I was born in the wrong era for music....

tomofson

We all hear that from time to time or see it written somewhere on an internet comment section. Well I have to say no you weren't born in the wrong era your in the right era now with the power of the internet you can enjoy practically any type of music ever recorder with a simple search online.... Now no more moaning out of use yis have the internet and can listen to any music use want so just enjoy it for gods sake.

Lithium93_

Yeah, but having it on the internet easily searchable isn't the same thing as actually living it, growing up in a particular era.

tomofson

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Yeah, but having it on the internet easily searchable isn't the same thing as actually living it, growing up in a particular era.

I know but you can get a feel of the atmosphere and listen to the music, so get the same kicks now as people where getting back then.

Lithium93_

tomofson wrote: »

I know but you can get a feel of the atmosphere and listen to the music, so get the same kicks now as people where getting back then.

Wouldn't really be the same thing, whereas years ago if you wanted a new album by a band, you had to go out and buy it, not have it freely available..

Plus in bygone years, there was an excitement to buying something new.

tomofson

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Wouldn't really be the same thing, whereas years ago if you wanted a new album by a band, you had to go out and buy it, not have it freely available..

Plus in bygone years, there was an excitement to buying something new.

Yeah I understand all that but this era still isn't all that bad, the music out is pox but you dont have to listen to it you can look up whatever on your phone and listen to whatever or put whatever on your mp3. I know we had to go out and buy it I can remember those days too.

jcd5971

tomofson wrote:

We all hear that from time to time or see it written somewhere on an internet comment section. Well I have to say no you weren't born in the wrong era your in the right era now with the power of the internet you can enjoy practically any type of music ever recorder with a simple search online.... Now no more moaning out of use yis have the internet and can listen to any music use want so just enjoy it for gods sake.

Think your missing the whole point of that argument part of it was living it, I remember the metal late 80s and early 90s it's not the same to just stream a Metallica album as it was to have friends all gather round and live it.

tomofson

jcd5971 wrote: »

Think your missing the whole point of that argument part of it was living it, I remember the metal late 80s and early 90s it's not the same to just stream a Metallica album as it was to have friends all gather round and live it.

You can still have friends all gather around and live it, organize parties and get together's and make it happen.

jcd5971

tomofson wrote:

You can still have friends all gather around and live it, organize parties and get together's and make it happen.

Not really mate for certain genres. People grown up moved on families work etc.

Flint Fredstone

Anybody got a spare ticket to see The Beatles in Marlay Park?

Anesthetize

I feel like I was born at the right time, I wouldn't change anything. I'd hate to have to live in 70s Ireland and have little or no access to music outside the mainstream. I probably wouldn't have discovered bands like Can, Neu! and Big Star during the 70s.

People should be thankful for the access they have to music these days. There's far more options available to them to discover music on their own terms. Instead of having crap like Muse shoved down their throats on the radio they can always listen to The War on Drugs.

tomofson wrote: »

You can still have friends all gather around and live it, organize parties and get together's and make it happen.

Why would anybody want to do this? Music for me always has been and always will be a personal experience. If you want to get the most out of music then put on a good pair of headphones and immerse yourself in it, rather than having friends influencing your thoughts.

tomofson

Anesthetize wrote: »

I feel like I was born at the right time, I wouldn't change anything. I'd hate to have to live in 70s Ireland and have little or no access to music outside the mainstream. I probably wouldn't have discovered bands like Can, Neu! and Big Star during the 70s.

People should be thankful for the access they have to music these days. There's far more options available to them to discover music on their own terms. Instead of having crap like Muse shoved down their throats on the radio they can always listen to The War on Drugs.


Why would anybody want to do this? Music for me always has been and always will be a personal experience. If you want to get the most out of music then put on a good pair of headphones and immerse yourself in it, rather than having friends influencing your thoughts.

I agree with you on your first points and partially agree with you on the second one, music can be a personal thing for me depending on the type of music or even the individual song, but I still like social things like concerts and stuff got to do with music.

Anesthetize

I like going to gigs with friends too. But when I do it's usually for a band in common that we like but personally I wouldn't be the biggest fan of. I basically have to compromise to a degree. I'd rather go see a band that I love even if it's on my own.

