The Golden Age...

[Arwen Undomiel]

First we need to blow up MTV's headquarters.....who's with me?~!?!

*sigh*

If only it were just MTV. We could take them down. But there will still be a million other pop drivel-infested areas to fumigate. We need a bigger army!

 

[KristianJ]

I like your period, ps. Not sure whether I'd start in '67 or 68 though, but I think it covers the birth, rise and death of some of the most influential bands in rock history.

 

[nadroj1985]

Quite interesting picks; although all of you have picked 6-year periods So much for following OP rules, eh?

 

[ps139]

Hey man I havent taken math since senior year of high school! And there is a reason for that!!!

 

[charmtrap]

If you could pick any 5 year period in the history of rock music, what 5 years would you consider the "Golden Age" of rock music?

1979-1984

The tail end of punk and the rise post-punk/new wave. That was the last great time for music without doubt.

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

Quite interesting picks; although all of you have picked 6-year periods So much for following OP rules, eh?

Ha! Sez you! Take my years for example - start in, say, May 1964. If you end in May 1969 that's five years.

 

[nadroj1985]

Anyway, my 5-year period of rock music greatness is 1966-1970. The era of experimental rock music, IMHO. The heyday of many of my favorite artists; geniuses such as Van Morrison, the Velvet Underground, the Doors, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, etc. etc. etc. IMO, there was never a time where more artists were trying more new things than these 5 years.

 

[nadroj1985]

If only it were just MTV.....

.......and not the way the world works By my standards, at least, the greatest music almost always has not, is not, and will not be popular. I don't mind too much, though. I just have to work a little harder.....and I enjoy the work

 

[ps139]

.......and not the way the world works By my standards, at least, the greatest music almost always has not, is not, and will not be popular. I don't mind too much, though. I just have to work a little harder.....and I enjoy the work

I think that generally speaking, you are correct.

 

[nadroj1985]

I think that generally speaking, you are correct.

Yeah, it is a general statement, to a degree. I was quite careful to put an "almost" in there, because every once in a while, you get very popular albums that I consider good music. It ain't often, though.

 

[ps139]

You are right. I think that the general population doesnt have an ear for music. A minority has a good ear for music. Thus the tastes of the minority and majority will usually differ. I'm sorry but "3 minutes and catchy" isnt my idea of great music. Sometimes on rare occasions a song is sooo good that no matter what you have to love it. That accounts for those rare, rare, rare instances when Phish is on the radio

 

[nadroj1985]

You are right. I think that the general population doesnt have an ear for music. A minority has a good ear for music.

I didn't say that at all. Their tastes are different, not better or worse.

*nadroj wonders if ps139 will begin to believe this if he says it over and over*

Thus the tastes of the minority and majority will usually differ. I'm sorry but "3 minutes and catchy" isnt my idea of great music.

I'll give that one an amen.....in some cases

Sometimes on rare occasions a song is sooo good that no matter what you have to love it. That accounts for those rare, rare, rare instances when Phish is on the radio

 

[charmtrap]

You are right. I think that the general population doesnt have an ear for music. A minority has a good ear for music.

I think the difference is unsophistication, not a "good ear". I fully believe that if I got the chance to sit the average music-listener down and play them the 20 albums that I believe are qualitatively better than anything ever recorded, they'd not only enjoy it but that it'd change the way they listen to music. I mean, probably I'm wrong and they'd just revert to their Creed-induced stupor, or whatever, but it's worth a shot.

Yes, I'm a musical elitist

Thus the tastes of the minority and majority will usually differ. I'm sorry but "3 minutes and catchy" isnt my idea of great music.

Whoa. Three minutes and catchy are some of my favorite songs. You've obviously never heard "Academy Fight Song", "Summer Babe", "Rain of Crystal Spires"...the entire Smiths oeuvre, for crying out loud!

 

[Qyöt27]

I think the difference is unsophistication, not a "good ear". I fully believe that if I got the chance to sit the average music-listener down and play them the 20 albums that I believe are qualitatively better than anything ever recorded, they'd not only enjoy it but that it'd change the way they listen to music. I mean, probably I'm wrong and they'd just revert to their Creed-induced stupor, or whatever, but it's worth a shot.

