I can understand why that wouldn't appeal to someone older or younger than myself..or those on this board who strictly love Golden Era music. That's the beauty of variety, there's something for everyone and no one is required to like any particular genre.

 

[vitanola]

So where does every one stand on this peace, of modern music. [video=youtube;Tg9-H403m4I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg9-H403m4I[/video]

Nice enough. I'm sure that with effort Sir Paul might someday become a fine modernist composer. Ecce Cor Meum is certainly more to my taste
than, say "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey". At least it is entirely free from that dratted electric guitar. That said, the work overall seems to me a bit of a musical magpie's nest, with bibbles and baubles plucked from the past few centuries of "serious music". Pretty enough, but distinctly lacking focus, rather like a juvenile work of a composer who later achieved greatness. The Gratia is by far the best developed movement of the oratorio, and stands pretty well on its own. Might make a nice bit for a moving picture score.

In this modernist vein I much refer Alfred Schnittke or Arvo Part. When I first heard Ecce cor Meum in New York some years ago I was pleasantly suprised, but found the overall piece to be generally unengaging. The ovation given its composer seemed to me to be ebtirely out of proportion to the success of the work.

Yes. Class driven, race driven and plain ole generational differences can define the clashes of taste in music and dress. I like 70s disco and soul music but I can understand why that wouldn't appeal to someone older or younger than myself..or those on this board who strictly love Golden Era music. That's the beauty of variety, there's something for everyone and no one is required to like any particular genre.

Absolutely! On the other hand, a certain kind of obnoxious "Classic rock" is forced down one's craw (or rather into one's ears) day in and day out in most public spaces in this land. One may not like it, but one cannot avoid it.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

What I hate is how rock has permeated almost every aspect of our popular culture. I would once like to see a commercial, documentary or TV show without a rock soundtrack. They seem to feel a need to insert it even in a History Channel documentary about B-17s!

 

[LizzieMaine]

What I hate is how rock has permeated almost every aspect of our popular culture. I would once like to see a commercial, documentary or TV show without a rock soundtrack. They seem to feel a need to insert it even in a History Channel documentary about B-17s!

You can't even watch a ballgame without rock being crammed down your gullet. When I used to go to Fenway Park as a kid they had John Kiley unobtrusively playing show tunes on an organ between innings. Now not only is there thumping, incessant rock blasted at you between innings, but every player has to have his personalized "entrance music" thumping and pounding every time he comes to bat.

Bah. If I wanted to go to a WWF match I'd go to a WWF match.

 

[Tomasso]

For American board users, do you count the Post War period between 1945 and 1963 (ending with the JFK assassination) as part of the Golden Era?

No.

 

[Tomasso]

You can't even watch a ballgame without rock being crammed down your gullet.

Sure you can, go to an NBA game.....where you'll get rapped on the head.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Now not only is there thumping, incessant rock blasted at you between innings, but every player has to have his personalized "entrance music" thumping and pounding every time he comes to bat.

That would be a good title for a thread. "If Entrance Music Were Played Each Time You Logged Onto The Lounge, What Personal Entrance Music Would You Choose?"

AF

 

[sheeplady]

I think a lot of criticism over various types of music over the years are class and race driven, not aesthetically driven -- certain types of music get attacked because they're favored by The Wrong Kind Of People, while others get praised simply because they're favored by The Right Kind Of People.

People don't seem to have the guts to stand up to say they don't like something simply because they *don't like it,* they have to come up with a lot of rationalizations for why -- and I think that's the bunk. If you don't like something just stand up and say so -- you don't owe anybody any kind of explanation or apology for your own tastes.

I think you see the greatest example of this when a white person apologizes to a black/ African American person for not liking rap. It is both a sad indicator of race knowledge (since skin color has nothing to do with musical taste) and the state of talk about race in this country (we're so afraid of having a frank discussion that we even avoid topics that are close to opening up the perceived ant nest of race because we're so uncomfortable talking about it).

Yes. Class driven, race driven and plain ole generational differences can define the clashes of taste in music and dress. I like 70s disco and soul music but I can understand why that wouldn't appeal to someone older or younger than myself..or those on this board who strictly love Golden Era music. That's the beauty of variety, there's something for everyone and no one is required to like any particular genre.

I love a bit of everything- from modern to way back when. With no explanation as to why I love one song but hate another even from the same genre.

The one thing I do really miss is hearing motown and elvis on the radio (there has been a move to more 80s stuff, some of which I love, but I miss the older oldies). It is rare I hear earlier tunes today, and there is some great music there.