08 February 2021

Boomers Are Surprised That People Don't Love Their Music

It isn't only that people don't love the music; people have never heard the music. And the artists and the labels apparently want it that way. Unless of course their music is played on radio stations the way it was 40 years ago. Does anyone even listen to radio anymore? More on that later...

And the terms in which Boomers remember the music of the 60s and 70s is more than over the top. The BBC is going Radio Ga Ga, writes DAVID HAMILTON� | Daily Mail Online

And yes, I am officially a Boomer, but I mostly hate the music that most Boomers love.

First the writer admits that in his youth, he and his cohort didn't care much for the music of prior generations.

In those days, the Forces radio station played an endless diet of Bing Crosby and Peggy Lee — both wonderful singers, but their music was the sort of thing we young servicemen associated with our parents.

We wanted something different, something to call our own — and we'd found it in rock 'n' roll.

And he believes that 1960s/70s Rock & Roll is the end of all musical advancement.

This was the dawn of two decades which would usher in some of the greatest music ever made and the greatest lyrics ever penned — written and performed by bands and solo artists whose names are now etched in the music hall of fame.

Now I like Rock & Roll, but most of the music of the 1960s and 1970s can best be described as drek. A lot of it all sounds the same. It was composed by people with limited skills, and it was performed by people with less skill. True there are some gems, like Pink Floyd, Yes, and others, but there is a lot of stuff that is just awful.

And "the greatest music ever made" might be a bit of a stretch, but of course that is exactly how most Boomers see things.

Hat tip to Vox Popoli, who notes...

To me, the main difference between classic rock and punk rock is that at least the punk rockers knew they didn't know how to play their instruments very well. There are ten-year-old girls now who play better guitar than the average classic rock guitarist. And it's hilarious to see the characteristic complete lack of self-consciousness inherent in the Boomer braggadacio about their lack of interest in their parents' music combined with their bafflement that their grandchildren have no interest in their music.

The greatest music ever recorded? I think Beethoven and Mozart and Wagner might have a little something to say about that. No one even listens to the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and the Kinks anymore and they're still alive

There is a separate take on the whole issue of Boomers' and their music and why it is disappearing from the culture. It comes from Rick Beato. He has a series of videos, What Makes This Song Great, that he occasionally has trouble with. The suits that run the American Music industry can't wrap their tiny minds around the basic fact that free marketing is a good thing. Rick doesn't make any money on his videos. With exactly two exceptions, the labels get all of the royalties/ad revenue from the videos based on the songs that he plays. You would think that would be enough. Free advertising and ad revenue. It isn't enough. The labels (and the tiny-minded-suits) occasionally block his work. Recently he got a copyright strike because "fair use" and "copyright law" are two things that suits will never understand. Though the lack of understanding on "free advertising" surprises me.

In that video Rick promises: "I won't ever talk about The Cars again. NEVER. EVER." And then Boomers' wonder why music from their youth is not popular today. Suits with tiny minds, and "heritage artists" who did too many drugs back in the day to understand "free advertising."

‡ Rick Beato makes his money selling stuff. The Beato Book, is a text on music theory and composition for aspiring songwriters. He also has the usual collection of mugs and tee-shirts.

13 comments:

  1. And before people take exception to the "Nobody listens to The Rolling Stones..." part of that quote, I featured a song that The Stones put out last year about COVID-19 lockdowns. The reaction was "that is fairly average."

    Boomers listen to Oldies stations that play the same 40 or 100 songs that they loved from their youth, but a new song by the Stones probably isn't even on their radar. And it wasn't very good. (I only included it because it was topical.)

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  2. Good, bad indifferent, not sure, but I do know that I AM SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING THE SAME CRAP FOR ALMOST 35 YEARS. (I'm older GenX). same songs. COME ON MOVE ON. Play something different.

    TBH who listens to the radio (sat radio included) anymore? After all, once you heard one day's worth of stuff you've heard tomorrow's and the next days and the next days. SSDD

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    1. I haven't listened to the radio in years. At least since I got my first smart phone, and not really before that either, because the car I was driving had 6-disk CD changer. And even before that there were cassette tapes...

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  3. I like Rick Beato's videos, and I think he makes a good point

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  4. But did you have an 8 Track in your car Deb????

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    1. My sister had an 8-track in a used car she drove once, but she is a few years older than I am. I never had an 8-track. Just radio and cassette tapes, until I got the one with the 6 disk changer.

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  5. Pro tools and the other electronic music recording programs ruined music forever. Anyone can record, but most of them shouldn't...

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  6. Funny that you can almost always find one or more "oldies" stations as you drive across the U.S., but never an "oldies rap station".

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    1. That is mostly because the past couple of generations don't listen to the radio. Mostly. In 20 years those oldies stations will be gone. They are starting to go now.

      The last time I drove through Georgia, once you got south of Atlanta there was Country, and preaching. I was glad I had my own music. (There are a couple of Atlanta stations that are still worth listening to.)

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    2. The past couple of generations "don't listen to the radio." Apparently they didn't go to school either. No one listens to modern "country" or hipity hop or rapper garbage, and no one can tell you the names of one of their hits from three years ago.

      Each generation gets stupider than the last, the hubrus of believing their music is the best is such a bad joke. 95% of the top ten hits of this generation will be discarded thrash in five years.

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    3. By "nobody" you mean of course "nobody you know."

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    4. That statement about "thinking their music is best" is exactly what the parents/teachers/whoever was saying about Rock and Roll in the 50s. And more recently. Marylin Manson was the subject of Congressional hearings on "Is this music destroying our children."

      As I noted a year or two back, you can't buy publicity like that.

      Somewhere there is a quote from ancient Rome, about how the kids these days have no character and are sure to be the downfall of Empire. The only thing missing is the "get off my lawn" statement.

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