has all the best music already been made?

That's a perceptive reply. If you want to be amazed again, start looking outside genre's you are already familiar with. Then give the new stuff some time to sink in.

 

There is too much noise obscuring the melody, hooks are not strong enough, and lack of really great vocalists. More time needed there in Seattle for things to develop.

I think those bands all had something to offer. But I also think another five to ten years paying hard dues in clubs would have been very good for them. The Claptons and Pages, and bands like you know who had to work for years and a couple of lineup changes before it clicked and spun gold out of electric noise. Without those hard dues, the bands did not leave lasting legacies in the way those other (you KNOW who) bands did. It takes time to develop into something really great. Page did sessions forever before he even got a chace to join the Yardbirds which of course didn't last that long.

 

So in one sentence you say you don't understand the bias against a particular genre. In the next sentence, you pretty much dismiss every genre that followed the one you're whining about.

It doesn't really matter to me what you have on your stereo. Just be a little more tolerant of what other folks have on theirs.

Jeff

 

No, John Mellencamp is working on a new album.

 

I have heard nothing but great things about the Blind Melon album.

But I think it is sad when a band however great get stuck into a compartment as small as grunge. It's like calling Hendrix "acid rock" or the Doors "psych" only its an even lower level.

But yes, there are always going to people that consider REO Speedwagon, Styx, and Boston better than anything ever released before or after.

For anyone who thinks of any of the grunge acts as better than the classic period 65-75, I would suggest listening to Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Muddy Waters, and a good Chuck Berry comp, so that they can hear the stuff in a more pure form without the watered down chord changes and the noise added. That is the best way to get a good perspective and overview of rock. It might also show what little new was added to the mix to come up with Grunge, but not if the listener is not open to the art at its most pure form.

 

for the record (mine anyway), phish in their prime was the best band on the planet, ever.

 

They did some really great covers!

 

monumental. their shows were the alpha and the omega.

 

God, this stuff drives me crazy. I'm more than familiar with Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. Quite a bit of love here for Lightnin' Hopkins, Robert Johnson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams Sr. and plenty more as well.

So what?

My only beef against grunge is its radio play overshadowed some of the really cool rock of the '90s, IN MY OPINION -- Pavement, Guided By Voices, Sebadoh, etc.

I don't care if none of that appeals to you, but to sniff that "the listener is not open to the art at its most pure form" is just condescending snobbery. Who's the arbiter of good taste? I must have missed that post.

Fer chrissake. Some of us come here because there's usually a broad range of musical tastes on this forum. Why some people insist on defining What's Good within such a narrow range just flies in the face of everything I ever thought music was about in the first place.

Jeff

 

regarding the post above... the indie rock of that era was epic. it has arguably never been as good as during that time. the 'college bands' were fantastic.

 

These probably aren't what you mean, but Liz Phair, Garbage, Veruca Salt, Letters to Cleo, Presidents of the USA, etc. made some fantastic singles and/or albums then (in my opinion)...radio was exciting and fun...(and I'm familiar with Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, etc.)...so why not again?

 

Now playing: Fountains of Wayne -- Welcome Interstate Managers.

Its derivativeness would appall many.

I'm diggin it.

Jeff

 

I am familiar with Liz Phair's first three albums.

And I saw a couple of later videos, and I also read some interviews with her discussing her growth as an artist in recent years.

 

You can never underestimate the value of paying dues for five to ten years before you make one dime at music that is what, there is no real easy fast way to get there.

 

Oops! Didn't mean to start an anti Grunge thread. That was just my experience, as I graduated school in 83, and grunge was the music that first pulled away from my frame of refererence, and left me behind.

I fully admit that most of this is just about me getting old, and hanging onto the music from my past as happens to many, BUT I truley feel that music is just a little less nice.

I have a son thats a junior, so i'm very aware of the current generations view of this new stuff. Even though they DO seem to listen to music as much as us older guys did, they just don't seem to be as into it as we were. Is this due to the quality of the music? Although he and his friends profess to love their music, they would never actually spend money buying it, or buying quality equipment to hear it. If the Ipod was not cool and trendy, none of them would spend that kinda cash on a music related activity.

I think I just derailed the thread again........

 

It's just hearbreaking what has happened.

 

I understand where you're coming from, but I can't think of a time when I couldn't find a single I liked on the radio (any genre), and I hope that continues. Entire albums I really like might be fewer and farther between, but I hope that's never true of singles. Maybe that's shallow.

 

Heck, yeah. That Elvis Presley geezer was all of 21 when Heartbreak Hotel went to No. 1. Buddy Holly was 21 when That'll Be the Day hit No. 1. Little Richard was 23 when Tutti Frutti went to No. 2. Chuck Berry was 29 when Maybelline hit No. 1.

That's paying your dues, all right. And those were just the examples that you cited.

Jeff

 

Uh-huh true.

The Grunge scene is no Memphis "Sun, nor Chicago "Chess" I am afraid.

 

You might have missed the sarcasm in my previous post.

Jeff

 

Of course NOT.