Rock and Roll lives

For rock and roll lovers:

This song is so simple, but so perfect. The lyrics make a good story - and the singer belts it out like Bon Scott. The guitars are 1: Gibson SG and 2. Gibson Les Paul.

This is recorder live and there are NO effects.

anyone else still follow bands that top the charts in the 70’s, 80’s who still make great music recently?

1 Like

they look like Game of thrones characters.

It seems as though any good band or solo artist has three or four years to create the caliber of work that made them well-known — at the most, maybe, eight or ten in rare situations. After that, they’re coasting on their reputation and, if still trying, publishing weaker, easier, less creative new material that relies heavily on what they’ve done before.

When I was younger, I suspected this was due to music styles changing and bands’ music going out of style — even though the quality of their work remained consistent.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve decided this might be part of the reason, but there’s more to it than that. Even those bands whose work I absolutely loved, invariably failed to maintain the same level of creativity in later work. Technically, their music might improve as they gain experience, but the spark in the later work is absent.

“Hit” new music is a phenomenon that teenagers have been obsessed with for decades. Whatever music one listens to during those years, sets the foundation of what one gravitates toward later on. Teenagers relate to just-older 20-somethings, and I suspect that creativity might peak during one’s 20s, even when technical proficiency is still lacking.

I suspect this is true in any field where creativity is required, from music to design, to art to science. That last push required to make one’s work two or three percent better requires an enormous amount of mental effort. That effort, I suspect, gets supplanted by technical ability, which one gains at the expense of pushing those difficult boundaries.

I think there are exceptions to that, B.
Or maybe it is because I only listened to Top 40 in my teens that I didn’t get ‘tired’ of hearing a band’s sound by playing the albums over and over.

The only artist I can think of that I believe was still making good music up until his death a couple years ago was Tom Petty. But I probably only think that as I didn’t discover his B-side and full catalog stuff until a little over 4 years ago. In chronological order, his albums were still showing creativity up to the end. I think he had more to give. He did lose his concert “tough kid” persona, though his fans seemed to love him to the end. While the band played well as always, by the 40th Anniversary tour, the vocals had gotten thin.

Others, who I don’t follow as much any more might be Dylan, Springsteen and maybe some of the members of Fleetwood Mac. These days though, most of the 70s bands still together are just doing the Old Reliables for as long as the people will come to see em.

I’m really going to get burned with these opinions. :wink:

Dylan hasn’t done anything significant in years, but then I never found him listenable. Yeah, his lyrics were poetic, insightful and sometimes moving, but for me, with the exception of one or two early songs, his work was still awful.

Fleetwood Mac stayed current for so long, because old members would leave as new, fresh members arrived. Each turnover brought entirely new sounds into what started out as a blues band and gradually morphed into a pop rock band with only Mick Fleetwood and John McVie remaining from the original. As solo artists, their work has seemed more like weak imitations of what they did as as a band. As a group, they haven’t done anything in years but fight with each other.

My opinion of Springstein is about the same as my opinion of Dylan — never liked his music. Born to Run was listenable to a point, but I’d usually turn the radio dial. Born in the USA was, in my opinion, one of the worst, most repetitively dull and boring songs ever to make it into the top 40. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to listen to it all the way through. Really, though, even for Springstein fans, has he really done anything groundbreaking in years?

As for Tom Petty, I loved his older work, but his later efforts were largely uninspired and lacking the charisma that made him one of my favorites. His last great work was, in my opinion, during the early '80s. He jumped the shark (again, in my opinion) by teaming up with Stevie Nicks. His fan base kept his records selling well through the '90s and early 2000s, but there was little left but his distinctive voice and a spark that never caught fire.

These are totally my personal opinions, and I fully realize that there are people who absolutely love these artists and their later work as much as their more popular earlier work. Even so, the majority of people seem to lose interest in them, their albums keep selling for several years, even though the hits are fewer and fewer between. Eventually, even the die hard fans lose interest and sales go down as does the frequency of their new, more mediocre work.

My point, I guess, is I think this is a combination of people getting tired of the old, the never-ending parade of teenagers always looking for something new, and the artists themselves just losing the edge and the drive that propelled them to the top in the first place.

Admittedly, though, there are probably exceptions: Johnny Cash or B.B. King, maybe.

This is a British band? is the singer British?? if so why the beeeeeeep is he singing in an American accent!? Ruins it for me I’m afraid.

All hail the king!

Since i work at home i need to listen to music all day.
There is this 1970 band named Sniff n the tears that still make very good music nowadays just in 2017 with Random Elements, The Motels has a good album out, Alan Parson’s The Miracle gets better by every listen, one song “As Lights Fall” is one of their best.
Simple Minds “Big Music” is incredible, Paul McCartney’s New is phenomenal- aha case in steel is good, Toad the Wet Sprocket’s new constellation might be thier best.
there are more music these musicians are creating that gets better by the decade.

Rush Clockwork Angels (late 2012) i think is their best work.

I shouldn’t have obfuscated my argument by mentioning my personal opinion of various artists — it wasn’t relevant to the point I was making. Despite my personal distaste for Dylan’s and Springstein’s music, their music was a major influence on both Western popular culture and music during the early years of their fame.