Rigsby

There is no doubt that things have never been better as far as musical choice is concerned. However, I agree with the point made about "living it". IMO music is meant to be experienced in a live setting, where vibes feed back and forth between audience and musician alike.

For me, the thrill was seeing a favourite band live and perhaps buying an LP or CD (if available) on the way out of the gig/concert as a memento. Granted, you can't see every band live.

Another favourite pass time of mine was delving through second hand LP (later..CD..) shops in search of a gem. Then going home, unwrapping the treasures and admiring the LP art, as well as reading the liner notes.

Am I being too sentimental ? Perhaps, but while I acknowledge the huge wealth of music currently available today, I also think a certain apathy abounds. These days you download what you happen to like. That's obvious, but when you bought an album you got the whole deal. In this way, you were exposed to other tracks by the artist that you may like, but might have missed under today's conditions.

Personally, I span both eras. I regularly listen to my LP's and CD's on seperates...remember these..?;) I also download some music onto my phone for when I am on the move.

Yes, you have to move with the technological times, but IMO there is a LOT to be said for actually living through a musical era.

Joe_ Public

Anesthetize wrote: »

I feel like I was born at the right time, I wouldn't change anything. I'd hate to have to live in 70s Ireland and have little or no access to music outside the mainstream. I probably wouldn't have discovered bands like Can, Neu! and Big Star during the 70s.

People should be thankful for the access they have to music these days. There's far more options available to them to discover music on their own terms. Instead of having crap like Muse shoved down their throats on the radio they can always listen to The War on Drugs.


Why would anybody want to do this? Music for me always has been and always will be a personal experience. If you want to get the most out of music then put on a good pair of headphones and immerse yourself in it, rather than having friends influencing your thoughts.

Well millions of people had to live in 70s and some of them got on alright. I'd willingly trade a few years of my life now (well 4 or 5 perhaps) to have been old enough to catch Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, Horslips, The Rats etc in their prime.

I did see U2 a couple of times before they became "mega" though, every era has its compensations

Anesthetize

Rigsby wrote: »

There is no doubt that things have never been better as far as musical choice is concerned. However, I agree with the point made about "living it". IMO music is meant to be experienced in a live setting, where vibes feed back and forth between audience and musician alike.

I certainly wouldn't say that music is meant to be experienced in a live setting. Live music and recorded music are two different musical ballparks. Some artists are better in a live setting than on record, while other artists fail to translate great records into great live shows. Also keep in mind that not all musical artists play live shows.

For me the album is an artist's definite statement. It's what they're remembered for decades down the line.

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Well millions of people had to live in 70s and some of them got on alright. I'd willingly trade a few years of my life now (well 4 or 5 perhaps) to have been old enough to catch Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, Horslips, The Rats etc in their prime.

I did see U2 a couple of times before they became "mega" though, every era has its compensations

This is really depressing.

tomofson

Rigsby wrote: »

There is no doubt that things have never been better as far as musical choice is concerned. However, I agree with the point made about "living it". IMO music is meant to be experienced in a live setting, where vibes feed back and forth between audience and musician alike.

For me, the thrill was seeing a favourite band live and perhaps buying an LP or CD (if available) on the way out of the gig/concert as a memento. Granted, you can't see every band live.

Another favourite pass time of mine was delving through second hand LP (later..CD..) shops in search of a gem. Then going home, unwrapping the treasures and admiring the LP art, as well as reading the liner notes.

Am I being too sentimental ? Perhaps, but while I acknowledge the huge wealth of music currently available today, I also think a certain apathy abounds. These days you download what you happen to like. That's obvious, but when you bought an album you got the whole deal. In this way, you were exposed to other tracks by the artist that you may like, but might have missed under today's conditions.

Personally, I span both eras. I regularly listen to my LP's and CD's on seperates...remember these..?;) I also download some music onto my phone for when I am on the move.

Yes, you have to move with the technological times, but IMO there is a LOT to be said for actually living through a musical era.

