My Problem with Boomer Nostalgia
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
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Will there be a digital only way to buy this? I'd love to support your work, but £36 total cost is a bit rough on my wallet right now.
I'd have to break out my and old X-Box to listen to it. These days I listen to lp's and digital. Still tempted though.
I still like having a physical thing to hold in my hands, so thanks for making that available 😊
Pre-ordered BTW, just had a payment for some work I’ve done so I’m feeling flush (that was not the case a month ago, ah the joys of the “gig economy”…)
Is your album going to be available on Vinyl?
Boomer here, and my playlist includes a bunch of new music, right next to the old stuff. I don't think there's a problem with (fill in the generation) Nostalgia. The very point is, no matter what generation you were born in, you're likely to have warm feelings for the music you grew up on - nostalgia, by it's very nature, evokes warm memories and simpler times. Of course, the soundtrack of those moments will resonate for us. I'll always listen to the music I grew up on, and it was a willful act to start seeking out new artists. Lo and behold, there's a bunch of really talented musicians and songwriters making great music today and I listen to them with fresh ears, knowing that their music, when well done, will stand up just as well as my favorites from the record and cassette era have.
There’s a quote from Paul Harvey that goes something like “Isn’t it horrible what happens to music after you turn 40?” I’m an early model Gen-X guy (1968) and former music/guitar teacher. A little piece of Zen advice that resonated with me as I got older was “Keep your beginner’s mind” That’s not to say don’t have preferences, but instead, strive to keep that sense of wonder alive inside of you. Keeps you young. 🤠👍
Danny Elfman has a similar quote about how when you exit high school/in college your music 'freezes' about there and that's all she wrote - which is not entirely true but definitely has an influence, to be sure
I could get behind that!
There is a lot of quality stuff on CZcams from musicians young and old alike with widely different styles. That's great. But, as far as the big labels, it literally does all sound the same. People lamented punk for having only three chords, the stuff from the big labels has only three notes. Bad Guy from Billie Eilish anyone?
The complexity of the lyrics, again the big label stuff, is way simpler than it was 40 years ago. Lyrics used to range from a junior in high school through sophomore in college level whereas now the lyrics from the big labels are literally at a third grade level.
It also all sounds the same because there are very few record producers working for the big labels, they use different aliases to give the impression there are more than actual, but the sameness of the sound across is a big clue here.
So the takeaway for me from all this is that it is a wonderful thing that people have CZcams, Spotify, etc to market their own stuff and bypass the gatekeepers at the big labels.
Sounds like something Harvey would say, but I doubt it...
@@TISeattle"It's a Dead man's party, who could ask for more!" 🤣
I am a music lover and have been for years. At the age of 74, I am the Boomer you refer to. Now, it has been a delight for me to discover your channel, music and perspective Mary! What a treat! Yes, I love my nostalgic music, but new music continues to break through and amaze! Love your stuff and will check out your new recording!!
The music artists of the seventies did indeed have very heavy touring schedules, sometimes being out for several months, only to return immediately to the recording studio to rush out the next hits, then back out on the road.
Not every recording artist or group were able to keep up with that kind of schedule. Some of them even spent a lot of their time answering fan mail.
This! They had horrendous schedules.
As a 65-year-old Boomer, I agree with all the points that you make, Mary. Every Monday, I listen religiously to the Discover Weekly playlist that Spotify has built for me, and it is a rare week when I don't end up saying, "How is it possible that I've never heard of this artist before??". (Last week's revelation was Fenne Lily.) I have 700+ songs in my Liked Songs playlist, and 90% of them were recorded in the current millenium. I still love my Beatles, Joni, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, et al, but I know that I will always be able to hear their music without making an effort to look for it, so I prefer to spend my active (vs passive) listening time looking for new artists and new music. Anyone who claims there is no good new music just isn't listening.
Mark, (my name and age, too) you shared my sentiments I shared above. Glad for music and especially, Mary!
THIS! I've never stopped finding interesting musicians/artists, just have to look in the right corner or at the right time.
I'm 62, but I agree with you too.
There was a lot of awful music in the 60's and 70's, but 50 years later nobody remembers it, just the good stuff.
Remember that fad for the interview songs? Where they supposedly asked a famous person a question and then played a clip of a song as the answer?
I whole-heartedly agree with you. I couldn't have worded it better myself. You've touched upon all the points I was about to make. I'm 62 BTW.
Well, I agree with all of you, I'm 38 😅... I just enjoy music, if it's good ia good. And to me, it's ageless 50's or 2020's, you name it.
This is such an ongoing topic. Since ever. My Granddad was always about James Last and Glenn Miller. The Beatles were too noisy. My parents are boomers, growing up with the Beatles and Stones. And it was their records I started listening to. It's just so hard nowadays to filter through all the offer to find what you like. And regarding the price of tickets... well, I've been going to see local bands in smaller venues. Support the small artist.
I have been a new music seeker for about 55 years. My experience culminates in the following perspective: There are only two kinds of music. That which you like and that which you do not and both are subject to change. Keep doing what you are doing Mary. We are listening.
I was just thinking this when I read your comment. Spot on.
Back in the Boomer era great music was in your face and everywhere. Today it is still out there but you have to dig deep to find it.
It's mostly "Country" music, where Old School Rock went. Loud distorted guitars, Marshall stacks, real lead guitar, you get my drift. Just listen to Zack Brown Band. Nuff said.
Yea, as a boomer this is kind of the point I wanted to make as well. I remember being a big Deep Purple/Led Zeppelin/ Supertramp fanatic back in the day. To listen to any other kind of music was blasphemy. But over time you find that what you really like is music. Period. It could be blues, soul, country even jazz or heaven forbid, electronic or disco! (Looking at you Daft Punk).
But yea there is just so much out there today that it is difficult to find the stuff you like. Used to be you just listened to the radio and if you liked something you bought it. But now you find yourself just listening to the oldies station so you never come across anything new. Just started using Spotify in the last year and it really hasn't given me any real inspiration yet with it's algorithms. Recently found Jordan Officer who is from my country Canada, and I had never heard of him or his music. But picked him up from watching a Steve Guttenberg review. Steve is an old boomer too, so he still has all his old albums, and likes to promote the music that he uses to do audio equipment reviews. Things like this are usually where I find new music now. But yea it's tough finding stuff. Still there is plenty of good old stuff I haven't found yet either and finding it is half the fun.
@@boneseyyl1060 there was a time (10 years ago?) when the original Pandora was first starting up. You could find interesting B sides that never got much air play back in the day. Once Pandora found your style (you had to lead it a bit) there was a fair amount of tunes out there from Europe and Australia that also fit the bill. To me that was NEW (found) music. These days I cruise college radio (bottom of the FM dial) and sometimes find new jam bands that fill the bill. (psychedelic era stuff)
And yet, my dad would have disagreed at the time. He would have argued that there was great music everywhere in the 50's and there was still some decent music around in the 70's but, you guessed it, you had to dig deep to find it. There is not good music and bad music, there's music you like and music you don't like.
@@gertstronkhorst2343 while I basically agree, I also have to point out that in the 50s there were only so many places to find music. The basics were TV and AM radio... and maybe borrowing records from friends. As time progressed, we had FM, tape, and finally CDs. Today we can go almost anywhere and find music on the internet, but with so many choices it just boggles the mind. I actually grow weary of the chase!
I’m Gen Z, and while I much prefer music from the boomer and Gen X generations, I hope I never get to a point where I shun music or say music made by people younger than me is awful
I’m sorry to tell you,You will that’s how it works.
(Also Gen Z) I feel the same way. I do have a fascination with the musical, fashion, and cultural phenomenon of the 60s and 70s, but I don't think that no good music was produced after that era was past. My tastes are what they are, and just coincidentally most of it is from that time, but not all of it. I hope I'll be able to keep my mind open to new music as I get older (which I know is against the grain of human nature to a certain degree, but I'll try).
I'm millenial, and it's starting to happen to me... it's a part of getting old I guess. I try to be self aware tho.
Same. My strategy is to actively recognize that music is diverse, so there will always be music I like coming from younger people even if it isn't super popular.
I’m same, the vast majority of my Spotify playlist, is 1960s/1970s, in fact some of the bands I listen aren’t just unknown today they were unknown yesterday and never got the attention like Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath or Deep Purple did, but I know there’s great music being produced and even better, whether big or small, there is something for everyone.
