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| Random quote: "It's much too late to do anything about rock & roll now ..." - Jerry Garcia / Grateful Dead |
 Musical Time & Place Fantasy???
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| Forums Archive -> The Vault: 2006 | Message format | |
Northcountry |
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| Joined: February 2004 Posts: 2487 | I know this thread sounds kinda quirky?? Sorry, I think this is a fairly cool question. Hope you do to???? I was thinking about how music has changed..... And like each generation before me, and for those who will follow....I am beginning to miss the music I heard so much of, and am still playing so much of, from the late 60's right through the late 70's. This is my era.. You know.. The super cool Rock & Roll from the 60's The Beatles, The Stones and etc. Then in the late 60's groups like The Who, The Kinks, Jesus........ the lists are endless........ and all of this music had it's own style. and so many of them were fantastic sounding! Then the 70's hit and another group of musicians started turning my head with intricate/complicated stuff like.... Yes, Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, David Bowie, Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Did I mention Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, The Moody Blues, how about ... Deep Purple Hell I think most of Fleetwood Mac came from here Pink Floyd....???....Even Black Sabbath I think?? again the list is endless. but look at the short one I wrote!!!!! . and this list is filled with a who's who of R&R that is like nothing else.... "anywhere else".... "ever"...... I started looking at where they all came from and reading some history on some of these guys and I realize....hey..... Most of the bands I like all came from the same basic area??? This is actually kind of amazing. Someone ought to write a book about the music scene in england and specifically London during the 60's. Bands like the Beatles & The Stones right on their heals.... took off like rockets from England in the early 60's and their histories are fairly well known. But just as this was happening the guy's who formed all the later "super bands" I have mentioned earlier were building their first band projects and creating their own techniques and styles and learning from The Beatles.... From this area of the planet...there came more musical super groups and famous musicians than anywhere else I can think of. This is a phenomenon that is actually quite incredible when you start putting all the band members names on a list. It really was a British Invasion... Really.... start doing it for shits and giggles in your head....List the members of Genesis past & present, and then Yes..... hell there's almost 20 or more world famous musicians right there.!!!! The list was nearly at "200" when I stopped..... I think there must have been a Rock & Roll musical talent bomb that went off and was centered in the section of London where the Marquee Club was??? If you do a compilation of names and pin point on a map of where they were as teenagers playing in garage bands...and trying to break into music. Then you do a study and find out how many of these guys were not going to give up for anything and wanted to make it BIG! and in fact DID! ... well the odds of this are just out of this world... that this location could produce so many fantastic musicians. Incredible! to say the least. SO to my point.... If you could go back to any era musically and assuming many of us would like to have played in a big name band at one time or another. What and where would you like to be able to go???? Perhaps it's just to see the Woodstock Concert?? Perhaps it's to have met one of the great classical composers?? For me If I had a musical fantasy.....the time & place for me would be to ... be able to return to London of the 1965 era.....???? and rent a flat near this area and be known as a great guitarist have no knowledge of what bands became famous or didn't, and see what happens.... I think for me this era in musical history is so rich and ripe with opportunity, it is unlike any other era I have ever witnessed. I know this is a fairly odd thread but I find it a facinating topic myself... "Just for Kicks" what era and place or what event would you like to have been able to have seen or been a part of??? For the Country Musician I am sure Nashville in the 50's & 60's would have been ripe! Have fun. Randy | ||
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| Tommy M. |
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Joined: January 2004 Posts: 627 Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | Probably Chicago in the late 40's and early 50's. This was during the migration north of those great Delta blues players, and they electrified their sound. 2120 South Michigan Ave, the home of Chess records must have been a jumping place. Artists like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon, the list goes on. Chuck Berry (the father of rock and roll)found his way to records on Chess in the 50's. This period and place gave birth to the next generation of great British and American guitar icons. Growing up in the late 60's I did get to attend Woodstock, early Stones tours, and concets at the Fillmore East. The event that tops it all was seeing the Jimi Hendrix Experience, in NY on their, Axis Bold as Love Tour. It was like nothing I ever seen. | ||
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| Omaha |
