evolution of music

the sixties brought us the psychedelic acid bands that always had swirly colors on their clothes, videos…hell, everything
seventies brought us this crazy psychedelic soul revival with half of the country staying on the path of the sixties that was slowly becoming more and more violent & sexual as that music started to branch off into metal, pop and other things. the other side went for the sweaty guys dancing with each other at discos (which dont get me wrong, were cool) and that branched off into things like rap
eighties just plain sucked in my opinion, but as far as music goes, we finally realized the potencial of those shitty, fast drums and electronic-sounding guitars that were horrible. we also went to this technicolor wonderland, where everything from hair to pants all of a sudden became bigger.
nineties gave us this more sophisticated/trashy types of music, with bands either looking really good in these extremely nice clothes (i.e. backstreet boys, N*Sync) or looking like they came from a trailer park (i.e. Nirvana…hell, any other grunge band from the nineties. again, dont get me wrong, they’re cool, but this is just about image right now)
now, we seem to be breaking free of the nineties and for some reason going back to the sixties (???)
so this is my question, over the years, where do you think music is going to go? are we going to keep going in this cycle for eternity, or are we on some kind of winding catapult, just waiting to be thrown into some absolutely new directioin? these aren’t the only theories, mind you, so im curious to know what you all think of this.

Hi Vlad,

The disco scene had nothing to do with homosexuality.

I think that your question is unanswerable, rhetorical beyond belief, and possessed of its own psychodelic quality which makes a structured discussion prohibitively impractical, I’m afraid.

:evilfun: John

Music is expression. It usualy reflects the time period. So as we go through different periods in time music changes.

I think music also changes becuase people want to try new thing. Such as in art with the contempoary movment. The same is in music. You talked about the 80’s and how they used electronics to create music. This is a reflectinon of the want for new ideas. No one had done this before, mainly because it was imposible. Nevertheless it was still new and cutting-edge and cool.

Whoa, there, Prolificetc.! Your dismissive humor is certainly enjoyed by all, yet I think we can probably wrangle some discussion from this thread.

While I would disagree with Vlad’s family tree of music (I would argue that pop/boy bands descended from disco and that rap had other influences), I think his question is a valid one.

I, for one, refuse to believe that this is all there is with music. There has to be something new around the corner. Let’s face it, music has become very stagnant. I can’t think of a single area of music that has done anything truly unique in the past ten years.

You forgot PROGRESSIVE ROCK of the 70s. Go to gepr.net and choose any band, get their record and listen. You may like it. There is alot of old music that must still be discovered. Just rediscovering all those bands will keep you busy for a long time. Do you know the YES album CLOSE TO THE EDGE?

MUSIC is my ELEMENT
especially evolution of music

nameta9

im sorry for forgetting this progressive rock, but that is not what what matters here. im discussing the evolution of music, and just gave a few random examples. the first things that came off the top of my head. so while i apologize that i forgot progressive rock, but i must also say that this is irrelevant to the discussion

Hi

This is my first post, I just discovered this forum, so don’t be too hard on me!

It tends to be human nature for old fashion to become new again, so yes, we will keep going in this cycle for eternity, as it has been stated. At the same time, as skibs says, I’m sure something new is around the corner. Once we tire of the new discovery, however, the cycle will begin again.

ha !

music is going to the dogs, if you must know.

the fat cats in suits back at sony etc finaly managed to get the turbulent kids in line, and as a result now we get the sort of utter crap that pours from any radio/cd player/tv.

just consider what the word band used to mean. people that could play instruments make a band. nowadays we have bunches not bands. just look around now, britney spears cant sing. shakira can admirably shake her butt but cant sing. nely furtado cant sing and its painfull to listen to her try. madonna’s voice is slowly dwingling with age, and she could barely sing in the 80’s anyway. most of the youger “rising starts” hang on to some instrument or other in a way that makes it painfully obvious they could not play it to save their lives. and nobody plays anything anymore, we are just left with the vocal (who cant sing) and some computer generated junk.

back in the old days, people had a tune in their head, a melody, an inkling of music and worked their fingers to the bone on guitars and fed it fettucini and bashed their heads on the wall untill the damned thing did what they wanted it to. nowadays, kiddies sit at a computer and go uuuu look, it has pre built mexican rythms. cool, lets add that. oo look it also has indian trumpet and martian counterpoints. cool lets hear how that sounds. then they record 5 minutes of that and voila, a song.

this approach is essentially the way americans shop. i dont care if they are happy to be fed whats on sale and get the job thats available and always be and do that which is accesible to them, with no regard to personal taste or inclination. but that approach will never result in art. it will just make money.

and music is not doing very well, in the artistical sense of the word… if anyone even cares it had such an implication at some point

Merelyhuman said:

If this was true at some point fashion form the 1700 come back into style or from the middle ages or from the time of cavemen. Music from the 60`s isnt that old. I think the trend may be that we keep pushing music to newer and stranger places until it gets to a point where its just rediculous. Then a “back to basics” movement starts.