The thing that everyone misses through whatever glasses they're looking through, is that not all music is made with you in mind. I know people who never bought another new music album after graduating high school. Or they never once stepped outside of the single genre that they grew up on. That kind of cagey nostalgic behavior is endemic through every generation. I have my genre biases that still hold me in certain blocks, but I try my best to expand my horizons. A lot of new stuff doesn't talk to me, but the stuff that does, I'm truly thankful for. Every new genre, every new group, is a gift. A gateway to another world of potential music to enjoy. There are some amazing newer artists that are making songs I'll listen to for the rest of my life. There are a lot of bands I listened to in high school that haven't made an album since I was in high school. I think it is best to adapt to the world we're in, rather than try to hang onto the one that no longer exists.
What you may be missing is the way older people (I am 62) get exposure to new music. Unless you really dig and search for good new music you will not hear it. The music industry has become a machine that just pumps out mind numbing formulaic music more and more. Most older people did not grow up with the internet and digital media and just will not search it out. Having said all that there is a whole lot of crap music out there.
that was not a good thing. We can now go see music from around the world. The internet lets us be exposed to local bands in any city without having to go there. Digging for new good music is so much more enjoyable than listening to crap the music executives decided was good.
As much as the algorithm is a massive gatekeeper to new music in the day, before streaming the A&R men were the gatekeepers. Maybe it's better there were actual humans steering trends rather than algorithms but there were still gatekeepers. Tom Petty even said so in 'into the great wide open' "their A&R man says I don't hear a single". Back in the late 80's through the 90's background noise was MTV (in canada much music) or depending on your taste CMT instead of reality TV. They played music non-stop then. The programers on those stations and on radio stations had huge amounts of power.
That said the genre of modern pop/rock/country matured in the 70's. Metal peaked in the 80's. A&R men prior to about '75 were always looking for the new sound. Sometime around the 80's the started playing it really safe.
Also as great as streaming is and having access to everything at your fingertips the younger generation doesn't own shit. I used to buy a new CD once every couple of weeks or so. I had over 500 CD's by 2005. That remains the backbone of my library, the digital files ripped from those CD's. Since you don't own your favorite music anymore you're at the whims of copyrights and licensing. It hasn't really happened to music, but one day it will. I remember when Star Trek left netflix, there's stories of people watching an episode of Deep Space 9 and it just going black half way through, because netflix lost the rights. That's never happened to me because I bought the DVD boxed sets in the 2000's.
@@Xander1Sheridan Actually, if you go back a bit further, radio DJs used to choose their own music and add a unique twist to what they shared. This is before radio got taken over by conglomerates. It still wasn't as diverse a range as what we can hear online now, but there was a time (the 70s, for example) when you could follow a DJ whose taste you admired and listen to their hand-curated "radio shows." And often the same radio station would offer distinctly different shows throughout the day. It was an art form.
@@marilyngardner4269 Luckily, we still have WFMU
@@flashwashington2735 What you seem to miss is that even searching is fraught with traps and filtered through the algorithm. That 'time spent finding it issue' is often a complete waste of time. The algorithm doesn't work the same for you as it does for someone in their 60s with a tons of older music in their library. Their suggestions just don't work the same as yours.
As a member of Gen X, it gives me great pleasure to know that my teen son has embraced the music of _my_ youth. In fact, from Bowie to Depeche Mode to Nirvana to Pantera, he has become _more_ familiar with much of the '80s and 90's catalog _now_ than I ever was _then._ This is _in addition to_ loving many current artists. Similarly, I grew up loving the music of my Boomer parents _and_ my own generation, and there are several current artists I _also_ love. Every generation has examples that make us say, "Who the hell gave this person a record dea?" But, overall, I think the problem with the Music Industry isn't a lack of good music; it's that the industry is now operated primarily by lawyers and accountants with no _art_ in them.
Fortunately, in today's landscape, record deals aren't the end all and be all of music distribution. Case in point, Mary Spender.
@@jpabcede5016 Excellent point! While recording, in and of itself, is resulting in lower and lower _artist_ profits, the online marketplace offers many other alternatives, not just to earn a living but to build connections.
Yeah, great music is great music no matter the era... but boomers are just so smug.
@@Eldritch-1 Yeah...and not just about music!
Rick Beato’s videos of listening to Spotify’s top 10, is a great example of giving modern music a shot. Unfortunately, time after time, one or possibly two can be considered interesting music. The rest are usually crap.
I agree. But it's important to realize that what's in the top ten lists isn't indicative of the great music that's out there now. We can blame the industry for creating that disparity.
There were endless stacks of horrible bargain bin trash made in the 60-70s too :)
@@sup1e yeah but they weren’t in the top ten Billboard Chart positions.
Old music has survivor bias.
But it’s what kids are playing in their cars and at the beach etc. it’s pretty awful stuff
I have been amazed by how much younger people like Boomer music than I as a Boomer like my parents' music (I didn't). My son had a pretty good collection of Zeppelin CD's - well after their release. Best of luck with your new album.
As a boomer I fully agree. The younger generations are far more open to the music of preceding generations than we were. My father was musically very open-minded and I was exposed to almost all the genres. I secretly liked a fair amount of it but would not admit it until much later in life.
Waay back I remember being so impressed with the Afro-Caribbean community in my city.
They had three generations all enjoying the same range of music.
That was back in the 70s.
It took a lot longer for the indigenous Caucasians to get anywhere near that level of musical integration.
that's because 1960-80s was a true Golden Age for music, something that rarely ever happens. The last time was during Rennaissance with Classical Music. Good luck ever getting that again
I'm a 68 year old boomer. I love music from the 1930's through 1970's - 80's. I love classical music. I played professionally for a while in the 70's and 80's. I played big band, classical, jazz band, pit orchestras, etc. I love music with melody. I love singers who can actually sing. I liked the old movie musicals. The movies were not always great, but the musical numbers were,. So much of todays music, is lacking in melody, vocal range and control. I miss ballads. I miss the "torch" song singers. I miss instrumentals with a beautiful melody. Have a listen to Lara Fabian. I keep hoping for quality to come back.
If it wasn’t for Spotify and CZcams, I’d definitely still be listening to the same stuff I was when I was 15-25 (Rock and metal from the 60’s to the mid 2000’s) Being able to relatively easily get access to all kinds of music, new and old so freely now feels like a real blessing. I miss going down to my local record shop to talk to the guy there and find out what’s new, but you can’t compare the level of access to genres and artists you would otherwise never have discovered.
I'm a boomer with children in their 30's and 20's. I like very little of their favourite music but they all enjoy 'classic' 60's and 70's music. I stream most of my music but all of my kids also have record decks for their vinyl, something I haven't had since the early 90's. Most modern music I listen to tends to be independent artists on CZcams.
Ditto.
Not only am I a Boomer - but I'm also a guitarist - and even though I like to listen to todays more creative music, I still prefer to play those songs that "still had cords" - so I could jump in to the debate. HOWEVER, I only want to say that you did a wonderful job on this video and I ageree that we should revisit in about a decade. Great video!
72 here. I grew up always wanting to hear the next new thing. The 20th century was the golden era of pop music. It's true. However, I loved when things went digital. No media to go wonkey, you just pulled it out of the air. Fantastic. Now, I consider pop music dead. It's gone the way of newspapers and cable tv. No tears here for any of that. However, music today is fantastic. The bluegrass genre has become jazz. Rock has morphed into a hundred branches of personal expression with the most ingenious talent that has ever graced the earth since Mozart. You just have to look. For me that has alway been the most exciting part, when you find a new artist that blows your socks off. Here's to you kid!
I'm a 70 year old boomer. Sometimes I'll get into a nostalgic mood and go back and listen to the songs from the 60s and 70s. But more often, I'll be off looking for new artists who are creating interesting new music. This includes you! In the 60s and 70s, there certainly were some great bands. But there was also a lot of commercial trash created that is now mostly forgotten. Now, I'm off to look for some more new creators!
There certainly was alot of forgettable commercial trash from each generation for sure. Unless a song is memorable for being total crap, it will be forgotten.
There's also a lot of great music from our generation's individuals and bands that never got played, and still doesn't, except in very specific venues like Little Steven's Underground Garage (LSUG) on SiriusXM.
You make a good point. Also, new independent artist here! 😁
Put, there seems to be a lot more commercial trash now than it was then.
A friend’s mid-teens daughter told her about this *new* indie group she discovered - they went by the name Fleetwood Mac and they were really good. An example of how good music “discovered” without industry or chart context can be appreciated by new audiences. Heck, they may even think it’s fresh. There is good new music being produced today, we just need to put more effort into finding it.