I agree with you in all of that one of my very first threads on here was me expressing my disappointment in the death of music scenes and cultures such as punks,goths,skinheads.metalheads ect which all seem to be a dying bread these days. But I do think we dont have it that bad in this day and age and we should be more appreciative of what we have available to us.

Joe_ Public

Anesthetize wrote: »

This is really depressing.

Tell me about it! Having to live through all that energy and vitality of punk music and the new wave that followed, it was sooo depressing. Thank fck for the quaaludes.....maaan!

mightybashful

tomofson wrote: »

But I do think we dont have it that bad in this day and age and we should be more appreciative of what we have available to us.

So you'd be happy to to say there's music out by new artists today you'll still listen to in 20/30 years time?

tomofson

mightybashful wrote: »

So you'd be happy to to say there's music out by new artists today you'll still listen to in 20/30 years time?

No music today is horsecrap, im talking about the ability we have to explore all the music from the past with the internet.

Samuri Suicide

I think music today is missing something. Singers / bands are becoming bigger with just social media.. Style over substance maybe?!?
I've been lucky enough to see the Kings of Leon in the TBMC for their youth and young manhood tour..there was just a sense of pure excitement. 300 odd people all there for the music, not photos or videos on their phones. Musicians had to work harder and have actual talent. Nowadays so many good bands just fly under the radar, frightened rabbit and jagwar ma for example.. Maybe that's a good thing..

mightybashful

tomofson wrote: »

No music today is horsecrap, im talking about the ability we have to explore all the music from the past with the internet.

Horsecrap is right! Was worried you going to go on about some quality modern music. Of which there's so little

But is getting music from the Internet so great? For me no. It's nice to hear some stuff you wouldn't otherwise hear. But can't come close to buying an LP, bringing it home, listening to it first time thinking that's OK. Then listening to it some more times until you either love it or hate it.

Downloaded music is so throwaway and there's so much of it. You're not sure on first listen then delete and move on. Meh

GLaDOS

I'll never be convinced the internet has been bad for music. Personally I've discovered so much music, so many obscure bands, been to so many gigs, listened to genres that I'd never have known about if it wasn't for the internet. Just because other people treat music as disposable doesn't affect me in the slightest. I take music very seriously and am glad to have the internet make it so much easier to indulge that. I love nothing more than getting a new album and sitting back and enjoying it.

I'd also go against the opinion that modern music is shíte, though you do have to do some searching to find the gems.

I say this as I listen to the new album by If These Trees Could Talk, my word it is a cracker

Anesthetize

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Tell me about it! Having to live through all that energy and vitality of punk music and the new wave that followed, it was sooo depressing. Thank fck for the quaaludes.....maaan!

Punk was the kick up the arse that the 70s needed.

I also really miss the days of being able to go into Tower Records and browsing through vinyl and...

Oh wait...

Joe_ Public

Yeah of course the punks shook the whole thing up, but you can get too mired up in all that Year Zero mythology bollocks. The Clash were big Who and Faces fans (half mods if you want to be accurate about it), John Lydon was a massive Rory Gallagher fan, the Pistols even played a gig with him, Billy Bragg was a bigger fan of Simon and Garfunkel than he was of the Clash. The Clash themselves became as self-indulgent as some of the 70s bands they were initially heaping scorn upon (and gloriously so I would add). Punk was as much a continuation of the rock and roll tradition as a breakaway from it. It was the energy and DIY aspect that set it apart.

mightybashful

ScienceNerd wrote: »

I'll never be convinced the internet has been bad for music. Personally I've discovered so much music, so many obscure bands, been to so many gigs, listened to genres that I'd never have known about if it wasn't for the internet. Just because other people treat music as disposable doesn't affect me in the slightest. I take music very seriously and am glad to have the internet make it so much easier to indulge that. I love nothing more than getting a new album and sitting back and enjoying it.

I'd also go against the opinion that modern music is shíte, though you do have to do some searching to find the gems.

