Do you "feel" musical eras?
Discussion
I was born in the mid sixties, as I got older I started to enjoy the music my parents would play, largely sixties stuff, Beatles, Stones, Motown and general chart stuff from that decade. Maybe it was because it was from a time I mostly didn't remember but it always had a certain feel to it, a certain feeling of something past.
These days I'm very eclectic in my tastes and pretty much everything feels "lived" to me, sixties stuff however still feels like it's from somewhere else, somewhere different. I wonder if this is something about sixties music specifically or just the process of finding our own musical level.
If you are in your early forties now does music from the seventies have a different vibe to stuff from the eighties? Or if you're in your thirties and twenties do you have similar feelings about the stuff from the decade before you were born?
This is difficult to nail as I'm not really talking about different styles of music - I like most seventies stuff, whether it be rock, disco, soul or whatever - but more a feeling of having lived it.
Perhaps I'm just rambling.
Ironically, as I've now learned to play Rockabilly guitar (badly, I might add!) music from the fifties sounds completely natural to me, I feel a part of it, but the sixties stuff still feels like another era.
These days I'm very eclectic in my tastes and pretty much everything feels "lived" to me, sixties stuff however still feels like it's from somewhere else, somewhere different. I wonder if this is something about sixties music specifically or just the process of finding our own musical level.
If you are in your early forties now does music from the seventies have a different vibe to stuff from the eighties? Or if you're in your thirties and twenties do you have similar feelings about the stuff from the decade before you were born?
This is difficult to nail as I'm not really talking about different styles of music - I like most seventies stuff, whether it be rock, disco, soul or whatever - but more a feeling of having lived it.
Perhaps I'm just rambling.
Ironically, as I've now learned to play Rockabilly guitar (badly, I might add!) music from the fifties sounds completely natural to me, I feel a part of it, but the sixties stuff still feels like another era.
Edited by br d on Monday 22 August 15:04
br d said:
This is difficult to nail as I'm not really talking about different styles of music - I like most seventies stuff, whether it be rock, disco, soul or whatever - but more a feeling of having lived it.
The mid to late 70s was imo the greatest era ever for music, quality abound.Chic with their great disco grooves, the Clash with punk rock, the Eagles with their West Coast sound,Steely Dan at their peak, just a great time to be living as a music fan.
Raygun said:
br d said:
This is difficult to nail as I'm not really talking about different styles of music - I like most seventies stuff, whether it be rock, disco, soul or whatever - but more a feeling of having lived it.
The mid to late 70s was imo the greatest era ever for music, quality abound.Chic with their great disco grooves, the Clash with punk rock, the Eagles with their West Coast sound,Steely Dan at their peak, just a great time to be living as a music fan.
Edited by Simes205 on Tuesday 23 August 00:11
I think it feels that way because we were not part of it. You take the music, the fashion, the news and the culture from the era and it gives it a nostalgic feeling. For me the 80s was growing up as a little boy listening to 80s stuff being played over the radio. I have a greater appreciation for it now but my era was 90s Britpop. I was just in my teens when Oasis, Blur, OCS, Weller, Shed Seven, Charlatans, Sleeper, Bluetones, Dodgy and the like we're strutting their stuff. For me, I feel that there hasn't really been an era since then. The 2000s have some very good bands but I don't think there's any particular culture about it like you pigeonhole the 50s 60s 70s 80s and 90s with..
Chicken Chaser said:
I think it feels that way because we were not part of it. You take the music, the fashion, the news and the culture from the era and it gives it a nostalgic feeling. For me the 80s was growing up as a little boy listening to 80s stuff being played over the radio. I have a greater appreciation for it now but my era was 90s Britpop. I was just in my teens when Oasis, Blur, OCS, Weller, Shed Seven, Charlatans, Sleeper, Bluetones, Dodgy and the like we're strutting their stuff. For me, I feel that there hasn't really been an era since then. The 2000s have some very good bands but I don't think there's any particular culture about it like you pigeonhole the 50s 60s 70s 80s and 90s with..
