Mr. H put his finger right on an underlying point in the comments to yesterday's rant...bands like The Clash and even INXS are now lumped into the ‘classic rock’ category on the radio dial. You’ll see their videos NOT on MTV or VH1, but on VH1 Classic.Record stores haven’t bought into this yet—you’ll still see The Clash and The Ramones and The Pistols in the Punk section and INXS in the ‘80’s section, but radio sees things differently these days in an effort to widen the scope and broaden the appeal of its sonic spot on the airwaves. If I’m a program director, carving a new niche from three makes fine sense in these fragmented times.
So, if I cast off ‘indie’ as did oh so casually yesterday—what am I now, a classic rock fan? JUST a rock fan? And what of the gray areas in between?
See, I’m certainly not an ‘alt rock’ listener. Or a ‘modern rock’ clod. Or a ‘prog rock’ p--...er, you get the point.
Is THAT to be my lot then...just...'rawk?’
And what of these tracks? What 'category' do these artists fall under? (Think class project...)
Elliott Smith - I Didn't Understand (Mp3)
The Bathers - Twenty-Two (Mp3)
Bee and Flower - Don't Say Don't Worry (Mp3)
David Sylvian - Wave (Live) (Mp3)
The Blue Nile - Stay Close (Mp3)
(Another thing while I’m at it—to some of my friends on Facebook—bad call to out yourself as a Nickelback fan or a Creed fan. I mean, what I wouldn’t give for a ‘f-ing DOESN’T LIKE’ feature option.
Just keep that to yourself, emm kay?)
15 comments:
I'm with the D.C born Duke (Ellington) on this - 'There's only two kinds of music - good music and bad music'.
Unfortunately, the difference between the two seems to be entirely subjective...*
*except that Nickelback is appalling. Every intelligent person knows that.
*ducks to avoid brickbats from Jon's Nickleback-loving facebook friends* x
Oh, bugger these alternative email accounts...er... that was me. In case you didn't guess x
David/Davy...who knew?!
I know. It's like being a transexual or something isn't it?
Loving the Sylvian (= default Davy comment on Jon blog?).
A transsexual?
I guess when you have your 'id' lopped off in place of a 'Y.'
Very good. You went to college, I can tell.
When's the last time you heard a Chuck Berry record on the radio? I haven't heard any 'bop-shu-wop' or 'wop-bop-alou-bop's on the radio for some time.
To me the Little Richard/Chuck Berry era up until just before the Punk/New Wave era (lets call it 1979ish?) is classic rock.
I'm OK with the difference between "Black Dog" and "Johnny B. Goode" but I will never understand calling Talking Heads "Classic Rock".
I think Classic rock is becoming a convenient way of saying "stuff that 30 year old white people like". Sort of like how the word "Jams" became a way to say "black people music" in the '90s.
Isn't Chuck Berry 'Oldies'...?
I hear what you're saying with the 'oldies' thing but I disagree. Oldies are songs (largely from the same time period or slightly before Chuck Berry) that are not Rock and Roll.
Orbison is oldies. Vocal groups are oldies. I think Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly etc. fits in fine in an oldies format but to me even very early rock and roll is still rock and roll.
I definitely remember the days when classic rock stations played real early "Twist and Shout" type records right along side stuff like the Steve Miller band.
I just love The Bathers their album "Kelvingrove Baby" is one of my all time favourites
HD
Right on with the Duke Ellington reference.
And if music doesn't swing, it usually sucks. Which is why I would rather listen to a band like The Faces than any new group I can think of.
Right on Charles! Love me some Faces--Small and otherwise.
David/Davy has hit the nail on the head. It's either just good or bad.
Personally the same song can fall into either category based on my mood at the time.
It makes my daughter crazy that I tag all of my music as "Rock" when she wants to use all of the sub-categories as possible. What does the Animal genre sound like? Does that contain both Animal Collective and The Animals? What about The Byrds?
And The Chipmunks!
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