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Joined: November 2005 Posts: 1126 Location: Omaha, NE | My favorite era is right now. Thanks to my teenage kids, I am able to keep up with the current acts. They are great: Good Charlotte, Green Day, etc, etc, etc. I think the real point is that there is always great stuff out there. Every era has its styles, but the quality stuff is always there. The only thing I completely do not get is rap. | ||
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| Mark in Boise |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 12759 Location: Boise, Idaho | I can't handle the obscenities of most of the modern stuff. Sorry, but I couldn't handle going to see Green Day with my daughter and listen to some stoned kid yell the f word a couple hundred times. That was the last one. | ||
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| Standingovation |
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Joined: June 2002 Posts: 6202 Location: Phoenix AZ | I would say in general that most people's fondness is the music that they grew up with in their teen years. That was true of my parents, true of me, and true of my own kids. My mother used to almost come to tears over the fact that "her" music had died and was replaced by something that she didn't like, didn't understand, and considered almost obscene. One generation later and a lot of us are finding ourselves him that same situation. For me, the "day the music changed" was in about 1968. I was a radio junkie was a pre-teen. And when the FCC mandated the AM and FM split it was like the whole world opened up at one. Freeform radio, puberty, my first guitar, ... the world was my oyster. Dave | ||
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| ignimbyte |
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Joined: July 2004 Posts: 812 Location: Hicksville, NY | I'm not sure if this would be considered my era, since I was just a child back then. I tend to prefer the coffeehouse scenes of the 70s, which I learned to love and appreciate during my teenage years in the early to mid 80s, as I was learning to play guitar. In the here and now, there are many great musicians out there that keep the spirit alive, with the likes of Tracy Chapman, Shawn Colvin, John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Ray Lamontagne, Jack Johnson, etc., and I really listen and appreciate their musical output. However, there's somethng about the 70s that gives me a feeling of nostalgia when I listen to the music of Jim Croce, James Taylor, Neil Young, Paul Simon (on his own or with Art Garfunkel), Janis Ian, Judy Collins, Loudon Wainwright III, Leo Kottke, and too many more to mention ... | ||
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| Weaser P |
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Joined: October 2005 Posts: 5331 Location: Cicero, NY | Not that I disagree with Dave, the teen years are formidable ones when it comes to deciding your path musically and otherwise, but I have found music going back to 50's right up to today that I really find not so much new as never-endingly very exciting. Old jazz (the Birdman), early R&R (Elvis WAS King), the singer/songwriter acoustic (way too many to mention) era, blues rock (Clapton, et al), today's rock (Green Day to U2) and, yeah, I'll say it - even some rap (Kanye to Eminem). Once again, to me anyway, it's the road traveled much more than the destination that holds the gold. | ||
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| Mark in Boise |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 12759 Location: Boise, Idaho | I'd have to go back to the college days in the early 70s. S&G, Croce, Cat Stevens, CSNY and lots more great acoustic music. I'm glad none of you have said disco. Maybe that was what caused me to tune out for 25 years. | ||
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| Davek1076 |
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Joined: January 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Spokane, WA | I lived around Seattle in the late 80's and early '90s when I was 20, 21, 22. I'm sure it doesn't compare to London, Chicago, or Haight-Ashbury, but there was an incredible music scene there at the time. It fostered, of course, Nirvana, Mothere Love Bone (Pearl Jam), ect. By the time it got on the radio, in the early '90's it had died, but for a year or so there in 88-89, it was pretty cool. There was an electricity in the air, that you could almost see. Like I said though, come 1991 or so, the whole world found out about it, and the record companies spun it, and the real scene was long dead. It was a good place to be for a 20 year old kid though. | ||
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| xbj |
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Joined: June 2003 Posts: 194 Location: Las Vegas | I can completely relate... I LIVE in 1972, and very soon I'll be living for the rest of my life in Canada (for the same reasons I live in 1972). Les | ||
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| moody, p.i. |
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Joined: March 2002 Posts: 15677 Location: SoCal | People tend to live the rest of their lives with the music they listened to in high school and college. | ||
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| Northcountry |