I say this as I listen to the new album by If These Trees Could Talk, my word it is a cracker

The Internet suits genius such as Public Broadcasting Services perfect and vice versa. They (and the like of Beatport artists) couldn't exist without each other. And the Internet does act as a great library for all kinds of everything (!) but still. Nothing as tangible as a 12 inch in your hands...

leakyboots

It always cracks me up when people say 'music today is crap'. My answer to that always is 'you're not looking hard enough' - there is SO much music out there and accessible to us today.

sbsquarepants

leakyboots wrote: »

It always cracks me up when people say 'music today is crap'. My answer to that always is 'you're not looking hard enough' - there is SO much music out there and accessible to us today.

Most music at any time is crap, but when you look back at say the 70's and say "jesus the 70's was a great decade for music" it's because your looking at the maybe 50 great albums that came out in that decade long stretch - you conveniently ignore the 100's or 1000's of crappy ones. At any given time in any given decade the proportion of magic to rubbish stays roughly similar.
There is some fantastic music out today, even in the charts ffs, it doesn't have to all be obscure no one's ever heard of them bands.
Couldn't agree more about the availability too - even the most obscure shít you could never have gotten your hands on you can now access on your phone in minutes.
Music has never been in better health!

leakyboots

It's ridiculous - I mean just open up Spotify, put an artist on you like and then go to their 'radio' - Spotify throws songs by similar artists.

Or the 'Discover Weekly' thing they've introduced recently - based on what you listen to they cherrypick 30 songs that it reckons you'd like... in my experience it's invariably on the money. Spotify is almost spoonfeeding you what you should to listen to

Mixcloud - you like 'balearic'? Or want to know if you'll like it? Throw it into the search engine and away you go, mountains of podcasts.

I've about 4-5 podcasts I listen to every week across a variety of genres and some live sets by DJs that play everything across the board and it keeps me both up-to-date with what's coming out soon and I'm always stumbling across artists I've never come across from yesteryear.

There's one 3 hour show I listen to religiously on a Monday and it can me a few days to get through it... 'cos I'll go look up the artist who just had the song on I liked and I'm away off down a Spotify black hole for hours... love it when that happens. I'm in one right now with a Femi Kuti remix album

leakyboots

I do disagree with you Mr Square Pants about the 'most music at any time is crap'. For the 100s or 1000s of crappy ones, there's the same amount of undiscovered or little known gold. A lot of it is only emerging now though, some record labels are putting together unbelievable compilations of things like Caribbean Island Electro Disco Boogie from the late 70s

There is an awful lot of crap to wade through though, especially nowadays when ever prick with a laptop can do it relatively easy, but once you find a solid source like a radio show (I happened upon one from Australia on TuneIn randomly that makes for great Saturday morning listneing) stick with 'em

PucaMama

Yes we have great access to any music we want but it would be great to experience the time it was out first.

UrbanSprawl

i was born and I will die in between on an endless night ..jai na regreto's ..

Anesthetize

PucaMama wrote: »

Yes we have great access to any music we want but it would be great to experience the time it was out first.

You have great access to any current music you want. You can experience it the first time it's out.

tomofson

Anesthetize wrote: »

You have great access to any current music you want. You can experience it the first time it's out.

Im pretty sure most people would want to pass on the current music scene

Olishi4

I think I would have liked to be part of the Northern Soul scene. It's not my favourite kind of music but I just love how they danced.

I think when people say that, they just mean that they would have fitted in better with what was popular at that time rather than the current.

It would be nice if the music you loved was the mainstream. It can be a bit annoying if you are out in certain places with friends or work or something and you don't like the music. I know you can find different places that suit you anyway but it's not the same as being part of the scene, the music, fashion, culture, dance etc as it is happening.

Anesthetize

tomofson wrote: »

Im pretty sure most people would want to pass on the current music scene

Which one?

Rothko

tomofson wrote: »

Im pretty sure some people would want to pass on the current music scene

FTFY

If they do then it's their loss. There's loads of great music coming out and it's easier than ever to discover.

thesultan

We are now saturated by chipmunk pop and autotuning. There was always bands out their before that the public loved. Most of the youth of the today don't even know the Arctic Monkeys. Name a band under forty that could fill Slane.

LunarSea

Jeez, the "there's no good music today" argument is just daft. There's more good music coming out today than I've had hot dinners.

You don't get the mega, household names or scenes any more because music isn't disseminated in the same way. I could pick up my guitar right now and a half hour later ye could be listening to a recording of it.

People also have funny ideas about music. I basically got shot down in the "weirdest song" thread because someone effectively said the stuff was "too obscure". I'm sorry, I live in a pokey little village in Ireland and have physical copies of those albums that come from all over the world, different record labels, different artist, etc., it can't be that obscure. And even if something is obscure, what does it matter? Good music (to your ears) is good music.

I've about 3,000 albums, which would be considered a reasonably sizeable collection - but yet it's only a tiny fraction pf the recorded music out there. Turn off your radios and open your ears and minds.

Anesthetize

Yeah, people who judge music by what's in the charts or on the radio are complete morons.

Judging the entire spectrum of today's music by what's in the charts is like judging all of humanity by the rich and famous.

LunarSea

There's also an irony in the OP stating "we have the internet, there's no such thing as born in the wrong era, it's all there!" and then saying "there's no good music today".

dearg lady

no way, there's something amazing about live music, and you'e not necessarily gonna get that if the music you're passionate about is from a bygone era. I'm lucky in a sense that a lot of my favourite bands went down the reform and cash in route, but there's still loads I haven't and won't ever get to see.

The availability of music today is insane and amazing, but occasionally I yearn for simpler times, buying tapes, no skipping songs, staying up late to catch headbangers ball/superrock on mtv, subscribing to fanzines( Having to send feckin postal orders n all to get them!) spending whole saturdays trawling through music shops, and waiting months for supposedly obscure releases to arrive in to shops when ordered

LunarSea

Oooh, the buzz when the record fair came to town was something else, especially when you wandered in and they not only had a stack of stuff you were looking for, but you also came out with a stack you weren't!

The buzz of "the chase" was great too and I think it's something that differentiates people who are passionate about music to those that merely like it; people passionate about it would spend all their free time and money going after a record they wanted or to a gig - and that was part of the thrill. Trawling through "thank you" lists for names of bands you've never heard, going to a gig not to see a specific band, but just because you needed to see to a gig.

Sure it's great having access to so much music (although I despair for folk who only use Youtube or listen on Apple earbuds - the sound quality that some people are okay with is absolutely shocking) these days, but ou really can't beat the thrill of the old days of record shopping and getting right down the front at a gig.

Rothko

thesultan wrote: »

We are now saturated by chipmunk pop and autotuning. There was always bands out their before that the public loved. Most of the youth of the today don't even know the Arctic Monkeys. Name a band under forty that could fill Slane.

That's just not true.

Anesthetize

LunarSea wrote: »

Sure it's great having access to so much music (although I despair for folk who only use Youtube or listen on Apple earbuds - the sound quality that some people are okay with is absolutely shocking) these days.

Some of the personal cassette players that I had as a kid in the 90's sounded fairly awful. Also the sound quality you'd get when taping songs off the radio was a lot worse than the sound quality you'd get on Youtube.

LunarSea wrote: »

but ou really can't beat the thrill of the old days of record shopping and getting right down the front at a gig.

How does this differ from going record shopping and getting right down at the front of a gig today?

LunarSea

Anesthetize wrote: »

Some of the personal cassette players that I had as a kid in the 90's sounded fairly awful. Also the sound quality you'd get when taping songs off the radio was a lot worse than the sound quality you'd get on Youtube.

How does this differ from going record shopping and getting right down at the front of a gig today?

1. I view Youtube like listening to the radio (way back when). It's grand but can be pretty bad. The iPod ear buds - they're just awful (not to mention the cult of Apple and Beats when you have brands like Senneheiser, AKG, Audio Technica, Grado, etc).

I had (still have!) a collection of terrible sounding cassettes because that's what the prevalent technology was at the time. Nowadays digital files are capable of better than CD quality playback and copying, but yet people still chose to listen to low quality files.

2 Getting your hands on a record back then meant it could be the first time you hear something fully. You could also be waiting for it for months on end and with significant effort to track it down. Getting to the front of gig today will mean there's a sea of smartphones getting flown around you, people are more concerned with recording it than living in the moment (I'd mostly attend jazz and metal gigs so it's not as bad as other genres).