I liked Nirvana's sound, but it's not in me to embrace what I perceived as defeatism in their message. I pretty much hated most punk and thought it amateurish and a copout. For me, modern mainstream music peaked in the mid-70's and is now mostly embarrassing tripe with a few notable exceptions every few years.
Somewhere, someone feels the same about today's polkas. I have the same dislike for punk and rap that my parents had for acid rock. There is a magical musical era at some point in everyone's life, usually when they are young, the good old days, that cannot be replaced by new trends. The fond memories of life in that era are triggered even decades later by an oldie on the radio.
Everything since Yankee Doodle has sucked. The teens used to sit out in the yard humming it. Then the Star-Spangled Banner was released, but by then, the country had gone conservative and I wasn't into music anymore.
Yeah, Jerome and Cliff were really something. Too bad once they got the big recording contract they stopped playing Portland. I hear they are going to reunite for a new tour, hope that's true. barfo
What was once funny, now seems old, tired, and a bit of an insult to the present's collective intelligence. The Mork and Mindy of S2, if you will. Still juggling three balls...
I'm proud to be associated with a fine show like Mork and Mindy. Definitely the high point of 70's culture. barfo
I miss Satyricon and the drunken 2AM gyros. I had a lot of great memories playing there and watching other bands play there. It sounds strange, but once they turned the empty lot behind the club into a rental car lot, Satcon lost a lot of its energy. Some great stuff used to happen back there.
Ha, Papa G and I have about identical tastes in music. Nirvana, Johnny Cash and Public Enemy. If you don't like those three and you are between 30-50 you aren't right in the head IMO.
My point was that Nirvana did not really change the world musically in the form of "never done before" in the way someone like the Velvet Underground did - they just had the good luck of somehow getting the recognition for a really good thing that happened before them. I, too, own many of the early Nirvana recordings - they are fantastic - but sometimes, imho, one is at the right place, right time to really have great success. I honestly believe that you had the sound and the production values before them - but the right person did not hear it to push it through the airwaves or something. Does not take anything away from Nirvana - as I mentioned - Nevermind is amazing - and I do love their Unplugged in NY album (like Minstrel) - I am just not sure they had this mystical "change the world" quality about them. Not to be crass - but Cobain's untimely death probably added to that mystic imho.
Satyricon was great back in the day. I also enjoyed many many shows at La Luna. My top 5 bands: Social Distortion Johnny Cash Bad Religion Rancid Supersuckers or Green Day (cant decide)
La Luna will always be the Pine Street Theatre to me, just as the Roseland will always be Starry Night.
Two things. 1. Butt Rock is way more awesome now than it was in the 80's. It's fucking FUN. I love it now. Different perspective. 2. Let's talk about the current state of rock. Is it at an all time low with regard to popularity and quality? Just look at the billboard top 100, or Itunes top 100. It's incredible to me how irrelevant rock is right now. But on the flip side, I cannot think of many current rock bands that are worth a shit, either. Perhaps it's just lack of big time exposure. Or maybe it's because there isn't a rock song on the planet that could receive 86 million views for completely SUCKING!!!!!!!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO MUSIC????????? [video=youtube;CD2LRROpph0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0[/video] This chick is pulling in $27,000 a week between Youtube and Itunes. Maybe this is exactly why Rock is dead - because it's good!
I never could get into Nirvana or grunge, despite going to HS in the South Sound in the early 90's. I've listened to it more in SingStar and Karaoke than I ever did growing up. I got into rap later (though I couldn't have a conversation like this with any of the stuff I like), so I'm a bit out on Public Enemy. But I love me some Johnny (but mostly, ironically, the stuff my dad calls "before he found religion", as if it's hide-and-seek or something ).
There aren't a lot of mainstream bands I like, though Radiohead is a big exception, but there are a lot of "indie" bands I like. Every year, I probably find 20-30 albums I like a lot.
What has surprised me is how narrow my musical tastes has become. I used to be able to listen to anything, from Neil Diamond to industrial music. My collection is a few hundred cassettes, a few thousand albums, two to three times as many CDs as albums and over two terrabytes of .mp3s (as of last count). I used to listen to the entire catalogue, and even if I didn't love it, I could appreciate it. Now I'm amazed to find myself listening to the same things over and over. I'm also much less open to accepting new music. In fact, it seems the only new music I find myself liking is stuff that reminds me of artists I already have in my collection. I've read around age 35 you start becoming less receptive to new sounds, but I never thought it would happen to me.
here is something to revive your reception http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuZwnC9rB-A&feature=related
Very interesting. I'm exactly 35, and I can attest that my tendency to be drawn to "new" music has diminished significantly. In fact, I'm going backwards. I'm obsessed with the 70's rock I used to hate when I was 25. Seriously. It's so strange. The song I listen to more than any other right now is Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street." I would have completely dismissed this song 10 years ago as "70's garbage.......old. They're the foundation of rock, I prefer to live in the penthouse" That was my philosophy with music. Completely different now. Another band that I used to just think was ok was Van Halen, both incarnations. I currently am blasting VH as much as possible. In fact, "Dancing in the Streets" is now one of my all time favorite songs. So groovy. 10 years ago? Nah. I wouldn't have heard it like I hear it now. [video=youtube;SSd0pJSKzNY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSd0pJSKzNY[/video]