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| Joined: February 2004 Posts: 2487 | I know this is an odd thread... I am suggesting anyone would actually transport themseves to a different era. I am just saying What is your fantasy era for a musical event you would like to see or perhaps, like me, participate in. I do like a lot of the music I grew up with from that era...but hey I ain't dead guy's I am happy with my life... I am sure no one would actually push the button and go.... As for new music... I am absolutly thrilled with Dave Mathews Band's music and many others! I watched a show on Austin City Limits a while back and they had a trio on consisting of a Young guy on Mandolin who was the lead vocals and a young girl on Violin and another guy who played the acoustic guitar & bass as back up instruments. Do not remember the name of this band but these kids were just great! Tons of new stuff to choose from with the Duo and we are doing but still prefer mainly the older stuff.... My mind is just blown away with the overwhelming numbers of world class musicians who came out of that area of London during the 60's and became legends in the 70's. What a place to be musically as a young guy with some talent! I mean there are great opertunities today but nothing like the Rock that hit it's heyday in the 70's! This was all new stuff! And the idea of a "Super Band" or a "cult like following" will never quite be the same again. Rock was going in so many directions and the audience was accepting everything anyone could play. ! Anyway Enjoy. Randy | ||
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| Knuckledragger |
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Joined: April 2006 Posts: 31 Location: Clinton ,Ct | I would say early 60's when the Beatles were just starting to play in and outside of Liverpool around their Hamburg days before the madness of Beatlemania set in.you could sit in with just about anyone and share the music | ||
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| TRboy |
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Joined: February 2003 Posts: 2178 Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | The "kids" are Sean Watkins(guitar),his sister Sara Watkins(fiddle),and Chris Thile(mandolin)and they are known as Nickel Creek ! Wonderfully talented youngsters who have been playing together since they were 10 or 11 yrs old! Extremelly "tight" group. | ||
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| Northcountry |
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| Joined: February 2004 Posts: 2487 | Nickel Creek That's it. I was very happy to see kids that young playing so well and doing some completely original music the likes of which have not heard. And Yeah Seatle had a music bomb go off about 15 years ago to they ended up calling it "Grunge" This is the type of phenomenon I am talking about. (Take a look at what happened in London from 1965 to 1972... were talking dozens of bands and hundreds of musicians....) Pearl Jam had some good stuff never figured Neil Young into that whole scene. He was kinda like Ted Nugent playing with the younger guy's accept Neil was never known as a hard rocker to begin with???? It was a complete musical mess really.. I don;t know why I am so interested in this?? I have to get off it... Perhaps I should write the book..... Randy | ||
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| rick endres |
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Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | Personally, I would LOVE to go back to the early '70's music scene right here in Cincinnati. For one thing, I'd be 35 years younger and about 100 lbs lighter! The whole acoustic rock thing exploded here. We had an acoustic group, Rosewood (a core trio which would add bass and drums depending on the size of the gig), and, believe it or not, we still play together now 34 years later. We all loved (and still love) that whole Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young/Eagles/Simon & Garfunkel/America/Jackson Browne/Linda Ronstadt/James Taylor vibe. The Southern California/Country Rock scene (even though JT and S&G technically aren't part of that, their sound is there). Strong acoustic guitars and soaring three-part harmonies. Our group made a big splash. We did really nice harmonies, but our twist was that we had a female vocalist. That doesn't sound like such a big deal now, but back then, most groups were either boys' clubs or a couple of girls playing together. Our sound was fresh, and we played all the best acoustic clubs. Calhoun Street, which bordered the campus of the University of Cincinnati (my alma mater, and I still think Bob Huggins got screwed),was THE hotbed of the music scene. There were great clubs--the Family Owl, the Pickle Barrel, the Sand Bar. There were great bands, too, and everybody hung out and jammed. We were all kids, just out of high school, and the energy was incredible. There was this one kid from right across the river in Covington, Kentucky, who was an incredible picker and vocalist. He played in a band called Melange. You might have heard of him: his name is Craig Fuller. After Melange, he started another band. You may have heard of it, too-- Pure Prairie League (another group we loved). He wrote a song called "Amie." Adrian Belew (also from Covington) hung out there. He played with King Crimson and David Bowie, among others. National and regional acts, people on their way up and on their way down, stopped at Reflections, the big club down at the corner of Calhoun and Vine. A guy named John Denver passed through and played there. So did Ramblin' Jack Elliott and U. Utah Phillips. And one night there was this hot new band there, four young guys about our own age. They had just finished their first album and were out touring the boondocks to get the grass roots audience. We went to see them, and spent most of the night picking our jaws up off the floor. Nobody had ever heard anything like it before. It was a blend of acoustic and electric guitars, country rock and harmonies that made your hair stand on end. When they took a