Their current work (and the work of artists like those EB_comix mentioned) no longer does this and hasn’t for decades. They’re anachronisms in the sense their influence is primarily limited to their historic influence rather than anything they’ve recently accomplished. Their fan base still appreciates their music, but for some reason, their new music no longer causes the stir it once did.

Even though they are still occasionally making new music their influence is limited to a shrinking fan base and their influence is primarily historic since their current music is no longer resonating as it once did nor having the broad impact of their former music.

My question is “Why?” Part of the reason, like I mentioned, is that styles change; the search for new and novel leaves the old behind; teenagers who drive music sales, age out of their teens and early 20s and give way to a new group that listens to even newer music.

But I’ve come to think there’s more to it than just that. Breaking into that top, rarified level of creativity is extraordinarily difficult and nearly impossible to maintain over the course of more than a handful of years. Inevitably, the sheer effort takes its toll. Creativity gives way to exhaustion and a reliance on competence and growing technical expertise rather than breaking new ground.

Is Paul McCartney still making good music? Yeah, McCartney is a genius like almost no other, and his current music is technically excellent but hardly ground-breaking. His fan base still loves his music and loves him, but the gut-wrenching rawness of Twist and Shout, the soul searching depth of Yesterday or the experimentation of his collaborative work with John Lennon is no longer there and hasn’t been for years. Even the engaging, bouncy pop hits of his Wings period have been replaced by the banal competence of an experienced musician whose current efforts might have been considered ground-breaking in the 1980s but no longer are.

They are from Northern Ireland. I think the accent goes out the window when you belt out lyrics like this though. No effects on the voice at all - none.

Scotland I think actually.

I think it’s better when a singer sings in his/her own accent. Otherwise, you know, it’s just fake. Call me a purist, but I’d rather listen to the real deal myself.

Here you go. Speaks in a broad Glaswegian accent and sings like he was brought up in a backstreet Chicago strip joint.

B, I completely see your point. Quite honestly a lot of old rock and rollers have lost the spark and are simply riding along on old glory and faithful fans. I used to go see Aerosmith when they played around here, but wouldn’t go today even if the tickets were free. I’ve had one bad experience not too long ago going to see a band I loved, only to see them in total decline, it was heartbreaking.

Could very well be. The guy who told me about them is from N. Ireland. So I could have misunderstood him.

Before an artist “makes it” they are young, dumb and full of… ideas. After years of people telling them they are “amazing” they start to believe it. They forget it was all the hunger and hard work that made their work amazing. They suddenly think “they” are what is good, nt the hours of dedication it took to get there.

They get dumber: weak.

1 Like

Just skimming through this topic … The band sounds pretty good :slight_smile: The lead singer reminds me of Tommy Lee.

As for Dylan. Nope … never cared for him … I know, I know … sacrilege . Especially now with the hueeee… deee … heeee… meeee … whweeee… singing. No thanks. Also not a huge fan of the Rolling Stones.

I have said several times I live in the past when it comes to music. I grew up on the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s pop and easy listening and Motown. It’s all my Mom listened to … so what she listened to… we listened to :wink: The hardest thing that played was Elvis. and I loved most of it. Then I came into my own during the late 70’s and finally learned who Led Zepplin was … who Black Sabbath was … Queen, Deep Purple, BOC. As the 80’s progressed I fell in love with Def Leppard, Guns and Roses, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, etc.

^^^^ all that is where I will always live musically. I hear things now days and it just hurts my ears. I’m finally old enough for that generational “Turn that crap off” stage.

Seeing my Hot and Sexy Rock Gods becoming geriatric is not a big thrill for me. Watching a 75 year old come out on stage and try to sound similar to what their glory was is just sad to me. All I can picture an old guy with a quad cane and tennis balls. Maybe they will swap out the tennis balls for skulls or something lol :smiley:

rock on

I mean if they want to and feel up to it … well go for it … good for them. But, with the price of tickets now days… I refuse to pay to see that. I got a little excited when I saw Elton John was coming fairly close to here last year. I looked into it… $350.00 for the nosebleeds. Really? Not happening.

I’ll sit home and live in the past with my old records, cassettes and cd’s LOL :wink:

Boy has this topic gone off track… but it’s a fun read :smiley:

1 Like

I know people who think he changed the world.

Wut?

1 Like

I agree about Dylan, meh. But then again I grew up in late 70s, early 80s so Dylan wasn’t “current” at that point.

And I do think its ridiculous for older bands to charge $300+ for crappy seats, but they do because people pay for it. They figure people are older and have more disposable income, and it seems to work out for them.

I preferred and loved going to small hole in the wall shows in the early 90s which maybe could hold 1,000 people max, but in some cases even less. IMO, that is the best way to watch a band perform. The large stadium style shows were ok, but not as memorable.

2 Likes

Check out the House of Blues near you. They have some pretty good shows. They are really good with sound setup. The crowd will be 500-1200. Saw Don Dokken open for Queensryche in NOLA for $20.

1 Like