I don't think the enthusiasm is there anymore, youngsters seem more keen on games on PCs/Ipads than listening to music.How I miss a big jukebox in pubs, the sound of one of your favourite tunes blasting out from it was a real buzz!
I was born in 76, i listen to a lot of old rock and folk music plus plenty of metal. I feel lucky that i was a teen in the 90s and i was part of the seattle sound and the grunge era. Some amazing bands i still listen to now, pearl jam, mudhoney , soundgarden, alice in chains, tool ,rollins band, primus etc. The list of great music from that time is endless. I would of loved too of been a kid in the 60s/70s and watched the likes of Hendrix , the doors, sabbath , jethro tull, John Martyn, Neil Young and many more. As a whole i think the 70s is the era for me
Having been born in the 1970's, I was a teen in the 1980's and much of the mainstream chart stuff back then didn't really interest me.
It wasn't until I started playing the guitar when I was 18 that I began to appreciate other eras of music; the Chicago Blues of the 50's / the British Blues explosion of the 60's / the classic British Rock of the 70's, and it's the latter that that really flicks my switch.
Everything is there in the 1970's : rock, metal, disco, glam rock, prog rock, punk, whimsy, and folk.
Although, I did enjoy the 90's from its grunge beginning to its trance end.
I should give an honourable mention to the 17th Century, thanks to a certain J.S. Bach!
It wasn't until I started playing the guitar when I was 18 that I began to appreciate other eras of music; the Chicago Blues of the 50's / the British Blues explosion of the 60's / the classic British Rock of the 70's, and it's the latter that that really flicks my switch.
Everything is there in the 1970's : rock, metal, disco, glam rock, prog rock, punk, whimsy, and folk.
Although, I did enjoy the 90's from its grunge beginning to its trance end.
I should give an honourable mention to the 17th Century, thanks to a certain J.S. Bach!
I was born in '65 to parents who had very different musical tastes, Mum was heavily into The Stones (she and her mates followed Brian Jones round like puppies in the very early days), The Beatles, Who, Kinks, Small Faces etc, while Dad was into Military marching band stuff and old crooners. The '60s and '70s stuff that Mum liked felt 'right' to me and to this day, the vast majority of it doesn't feel at all old to me. The Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again' still gets me every time I here it, despite being used to death on the TV in recent years. I do like a lot of late '70s / early '80s stuff, much of which I bought myself but somehow the earlier stuff feels special, decades on. It just feels instinctively 'right'.
These days, whilst still listening to the more 'obvious' '60s and '70s stuff, I find I'm discovering a lot of the more obscure stuff like film soundtracks and long forgotten instrumentals from the same period which give me the same kind of satisfaction.
These days, whilst still listening to the more 'obvious' '60s and '70s stuff, I find I'm discovering a lot of the more obscure stuff like film soundtracks and long forgotten instrumentals from the same period which give me the same kind of satisfaction.
Edited by P5BNij on Wednesday 24th August 12:56
Born 75, my parents bought me a Walkman in 1984 and gave me Bob Marley Legend and and UltraVox Vienna cassettes
So grew up liking some Reggie and electric pop, I like most of the late 70s to early 90s electric pop, but in the mid 90s started to like mid 70s to what is now current mid level Rock, not a big heavy metal fan, but I like some.
So grew up liking some Reggie and electric pop, I like most of the late 70s to early 90s electric pop, but in the mid 90s started to like mid 70s to what is now current mid level Rock, not a big heavy metal fan, but I like some.
br d said:
If you are in your early forties now does music from the seventies have a different vibe to stuff from the eighties?
In a word yes.I think we connect to a period of music when we are 15-25 years old, and that is the music you have a natural affinity to (unless you have a strong parental or musical influence), you then gravitate out from there as you get older.