I agree to all you said but as a whole it doesn't make a lot of sense 😂 "A teen said Fleetwood Mac are awesome. There is good music being made, you just have to look harder." lol
Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac?
music has lost relevance on the global stage due to other distractions like internet, netflix, video games. Good luck ever getting the world to come as one and appreciate musical talent like they used to in the 70s
Music creates memories, it’s far better than a diary will ever be (I’m 66) I can hear a song from the 70’s when I was a teen that I hated at the time and I’m instantly back there with an ex girlfriend or remembering something that happened with mates or at work. My mother loved a crooner called Gerry Monroe he was no Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin and tbh I couldn’t listen to a whole side of an album by him but I’ve hunted down his 3 albums and sometimes play a track and I’m 9 years old again sitting on the kitchen step watching her sing along while she cooked Sunday dinner. My memories of Bowie (my first gig) Queen, Roxy Music etc will be the same for kids now when they are in their 60’s looking back at something that’s in the charts this week and remembering that old girl/boyfriend or best mate. We all love ‘our’ music but I also love a lot of what came before from the 40’s to the 60’s and a lot of what’s coming out now, I collect vinyl and one of the collections is Emma Blackery who’s next ep is out next month
I think as you say the only problem with todays music is not if it’s good or bad but there’s so much out every week you can’t keep up when I was 17 by reading all the different music papers and visiting my local record shop I was on top of 75% of the new releases
Hi Mary. Your comments are spot on. I’m year one Gen X (1965) and was raised by parents who were born pre-WW2 in a house where the music played was not contemporary popular music, it was Jazz. Big band, Be Bop, Swing, Fusion, and everything else in between. I listened to the same music as my friends in the early 70’s but my musical birth happened when a friend played me his older brother’s copy of the first Ramones album in 1977. It was seething with a raw energy that spoke to me on a fundamental level. Since then, I have played in bands as a drummer and as a guitar player and have played and listened to almost every genre of music since. My wheelhouse is music that is raw, energetic and slightly angry. . .I’m a product of my musical birth. There are too many genres to list that hit home for me. There is good music out there and bad music. Ultimately, there is far more music available now, but it is harder to find the tracks that fundamentally speak to you due to the sheer volume of readily available music.
You make some very good points. My personal experience was that music was a more integral part of my life when I was in high school, and to a lesser extent, college. It was the soundtrack of my youth and was typically shared with friends. We'd listen to the same album over and over again, and it would play on the radio. Now I'm too busy working and trying to hold my life together (in other words, adulting) to spend time tracking down new music I enjoy. I know it's out there, but I have no time to find it. And music just doesn't mean as much as it did when I was a teen -- back then, it opened up worlds and helped me figure out who I was. Now, some music even makes me sad because it reminds me of all the losses I've experienced and the aspects of life that are over for me now. I come to music from a different place now. Discovering new music is something I hope to get back to when I retire (if I retire).
The way we consume music now I think it will make it more difficult to remember the music of today 10 years from now, unless we can associate a song with significant events, like a teenage crush, a broken leg, a wedding, a trip to Morocco, ...
Everything moves much faster nowadays which makes it less easy to create something timeless
I think that’s kinda what happens with all music though. Boomers love those old songs so much because it reminds them of a certain time in their life that had meaning to them. Tough to know what music is going to stick with you until you give it some time
@@peterw2880 It's not all old songs. Only the better stuff. I bet if you look at the complete works of Bach or Beethoven, you'll find each artist has their share of songs everyone has heard and their share of songs people forgot.
I think you just described the plot of the next great rom-com movie!
Probably could have been a 1 min video if you just made your final statement, but i still enjoyed taking the scenic route with you. Anyone who says music is terrible these days just doesn’t spend enough time seeking out new music. The past is littered with terrible music as well, even from legendary artists. However you could probably spend the next decade only seeking out unknown artists from the past who never made it, and you wouldn’t even have to listen to anything current! Thanks to streaming we have an unimaginable amount of music at our fingertips past and present so really who cares?😂😂 BTW this same topic applies to many other creative fields such as fashion, painting, photography, architecture etc.
Thank you for your well thought out perspective, Mary! As a 64-year-old boomer, I love listening to music of the 70's and 80's and watching those early MTV-style videos. Recently, I picked up a CD (I know, that's old school medium) of music written by Tchaikovsky. If you would have told me I'd be listening to classical music one day when I was a teenager, I would have said absolutely "no way." It's good to keep an open mind about all music genres because you just never know what will become your next favorite style.
Some say that "music XYZ was the soundtrack of my life". Me, being a boomer, have found that music "from my era" brings back memories of so many wonderful firsts in my life: my first kiss, my first time making love, my first 100% on a difficult college test, my first times having children, so many wonderful emotional states that I can never have again because one can only have those experiences when one is "young". Life gets taken over by "deadlines and commitments". So, younger people: Remember, if you play your cards right, and fate shines on you, you too will be transported back to your first kiss, your first child's birth, buying your first house, by a wonderful melody, powerful lyrics, or a stunning composition. Instead of dismissing or grumbling about the boomers, appreciate that if you're lucky, one day you too will be able to experience the wonderful time machine called music.
I have this idea that if you grew up in the era of the Boomer, in spite of all of your undeniable musical talent, you might not have ever had a chance to be recognized by anybody beyond your local pub or street corner without the additiional avenues available through the Internet. As a song writer and musical performer, you have this opportunity to create and produce music without being blessed by a record label. That is unique and special. This is a good thing that makes the music that's available better!
Separate from that idea is what the proponents of 'Boomer Nostalgia' might be recognizing as what is different about today's music. The Industry's selection of music has evolved to cherish something different than what it used to recognized as good music. Now the driving force is "marketability", and we long for those good old vibes with a 'wholesomeness' that is missing from what is currently topping the pop charts. Thus the record labels only gamble on recipes that are stale and boring which produce examples that when compared with older music feel as though something 'organic' has been lost.
Boomers had the luxury of coming of age at the beginning of many genres. The originality of the music has a lot to do with how small the industry was at the time. Current musicians have the insurmountable task of trying to create something that sounds new after a huge volume of music has already been put out. It's much more difficult to sound original. Music is a gift and I think we should focus on enjoying it, rather than gate keeping and constantly criticizing.
All of those artists were influenced by the artists from 50's, 60''s and 70's.@@artisans8521
An interesting point about some older music (now regarded as classic) not being popular in the past. Tiny Dancer reached 19 in the Canadian charts, 41 in the US charts and was not even released in the UK. It lay largely forgotten for over 22 years until featured in the movie My Girl in 1994. Abba were certainly very popular in the 70s but even so were looked down upon by large sections of the music buying public. I remember the phrase 'plastic Abba' being used liberally, even by one or two Radio One DJ,s at the time. Their success nowadays is universal, across all age ranges and sectors of the music loving public. There was a time when I would switch off the radio when they came on!
Many of the albums I bought in the 70s and 80s were slow burners but buying an album or cd was a greater committment in those days, you invested heavily (I still have price tickets on some of my 1980s CDs and they were around £12 to £15 mark) and regarded yourself as a serious listener so you persevered, listening to what you originally thought was not very interesting until you damn well 'got it' and it could then become a firm favourite! As with most things in life, music is a double edged sword experience. I have to dig a little to find music what is good to my ears but there is plenty of it and the internet has democratised the whole music making and listening process even if it has watered it down through sheer output
Hi Mary! I AM the touring boomer, artist to which you refer. I am also a content creator and I know the struggle. We (Poison) toured relentlessly for years. Record, video, tour, record, tour, video, rinse and repeat. We were shunned by many critics as well because we embraced a new way of communicating called, the "Music Video". We were MTV Sweethearts as many called us. Now all of this today is, "Nostalgia". Funny how that works! What's the boomer struggle now? People say, "Make new music!" If we make new music, those same people don't really care about it! They want the nostalgia. Things is, when we are younger, music becomes a soundtrack to all of new experiences. Once we settle into maturity we tend to just spin the same music because it just touches the same emotion effectively. This is not a hard and fast rule, there are exceptions, but rarely enough to support an artist for life. (Prince and some other are the exceptions) Lucky for us (Poison) we made enough of an impact musically back in the day (Like that quip?) and socially to keep us afloat all these years later. I hope you can as well. You are fantastic! Good luck with all you do!
Hi Rikki! Please email me at info@maryspender.com - would love to talk with you.
You just described every generation that has aged. As a boomer, all I heard my parents say about my music was how terrible rock was and how you couldn’t even make out the lyrics, unlike their standards and Big Band music, which I quite enjoy as well. In the 60s we called it a “generation gap,” as if we young boomers were the first to experience it. What I’ve learned over the years, is youth is by definition ego-centric. At the end of the day, the mindsets - young vs older - never change generation to generation. It’s hard wired in human-kind.