break, we went over and introduced ourselves and told them how much we liked them and offered to buy them beers. They said they got theirs free so they'd buy them for US. Their drummer was a cocky but likable kid with a cloud of curly hair. I remember telling him (and in retrospect this is now the most ludicrous and arrogant statement I have ever made in my life, although I didn't know it at the time) that "We're in a band, too." Because the next time that band came to town they would play Riverfront Stadium. They, of course, were the Eagles, and I told Don Henley that "We're in a band,too!" We took our own stab at the brass ring-- we were ready to sign with Warner Bros. Records and it suddenly hit us that it was all happening WAY too fast; we were too young. We were in over our heads. We got cold feet. Looking back now, I realize we probably weren't ready, but it's a regret I'll always have. "What if?" The clubs on Calhoun Street are all just memories now. From one end to the other, the whole strip has been leveled and absorbed by the University of Cincinnati for God knows what. We still play, though; we're still a big fish in a small-to-medium-sized pond, and we have fun. I average about 10 to 12 gigs a month. I always liken it to somebody who tried out for the major leagues, didn't make it, but still plays softball on Sundays for the love of the game. If you go to www.oneguyoneguitar.co.nr and click on "Rosewood" and then "photos," you can see pictures from "back in the day" right up through today. Some of the old ones are hilarious nowadays! Oh, and Don-- I STILL play in a band! | ||
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| Mark in Boise |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 12759 Location: Boise, Idaho | Nice story, Rick. Your memory is my fantasy. My story is pretty brief: Thought about a minor in music, but didn't have time to get all the credits. Jammed with friends. Went to law school, got married, had kids, kids grew up, I dusted off guitar. | ||
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| Weaser P |
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Joined: October 2005 Posts: 5331 Location: Cicero, NY | That is a great story, Rick. My wife's cousin plays (keyboards) for Henley now. Says he's a great guy. | ||
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| rick endres |
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Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | I guess that's why I've always been so intense about music, Mark. I've managed to immerse myself in it and yet still have a life outside of it. I'll be married 30 years this June 19th, and have a 20 year old son who's majoring in Music Education right across the river at Northern Kentucky University. In addition to playing music and working my 9 to 5 job at a local publishing company, I teach English and writing classes part-time at a Cincinnati State community college. I've managed to blend that into my love of music as well, writing lessons on on-line guitar websites and doing lessons and interviews of some of my musical heroes for local music newspapers and magazines, among them David Crosby and Graham Nash, and Gordon Lightfoot. By the way, if you're ever in Cincinnati when Crosby, Stills & Nash are in town, go to the Blind Lemon in upscale Mt Adams. It's one of the neatest live music bars in town, and CSN always visit when they're here. They just come out on the patio like regular guys, and you can pull up a chair and shoot the breeze with them. If you're REALLY lucky, the person who's playing that night will hand over his (or her) guitar and you'll hear an impromptu acoustic set! I've been blessed, I guess. I've been able to keep my hand in, but I haven't HAD to do it for a living. I do it because I love it. It's a nice secondary (or I guess in this case you'd say tertiary) income for me, but I'd do it for free because it's so much fun. I think if I HAD to do it, it would probably lose its appeal. You know what, though? Even if all you ever do is sing around the campfire, it has validity and meaning for you. One suggestion, though-- if you sing around the campfire, don't take an Ovation. Take a Martin. That way, if they run out of firewood, you can always throw it in! | ||
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| rick endres |
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Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | I imagine playing keyboards for Henley would be a good gig, Weaser. That would be the way to go -- be a backup or session person. If you're good, you'll always have work. And you won't have the pressure of being the headliner. | ||
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| ProfessorBB |
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Joined: January 2006 Posts: 5881 Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Southern California, late 50's to mid-60's, surf music was king. I met many groups, toured with some one-hit wonders on a variety show circuit, and have fond memories listening to and occasionally, when invited, jamming with the Surfaris on my neighbor's patio. This period was followed by the folk groups and balladeers of the latter 60's and early 70's. I really love blues rock (Clapton, Vaughn, etc.) but my adlib riffs occasionally lean towards a twangy surf tone. | ||