This is visable in art. Visit MOMA in New york and you will see some of the strangest things in the world that are considered art. Its just people trying to push the envelope to get attention. That was the point behind the whole contemporary movement.

very well written zenofeller, i couldnt have put it better myself

:astonished: ZENOFELLER!

Just because that is what is precived to be popular doesnt mean its the only music that exists. What about Bella Fleck! or Moe! or String Chesse Incadent! or Phish (although they recently broke up) What about 311, Greenday, Dashboard Confessionals, Saves The Day, and Jack Johnson!?

There are tons of great musicians that are still actually bands. They just arent at the forefront of the pop movement manily because pop sucks.

i have no doubt whatsoever that in some basement somewhere there is good music being made. question is which basement ? thats what the dumb idiots that call themselves the music industry are paid to find out for us. so i dont have to cover all fucking suburbia and listen to all the silly kids on a mission myself. and they are not doing anything like that, quite the contrary they do all they can to not get their job done.

These bands are somewhat mainstream

The problem with the situations is nowadays when a band becomes mainstream they get all shitty and poppy. The record labels force the band to look and sound a certain way. Good Charlotte and NFG are some examples. They were both ok before they made it big and now there just shitty pop punk. The music industry sucks. Thats why unsigned bands are great.

about 20 years ago Jello said:

Fun Fun Fun in the fluffy chair
Flame up the herb
Woof down the beer
[click!]
Hi
I’m your video DJ
I always talk like I’m wigged out on quaaludes
I wear a satin baseball jacket everywhere I go

My job is to help destroy
What’s left of your imagination
By feeding you endless doses
Of sugar-coated mindless garbage

So don’t create
Be sedate
Be a vegetable at home
And thwack on that dial
If we have our way even you will believe
This is the future of rock and roll

How far will you go
How low will you stoop
To tranquilize our minds with your sugar-coated swill

You’ve turned rock and roll rebellion
Into Pat Boone sedation
Making sure nothing’s left to the imagination

M.T.V. Get off the
M.T.V. Get off the
M.T.V. Get off the air
Get off the air

See the latest rejects from the muppet show
Wag their tits and their dicks
As they lip-synch on screen
There’s something I don’t like
About a band who always smiles
Another tax write-off
For some schmuck who doesn’t care

M.T.V. Get off the air
And so it was
Our beloved corporate gods
Claimed they created rock video
Allowing it to sink as low in one year
As commercial TV has in 25
“It’s the new frontier,” they say
It’s wide open, anything can happen
But you’ve got a lot of nerve
To call yourself a pioneer
When you’re too god-damn conservative
To take real chances.

Tin-eared
Graph-paper brained accountants
Instead of music fans
Call all the shots at giant record companies now

The lowest common denominator rules
Forget honesty
Forget creativity
The dumbest buy the mostest
That’s the name of the game

But sales are slumping
And no one will say why
Could it be they put out one too many lousy records?!?

M.T.V.-Get off the air!
NOW

and a bit later:

Life can only get better
All you need to do is fall in love
Everyone else has fun but you
Buy that fun you’ll fit in too

Dance your problems away
GOVERNMENT MUSIC
Cheap escape to that mind-control beat
GOVERNMENT MUSIC
Mellow out-Life’s too hard
You don’t even want to think

See the macho cock-rock metal heroes
Vomit fire out of their big mouths
Shake your fists obediently
Make Leni Riefenstahl real proud

See the Aryan bozo with the red guitar
Parachute on the White House lawn
Gonna bomb the commies with his air guitar
So dumb he can’t drive 55

Like Bing Crosby before them
GOVERNMENT MUSIC
Too idiotic to be real
GOVERNMENT MUSIC
You want it loud?
We’ll make sure it goes nowhere
So you won’t get ideas

Triumph of the swill
Triumph of the swill
Triumph of the swill
Triumph of the swill

Music is banned in Khomeini’s Iran
On the grounds that it stimulates the brain
We’ve done him one better in the land of coke & honey
Using music to put people’s brains to sleep

Ever wonder why commercial radio’s so bad?
It’s 'cause someone upstairs wants it that way
If the Doors or John Lennon were getting started now
The industry wouldn’t sign 'em in a million years

So what do we get
GOVERNMENT MUSIC
Christian censorship and taxed blank tapes
Shoppers strung out on our false hopes
Will flock to obey

Triumph of the swill
Triumph of the swill
Triumph of the swill
Triumph of the swill

and again:

Punk’s not dead
It just deserves to die
When it becomes another stale cartoon
A close-minded, self-centered social club
Ideas don’t matter, it’s who you know
If the music’s gotten boring
It’s because of the people
Who want everyone to sound the same
Who drive bright people out
Of our so-called scene
'Til all that’s left Is just a meaningless fad
Hardcore formulas are dogshit
Change and caring are what’s real
Is this a state of mind
Or just another label
The joy and hope of an alternative
Have become its own cliche
A hairstyle’s not a lifestyle
Imagine Sid Vicious at 35
Who needs a scene
Scared to love and to feel
Judging everythng
By loud fast rules appeal
Who played last night?
“I don’t know, I forgot.
But diving off the stage Was a lot of fun.”
[Chorus:]
So eager to please
Peer pressure decrees
So eager to please
Peer pressure decrees