I am 45 and got into music more than my peers and loved the electronic age that became mainstream - depeche mode, Japan, human league, new order but also loved indie stuff like smiths and cure. I also think the 80s were the last decade of quality pop music - prince, Jackson, ultravox, pet shop boys, Duran Duran etc. Bands who formed, wrote their own music, could perform live etc
My taste evolved into dance, harder electronic/industrial and heavier rock
Once in my late 30s I realised "new music" doesn't really exist and it's all just variations on a theme, so I have gone backwards and appreciate 60s and 70s stuff
Edited by Adam B on Friday 26th August 12:50
Simes205 said:
Raygun said:
br d said:
This is difficult to nail as I'm not really talking about different styles of music - I like most seventies stuff, whether it be rock, disco, soul or whatever - but more a feeling of having lived it.
The mid to late 70s was imo the greatest era ever for music, quality abound.Chic with their great disco grooves, the Clash with punk rock, the Eagles with their West Coast sound,Steely Dan at their peak, just a great time to be living as a music fan.
Edited by Simes205 on Tuesday 23 August 00:11
I personally don't think it is possible to beat the 10-year period from 1966-1975, and I don't think it will ever be matched.
Beatles (Revolver to Sgt Pepper though to Abbey Road), Psychedelic Rock, Pink Floyd (Dark Side Of The Moon/Wish You Were Here), the best era of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the best era of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye's staggering What's Going On, Isaac Hayes, the arrival of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin heralding the birth of heavy rock/heavy metal, The Velvet Underground, early Roxy Music, David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust and all that followed), the first rumblings of punk, Kraftwerk...
Although I was born in 66, I had 'old' musical influences thanks to four older brothers and sisters, but remember the only music I listened to in my early years that I really could imagine as being from another world was my brother's albums from early Roxy Music, Lou Reed/Velvet Underground and, of course, David Bowie - all a million miles away from the radio-friendly stuff of the day, it seemed. They still sound special and very different to me, even after all those years.
Edited by MikeT66 on Thursday 25th August 13:40
Interesting topic.
Being born '62 to parents very much into Grand Opera, although on my mum's side sliding towards the occasional Sinatra, I'm not sure where you would expect me to end up ....
But my clear favourites centre on '60s Rock and Blues and '70s Prog. Although this is only half a quaver above classical, especially opera, some pop and some jazz and the rockier end of folk with even a touch of punk...
But I wouldn't have been exposed to hardly any of the 60s music I now treasure as 'my own'...!!!
Being born '62 to parents very much into Grand Opera, although on my mum's side sliding towards the occasional Sinatra, I'm not sure where you would expect me to end up ....
But my clear favourites centre on '60s Rock and Blues and '70s Prog. Although this is only half a quaver above classical, especially opera, some pop and some jazz and the rockier end of folk with even a touch of punk...
But I wouldn't have been exposed to hardly any of the 60s music I now treasure as 'my own'...!!!
For most people there's a period where music is incredibly important to them.
Usually it's early teens to early twenties, then life intrudes and it takes a back seat, so their references to music fix at that point with the odd anomaly.
So, if, like me, you were born early 60s, you probably rate the late '70s as the 'important music'. If you were born a decade later, it's going to be late '80s.
It's just a factor of when you're born and when the interest kicks in and out (for most people, of course some people have a much a greater interest in music and their knowledge and likes will be broader, on the whole).
I developed a liking for The Beatles in my late 'tens, early teens which I retain, because I didn't much like glam rock and the other pompous stuff so lauded in period (and still) - I've tried to enjoy Pink Floyd, but I just can't.
I also liked (and find I still like) 10CC and The Eagles, but it wasn't until Punk arrived and New Wave (and Ska) shortly after that I really found 'my' music, although I always liked the more musical bands, like the Clash and the Stranglers.
If I was pressed, I'd say New Order are my favourite band of all time, who straddle that 70s/80s period perfectly in their different forms.
