Yesterday we went to my wife's sister's place for Easter. She has two daughters aged 17 and 15. Their parents, being technofiles, have music wired throughout their home, which is controlled by an Ipad or mobile phones. During lunch we listened to Michael Buble (very nice) and then the girls had control of the music. It started with Amy Winehouse (okay) and then One Direction (almost okay), and then a song I remembered from my teen years; "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" ,circa 1970(apologies to the Americans if you don't know it - Edison Lighthouse was a British band.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUGjJMfuBGg I asked the younger niece why she was playing that and she replied "Ï love that kind of music" It was then the older niece's turn to run through her playlist. After a few fairly new songs that I didn't know, on came "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac. She said "I love Fleetwood Mac". Then, the stunner. The song was familiar to me, an orchestra with a female singer. I assumed it was a modern girl vocalist doing a retro album. It sounded nice so I asked her who it was. She replied "Harry James and his Orchestra. Isn't it great?" I nearly fell off my chair.
Yeah. It seems like more and more kids are listening to more and more of the older music along with the new stuff.
When I was a kid, if you listened to anything more than a few years old (like I did), your peers would look askance and ask "what is that old crap?"
Last edited by Byron Dickens; 04/17/2208:08 PM.
Byron Dickens
BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency.
Great story Keith. Those girls showed great style. Actually, it can be difficult to categorize some of the material currently being played on the radio as 'music' at all.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
After Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Cherry Poppin' Daddies had their "run in the sun" a lot of the younger people took to swing music and researched the roots of what those 2 bands were playing. That led to rediscovery of people like Louis Prima, Louis Jordan, Harry James, Benny Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers and all the big bands of the big band era.
I went to a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert in 1999 and there was a couple of kids about 22 years old who were TEARING IT UP on the dance floor. I went up to the bar and happened to be next to the girl of the couple and I complimented her on their dancing. I told her "This is the stuff your grandparents did in their day." She laughed and said "Not only did they teach us, they are the older couple that were on the floor right next to us." And there they were, Lindy Hop-ing with the best of them.
We had a band here briefly that played that music and I went to a couple of their shows and COULD NOT BELIEVE how the 20 somethings embraced the dancing of that era. And whenever I hear that music I wish I had been born in 1921 instead of 1951, because when I was in my 20s that big band swing that I love so much would have been the music of time when I was in my playing days and I likely would have followed the crowd and played the popular style of the time, just like I was a Beatles kid of the 60s.
I was a weird kid. I listened to my generation's music, but also listened and loved my parent's music, jazz, and classical music as well.
I gig two afternoons a week at an outdoor restaurant adjacent to a big city park and the public beach. The majority of our music on this gig is pitched to +50-year-old and up audience. They are a good mid-afternoon crowd and fill the restaurant during the normally dead times. Plus it's good food, not fast food, and the prices reflect that.
It runs from an occasional Sinatra era song, an occasional 21st century song, some Calypso/Soca/Reggae, a bit of country, some Musica Latina, but probably about 3/4 Baby-Boomer era pop/rock.
It all depends on who is there and what seems to be working that day.
I'm no longer surprised at the number of young people who not only enjoy the music, give us complements and sing along, knowing the words. But I'm always delighted by it.
It's been spring break season, so there have been a lot of young people stop in, and we're always happy to entertain them.
I don't want to sound like an old curmudgeon, but I find a lot of today's music boring. Of course, a lot of the music of my own era is boring too. And there are some very good songs and artists making music today.
The two problems (for me) I find in a lot of today's music are:
1) Rap. To me music needs all 3 elements, melody, harmony and rhythm. Rap lacks melody. Of course, poetry to some background rhythm is an art form in itself, but it doesn't satisfy my like music.
2) Excessive auto-tune. It takes too many human conversational nuances out of the melody.
But if the music that I don't care for has an audience, it doesn't mean it's bad music, just music that wasn't made for me.
I was also a weird kid......still am! While my friends were into Hendrix, Cream, etc I was into Wes Montgomery, Johnny Smith, Jimmy Smith, Tony Mattola, Miles, and other jazz musicians including big bands. I still am into them.
I have three kids. All three are into all genres of music, both old and new, but not rap if you classify rap as music, which I don't. Of course they have been exposed to all genres since day one.
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia. She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
Both the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University (NCA&T) schools have large music programs so there are plenty of musicians in and around Greensboro, NC.
Musicians from both schools joined forces to create a jive band that played live shows in the region. In most locations they would draw such large crowds the doors would be left open so the overflow crowd could listen and dance in the parking lot.
I lived about two city blocks from one venue and would sit on my front porch and listen deep into the night. Fun times.
I was also a weird kid......still am! While my friends were into Hendrix, Cream, etc I was into Wes Montgomery, Johnny Smith, Jimmy Smith, Tony Mattola, Miles, and other jazz musicians including big bands. I still am into them.
