If you could somehow erase and reformat the section of your brain where you store your musical data (how many lyrics and tunes do you know, it's incredible, really), do you think that you would like the same things that you like now after hearing them for a virtual first time? Would Rubber Soul catch you by suprise or be dismissed? All of the "classic" music that you grew up with, do you think you'd still think it was "The Great Music of our time?" With radio so segmented the way it is today, I don't think it would be possible to acquire a taste for a wide range of music as was possible in the late '60s/early 70s, where the radio stations would play The Beatles, Stone, Doors, Supremes, etc. along side Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Al Hirt..... :-jon
Oh, absolutley! i only wished I had been exposed to more types of music/artists early in life! I want to be famillkiar with as much music as possible, good and bad, likes and dislikes.
Most definately I would still love the music I do now as it was just an incrediable time to be alive as 90% of rock history was made between 1960 and 1986. Similar to Grant though, I wish that I was exposed to a lot more styles although I probably wouldn't have been mature enough to appreciate the variety of styles that I do currently.
A really interesting question. If I started my music knowledge from scratch right now, the only things I could potentially see myself not getting into would be some of the punkier, aggressive, post-punk, or purposely obscure stuff I started with. Right now, at thirty-two years old, with young children and a demanding job, I don't find myself gravitating to old (but angst-heavy) favorites like Husker Du, early Clash, the Cure, the Smiths, etc. as much anymore. Instead, I more frequently need music that soothes the soul, whether Van Morrison, blues, or classic R&B. Other than that, my own musical tastes (and collection) have pretty much just followed my heart and head, with the key criteria always being 'is this music speaking to me?' and 'do I feel this music?' In fact, starting over, my blues discs (which I have only been really collecting for the last 10 years, and only number about 600) would probably be a much larger proportion of my total collection. Again, a really super question.
I never really listened to any jazz until my mid-thirties. Most of this great music was recorded around the time I was born or before. I still love the rock & pop that I grew up with but my real musical focus these days are jazz & blues, which were definitely not my earlier choices.
A great pleasure of being a music lover is the fact that as you develop your tastes in music, inevitably one group or genre leads you to another. It's just a fact that people who have derived pleasure from music just seek out more "good" music. It really is a circle that never ends as long as you have that love of music. Sense it is subjective, the "good" means really anything. One sound, one chord, one note, one song, one album it could be anything that leads to you hear some other type of music. That's why I know my tastes would be as varied and eclectic as they are now. I do appreciate having parents that exposed me to many genres and also invested the time when I wanted to hear other things. It instilled that habit in my and something I happily live with now.
All, I know that the reason why I enjoy such a wide variety of music today is because I grew up with AM Top 40 from 1956 through about 1974. During this period I got to know and love everything from Rock n' Roll (Elvis, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis etc.), Doo-Wop (Cadillacs, Penguins, etc.), old R & B (Big Joe Turner, Ray Charles, Lloyd Price, Etta James, etc), 60's and 70's Soul (Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Aretha Frankin, Jackie Wilson, etc.), 50's & 60's Pop (Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, etc.), Country (Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline, Johnny Horton, etc.), Instumental Hits (Ray Coniff, Bert Kamphert), Jazz (Dave Brubeck, Ramsay Lewis, etc,) British Invasion (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Dave Clark Five, Them, etc.) Progressive Rock (Jimi Hendrix, Doors, Steppenwolf, etc.), Album Artists (Blood, Sweat & Tears, Van Morrison, etc.)...all played on your local AM Top 40 station. The variety of music was spectacular during those years! Try hearing that kind of variety today on any Radio format including Oldies stations! Actually, I miss it... Bob
Older Music! Dave, It no wonder that we spend so much time discussing re-mastering of older music! It has nothing to with chronological age, romanticizing about the "good old days" but rather living today with Popular music being recorded and marketed to pre-teens, teens and limited, specialized audiences and then over-compressed at that! Bob
You know what I can't understand? When the "old" raock groups or artists put out a new CD, be it James Taylor, Elton John, Carole King, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Paul McCartney, or even newer-older artists like John Melencamp or Bryan Adams or (fill in the blank) they do not have a PRAYER of getting airplay. The only CD sales these artisits get are from people like me who know that they are about to release a CD, then searching to find it in a store or on the internet. Granted, these CDs may not harken back to when the artists were "in their prime", but geez, it would be nice if the general population would get to hear the new stuff and judge for themselves. Too often, and "old" artists new release will be dismissed by the few critics that review them as "not like the old days" and that's that. There are just so many times that a person can listen to "Fire and Rain", or any classic tune that has been played to death. It makes me crazy when I scan the radio and hear "So Far Away" (Carole King) being played, when she just put out a new album that has some great tunes on it that no one will ever hear. WTF? Why can't there be a radio format for new stuff from old people? While I was growing up, my parents played Farnk Sinatra and Louis Armstrong and the like, but the fact that I could hear NEW tunes from these artists along side the "new" music of THe Beatles, etc. almost was like a validation of that music. Today's "old" muscal acts do not have that chance..... :-jon (coming down off the horse now)
It's the over-compression of much of today's new music that gets to me. Many new titles can make your ears bleed from the awful sound. Two titles of recent recordings by oldies acts that suffer from this problem are REM's Reveal and ELO's Zoom. Both cds have some great tunes but the compression really kills any ambiance or life in the music. I had to get rid of Santanas Supernatural not because i didn't like the music but the cd sounded horrible. This is probably the most extreme case I have ever encountered. I rarely get rid of a cd. JohnG
Speaking of "Supernatural", has anyone heard the vinyl version? If one person can tell me that it has more dynamic range than the CD I will get rid of the CD today and get the LP ASAP! I also can't listen to the CD because of the gross compression!