I like quite a lot of Indie bands from the '90s too, but they owe a lot to the 'New Wave' movement.
M.
Usually it's early teens to early twenties, then life intrudes and it takes a back seat, so their references to music fix at that point with the odd anomaly.
So, if, like me, you were born early 60s, you probably rate the late '70s as the 'important music'. If you were born a decade later, it's going to be late '80s.
It's just a factor of when you're born and when the interest kicks in and out (for most people, of course some people have a much a greater interest in music and their knowledge and likes will be broader, on the whole).
I developed a liking for The Beatles in my late 'tens, early teens which I retain, because I didn't much like glam rock and the other pompous stuff so lauded in period (and still) - I've tried to enjoy Pink Floyd, but I just can't.
I also liked (and find I still like) 10CC and The Eagles, but it wasn't until Punk arrived and New Wave (and Ska) shortly after that I really found 'my' music, although I always liked the more musical bands, like the Clash and the Stranglers.
If I was pressed, I'd say New Order are my favourite band of all time, who straddle that 70s/80s period perfectly in their different forms.
I like quite a lot of Indie bands from the '90s too, but they owe a lot to the 'New Wave' movement.
M.
Edited by marcosgt on Friday 26th August 12:11
Blayney said:
Born in 89
Stuff from '96-'06
Dance - all the trance stuff I love
Rap - Eminem
Rock/Metal - Nu Metal and Pop Punk
All that feels very much special to me.
Hmm... Im about the same age as you, and love the trance and dance music of the 90's and early 00's, but feel Ive somehow missed out on a lot because it was 2006/7 before I started going clubbing. The heyday of the trance music, with the likes of Hacienda, Gatecrasher, rave culture, Godskitchen etc was before our time, so not sure how it can be special when we didnt experience it. Stuff from '96-'06
Dance - all the trance stuff I love
Rap - Eminem
Rock/Metal - Nu Metal and Pop Punk
All that feels very much special to me.
Afraid to say IME clubbing in the 90s was a different experience, th music was great and was constantly evolving (I loved trance, happy house, hard house), the mood enhancers were reliable and the hippy happy vibe in the clubs was fantastic
Aaaah the gallery at turnmills, club UK in Wandsworth, Bagleys and the Cross at Kings Cross, The End, sunny side up, Camden palace, many others my fried brain cells don't recall
Aaaah the gallery at turnmills, club UK in Wandsworth, Bagleys and the Cross at Kings Cross, The End, sunny side up, Camden palace, many others my fried brain cells don't recall
As been said before music is there to appreciated by someone regardless of era. I find the music's evolution fascinating and there different time periods that are utterly fascinating eg. NYC in the mid-70s with hip hop and disco serving different demographics, DJs doing different things with records but playing the same records in some instances and perfecting the perfect mix; punk, post-punk and new wave.
Youth culture that went the music, wish-you-were-there moments in time where you just wish you could feel the buzz. If I was growing up in the 60s I can see myself as a Mod fascinated by America with Phil Spectors' Wall of Sound, Beach Boy harmonies, Motown melodies, gutteral southern soul of Stax.
I loved music in the 80s and 90s even though I was too young for raves. Bomb The Bass, KLF and 808 State stood out on Now compilations my sister often bought. I was 12 when I got into The Prodigy and it wasn't till about ten years later that someone on the internet pointed to a MixMag article about my generation supposedly killing off the rave scene due the group appealling to Kiddie Ravers. Really the hardcore scene was moving at a rapid pace and it soon split to jungle/drum and bass and happy harcore (that too had a reputation as music for spotty teenagers like myself at the time). It was all so exciting at the time and still does now as I apprecitate it even more when listening to old tape packs from 93. You had kids producing and getting releases on Metalheadz eg. J Majik and Source Direct were teens like myself. Unbelievable and inspiring.
