Music for All
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Lady Gaga, Madonna, Rihanna and Beyonce, Sabbath and Metallica, Dylan, Blunt and Seger. I’m listening to them right now. All brilliant artists. I went through a phase where Beyonce was played every day, then Rihanna, then Bob Dylan etc, etc, etc. Right now I play Gaga’s music to death. This woman is phenomenal – from bopper to mature adult she captures a wide spectrum audience. Like all of the above she won’t be forgotten a long time after her voice fades. What makes Lady Gaga sensational though? She may be a slight (ummmm) copycat of Madonna – my own feeling is that Madonna had the right package at the right time, she is a brilliant dancer, contrary to popular belief I do think she can act and more importantly when I was in my early twenties I had a crush on Madonna. Now in my early fifties I have a crush on Gaga. Senility? You bet. But this girl can sing. She is outrageous, funny, very human and I bet you is possibly the best selling female artist right now. I wouldn’t know though. Being only human myself I am interested in stats and often do research to find out just whom the most popular, best selling, wealthiest artists are. Is it really Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Jackson, Queen, Pink Floyd, ABBA, etc, ect, etc. I look at it pretty much like anyone else. The mood you’re in, the year and possible political change, like any change, the situation you are in, teen love, adult love, girl leaves boy, boy leaves girl, marriage, birth, divorce, death – all these things play a role. When I read articles based on the whom is better, whom is more popular and whom is wealthier often these articles contradict each other and yes, we forget that one person’s favourite is not going to be the next person’s favourite. However one thing is clear. Look at the top hundred of person A and you”ll find some of the favorites will be listed in person B’s. I find it sad that often the Moody Blues is not listed in the top twenty. They always make my top ten. I make a list today and next Saturday I will find them again in my top ten although Nights in White Satin may have moved from number two slot to number nine. When I was in my late teens Sabbath were my favourite group. Deep Purple and Grand Funk were right there as well but Sabbath were always my favourite. Who remembers Golden Earring? Mega storm. Still around, if my memory serves me right they are one of the oldest surviving rock groups. Let’s not forget the Scorpions. Now where do the sit on my list? I’m listening to Eight Miles High right now. Golden Earring, not The Byrds. Mr Tamborine Man was a Byrds song I’ll never forget but in my early twenties we loved rock – Earring was my group.
I have always been fascinated by electronic stuff so I built a sound system, which in those years was fairly powerful, set up a disco and started playing music to death. Anyone that runs a club or mobile sound knows what I am talking about. The guy that made me the most money – without a doubt was Michael Jackson, Thriller was out in 1983 and believe me there was not a clubber that dd not ask to have all his songs played. There were some very anti Jackson people out there but then again in those days Maryjane was a plentiful and your taste would have been around Floyd. But no, you don’t play Shine on You Crazy Diamond when everyone wants to hear Jackson. Earring you could play Radar Love but not Eight Miles High. I could play most Nazareth songs but not Pink Floyd. They were in a different league. We used to party in the bush Saturday nights after the social scene died out – and out came Floyd. Every time. The more weed the more the Floyd. And don’t forget Dylan. Bob was in fact before our time – sad part was we all thought we understood, but we didn’t. I didn’t go to the Vietnam War – lot’s of music in my home country was misunderstood because we weren’t in America. Lots smoked the peace pipe. Did I say Peace Train – Cat Stevens, Yusaf Islam. Phenomenal musician at the time – note the style of music in the ’70’s, Peter Sarstedt, Gordon Lightfoot. What do we have now – what is our liberation music about right now? Remember as a teen or in your early twenties we all plan to leave a footprint. We didn’t – the musicians did. Anyone heard of George Harrison, one of my all time greats. If you think Lennon and McCartney were the only Beatle song writers you’re wrong. Harrison wrote some of his best music after the Beatles disbandoned. Paul McCartney and Wings were another sensation – Band on the Run.
This article is a bit disjointed like a lot of our msic today – when listening to music there should always be a connection. Sad songs, happy songs, exciting songs and sexy songs. We seem to be losing something. I find Irish groups possibly the most interesting – steeped in history and plenty of passion. U2 springs to mind.
My favourite groups:
- Nickleback
- Sabbath
- Led Zeppelin
- REM
- Golden Earring
- Scorpions
- Juluka
- Moody Blues
- Queen
- Pink Floyd
- Dire Straits
- Bon Jovi
- Deep Purple
- Grand Funk
- Live
Best solo artists (male and female)
- Blunt
- Rihanna
- Dion
- Beyonce
- Houston
- Gaga
- Madonna
- Twain
- Bryan Adams
- Elvis Blue
- Elvis Presley
- Elton John
- Clapton
- Hendrix
Tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow will be Kings of Leon, 30 Seconds to Mars, David Bowie. Moods come and go, like where I want to place my favourites. But the groups and solo artists I listed above will always be somewhere in the top.
Do me a favour and drop me a line sometime, maybe we can swap notes.
Ciao and Adious amigos
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Dear editor
Quite some striking names you have mentioned in your lists..
Well…some of them happen to be in my A-list as well …
My first encounter with popmusic was in my teens, listening to the Beach Boys….boy did I play that 78 rpm record to death…:)
Really was obsessed with them, and then the ears broadened and started turning towards the other groups. Think the friends you have in your youth also play a major role in one’s music-choice.
A lot of music has passed the revue since then….heartbreaking chansons from dark-haired French men, Mud, Abba and Smokey , Chicago! Redbone comes to mind! What ever happened to them??