Mary, don’t despair…every generation has this issue. When I would put on my Allman Brothers or Stones vinyl in the 70s, my parents would ask me how I could possibly listen to that noise haha. They were more into Glenn Miller. So I listened to some of their Glenn Miller records…and I discovered I liked them too! I think it ALL started with the blues, and it’s all connected. And I love listening to today’s artists. It’s all just a matter of keeping an open mind. Looking forward to listening to your album.
The variety of music played on the radio, back in the 60's and 70's, is unmatched. The same station would play Pop, R&B, Folk, Rock and Country and we knew all the songs well enough to sing along. Then when FM came into the musical landscape, entire albums were played without interruption.
GenX'er here and.... I completely agree with you. I grew up in the 80's and the diversity of music that became popular is probably still unmatched. I love listening to music of that time. However, there was a lot of crap produced during that period too. How many POP songs do I have on my playlist from then? 100? So that's 1000s of songs which I and millions of others didn't like either. Just like now. There are songs done by 20-year olds today which touch my soul. And there's lots out there I don't like.
As an artist myself, what I appreciate now is social media. Because now you can get your work out there without going through the old formal channels. Many people have built up their careers with a huge help from social media channels. There are only a few gatekeepers (and they are usually swamped) but there are millions of people on social media you can reach directly. If you put in the work.
I dare to agree with both views...why not? Having the experience of being totally absorbed as a teenager by the relatively meagre, but powerful, choice of 60's/70's music AND the infinite smorgasbord of modern music. Happy and fortunate I am. You're such a gem, Mary!
I'm a 70 yr old Boomer who, indeed, loves music from my youth, but find artists such as Ren, Josh Turner/ Carson McKee...and YOU, intriguing and awesome. I love that artists can produce their own stuff and share their craft without having to sell their soul to the big labels. We live in an amazing time where great talent and all musical genre are accessible to anyone at anytime. My only concern is that we could be prone to taking it for granted and lose the wonder as we "drink from the firehose" of the internet.
Hawkwind, the most neglected and underappreciated band entity in music history.
Dave Brock is now 82, 35 studio albums (2 more on the way), plus solo and official live... Space Ritual Live '72 is arguably the most ground-breaking live album. I'd even consider their last 'The Future Never Waits' to be core listening. Are all the albums worth getting? no, but there are gems on each one.
The Proto-punk band Hawkwind, was a huge cultural influence, directly credited for bridging the Hippie and Punk cultures.
"There would have been no Sex Pistols if it wasn't for
I'm a boomer, and I agree with you. I remember buying every album Yes produced, and now I'm trying to figure out how to produce my own Techno Tracks. I have no time to judge anything other than what I'm assembling. Keep up the excellent work.
Speaking as a boomer, I’m _really_ enjoying the music that independent artists like yourself and Elle Cordova and Josh Turner and Allison Young, etc., are producing. Back in the day, I might never have heard you, because the big labels were very formulaic. Social media has democratized music. Patreon and CZcams are wonderful things. I love it that your music is _informed_ and _influenced_ by the music of my generation, but that your music is its own thing. That’s awesome sauce! 😃
I think there is still a discussion to have whether the positive or negative sides of social media have heavier consequences on this genereation of music.
Thanks for some new artists to check out. The main problem is on CZcams is a lot of good music is so hidden from view. You discover artists and songs from tv series , movies and background tracks from CZcams video's but its so hit or miss.
I agree with you. The best music is not found in the mainstream. Josh is an amazing talent. I love the work he does with Allison, Carson McKee, and more.
@@yigitgulmez4377 Agreed. Although, it should be noted that commercially successful bands of my generation were pretty much forced into brutal road schedules by the big labels, leaving them with little time for song writing and studio work. It was great for the consumer, because I got to see a lot of good concerts, but I think it was very tough on the musicians. I gotta a sneaking hunch that being a professional musician in _any_ era is a pretty tough way to make a living.
@@tracythorleifson4108 I totally agree.
Good morning from Canada! Love your commentaries! I am a "Boomer" and musician (playing over 50 years now) and yes, my band plays the "Oldies"!!hahaha! I have to admit though that you're right when we listen to the NEW music we listen for things that are familiar to us. Heck when Disco came out we wondered about that too! We used to drive around listening to the radio just for something to do but now the radio is off when we're driving! I know your generation of music will survive as long as performers such as yourself prevail. Love your latest release, listened to it yesterday!! Keep it up Mary your doing great!! Thanks!
You raise some very good points. To me, if music excites me, if it motivates me, relaxes me, or appeals to the mood I’m in, does it matter whether it’s old or new? Do I care what others think? I love the music makers whether the are advanced musicians or someone tapping on a jar with a spoon - it’s all good! Can’t wait to hear your album!
I'm 66. For my generation, music was an important part of the culture and it was mostly underground. Our parents did not like the music we listened to. My dad once told me that the Mahanisnu Orchestra's music was just noise. The difference seems to be that we didn't care what our parents thought. There was a generation gap. If you went to a concert or a festival, there was nobody over 25. People tend to prefer the music they listened to as teenagers. For me, it was rock music and jazz fusion. Young people today should be more thick-skinned. As for critics we didn't care what they thought either, they were clueless, especially the Americans. Rolling Stone did not like foreign bands like Zeppelin, Queen, Rush, or AC/DC. Those bands still sold massively. Their reviews at the time were a joke. We heard about new music by word of mouth, swapping LPs, and going to gigs. I went to see Bad Company for 75p in 1975. I also went to university in 1975 and discovered a lot of stuff that wasn't played on the BBC. Alan Freeman had the only show on the BBC that I bothered listening to. Peel had no taste and Harris was an old hippie, who wasn't really into rock. I don't like the music my kids listen to. They don't care, and that is as it should be.
I was 16 when Smells like Teen Spirit was released and I often have nostalgia for that time and the years that followed. Buying a CD without knowing if you'll like all the songs was kind of exciting. Later on I would buy compilations then buy the CDs of the bands I liked without knowing if I'd actually like a band based off that one comp song. I'd listen to each CD I'd buy over and over pretty much until I bought something else. They became a hallmark of the period of life I was in at the time.
Nowadays I find new music through the internet and stream everything, and new music is fleeting at best, only listened to a few times before moving on to something else. I feel like buying CDs was better. Yet, if you gave me the choice, I wouldn't go back.
Mary, you make excellent points. (Disclaimer, I'm an end of era Boomer, pre-Gen X) Just access to music now can't be compared to the Boomer/Gen X eras. Back then there were many independent radio stations (including college radio) that would play local or new national artists where now it's a corporate radio culture where it's formulaic and honestly, boring. New artists were easier to casually access back then. Today you can find outstanding music but you may have to do a little digging (actually not that hard) to find those songs and artists. I had "discovered" Band Camp and other sources for new music from varied genres. I was able to find your music and other great artists. I have to give artists like you massive respect because as you alluded to, you and others today don't have a massive label doing all your promotions, etc. Many people say that today's music is forgettable without remembering that there's a lot of earlier music from the "Golden Age" that is not remembered today. A great point you make is that it may be decades until today's music and artists are appreciated like the artists and music from the past.
Massive labels spending big money on promotions doesn't guarantee songs will be remembered. I college I worked in a shop where only one radio station got good reception - it was the top 40 station that would play a song on the hour, every hour during drive times. My guess is a good deal of that music got airplay due to promotional give away stuff that came with playing it. Most of those songs I have selectively filtered from my memories.
My view, as a man in my 60's, is summed up in the words of a favourite song of mine from the "good old days".
"Music was my first love
And it will be my last
Music of the future
And music of the past
To live without my music
Would be impossible to do
In this world of troubles
My music pulls me through"
Those words were true for me when I first heard that song and they remain true to this day.
Mary, I am 72 years old and grew up during the 60's and the music we listened to at that time evolved from 50's style rock (Buddy Holly, etc.), to Peter, Paul, and Mary, Joan Baez, the Beach Boys, Beatles, and the Stones, and more. The change in music during that time to me, was unprecedented, how the music reflected the times we were living in and the events that we witnessed, (Viet Nam, revolution, hippies, Woodstock, moon landing, etc.), and while we cannot go back there, the music of that time, and somewhat, the emotions felt during that time, when listening to that music, can be renewed. But what an incredible time to grow up. I have to admit, some modern music is beyond my understanding, right now, I but it will continue to evolve as it has in the past, and I will, hopefully, continue to evolve my ear and continued love for music. Thanks for what you do, oh, and the original song, "Boys of Summer" was written by Mike Campbell.
I'm a boomer who grew up in the Los Angeles area. The biggest thing that really makes me nostalgic is how much more expensive live music tends to be now. Especially concert tickets, but even the clubs were much more affordable.
FM radio in LA was pretty cool in the 70s also.
As a mid-seventies boomer who had his own surf/rock band in the 60/s you are spot on. There were songs I loved then and many I did NOT like. Today, while the band is not popular anymore, I still really love some of the modern pop music that is available now, and also do not like some of it...just like in the 60/70's. Thank you Mary, my opinion is that in your opinion, you are right on!
Growing up my music choices were whatever was on the radio. Country, Pop, Rock and southern gospel.
Now it's,jazz, blues, classical, everything under the sun is available instantly. Today is much better.
The intriguing thing about music created during the Baby Boom era is that it represented a shared culture. In the U.S. in the 1060s and early 1970s radio stations played music that was marketed to them by producers and record companies, and it was a time when AM radio prevailed and FM was nascent. From the early days of Rock 'n' Roll and Doo-Wop to the British Invasion and psychedelic music, we all listened to the same music because, well, that's all there was. We discussed it in school and on street corners, marveling at the latest contribution from Buddy Holly or The Temptations to the Mothers of Invention and Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders. And, of course, the Beatles changed everything. So, it's not so much propriety or owning 'the best' music; it's all very subjective, of course. But it's what was available, and what we were given as entertainment and enlightenment. I slept with a transistor radio under my pillow, listening to WABC=AM Radio in New York City. It was glorious. Has great music been made since then? You bet! As time went on, there were more outlets, FM radio became a juggernaut of creativity and then, much later, streaming and the Internet crashed onto the scene. It's all good. There is a fondness for music that evolved in the Baby Boom generation, but it's personal. As is Gen Z, and all following generations. Now if I want to hear Nepalese prayer chanting from Katmandu or bluegrass from the Ozarks, I just go to CZcams or the Internet.
Music saved the world. It continues to do so. And Mary is a vital aspect of its evolution. That's the deal. Play on, stay creative, and listen to everything you can. It makes life infinitely more enjoyable and satisfying, mentally and emotionally. Cheers from our side of the Pond!
I'm Gen X and I think Boomer and Gen X music is better than current music because of auto-tuning of voices and quantized beats. The imperfection of real human performance is preferable to me.
Not all music today is like that, though.
@@ThinWhiteAxe What I hear on the radio is digitized and just too perfect. I doesn't touch me because of that perfection.
GenX shouldn't discuss about music
bwahahahahaha!
@@julieolson9832Forget radio. Used to be great in our day, but it's dead now. The problem isn't today's music, it's technology. What you hear on the radio is all either a digital remaster of old analogue material and sounds like crap to our ears, or music designed digitally for a market, recorded digitally, produced digitally, the lot. If you listen to current music that was actually made by human beings, expressing what they actually feel it's still great. We may not entirely understand it, because it's not our POV on the world, but it's still great. Remeber that shitty, fake music always existed and that we have just long forgotten the 99% of crap that was the charts of 19XX. Even the good music is obviously digital today, but who says good music requires a 70 years old guitar directly plugged into an equally old and absurdly loud amp with nothing in between but a cable.
I learned at school that the definition of music is 'a combination of sounds pleasant to someones ear'. As a boomer, modern music more often than not fails that test.
No, it doesn't. Pleasant to *someones" ear doesn't mean it has to be pleasant to your ear.
Yeah, I'm not hearing it in modern music, either.
In a more broader sense, music is just art, what a nice looking painting is to you, will not be for me and vice versa. Boomer here, when listening to a new tune/song, I'm really looking for that hook, interesting chord progression/melody...and if the tune reminds me of songs I grew up with like in the 50's, 60',s 70'.s..I'm very impressed. For example , I think it was the late 90's, I first heard by the Backstreet Boys "I Want it That way" I was just floored!! That tune could have been recorded back in 1966 or so and kept in a vault somewhere only to be taken out and to shown off as a new tune!!. If I can sing, or whistle to it, I like it. But I do agree with your assessment of modern music. It might have songs that I would like, but I do not go on Spotify or other mediums that will play modern music. I heard my tunes on am/fm radio and if they are not being played there, I just won't ever have access to them. Something seems to be said of the way "the music business "force fed" you the music you were going to listen to. Whatever , it worked.
Mary, a well considered and well presented argument that I would call an essay, rather than a rant. I was just talking to my son last night about the silliness of labelling generations, as if there were magical dates of birth that shaped a person's psyche due to their cultural experiences while growing up. Early "baby boomers" had a far different set of experiences than late one. Being born in 1946 and being a teenager in the late fifties and early sixties was not at all the same as being a teenager in the early seventies, for example. Events and cultural experiences shift on a continuum and are also related to locality.
Nostalgia is something that everyone experiences after a certain age, but the older you get and the more experiences and memories you have, the more that nostalgia creeps in. I'm 73. Yeah. Do I look back wistfully at Beatlemania, the British Invasion, attending Woodstock (and all that went with it), being foot loose and fancy free and just being young? Yes. And you too will be looking back once you have accumulated a lifetime of experiences.
Old versus new music, better or worse? I agree with you. Let's look back in, well, maybe not 20 years for me, but after a while. How well a piece of music endures will be the answer.
I think few others have thought though it so intimately. I'm an A,D,C guitar player, music not being my profession. I wish you the very best and that your music dreams all come true.
As a boomer, I am delited to know that the zoomer's have come up with the various forms of Indi music. , Indi music literally pulled me out of the 60's & 70's, I just love it. 🫡
Delighted?
@@musicisfree91A lot of Boomers have appalling spelling and indulge in apostrophe abuse like they did in the word Zoomers. They also frequently misuse the word literally. 😉😉
@@SpeccyMan The abuses of "literally" and "ironic" are two of my biggest minor annoyances that I find particularly irritating on these internets.
I'm a boomer who identifies as a bad speller, I should be applauded for my bravery for telling the world. 🤣
@@sgntbilco We are the world and we applaud you. Now everybody knows who sgntbilco is!
As a 'Boomer' myself (admittedly a tail-end Boomer in '59, where 63 was the end), I watch a huge amount of the 'Reaction' channels here on CZcams and can't help but note the great appreciation of the music of my teens in the 70's by them. I do appreciate the music into the 90's, but really miss the beauty of the human perfection of imperfection before 'auto-tune'. There is a great deal of derivative music with lack of the uniqueness of the 70's-80's that happens to the music beyond the 90's. Admittedly, the 70's-80's had some too, but without 'auto-tune', at least it had the unique flavor of someone else's imperfections! 😏😒😁
There's at least a little irony that it's a boomer/Cher who had the first big auto-tune hit :)
Sorry to burst your bubble but pitchcorrection started in the 70s. Not to the extent, and mostly not so glaringly obvious, but...
@@tosvus Ya it was def. around earlier but that's still the song everyone acknowledges/thinks of as the first that used it so noticeably as an effect. I'm also pretty sure that's what people mean when they're slagging its over-use--not just some barely imperceptible pitch-correction.
Baby boomers are technically those born from 1948 to 1964.
@@sup1e Not saying auto-tune sucks, just that it isn't as good to my ear.
The loudest people of any generation may not be listening to everyone else.
I came of age between 1967 and 1978, and saw profundity in all that music which I associated with places and peoples and changes happening within and around me.
Those times will not come again, and the imprint of that music is Like a "wormhole to the past" which provides a value and meaning and psychic utility that new music rarely replicates.
It wouldn't be fair to judge new music against "Our Songs", yet many of us don't have the psychological sophistication to realize the power of nostalgia to sew our appreciation of art/music.
Of course there is a ton of fresh, awesome and amazing art and music pouring into the world... and the people starving for fresh sounds are aficionados, professionals, and those who are "coming of age" in this flow of art, and those "newly of age", and the odd "forever young" Boomer.
Goethe said it well: "Die Kunst ist Lang, aber das Leben ist kurz" / "Art is long lived, yet we are not" When I can judge new music from an Eternal Perspective, I'll perceive it more clearly....
As it is, I need to listen to several hundred hours of hip-hop and rap to "really hear" what they were, are and are becoming. I hear the poetic energy but cannot consistently discern the meaning...just like elders in the 60's couldn't make sense of "That Damn Noise they call Rock and Roll."
