Why is Pre-Rock Music Dead?

Sto lat! Sto lat!

 

probably because music evolves over time in order continually to give audiences something novel to listen to while still appealing to their preexisting tastes.

that's just the case for the mainstream, 'Mumford' part of the equation, though. as far as its indie side went, american folk music very often was being recreated with plenty of purity. my freshman year in college, I fell asleep nearly every weeknight to drunken, simplistic renditions of 'St James infirmary blues,' 'shenandoah,' 'dry bones,' and similar material being belted out in the room next to mine by three banjo players, an acoustic guitarist, and an guy on autoharp.

this is not what most people experienced, but it's what was happening in art school, that incubator of all things indie. the public at large got a hybrid of this and more familiar sounds (rock, in this case) in the guise of Mumford and other like-minded acts.

 

When I look through the old 1950's issues of Billboard, I see that--like in every area of our culture--there are so many long-forgotten and never-remembered musical acts. It's the same for books; the same for movies. "All those people, all those lives; where are they now?" When an artist emerges from obscurity (or niche interest), it's because someone famous or rich curates it out. Nick Drake via some movies but I'll bet mostly that VW commercial. Carson McMuller via??

 

Oh people were vile heathens then too you just didn't hear about it so much because there was no internet.

 

It's a similar story with my dad but a generation later...Bad Bad Leroy Brown was about as rocking as he got. He did have the 8 track of Simon and Garfunkle's Greatest Hits which I made him play incessantly on car trips...but I digress...


As to the sexuality in the lyrics, there are the blues tunes, of course, but even more standard fare dealt with sex, it was just dealt with more cleverly because they had to be sly about it. I don't think modern "put it all out there" lyrics stand up well by comparison, and as Lester Bangs wrote there is nothing more sexy than horny people who are repressed and can't speak openly about it...but I digress again...

 

Similar story here. My dad was born in 1932, my mom 1934. Both hated rock. My dad was big into country though. I got my love for Hank Williams through him even though it took me decades to realize it. I thought it all sounded horrible when I was a kid. I remember my dad saying that "Yesterday" was the only good song The Beatles ever did. He never mellowed on that stance.

My mom mellowed a bit. Probably mostly because she had to listen to the stuff we kids played much more. She became an Elvis fan eventually and even CCR. I remember her once saying that she wished she'd been born a couple of years later so she could have got into rock more. I think that might have been while we were watching an episode of "Happy Days".

But growing up stuff like Peter Paul and Mary and Tijuana Brass was as modern as they ever got.

 

Wait ... you man like Mozart, Bach and Beethoven ?
I think it's still alive.

You mean like Miles and Coltrane ?
I think it's still alive.

You mean like Sinatra, Ray Charles and Nat ?
I think it's still alive.

Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, Arlin, Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Ellington, the Gershwins and all those great songwriters might smell funny but I don't think they're dead.

 

Because the Rock 'n' Roll Revolution was such that it wiped out most forms of earlier pop music over the next decade. But if you look further to say jazz or blues I don't think it should be too hard to find musicians who draw inspiration from pre-rock bebop or Chicago/delta blues styles.

Also: how much pre-British Invasion or Motown influence do you hear out there in pop these days?

 

Emotionally, it's just not relevant to the mass music listening population of today. Still, there's an endless amount of beautiful music archived from that era.

 

LOL. First time reading this post I saw "how many people in 1950 were listening to music from 1980".

 

It would be nice if this music came back:

 

Huh? There was music before the 1960s??

 

Just the ones at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance.

"I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet, but your kids are gonna love it."

 

Also, Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra didn't do onstage gross-out contests.

 

Visit New Orleans and on any given day, in a dozen bars, there are young people playing turn of the century (not the last turn) jazz, blues, brass, jump, whatever without irony! Most with a great amount of talent. Sometimes they modern it up and sometimes play it straight; however, they usually honor the tradition. Greatest music scene in the country and probably the world.

P.S. And people dance like crazy!

 

I think the post-50's populace was sated by Magnolia Simms.

 

Wow, I didn't realize Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, let alone Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, are nothing compared to the likes of Cream.

 

I think this forum needs a [SARCASM] icon

 

yah

That being said, I do know people who have made such statements in all seriousness. Albeit usually while stoned.

 

I like some Cole Porter.

 

Oh, I hope this isn't so...though it just may be. Gad, anyone who doesn't get tingles and gooseflesh from the haunting poignance and genius melodicism of Scott Joplin...well, they need to go back to 'music school'.

 

Same for the films of Charlie Chaplin...but it's all a bit off the radar these days and mostly appreciated by the elites (that is not an insult).

Rumor has is BobDylan is about to release an album of Frank Sinatra covers...which will appeal to the kids about as much as Hoagy Carmichael concert tape...but still, the old music isn't dead, it's just underground.