Yes, I'm a musical elitist

lol

If I sat the average music listener down and played the music I think is best, they probably wouldn't leave with their sanity intact or without their ears bleeding (and that's while having the music at an acceptable level; not blaring). Skinny Puppy (and the mix of music I listen to; not just Puppy) tends to have that effect on people *devious grin*

 

[nadroj1985]

I think the difference is unsophistication, not a "good ear". I fully believe that if I got the chance to sit the average music-listener down and play them the 20 albums that I believe are qualitatively better than anything ever recorded, they'd not only enjoy it but that it'd change the way they listen to music. I mean, probably I'm wrong and they'd just revert to their Creed-induced stupor, or whatever, but it's worth a shot.

I think you're wrong For instance, I could play the average listener "Sister Ray" by the Velvet Underground, and they just wouldn't get it. I think it's a masterpiece, but most people would probably think it's unlistenable. They just look at music in a fundamentally different way than I do.

 

[nadroj1985]

If I sat the average music listener down and played the music I think is best, they probably wouldn't leave with their sanity intact or without their ears bleeding (and that's while having the music at an acceptable level; not blaring). Skinny Puppy (and the mix of music I listen to; not just Puppy) tends to have that effect on people *devious grin*

Isn't there something so great about playing a record you really love and having them absolutely hate it? Especially if they say things like "this isn't even music!!!" Ahhh, the joys of being an elitist, eh?

A quote from Lester Bangs......

" I am also firmly convinced that one reason for the popularity of rap music, like disco and punk before it, is that it's so utterly annoying to those of use whose cup of blare it isn't; more than once its fans have walked up to a doorless telephone booth I was occupying, set their mammoth radios down on the sidewalk five inches from my feet, and stood there smiling at me. They didn't want to use the phone, but I find it hard to begrudge them such gleeful rudeness; how could I, after walking all over the city with my also highly audible cassette player emitting free jazz, Metal Machine Music, PiL's "Theme," Miles Davis's "Rated X" and Iannis Xenakis's Electro-Acoustic Music, part one of which the composer described as sound paintings of the bombing of Greece?"

(source)

 

[charmtrap]

lol

If I sat the average music listener down and played the music I think is best, they probably wouldn't leave with their sanity intact or without their ears bleeding (and that's while having the music at an acceptable level; not blaring). Skinny Puppy (and the mix of music I listen to; not just Puppy) tends to have that effect on people *devious grin*

Well now, if that was the effect I wanted, I'd go straight for my noise collection and play some Einsturzende Neubaten, Aube, Merzbow, Francisco Lopez or Nurse With Wound. I don't usually like to actively frighten my guests however.

 

[charmtrap]

I think you're wrong

Well I did say I was probably wrong

For instance, I could play the average listener "Sister Ray" by the Velvet Underground, and they just wouldn't get it.

Sure, but Sister Ray is pretty challenging to listen to all the way through, even considering all the years that have passed.

I think it's a masterpiece, but most people would probably think it's unlistenable. They just look at music in a fundamentally different way than I do.

I don't know if that's a rule or not. I think the reason most people are unsophisticated in their choices is because they encounter so little thoughtful art, which means they remain unsophisticated, which means artists who are after mainstream success must pander to unsophisticated tastes, which means said listener gets more unsophisticated art, and so on around the circle we go. You can't learn to appreciate what you can't ever hear.

 

[nadroj1985]

Sure, but Sister Ray is pretty challenging to listen to all the way through, even considering all the years that have passed.

Not for me I honestly listen to that song all the way through all the time.

I don't know if that's a rule or not. I think the reason most people are unsophisticated in their choices is because they encounter so little thoughtful art, which means they remain unsophisticated, which means artists who are after mainstream success must pander to unsophisticated tastes, which means said listener gets more unsophisticated art, and so on around the circle we go. You can't learn to appreciate what you can't ever hear.

I will agree that that is one possibility. There are probably many people who would like more obscure, experimental music but just don't hear it because it wouldn't have mainstream success, and is not widely heard. However, I still think that the majority of people who hear the more obscure, experimental stuff will not like it, and that's why the music doesn't have mainstream success.

 

[twosteppin]

...... That accounts for those rare, rare, rare instances when Phish is on the radio

I'm not sure about the radio, but The weather channel loves to play Trey's stuff (seis de mayo) during the "local on the 8's"