Sorry, but I detest trance. I know, it was clubbing for my generation who were too young for raves but out raving their own way eg. the 'Crasher Kids of Gatecrasher who dressed up with spiky backpacks, dummies, neon, dayglo-wear, glow sticks, short-sleeve t-shirts, fluffy bras and bright bikinis - on the one hand I shudder at it but on the other I respect the genre for building a scene out of itself that made it even more enticing. But by then clubbing was stagnating and off putting for me - dance music had become mainstream and commercialised (hypocritical, I know, a lot other genres have suffered), hand bag house, super clubs and superstar DJs selling compilation CDs and trying to take over clubland. I was well and truly desperate for Fabric to open in the new millenium!
It's still privilege to have some experience of the evolution of dance music despite note experiencing it in the right places.
Youth culture that went the music, wish-you-were-there moments in time where you just wish you could feel the buzz. If I was growing up in the 60s I can see myself as a Mod fascinated by America with Phil Spectors' Wall of Sound, Beach Boy harmonies, Motown melodies, gutteral southern soul of Stax.
Condi said:
Hmm... Im about the same age as you, and love the trance and dance music of the 90's and early 00's, but feel Ive somehow missed out on a lot because it was 2006/7 before I started going clubbing. The heyday of the trance music, with the likes of Hacienda, Gatecrasher, rave culture, Godskitchen etc was before our time, so not sure how it can be special when we didnt experience it.
I was born in 1980 and I do have sympathies.I loved music in the 80s and 90s even though I was too young for raves. Bomb The Bass, KLF and 808 State stood out on Now compilations my sister often bought. I was 12 when I got into The Prodigy and it wasn't till about ten years later that someone on the internet pointed to a MixMag article about my generation supposedly killing off the rave scene due the group appealling to Kiddie Ravers. Really the hardcore scene was moving at a rapid pace and it soon split to jungle/drum and bass and happy harcore (that too had a reputation as music for spotty teenagers like myself at the time). It was all so exciting at the time and still does now as I apprecitate it even more when listening to old tape packs from 93. You had kids producing and getting releases on Metalheadz eg. J Majik and Source Direct were teens like myself. Unbelievable and inspiring.
Sorry, but I detest trance. I know, it was clubbing for my generation who were too young for raves but out raving their own way eg. the 'Crasher Kids of Gatecrasher who dressed up with spiky backpacks, dummies, neon, dayglo-wear, glow sticks, short-sleeve t-shirts, fluffy bras and bright bikinis - on the one hand I shudder at it but on the other I respect the genre for building a scene out of itself that made it even more enticing. But by then clubbing was stagnating and off putting for me - dance music had become mainstream and commercialised (hypocritical, I know, a lot other genres have suffered), hand bag house, super clubs and superstar DJs selling compilation CDs and trying to take over clubland. I was well and truly desperate for Fabric to open in the new millenium!
It's still privilege to have some experience of the evolution of dance music despite note experiencing it in the right places.
entropy said:
It's still privilege to have some experience of the evolution of dance music despite note experiencing it in the right places.
Thats the way I see it. Ive been incredibly fortunate to see the DJ's and bands I have seen before they disappear into obscurity and while Ive missed the heyday of the scene I think Ive caught the end of it to experience a little of what it was like. I don't believe in 'musical eras' personally. I just don't think you can point at different periods of time and say, here the music was like this, there it was like that.
(Good music's timeless anyway.)
I also think that what you like and don't like can be independent of when you were born and were growing up. For instance, the music that was around when I was in my late teens/early twenties I considered the biggest load of old b
ks I'd ever heard in my life. Yet I'd sit all night listening to my brother's (8 years older) record collection.
(Good music's timeless anyway.)
I also think that what you like and don't like can be independent of when you were born and were growing up. For instance, the music that was around when I was in my late teens/early twenties I considered the biggest load of old b
ks I'd ever heard in my life. Yet I'd sit all night listening to my brother's (8 years older) record collection.Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff