Music-as important to us, as it was to our parents generation?
musicismylife78
Posts: 6,116
One of the more interesting things about the 1960's time period was how music and life, politics and art coincided so intimately and importantly.
I dont think there is a seperation between Dylan's Blowin in the Wind or Times They are a changin and the budding protest movement and the civil rights movement. No seperation between Hendrix and his increasingly intense and hypnotic guitar freakouts. One cant seperate how Simon and Garfunkel or Joan Baez or whomever, created music that suited and fit that time period perfectly. It challenged the audience to become more aware, more political, more human. It was a soundtrack to people becoming more and more aware. People were changing, they were questioning their parents middle class values and fashioning a new way of thinking. and music was one huge way in which people changed or were changed or spread such ideas.
As far as I am concerned, a history lesson on vietnam isnt complete unless one discusses the role of music. It was essential and insperable.
One of my favorite films, although maligned critically and commercially was Across the Universe. It perfectly captured how music and politics and life were together for our parents generation and the 1960's. The Beatles created a soundtrack to an entire decade. And the movie worked so perfectly basically because it showed how important the music was to that generation.
One could create a movie with basically nothing but beatles lyrics as dialogue and the movie, in my mind, was captivating and extremely enjoyable. The Beatles lyrics were and are hugely important.
Even the end of the sixties, with the move to quieting down, non political, communal ideas was mirrored in music with the popular Music of the Big Pink or Dylan's John Wesley Harding
Now, our parents didnt have many avenues to hear music. the am radio, concerts, and records were it. We, our generation, has ipods, computers, downloads, music in movies, many many radio stations, tv shows that have music, and many other ways of hearing music.
But people dont seem to talk about music, life and politics as the same anymore. A talk or discussion of the housing crisis and financial meltdown most likely wouldnt include any discussion on modern music. And talk about one of the longest wars in u.s. history (Iraq/Afghanistan) wouldnt really include much discussion of music or protest music.
Is music as important to us, as our parents generation? Are we all as changed by it as our parents were? Is it the soundtrack to a change in us? From personal to political changes? Political to personal?
We dont have a Beatles of our generation. A band that 100 years down the road will continue to be cherished, loved and lionized as the greatest band ever created.
For me, music is as important to me, as our parents music was. It fueled in me a change. From a non political person, then listening to Rage, Pearl Jam, u2, mos def, bruce, neil, I became more political. the music was a big part of that.
and in the last year and a half, tuning out politics, becoming more introspective and reflective, the music fueled that change. it is the soundtrack to my change.
My Dylan, my hendrix, my who, my beatles, my stones, are all here. but they just have different names, death cab, the shins, bright eyes, arcade fire, sufjan stevens, iron and wine, the decemberists.
All are part of a personal transformation...
I dont think there is a seperation between Dylan's Blowin in the Wind or Times They are a changin and the budding protest movement and the civil rights movement. No seperation between Hendrix and his increasingly intense and hypnotic guitar freakouts. One cant seperate how Simon and Garfunkel or Joan Baez or whomever, created music that suited and fit that time period perfectly. It challenged the audience to become more aware, more political, more human. It was a soundtrack to people becoming more and more aware. People were changing, they were questioning their parents middle class values and fashioning a new way of thinking. and music was one huge way in which people changed or were changed or spread such ideas.
As far as I am concerned, a history lesson on vietnam isnt complete unless one discusses the role of music. It was essential and insperable.
One of my favorite films, although maligned critically and commercially was Across the Universe. It perfectly captured how music and politics and life were together for our parents generation and the 1960's. The Beatles created a soundtrack to an entire decade. And the movie worked so perfectly basically because it showed how important the music was to that generation.
One could create a movie with basically nothing but beatles lyrics as dialogue and the movie, in my mind, was captivating and extremely enjoyable. The Beatles lyrics were and are hugely important.
Even the end of the sixties, with the move to quieting down, non political, communal ideas was mirrored in music with the popular Music of the Big Pink or Dylan's John Wesley Harding
Now, our parents didnt have many avenues to hear music. the am radio, concerts, and records were it. We, our generation, has ipods, computers, downloads, music in movies, many many radio stations, tv shows that have music, and many other ways of hearing music.
But people dont seem to talk about music, life and politics as the same anymore. A talk or discussion of the housing crisis and financial meltdown most likely wouldnt include any discussion on modern music. And talk about one of the longest wars in u.s. history (Iraq/Afghanistan) wouldnt really include much discussion of music or protest music.
Is music as important to us, as our parents generation? Are we all as changed by it as our parents were? Is it the soundtrack to a change in us? From personal to political changes? Political to personal?
We dont have a Beatles of our generation. A band that 100 years down the road will continue to be cherished, loved and lionized as the greatest band ever created.
For me, music is as important to me, as our parents music was. It fueled in me a change. From a non political person, then listening to Rage, Pearl Jam, u2, mos def, bruce, neil, I became more political. the music was a big part of that.
and in the last year and a half, tuning out politics, becoming more introspective and reflective, the music fueled that change. it is the soundtrack to my change.
My Dylan, my hendrix, my who, my beatles, my stones, are all here. but they just have different names, death cab, the shins, bright eyes, arcade fire, sufjan stevens, iron and wine, the decemberists.
All are part of a personal transformation...
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Don't get me wrong...
But.
I often resent the 60's and 70's because it seems that everything that came after that perriod unfairly carries the burden of getting compared to that time in music.
It's really stupid if you stop and think about it. Because no other form of art has been so unfairly scrutinzed and measured against it's past as music.
I think alot of this has to do with Baby Boomers and their pretentious snotty view that the 60's and 70's were this "Magical" time in history never to be repeated.
It think this perpetuates itself through the media as it is largely an outlet that is controlled, programed, and run by Baby Boomers who continue to sell us this false idea.
It's something I've had to hear all my life. And as a music fan...that assumption that music isn't as good now days...couldn't be farther from the truth.
New Music continues to blow my mind everyday.
Anyways...
I think I'm going to listen to "Against the 70's" now
I think bad times tend to produce good music though.
the boomer mentality seems to be that they are the best generation, that their music, their values, their ideals were and are the best. You see it constantly reinforced, just as someone pointed out, because boomers occupy political office, run magazines, tv studios, and record labels.
and there is no doubt some of it is overblown, but i think the idea that I refered to, the idea that music and life intertwined so perfectly in the 1960's, I think thats undeniable.
Its clear the music influenced peoples lives in a personal and political way, and the converse was also true, the people, and politics influenced the music.
My main argument is that for me its clear that music is the most important thing in my life, and feel like many boomers must have felt during the heydey of it all. But I dont know if most people our age feel this way. Can one really be changed by music, and the art of it all, by downloading a couple songs from some bands off iTunes?
Its undeniable music changed peoples worldview in the 1960's, and as I said, that those worldviews also influenced the musicians. But do you think beyond me, and a few people who posted on this thread, does music continue to transform and change people in ways we cant begin to imagine.
For me, the change that happened in me, is inseperable from the music. Did I go from being a radical activist who lived and breathed politics to a reflective, introspective person who could care less about politics merely from listening to I'm Wide Awake its Morning, or Funeral? No, but its all part of why I changed. I was altered and became a new person, and I know music both inspired it, and was and is a soundtrack to it all.
My real question, seems to be, not if the 1960's idea of music is overblown, but if music these days has the power to change people.
since I am a living example of which I speak, I guess I answered my own question
I'll just say as a boomer myself (age 54) that all the arguments presented here have some merit. Music was hugely important to me as a young person, one of the most important things in my life. But it still is today. I still love to hear new music and go to shows. Many of my peers are stuck in the past and only want to hear the artists they enjoyed when they were younger. I want to stay open to everything.
It's true that some incredible music was produced during the 60s and 70s. What people tend to overlook is that there was also a lot of crap. The 60s gave us bubblegum and other nauseating top 40 stuff. The 70s started out great but by the end of the decade much of it had a Fleetwood Mac sameness. Some of the worst reminders come if I just turn on a so-called Classic Rock radio station. Program directors seemed to have distilled 25 years of great music down to about 10% of the possible songs that could be played. All I ever hear are the some old things.
People now can access music in a lot of ways that I couldn't when I was a kid--particularly via downloads and burning CDs. What disappoints me is how expensive it is to see live music and how that keeps a lot of young people from seeing some great artists. If I'm nostalgic for anything from my boomer days, it's how cheap concert tickets used to be. If you liked going to shows (and there were people who didn't!) you went to as many as you wanted to because it didn't cost much more than going to a movie. I'm not talking about adjusting for inflation kind of cheap. I can't remember paying more than $10 a ticket till some time in the 80s. The fact that now I allow myself a show budget and see people running up credit card debt so they can travel to shows kind of frustrates me but I don't have a solution.
The only other thing I'd add is that much as I love the music of my youth, I wish advertisers would quit using it so much! :eek:
The only music that my dad listens to from that era is the Beatles, and not very often at that.
Art and politics don't go together, no matter how many people try to lump them into the same arena. And your observations about people not doing this so much anymore is just a sign that people are getting smarter and evolving. It's very promising imo.
That's awesome that you still search for new tunes. I hope to still be doing that when I'm 54
8/7/08, 6/9/09