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| Mark in Boise |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 12759 Location: Boise, Idaho | My brother did the band thing for 8 years with a band called Instant Credit out of Portland. Had a guitarist that used to be with the Ventures and played backup for some big names like the Drifters and maybe some others that I forgot. He did some rock and a little jazzy for awhile and maybe something toward New Age before it ever got to new age. Unfortunately, he had to do it for a living, having graduated with a Psychology degree. After suffering through several band splitups, stolen equipment, getting stiffed on gigs, a divorce and a wreck of a van full of equipment, he finally gave it up. I asked him recently whether he still had his guitars and he told me he sold it all a long time ago. He's now raising 3 young kids and about to turn 50. I like Rick's way a lot better. | ||
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| Mark in Boise |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 12759 Location: Boise, Idaho | For those of you that don't have the Jim Croce DVD, you ought to get it. I have kind of a sentimental attachment because I graduated from high school, just started to play guitar and got a couple of his albums when he died. I get choked up when I watch the video of him and his kid. Back on track, I'd really like to go back to that time in the early 70s and see guys like him perform in these intimate little clubs and venues without a bunch of the electronic stuff or orchestras. Just a couple guys or gals singing and playing guitars. | ||
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| Northcountry |
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| Joined: February 2004 Posts: 2487 | Nice gentlemen; interesting! Now that's what I'm talkin about! Nice story Rick. No matter where your area was or your style of music there is that specific era that just reaches out a grabs you. What a cool idea it would be to think about placing yourself right in the midst of an era like this...but once there having no knowledge of what will become of the feeding frenzy the musicians will soon create here but with all the talent you'd need. What a place to go if you have the skills and desire to work yourself into one of these great bands. I hated a lot of the nostalgia of the 70's but the Music was aces man! The Beatles and the Stones set the whole thing in motion and it went nuts from there. Rock & Roll split into so many sub cultures and styles because there were so many bands all trying to be a little different... or musicians who were competing to be the fastest or the loudest....and this also generated so many spin off styles it is impossible to add it all up anymore. My whole theory is that "my music" that I still am hooked on was never so ripe and new and open to such a massive, open minded, audience as it was right then as the 70's rolled over out of the 60's... And yeah there were areas where it seems to me actually "fed" on each other and seemed top produce some of the most famous musicians the world has ever seen. I notice musicians and the groups they form all flock toward one another there were areas like this all over the place but in my limited knowledge; I have never seen anything like London in the mid 60's. Take a look at the list of bands I listed... just incredible! And I'll bet this is not half of them.... I am pleased anyone else found this thread interesting enough to post. I find it facinating..and a very interesting topic of discussion... but hey I'm nuts... Funny Rick we are doing Amie and Hotel Califonia in the duo I am working on. And one of the songs I do as a bass player for the Band that seems to never be....is Frame By Frame. Interesting bunch of guys you worked with back in the day. Randy | ||
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| rick endres |
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Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616 Location: cincinnati, ohio | I know what you mean, Randy. At the risk of waxing nostalgic, everything just seemed so much cooler back then. People would just hang out and add bits an pieces to other people's albums. Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix would stop in and add leads to Stephen Stills' first solo album. Just about everybody who lived in California worked on David Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name" (and he wasn't kidding!). It was a time when artists took over creative control; they knew what they wanted to do, and they did it, and that's why the music of that period is so timeless. A lot of those people are still out touring and making records. James Taylor is as popular now as he ever was. I thought it was just me-- everybody loves the music they grew up with, but this is something more. If it's good music, it doesn't matter how old it is. Our band always keeps learning a few new tunes by current and recent acoustic bands and artists, but the people in our audiences want the classic stuff-- even the kids. I have high school kids dressed in bellbottoms and granny dresses (I don't know where they find these clothes!) come up and ask if we do any CSN&Y. They want to hear "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." They want to hear "Amie." They want to hear "Hotel California" and "Fire and Rain," or "Blackbird" or "Goin' To California" by UnLedded Zep. They want to hear (God help me!) "Freebird" (I have yet to play a gig where someone at some point in the night-- usually after several beers-- doesn't yell out, "SKYYYYYYYYNRRRRRRRRRRRRD! FREEBIRD!"). If I'm in a good mood I may even oblige them. The point is, there was something magical about that time and that music, and I am so glad I was able to actually experience it. That's why 60 million people claim to be one of the 400,000 lucky souls who attended Woodstock (now THAT would have been something!). | ||
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