Well said Mary! As an archetypal Boomer myself, I must say that while there was a lot of great music produced in the 60's 70's etc, there was quite a bit of hideous dross ("My boy lollipop" anyone?). And I think that this applies to any era, and art form. There is certainly a lot of wondeful music being created today - it may not feature on the main playlists, but some time spent trawling Bandcamp, CZcams, Soundcloud etc will turn up many gems!
I think the main problem today is in the live music scene. We have major concert venues (With eye-watering ticket prices) and "open mic" nights at a local pub; and nothing in between. Turning the clock back to the 60's and 70's, most towns had a "Dance Hall" which usually had a weekly show that tended to feature an "Up and coming" artist - Ticket prices were affordable (Most around the same as the cost of a pint of beer!). I recall seeing bands such as Hawkwind, Man, Groundhogs and many other great bands (As well as local acts) in my own local venue.
This served a dual purpose of allowing people to discover new music that they may not have otherwise discovered, but also allowing artists to really develop their music and build a fan base. Yes, we have CZcams etc, but nothing compares to the energy and vibe of a live gig!
Which is why we need to ditch this environment for the campus stations which give the focus on the best music.
My Boy Lollipop ... what a little gem.... ! A rare lost favorite. Thanks for reminding me. Just goes to show ..... we humans were born to think different. Millie Small Makes my heart go Giddy-up!
While I do consider myself fortunate for having grown up during the sixties and seventies, I agree that every era has its own unique challenges and advantages. Life continues to be a real trip!
Well said Ms Spender! There was - and is - just a ton of great music out there. I have always been a bit overwhelmed by it all. Back in the 50s, 60s & 70s I was constrained by my lack of financial resources. Now I’m constrained by the available time to even hear a small portion of what’s out there. One of my newest faves is the Sam Roberts Band tune ‘Afterlife’. But for every one of those that appeal there are literally thousands I’ll never hear. Bottom line for me is Keep Listening - as you are encouraging us all to do. Thanks!
To quote a Billy Joel lyric, "It's still rock and roll to me!" I'm 62 and I like any kind of Rock and Roll. I think CZcams (aside from anything else) is Great. I;ve gotten to hear such talented musicians I never would have heard otherwise. Love Leo and Rabea especially for the talent they possess playing guitar.
Mary, I just met you (on CZcams) this morning and may I say, it was a pleasure. You are quite inciteful and wonderfully articulate. I immediately (after subscribing and liking this video) gave a listen to your song, "You Can Have Chicago". Having come from Chicago (born in Berwyn) the title drew me right in. I like this song. Your video touched on a subject near and dear to my heart. Like Beato, I too, feel that some of the best music ever recorded came from the '70s. I am 65 years on this Earth and I recognize my prejudice when it comes to music. I guess the only way to tell what songs are truly "good/great/whatever" is how well they stand up to the test of time. I did perform covers of many hits from the '80s and '90s when they were popular on the radio. While some have survived, not too many songs from those time slots get the new listeners' attention as much as the music released in the '70s. Is it because the producers in those days were so very wise? Is it because of the cultural environment from whence the music was derived? Did magical musicians and songwriters from another planet temporarily invade Earth (my favorite explanation)? I don't know. Your song is very good. I have two positive criticisms and two negative criticisms that I would share if you would like. May the creator of the universe (and CZcams) bless you and all your efforts.
Inciteful? Maybe. Insightful. Definitely.
Hi Mary, I would like to start by saying that I have nothing but respect and admiration for you and everything that you do. I am 68 years old and still a working, self producing musician and songwriter. My approach to music is that if I like it , it's good if I don't , then it's just not for me. I fully appreciate how much work and different talents that that you possess in order to accomplish what you have done and continue to do daily. I don't possess some of those skills. Sometimes I wish that I had the capacity for music appreciation that Rick Beato has. But still I have told a lot of my "Boomer" friends that just because we didn't grow up with the newer music doesn't mean it's all crap. One newer artist in particular that I greatly admire is Wolf Van Halen. He could have easily rode on his dad's legacy doing tributes to him. He took a lot of crap from Van Halen fans for not doing so. I think he is a monster talent and I like his music. As far as pitch correction and quantizing are concerned, especially quantizing a live drummer are concerned, it should be applied very judiciously and sparingly as possible. I myself am a little "pitchy" as a vocalist sometimes. I choose to work at the vocals until they're right. There was one instance where I realized after the fact that a harmony part was a bit sour. I applied just enough pitch correction to bring it close enough without the it being obvious. Sorry for the long comment. I had a lot to say.
love your work (and work ethic) Mary - all the best!
(boomer here)
Great thoughts on this topic. One really needs to strip the nostalgia and simply listen to the music. Music for music's sake. The nostalgia comes because of how intimately the music is so intertwined with our life experiences, ie, what music were you listening to the first time you fell in love, or had sex, or what friends you hung out with, etc., but I think that aspect of attitude toward music is nearly inevitable. Music is so personal that nostalgia is difficult to remove when listening to new music that isn't attached to those exciting moments in our youth. Our musical tastes were forged then and It is not easy to be completely non-biased in our relationship to music. Music is the soundtrack of our lives. But because I love music so much, I have been lucky enough to keep an open mind and I find new music all the time, and in many genres. I'm always going to love the music I grew up listening to, but continuing my relationship with music and having it intertwined with what I'm doing in my life now is just as satisfying. My nostalgia will be as broad as my life is long, not just from my youth. The music of my youth was the foundation of discovery from which I continue to explore the evolution of music. It did not stop when I graduated high school. : )
Zoomers will probably be just as nostalgic for Gen Z music when AI is making all the pop music in the future. 🤣
I am an early Gen-X guy (1968), growing up with all 60's and 70's music. I discovered lots of music in the early 80's, almost ten years too late one might say. I wasn't able to see most bands I liked live. I still discover music unknown to me, some new and much is old stuff. I have a fascination with the 70's, but since I lived the 70's, I see them a bit with the eyes of a kid. In the 80's I celebrated the music of the 60's and 70's, as a kid in the 70's I really liked the 60's stuff. I learned to like some 80's stuff when the 90's began. I really hated the 90's, well most of it, when most people my age celebrated their 20's with the contemporary stuff back then. In the 2000's I still disliked the 90's, but I was open to find new stuff that interests me. Nowadays, the good thing is I am free of commercial radio and TV stations, can do my own playlists, with old and new music, or even film scores or classical music. I don't need to complain about that stuff because it doesn't touch me. When I play guitar, bass or keyboard at home, I love to do stuff that inspired my life, it is the rough sound of the 60's and 70's. The recording gear that I have is far superior than what was available back then. I am a nostalgic guy, but I am aware of the world I am living in. In making music the possibilities haven't been better than today (except for the future), recording in a quality, that hasn't been possible 40 years ago, budget guitars and basses in fantastic quality, small amps sounding big, keyboards and drums that I can program without playing those instruments, and who knows, maybe AI will give me the voice of Frank Sinatra, Freddie Mercury or a 21-year-old Robert Plant?
So well put. Gen X'er here and although I will always have the 80s at the centre of my musical existence, it's patently ridiculous to claim any one era as being 'the best'. I can't begin to keep up with all the great current acts I love, let alone the trove of enormous talent that's emerged since the 1980s more broadly.
I'm a boomer. I'm also a mix engineer, and started when we were analog. I love a lot of the music that is out today. But also have my old favorites. When I worked in a pro studio, all we did was record and mix, we didn't have to worry about social media, youtube, or tiktok. It was all about the music. I think today is more difficult because you need to spread yourself so thin and know so much in the marketing, But at the same time it is amazing because you can also connect to your fans or would be fans. Question for you Mary, how the hell do you balance your life with all that you do?
as a professional, do you ever see music having the kind of mainstream popularity as it did 50 years ago?
Inescapable fact: The classic artists all worked FULL TIME, as opposed to many today who can't do that, and if they do, they're touring, and not making new music near as often. It makes a huge difference if you can take the proper time to develop a new album.
That's not a generational issue so much as working around new capabilities of technology that made it impossible to sell music as it was once sold - and people don't value it, either.
As for waiting 10 years for a verdict = we can already do that. Ariana Grande's first album was out, as was Arctic Monkey's best album, First Aid Kit and Anna Ternheim made great music, we've had Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Madison Cunningham, Ian Noe, Ashley Monroe (and Pistol Annie's), and many other new artists that killed it.
Most of these artists spend all their time touring and very little time writing new material. Much shorter discographies, and that also means less artistic development in terms of making a piece of music longer than a single to listen to.
They had more time to create better work than the vast majority of today's artists, whose creativity is held slightly hostage by fans that don't buy their music.
I LOVE your point of view! I am at the end of the boomers, having been born in 1962. I discovered the earliest AOR stations on the radio out of Philadelphia PA, USA, in 1968, and it was earth shattering to me at just 6 years old!!!! Also, having been a hobbyist musician since I was young, as well as being a music aficionado for at least that long, I have enjoyed the progression of music through the decades. As you pointed out, I was not always pleased by the latest sounds, but for many of them, I eventually came around. Some faster than others, but that is just human nature. When you are young, you are more easily influenced or make connections to specific songs or artists. We match music to specific memories, and events in our lives. When we are young, almost everything is new to us. We are always having new experiences, and learning new things. When we make those connections, they are deep. As we get older, those new experiences are fewer and farther apart, so those connections are fewer as we get older. I believe that music is the soundtrack to our lives and our souls. We all have our own paths and experiences, and many of them intertwine. That is the beauty of life and music that brings us all together.
My grandad was nostalgic for the swing era - music of his youth was the height of musicianship and composition to his ears - plus being dance oriented, the memories were quite good
Swing music is making a comeback with updated musicians 😂
There was a Documentary series called "Jazz" like 20-25 years ago. I watched the whole thing and gained a new respect for Big Band stuff. Then when Bryan Setzer did his Big Band in the mid 90's, I really enjoyed that.
Hi Mary, Well done! I'm 63 born in 1959. I play 70's, 80's & 90's cover tunes over the weekend and have a blast. If you or Rick Beato (along with a host of others i.e. Adam Neely, Rhett Shull Samuriguitarist etc etc) offer a suggestion on todays music, I'll take a listen and decide if it hits home or not. It's like calling someone "THE G.O.A.T." of anything...it can't be done! I just take it in and enjoy or move on...Most importantly, I proceed with Kindness no matter what! After all who am I to judge anything other that what touches my Soul...Have a wonder day and thank you for all you do...Ed
A.J Lee, Sarah Jaros, Molly Tuttle, Comatose Brothers, etc etc.
Mary, as a Boomer, yet still enjoying music from all times you nailed it. I agree totally with your assessment. It is going to be fun to see how things are going to play out over the next decade. So much music, so little time. Yet such a fun time.
As a boomer and a performer, but mostly a jammer, I play music from the 1800s to present. I also use a DAW. When I jam, I tend to stay away from 70s RnR as much as possible and play the music of musicians/writers with whom I've known and played. Yes, I can throw out pop tunes where everyone sings along. But I introduce people to a lot of stuff they've never heard before. And most everyone enjoys it.
The 60s and 70s weren't all billboard charts and vinyl/mylar. There was a cultural upheaval, the label predominance of the 50s fell away, and there were many new directions, a finding of the resonance, the breakout of amplified music. It was a romantic era, the muses were in new territory. Rockabilly was a force that infected the world. The British ran with it in a big way. Then came Nam. Music became power, the uniter. This is the basis of the nostalgia, the culture that existed then.
The songs from that era are tied to personal memories. Most generations hear a song and see faces and places. There isn't that same sort of challenge today. People are no longer looking forward to the possibilities in the same way. Today, people are hoping to find. Some boomers just prefer looking back. Resonance comes easier that way. But not all of us.
I think each generation eventually has generational nostalgia.
My favourite type of music is post-punk new wave from 1979 to 1984. But the funny thing is that I was a baby/toddler during that time. I should be a fan of 90s music since that's when I was a teenager. Not really nostalgia. Not sure what the word is.
Bull's eye
Yep. She'll get there.
Yup
That is a fair and probably very accurate statement.
People of my parents' generation liked a lot of the Top 40 hits of the time I was growing up. I liked a lot of the music from their generation. It's not a generational thing. Today's Top 40 music just sucks. It's robot music. Taylor Swift is the top recording artist by income and I can't think of one song of hers which even grew on me in the past ten years on frequent repeated playing on the radio in my workplace. I hate her songs more now than I did when I first heard them.
I'm the end of the boomers generation, I listen to Rick B...and I love music. This is an excellent video Mary! It wasn't until I travelled outside of Canada in my 20's did I realize how much excellent music was out there and would never be able to access it, so I bought everything I could in my travels. When the internet arrived and the access to music from around the world I was in heaven. So good old days of music?? Sure, and you can say that going as far back to Mozart and his time. But music will always change, always be inventive. Music will still suck and still be masterpieces as ultimately it's always in the ears of the listener. Good riddance to radio hit lists, Rolling Stone and Billboard, goodbye Grammys. I just want to be able to hear all genres and styles of music from artists all over the world.
That is the thing... it never ends. The other day watched the documentary series on Wayne Shorter and thought "Here we go!".
I've been professionally making records since 1988, I could write a book on the differences between how records are made from then and now, and how this has effected both the creative and business side of music. Mary, I've listened to some of your music. What I got is that it's heart felt and genuine. No different to what Joni Mitchell or the Clash were doing in terms of their integrity and commitment to their art. In my humble opinion, as a society we've become great at arguing. Arguing about what's better, worse, cooler, relevant, irrelevant, and everything in between. I say, make your music to the best of your abilities. Make it available to those who will appreciate it, and not worry about what people like Rick think. There will always be those who feel territorial about their bubble, and what makes it better than yours. While everyone is arguing, contemplating, and trying to figure out their path, in general the Major Labels still have the music industry locked-down. They have enough music in their libraries to keep them in business for eons. New music is not their main priority, it's all about the catalog. What you and so many other indie artists are doing, with influence from so much historically amazing music, as well as putting your own spin and view points melodically, lyrically, and technologically, you're re-framing the creative foundation for generations to come. This time in music will quite possibly be looked at as revolutionary.
Every generation has "their" music, first heard between ages 12 to 25 years old, and they will listen to it till they die. It makes you forget about aging, that's all. It's just a fact that will never change. Middle age is another resurgence for a generations music when aging starts to kick in, to relive the teen years etc... always been that way, always will.
That totally makes sense, but I'll add that exploring some of the new music also makes me feel young.
Those in my generation think that the big band era was the end of good music. lol
Some people think Johnny Cash isn't country.
I'm a boomer and frankly the '90s were the better decade for rock.
I grew up as a kid with a father who was a professional musician later had an artistic (soprano) beautiful girlfriend with a beautiful voice. My sister is an artist. I’m a performer in my work as a solicitor. We all love to perform and hear ourselves while we bring joy, give new insights and inspire. There is some narcissism and confidence involved in all of that for sure. But I’ve seen a lot of compassion for other people involved as well. I remember you giving that instrument 🎸 to the street artist. The encouragement of other artists. Artists in general bring color to life and society. And to my opinion thats wonderful. And important.
I'm a Gen X guitar teacher, been at it for over 30 years now. Having started playing in 1980 I was exposed to a lot of Boomer attitude early on. The main difference I observe is that they really wanted to believe their music was the best, regardless of their preferred genre. That was all encompassing, everything from lyrics to musicianship to marketing. When I started teaching in '90 many of the kids were still passionate about music, and at that time crazy about the guitar. There were social benefits to being good. That gradually faded as punk related things took over, and then after the download revolution guitar lessons became another activity on a busy schedule as people's parenting style changed. My observation is that people don't know what they want in great enough concentration to create a mega star like Bowie or Zeppelin, sales bear that out. And so does the diversity of taste among my students, the younger of whom really like their music but don't seem to have the same passion as their forebears. Just like you, Mary, they are multitasking, but in their developmental years and this has been true for about 20 years now. I think this is part of the reason we haven't been collectively shocked by anyone's originality in a while; much of what we're presented with has its roots in things that Boomers invented, and we all know it.
So the music of Apex Twin has it's foundation in 60s and 70s music. Okay.
@@kdcndw1 Definitely. The boomer generation was born as late as 1965, and I didn't say 60s or 70s music, now did I?
"I feel like I'm working this new music business out as I go" - I'd offer a slightly different perspective: you are part of creating this new music business.
I think the crazy thing about today as a-posed to the earlier decades is there is soooo much more recorded music out there now, and it just keeps growing. You could spend the rest of your life listening and not hear the same song twice. Before a handful of acts in a handful of genres were pushed out and supported by record labels and everyone heard the same songs on the radio, and now to quote “Mr. Ted Nugent… “it’s a free-for-all”🎸
Because of technology having a reasonable recording studio is so much more easier now than it has ever been before.
@@Xander1Sheridan very true, I’ve been a recording engineer for 40 years… ouch, the old days in the real studios were the best but it’s great that anyone can now record their tunes in studio quality for cheap.