I have three kids. All three are into all genres of music, both old and new, but not rap if you classify rap as music, which I don't. Of course they have been exposed to all genres since day one.
I had and still have some Tony Mottola records. My friends in high school had no idea who it was and when I played it they called it elevator music. I said, "go ahead and try to play that elevator music". He was an excellent guitarist. True most of his records were popular songs given the instrumental treatment, or elevator music, but the playing was top notch. His work with Sinatra was great as he played live with him many times. Even having a moment of guitar and voice only during most shows. You can find some YouTube stuff of it.
My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I told her I didn't even know he could.
Yesterday we went to my wife's sister's place for Easter. She has two daughters aged 17 and 15. Their parents, being technofiles, have music wired throughout their home, which is controlled by an Ipad or mobile phones. During lunch we listened to Michael Buble (very nice) and then the girls had control of the music. It started with Amy Winehouse (okay) and then One Direction (almost okay), and then a song I remembered from my teen years; "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" ,circa 1970(apologies to the Americans if you don't know it - Edison Lighthouse was a British band.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUGjJMfuBGg I asked the younger niece why she was playing that and she replied "Ï love that kind of music" It was then the older niece's turn to run through her playlist. After a few fairly new songs that I didn't know, on came "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac. She said "I love Fleetwood Mac". Then, the stunner. The song was familiar to me, an orchestra with a female singer. I assumed it was a modern girl vocalist doing a retro album. It sounded nice so I asked her who it was. She replied "Harry James and his Orchestra. Isn't it great?" I nearly fell off my chair.
There's hope for the younger generation yet.:)
I think you will find American's of a certain age know Love Grows Where my Rosemary Goes! Gets plenty of play on the oldies.
My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I told her I didn't even know he could.
Music always has the potential to be cross generational, and I think that's one of the many beauties of music for sure! My partner's dad who is nearly in his 70s loves Lady Gaga, as an example. On a drive up island one time he offered to let me control his spotify account which he had hooked up via bluetooth in his car, and he was pretty shocked when I searched up and put on a German rock music from his youth.
There's always going to be music that won't be to everyone's tastes (I'm not a fan of Lady Gaga), and I think truly that it boils down to personal taste and not actually one's generation that they belong to. Thematically speaking, there may be some lyrics that are more specific to certain generations, whether that's using music to comment on current events that kids born 20 years from then may not have context for, or even just generational ideals. But, overall, I think that themes such as love, adventure, heartbreak, wanderlust and much more are accessible to just about everyone and can resonate no matter when you were born.
For me, there are only two kinds of music, music that I like and music that is made for someone else's ears.
I gig twice a week at an outdoor restaurant adjacent to both the most popular city park and the public beach. The restaurant is attached to a resort hotel, and the prices are in the moderate level, much more than the taco and the wings eateries right next door. So we get more middle-aged to elderly people in the audience, and as we always select our tunes to who is there, we play a lot of baby-boomer era music.
We mix this with a little Caribbean (Soca-Reggae), Country, Folk, Jazz, Contemporary, and other various forms, being careful not to play anything too hard-core in the genres that the clientele there would object to. We'll even sprinkle a Sinatra era tune in from time to time. The only two things we don't do are Rap and Metal (although we will play a song or two with a rap section in the middle, and some hard rock that borders on metal).
We don't do set lists, but call songs on the fly judging what we think today's audience will like, and noticing how they react to what we are playing.
I'm always delighted that younger, college aged people come in, enjoy the music and say nice things or give us a thumbs up on the way out. I'm equally delighted that if we give the boomers enough of their own, then end up enjoying music that is from their children's and grandchildren's generation.
I think the generations are more tolerant of each others' music than they were when I was a young person, and I think that is a good thing.
I think the generations are more tolerant of each others' music than they were when I was a young person, and I think that is a good thing.
Well phrased Notes, and I tend to agree. There has been some moderation in what the majority tend to see as acceptable music. The extremes have softened. That can only be a good thing.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
All the "old people" on the forum used to be having parties like this every day.
We devised the un-birthday party, because one could have one of those on any of the 364 other days each year that weren't our birthday. Can't do it now :-(
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
They are called the good old days because I wasn't good and I wasn't old
I remember a time when I used to work all day as a mailman and then go to the bar and drink and dance until closing time.
Now I am old and retired and after days of activities that find me seated for the most part it's hard to find energy to walk the dog a half mile after 7pm.
They are called the good old days because I wasn't good and I wasn't old
I remember a time when I used to work all day as a mailman and then go to the bar and drink and dance until closing time.
Now I am old and retired and after days of activities that find me seated for the most part it's hard to find energy to walk the dog a half mile after 7pm.
I used to play a gig on Thursday, get home around 2:30 then get up a 6:00 to go to work. Now if I played a gig and got home around 2:30 don't bother me until after 12:00!
I know how you feel. I get a lot more tired much earlier than in the good old day
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia. She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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