Make the same old mistakes
Again and again,
Chickenshit conformist
Like your parents
What’s ripped us apart even more than drugs
Are the thieves and the goddamn liars
Flipping people off when they share their stuff
When someone falls are there any friends?
Harder core than thou for a year or two
Then it’s time to get a real job
Others stay home, it’s no fun to go out
When the gigs are wrecked by gangs and thugs
When the thugs form bands, look who gets record deals
From New York metal labels looking to scam
Who sign the most racist queerbashing bands they can find
To make a buck revving kids up for war
Walk tall, act small
Only as tough as gang approval
Unity is bullshit
When it’s under someone’s fat boot
Where’s the common cause
Too many factions
Safely sulk in their shells
Agree with us on everything
Or we won’t help with anythng
That kind of attitude
Just makes a split grow wider
Guess who’s laughing while the world explodes
When we’re all crybabies
Who fight best among ouselves

[Chorus]

That farty old rock and roll attitude’s back
“It’s competition, man, we wanna break big.”
Who needs friends when the money’s good
That’s right, the '70s are back.
Cock-rock metal’s like a bad laxative
It just don’t move me, ya know?
The music’s OK when there’s more ideas than solos
Do we rally need the attitude too?
Shedding thin skin too quickly
As a fan it disappoints me
Same old stupid sexist lyrics
Or is Satan all you can think of?
Crossover is just another word
For lack of ideas
Maybe what we need
Are more trolls under the bridge
Will the metalheads finally learn something-
Or will the punks throw away their education?
No one’s ever the best
Once they believe their own press
“Maturing” don’t mean rehashing
Mistakes of the past

[Chorus]

The more things change
The more they stay the same
We can’t grow
When we won’t criticize ourselves
The '60s weren’t all failure
It’s the '70s that stunk
As the clock ticks we dig the same hole
Music scenes ain’t real life
They won’t get rid of the bomb
Won’t eliminate rape
Or bring down the banks
Any kind of real change
Takes more time and work
Than changing channels on a TV set

[Chorus]

“Music scenes ain’t real life”

-Imp

[size=125][b]Re: Whoa, there![/b][/size]

:confused: :sunglasses: Indeed, sir.

Vlad I am compelled to apologize and extend a proper welcoming hand to you as a new member. And you as well, skibs. (Hehe. Gotta admit that particular shortening of my name, “Prolificetc”–meaning “Prolific et cetera”–threw me for a loop. :smiley:)

And now on to the discussion proper.

[size=134]1[/size]

I cannot agree with this. I see no need nor reasonable expectancy of some grand epiphanic transformation of music from those many eclectic forms we already see today. Like many on here I’m sure, I have the cable Music Choice package offered here in the states. Of course there are also the Sirius and XM brand satellite packages available. Whichever one you may be lucky enough to have, a cursory browse will reveal sounds from the very roots of music found in blues and bluegrass to the most esoteric extremes - point being, I see a broad spectrum with little deficit of originally.

If you are given to think that all your rock ‘n’ roll of today sounds overly generic, bland, and canned, I’ll encourage you to try some genre hopping. There is good, original music being continually conceived and written in the blues, electronica, and bluegrass (or the newer “newgrass”) fields - but that is only naming a familiar few.

[size=134]2[/size]
Secondly, we are naive to poo-poo the familiar, or “mainstream.” Mainstrean is not a bad word, ya’ll. People like what they know–that’s the first law of success in the music industry. It must be observed for a band to succeed.

See, I don’t agree that record labels drive the market. I believe listeners (that’s, cough, paying consumers…) drive the market. Your ‘shitty pop’ is the next listener’s musical enjoyment–and to understand the musical trends of any culture in time, you have to respect that fact.

If you want something different then you listen to something different. As I noted in 1 above, it is out there and quite bountiful.

[size=134]3[/size]
And Vlad to answer your question, I need only quote Zak (:P): “I think the trend may be that we keep pushing music to newer and stranger places until it gets to a point where its just ridiculous. Then a ‘back to basics’ movement starts.” That seems about right to me! …lol

But again, this need for some “winding catapult”? The likelihood of some explosive “new direction”? Inasmuch as music is a language of the soul and an articulation, if you will, of common and timeless human emotion, I just don’t see it happening.

Well cheers, everyone.

John

I did see some mention of “electronic” music, but I think you guys are missing the growth of not just techno, but the incoporation of electronically synthesized sounds in “pop,” “rap,” r&b" etc. It’s clearly evident in Europe of the growing techno scene with several “rave” dj’s and pop groups using the terms trance, rave, and techno. I think alot of the new stuff will incorporate more electronic sounds because instrumentals has limits and melodies will become saturated.

imo electronically generated sound has far more limits and far more severe limits than musical instrument generated sound.

my machine may have deleted the other message. this is in part just a test. but i’d like to ask: Can music be pressure personified? for speed, i cannot clarify this statement yet.

max

Welcome, Max. You have joined on my birthday! :slight_smile: