[Loki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'A')s everything become controlled by a few companies, the spark dies. Newspapers, radio, album sales, publishers, magazines - as each form of media attracts big corporate money, they suck the life out of it and industry profits decline.

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')'m not old, your music sucks!

[Wootan]

I can't believe so many are coming out of the closet and admitting, even boasting of beeing

...

OLD.

[SeaGypsy]

That might have something to do with the demographic being centered around 50ish. If you are under 40, you are a spring chicken around here.

[Keith_McClary]

Pop music has become louder, less original
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '&')quot;We have been able to show how the global loudness level of music recordings has consistently increased over the years," study author Joan Serra of the Spanish National Research Council said in an email exchange.
Similarly, the team found the diversity of chords and melodies has "consistently diminished in the last 50 years".
"This yields a clear recipe for contemporising old songs: using more common chord changes, changing the song's instrumentation, and record it louder," said Serra.

[SeaGypsy]

Many of these Madonna imitators can't sing; they are dependent on technology to correct their voices, just like she and LG are. These people are clever arts business personalities, not real musicians.

[ralfy]

I think Western or Westernized pop music is structurally homogeneous, i.e., three or four chords or so, major scales, three to four minutes in length, 15-or-so bars of music, regular beat, banal lyrics, and a range that does not require extensive training in voice or playing musical instruments. But that doesn't make it out-of-place, as it mirrors much of folk music in many countries, and the reason for the structure is probably neurobiological, i.e., the human mind can quickly follow tunes that are not very complex and that can be learned easily. It is for that reason that pop music is so popular. Thus, it's probably not just 20 years of recorded pop music that's relatively the same but around 80 years of such, from the first time that Frank Sinatra wowed the first teeny boppers to the latest ones enjoying One Direction. Of course, several performers cannot sing very well, and likely because the medium now involves the visual as well.

How not to be bored by such? I suppose one should go backwards, to pop music before all that, including recorded folk music (such as Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and others), and then from there to even earlier music, such as those from nineteenth-century America. From there, move geographically, to Russian folk music, the chamame, performances by the mighty Oum Kaltoum, and others that are found online, in recordings sold by Naxos and UNESCO, etc. After that, consider Western and Eastern classical as well as ancient music, which may provide not just aesthetic pleasure but even enlightenment.

The same goes for television. Barney Miller is also one of my favorites, together with MASH and All in the Family. But there are even more that some have not heard of, such as The Prisoner from 1967, Decalogue, a teleseries of Master and Margarita, and Berlin Alexanderplatz.

And the same for movies; books like Kristin Thompson's Film History are very helpful, together with even textbooks like Kamien's Music: An Appreciation, old Penguin guides to classical and jazz music, and so on.

Finally, several of these works and references might even be available in public libraries or for sale at very low prices. One time, for example, I bought hundreds of brand-new classical music CDs (many of them highly recommended) at a fraction of the price. What happened was that they were being returned to the distributor because no one was buying them. And even during the sales, there were only a handful of us looking at the classical music, jazz, and world music bins while most were fighting over the pop music collections.

[SeaGypsy]

I totally agree. I am living near a place full of migrants from all over the world, the music and language and foods and fashions are amazing, far far more interesting than homogenised western culture.

[ralfy]

For those with reasonable amounts of cash to spare, the fastest way to collect works from different cultures and periods may include the ff.

For music:

Naxos (cheap, well-organized catalog with awards listed, too, and flexible options, including digital copies and on-line listening)

Other labels have more specialized fare, but may be more expensive. Some may have budget lines or promos (two-for-one, box sets at 75 pct off, 40 pct off or so for anniversary sales).

Some organizations offer digital downloads and even the ability to view musical performances online for free or for reasonable rates.

For film:

Kino, and for more expensive titles, Criterion, plus several you may find in bargain bins from mainstream labels. (Some lucky ones may even have access to rental delivery or digital services, etc.)

Books:

Penguin and others have far-reaching collections, and for hardcovers there's Modern Library, Everyman, etc. For the fastest way to collect a large number of works, there's the Great Books of the Western World plus various anthologies from Norton and other publishers. E-books (free and otherwise) may also be available for various works.

Art:

Probably Dover Publications, but Taschen sometimes has 50-pct discounts and anniversary sales.

If you have less cash, check out the bargain bins in various stores, as well as any sales from distributors. The best works can be had for a fraction of the price, and often because most don't want them. There are also used copies sold online but some might be more expensive. There are also garage sales, flea markets, library sales, etc. This is how I get most works.

Still not enough funds? If you can access a fairly equipped public library, foreign cultural center, university library, or similar, then you can borrow many works from different media for free or at very low rates. And there may also be events that you can attend at low prices or for free, such as film exhibitions sponsored by embassies, local drama, music, reading groups, societies, etc.

Finally, if you have just enough funds for maintaining broadband access and one or more devices, then your geographical location might not be a problem as there are many ways to access various works online. There are also online classes, meet-up sites, groups, and others to consider.

[Rod_Cloutier]

No, I think culture is controlled. We are progressively living in more and more of an Orwellian society; where were told what to like, what to think, and what to feel.

My teenage daughter is hooked on the boy band 'One direction'. I can't stand even looking at them. Some people are comparing them to the Beatles with all the millions of screaming girls following them around and so forth. But they don't even play their own instruments!

They just sing and dance to choregraphed songs. (sometimes a live band plays far off in the background). I showed my 14 year old daughter a beatles performance on youtube with the screaming fans, it was totally different. They made their own music, the music and lyrics are far superior anything out there today. And the fans were justified to be thrilled to a performance.

Saying that, the Beatles broke up the year I was born (1970), and I still will listen to them and marvel today. No one will have any memory of 'One direction' in forty years from now!

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'H')ear hear Rory, sign of a bad case of ageing hippy with no connection to living youth culture. I'm pushing 50, in awe of the legends, but can find brilliance in some of what is fresh every year, even in 'mainstream pop' which often starts off with raw talent.

[Sixstrings]

Another thing about music..

What it boils down to is that American music had a cultural golden age, it was an evolution from African American tribal music then slave songs to gospel, then blues then jazz fused with folk and country which gave birth to rock and it's just all run its course and that's how it is.

This is an area where immigration is good. More mixing. That's the only way to get new stuff.

I saw something on PBS last night.. some Cuban singer, "Paz" something I was half asleep can't remember his name. His music is a fusion of Cuban and French influences, but to my ears it sounds totally Cuban. I don't even speak any Spanish, but there's something about Cuban music it really touches a place nothing else does.

Times change, maybe we just need to change with them.. maybe we have to look beyond America, and broaden our horizons. Maybe we had our golden age and that's that, the world has been awash in American / anglo culture for long enough and now it's time for new things.

[vision-master]

Get one of those home theater computers and hook it up to yer big screen, shit-can the air waves and cable TV.

Get yerself one of those programs like youtubedownloader and start yer collection...

Here's one master I found out on the net...... ->Jean Michel Jarre: ''Water For Life'' Concert (Desert Merzouga, Morocco) 16/12/2006|HD|

Right now I'm set up with two computers connected togather with 2.5 T of hard drive space.

[SeaGypsy]

The old farts have their heads up their bums in disgust, writing off the entire generation based on an impression from teeny pop (One Standing Erection/ Unlady Gag et al) which was ALWAYS about belonging to a group (Der/ how dumb are you guys???)

(One Old fart excluded Vis )

The Master Controllers don't give a rats what music you are listening to, they prefer you listen to any then follow Wikileaks or notice that new camera array being installed down main street in your town (another der/ head slap).

Unfortunately, most people form narrow neural pathways and lose the ability to form new ones in their teens. That is a scientific fact. So I suggest trying anyway. Drugs can help.

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')What it boils down to is that American music had a cultural golden age, it was an evolution from African American tribal music then slave songs to gospel, then blues then jazz fused with folk and country which gave birth to rock and it's just all run its course and that's how it is.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'T')o elaborate American musical culture without mentioning Hebrew influence is disingenuous. The piano and string, vocal melody developments integral to the best of American music come from very old European Jewry. This can't be summed up as 'Jazz'; without disservice to this very significant input. Just sayin'

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')acism, Control, and Rock and Roll

The story of rock and roll has been told in many books, among which are You Say You Want a Revolution by Robert G. Pielke and The Story of Rock by Carl Belz. From the very beginning, it was the music of the young, and was hated and reviled by the old. Why? Not simply because the music itself was distasteful to adults. The animosity against rock and roll went much deeper than that. Rock and roll shook the foundations of values and beliefs held dear by grown-ups in the 1950s.

One of the most important social teachings during that time was that blacks were inferior to whites and, therefore, that it was unacceptable for whites to associate with blacks. The best example of this was found in government schools. With segregation, and the battle against integration, in government schools, American teenagers were taught by their parents and government officials that it was socially detestable for whites to be with blacks.

Along came rock and roll and turned that teaching upside down. While rock and roll had its roots in various strands of American music, i.e., country/western and gospel, its biggest foundation was rhythm and blues or "race music" as it was known in the 1950s. While whites were enjoying the sweet, innocent sounds of the Big Bands, rhythm and blues, with its especially strong sexual overtones, predominated among blacks.

It was natural for white parents to expect their children to pursue their same musical interests. But it was not to be. When Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" was played in the 1955 movie The Blackboard Jungle, a story of student protest in a government school, rock and roll became the music of choice for American teenagers.

While parents were resisting their children's growing love for rock and roll, teenagers were listening to it on the radio late at night (after their parents had gone to bed). Many well-established radio stations refused to play the new music, but teenagers would carefully search the radio band for the few that did. (My favorite was an Oklahoma City station more than 500 miles from my home.)

And along came Sam Phillips, the entrepreneur par excellence, who shook the world by looking for a white man who sang like a black man. One day the invisible hand of the market brought into his studio the man who would become the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.
http://www.fff.org/freedom/1090a.asp

[SeaGypsy]

It's ALL of these influences; IMO.

[ralfy]

Try Putomayo and other labels to listen to new music from other parts of the world. And once you feel even more adventurous, go backwards. More labels include Folkways, those connected to the UNESCO Collection, and others listed here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_music

There are also radio shows (online as well), festivals, and more.

Finally, there are many that will come up with impressive combinations of elements from various genres and instruments. Here's a contemporary example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jRGcACdKMM

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'I')t's ALL of these influences; IMO.