All true. At the end of the day, its is what you like .There is this human tendency that to express loyalty to one's own, one has to necessarily put down the others in a tribal fashion. I remember my parents slamming the music I liked as a youngster and wanting to get out of the house when my father played his Sinatra albums. But then again top 10 radio included Sinatra, Petula Clark, the Beatles, the Sones, Johnny Cash, James Brown... and so on different genres of music - event orchestral. With that said, when my daughter was in High School, it was she - and her friends- her generation- that brought back the popularity of vinyl and analog music associated with it. It was she, that ended up inspiring me to clean up and get my turntable going again. I eventually bought a new turntable. She came home one day and asked if she can have some of my lps- Hendrix, Louis Armstrong and a few others, because she and her friends were having record parties. Older folks still dedicated to turntables were pretty much on the lower end of the radar. But it was her generation (my daughter was born in the early 90's) that motorized the resurgence of lps, not my own. I think this is a point that is very much under represented. My daughter owns 0 cds and several lps - and streams music. She focuses more on her political differences of my and her mother's generation vs hers- and less on the musical ones. From time to time, she will share with me music that she thinks I might be interested in of her liking (recent), as I buy her lps from Gil Scott Heron to Led Zeppelin. And, I own and listen to some Sinatra, Dean Martin and Nat King Cole (Nat being a fav of my Mom). I listen to them with nostalgia and memories of being a child and the connection I had with my parents chuckling all the way through the record. And this is where we are indeed. But I must admit, when I am attending a physical therapy session, I prefer to have my own music in my ears. When my daughter is driving her car, she has to have hers playing- unless she simply wants to make her old Dad happy.
I think you nailed it with "building a direct connection with your audience is key". Encompassing complex emotions is the art of making music and when that resonates with the listener you've got a connection, a fan. When you connect on another level it's like revealing another facet of a beautiful gem. 😊
Good video Mary, and you came to the right conclusion. Every era has its greats, including this one. And yes the streaming world has some advantages, which I truly appreciate. But one of my fondest memories from the "old days" was a group of friends all sitting in front of the giant loudspeakers in my living room listening to Joni's first album the day it was released. You can't take that away from me ...
I agree totally, Joni, Elton John,.....I felt as though I had discovered them.
@josephbidon4333
"Burn Down the Mission", My Fathers Gun", some of Elton's early best. Also Jackson Browne - Saturate Before Using, so many more....... I still remeber when and where I first heard them. ROGs (random old guys/gals) here in Florida still play that stuff in bars and at open mics.
I sometimes enjoy watching some of the YT vids of people hearing some of that music for the first time and seeing them react. Mostly they have no expectation of what they will hear and are often very surprised that they really liked it.
I learned a long time ago to just relax and enjoy whatever music I hear and find out if there is anything at all I can latch onto, even just a good beat to tap my toes and pass the time with some rhythm. Most music offers far more to the ear than that if you will hear it.
@@josephbidon4333 Exactly!!!
The problem is while there is still good music out there it isn't played on the radio. It doesn't get much air time. All you get is pop songs that sound interchangeable.
Name something released this year, that 40 years from now, that people in their 20's will listen to. Also, autotune should banned.
Well said, I laughed and cringed all through this. Born 1956 and swore I would NEVER say "back in my day", however, there I was ranting to my niece and out it slipped. Mary you just nailed it with this video, yes 60's and 70's had incredibly good music, and of course every generation before mine thought the same way about theirs. We are rightfully put in our place, promise to sift through todays music and not to be so smug about my era....
I miss browsing cd stores for new albums, but I absolutely love Spotify’s ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist. I now have favourite artists from countries that would have never reached me before.
I am a Baby Boomer & worked in the music industry for over 22 years in sales & radio etc and was bought up by musician parents. I totally agree with everything you said. Opportunities are lost today for many musicians for various reasons, but that doesn't mean their music isn't something that should be ignored & it won't get discovered later, or get revamped. I love much of what is being composed/created/produced today. If I don't like something, that is just me, and I have no right to criticize the creativity of that (those) person(s). We all need time to evolve & build our identity. thank you Mary, this was brilliantly said.
Yes...boomers-era music was special for us..and it was beautiful music. So is the other 40-50 years of musical art. You just gotta listen...and your point is a fair commentary. Your newest song is excellent...well-crafted showing continued mastery of writing. Loved the string sound over-dub? Voice is always great. Continued good luck.
Good points made here; I think there are two key takeaways. 1. It's not that all younger musicians are putting out crap these days - the problem is still what's being pushed by those with the most power or influence. 2. Mary mentions some things not being recognized or appreciated until much time has passed.... my brother and I (both early and mid Gen Xers) have a theory we call "the ten years filter". If it was truly good when first released, it will still be good 10 years later. By the same token, sometimes a song or album will get released to lukewarm response, but then will find resurgence 10 or more years later because it was ahead of its time at first.
I love any music that soothes my ear. I love pre boomer jazz, blues & classical. And if you move in musical circles like I do, I can find wonderful post Y2K music. Kasey Musgraves, Martin Sexton’s “Glory Bound” & Jonatha Brook(e)’s “No Better” are some examples.
But, as a graduate of MI/AIM-GIT, I find the 15-20 year span from 1965-1985 undeniably produced the majority of amazing music. The lack of cut/copy/paste and the ease with production enables tin eared “artist” to churn out some pretty crappy stuff! IMHO, not having the ease of software apps forced artist to be extremely creative. Again, JMHO✌️
I'm 68. In college I had a radio show. I've played coffeehouses. I'm a bit of a 60s-70s music collector. But I try to find good artists today to support. I pay buskers, buy their CDs. I search for new discoveries to me like Vienna Teng and Sarah Jarosz. And so I had enough music to make an alumni show at my college's 45 reunion. Music from the 50s to the 2020s. Harry Belafonte to Pentatonix. Good music will endure. The music industry has always been hard on artists, just ask Joni Mitchell or Miley Cyrus. What decade was best? Irrelevant! Listen to and help new artists. They're a mirror on society and I live now, not in the past. One aspect that is different. The 60s saw the birth of high fidelity and FM. The original early Beatles and Beach Boy recordings were in monaural. Recording technology made great leaps from about 1960 to 1975 when it became possible to make a recording indistinguishable from live. And, along with it, component stereos of ever increasing quality. That newness, the excitement of it is in the past.
Musically, we can't help but be - to varying degrees - products of the society and environment we grew up in. Some "classical" music resonates with me, but most does not. Some "boomer" music resonates with me, much of it does not. I still like old Chicago-electric blues - Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, etc. - but I also like Larkin Poe, and I've found "new" music that's not especially blues-rock, but that still resonates, has recognizable melodies, displays instrumental and musical skill, etc. Music has evolved since… well… since whenever the first human made a flute or a stringed-something or taught him/herself about rhythm. At age 79, I have little use for nostalgia.
I am so impressed with your videos. You come across as one who is so professional. Be encouraged!
@MarySpender, I had the good fortune to be born in the last year of Gen X. The 80s was really unique in that the music industry, and the entertainment industry as a whole, was both highly experimental, as well as taking inspiration from the past. The 90s didn't offer opportunities for experimentation the way the 80s did, but some good bands came out of that decade, especially female led rock(Cranberries, Garbage, and Evanescence, for example) at the end of the decade. As an artist, I am always looking for new artists because I think I can learn and take inspiration from other artists. Granted, I am older and will probably never sell out arenas(but hey, anything can happen), but I never was one to really settle into one thing. I think that it's important to experiment as our careers develop, and find new things and put our own spin on ideas.
I agree to you assessment completely. I am a "boomer" and my biggest reference is the music made in the decade I grew up, i.e. the 1970s. But I never stopped being curious and understood very early that I had to go after new good artists, "tame" my algorythms so that I have good suggestions and reliable sources. Since I was very young, I've been very curious about the music made decades before I was born. The 1970s are still my biggest reference but it didn't stop me from enjoying the music of current artists such as Julia Holter, Angel Olson, Stephen Malkmus (not so current), Flavia K., Bala Desejo, Tulipa Ruiz (these three from my country, Brasil), Weyes Blood, St. Vicent, Grizzly Bear, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Dirty Projectors and even Olivia Rodrigo (I've just acquired her first album and I'm enjoying her latest one very much). I've just subscribed to your channel and now you're officially a new source for information and good music. I'm going to listen to your new single. And yes, in the 1970s, I spent my monthly allowance buying just one album. My dad just coundn't understand it. And vinyl records are getting increasingly more expensive again.