But they were so present in my teens…..
In the late seventies, I got acquainted with more music, and that has stayed ever since… Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, Dire Straits, Bread, Bob Marley, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sting, UB 40, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, 10 CC, The Eagles , Air Supply, impossible to name them all… but still my favourites till this day…
Think once you like a specific music-style in your adolescence, in the years afterwards you will show the same preference…
A persons music taste clearly gets visible in mature life.
Fascination for artists can come and go, but apparently people are falling back on some basic preferences, for style and music. These seem to be firmly rooted in their personality.
I don’t look at preferences of music-consumers, but emphatically study the musicians themselves as well.
Guess it’s more or less the person related factors that make them successful or just prevent them from being that. Lets not forget the cultural input.
And yeah..people perceive, experience and handle music always differently and of course the effects are never similar.
Some like it hot,some get fascinated by performance, expression or music-translation from an artist. Maybe the timbre, the harmony or tempo, or maybe just the noise of it…or the good bass line.
For me I am attracted to the way music moves me…whether classical or pop.
The French chanson-singer is now trashed for the Italian singer Alessandro Saffini…:)
And Celtic music seems to have put a spell on me lately…
Happy tunes!
Hi Moonbeam, (what a lovely name)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts – music is and will always be with us, no matter how outrageous an individual or group. I find it comical that so many teens or young adults today rave about music from the 80’s yet I found a lot of it commercial junk. (then). Let’s see, case in point – the radio station plays Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” yet this song was played to death in 1985. What about “Sultans of Swing”, “Down to the Waterline”, “Brothers in Arms”? I don’t know if you have watched the Live Aid concert – it’s a four disk pack and features some of the top artists of the 70’s and 80’s. Even Madonna, playing her first hit “Holiday”. What was amazing though is that this show was televised around the globe via satellite – possibly the very first of it’s kind. Yes, it shows, compared to modern technology – but it also shows how advanced we were even in those early years. Now that is what I call music – not the commercial feast of the ’80s which we get bombarded with nowadays.
Thanks for your reply – appreciate the comments.
Ian
Dear Editor
Much obliged for your respond.
Well..who could have missed that Live Aid concert…
Agree there with you…the purity of the popmusic seems to have faded,some of it has been hoisted in a new jacket (yak)and 99,9% of nowadays popmusic is commercialized. No need telling you this I reckon.
Artists do to many trendwatching nowadays, looking at what is selling the most and always aiming for the most large public.Instead of making music they really like themselves and taking the money as a bonus.
I’m sure though, not all today’s music can be thrown on a yunkyard.
But hey..maybe I am from another generation…or maybe during your life you learn to sort out the good music from the bad music.
Or has it all to do with nostalgia? Immortal music stays. Recognitions is something that touches you.
I’m not a specialist but it is sad to see that music-industry today has been badgered by digital robbery . Downloading music seems to be the future (Itunes).
Seems that music-industry has chosen for a marriage of convenience with the world of music by mouse-click.
Cheers
Moonbeam
Dear Editor
Much obliged for your respond.
Well..who could have missed that Live Aid concert…
Agree there with you…the purity of the popmusic seems to have faded,some of it has been hoisted in a new jacket (yak)and 99,9% of nowadays popmusic is commercialized. No need telling you this I reckon.
Artists do to many trendwatching nowadays, looking at what is selling the most and always aiming for the most large public.Instead of making music they really like themselves and taking the money as a bonus.
I’m sure though, not all today’s music can be thrown on a yunkyard.
But hey..maybe I am from another generation…or maybe during your life you learn to sort out the good music from the bad music.
Or has it all to do with nostalgia? Immortal music stays. Recognitions is something that touches you.
I’m not a specialist but it is sad to see that music-industry today has been badgered by digital robbery . Downloading music seems to be the future (Itunes).
Seems that music-industry has chosen for a marriage of convenience with the world of music by mouse-click.
Cheers
Moonbeam
Yonks! I have the Live Aid DVD set. It’s phenomenal. Neil Young is still one of my all time favourites – what about Bette Midler as hostess. Pity she didn’t whack out a couple of songs of her own. Tom Petty, another great one. BTW – that was music and those were the days. I think a lot of our modern music is based on those old timer’s hits but we have some phenomenal artists these days as well. Coldplay, Linkin’Park, Black Eyed Peas – hang on, while we are about it where are Fleetwood Mac and Journey? I’m a New Yorker and the live music line-up is and will always be outstanding. Groups that we don’t hear of. Groups that the rest of the world may never hear. Talking about Brit and USA groups what about the European group Shocking Blue, I think they were Dutch. Germans Rammstein may not be everyone’s cup of tea but they are unbelieveable on stage. You mention Juluka, I thought they were French. Did some research, yes, a South African band. Just Junger is very popular here – there seems to be some hidden talent down south. Moonbeam, you played 78′s. Those must have been the hit singles. I don’t recall them. Yes, music tastes do become more ‘visible’ as one hits your late thirties but one should not hide behind certain music which other people scoff at. Ridicule Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow if you want – but go to their shows. I had a girlfriend years back from France – went their and listened to a group called ‘Leaf’, Dutch pop sensation – their music is outdated now but was very much in vogue at the time. I heard Juluka there for the first time but not live.
Long live the old rockers. You know of course that Aerosmith is one of the biggest selling bands of all time.
Enjoy!
Adieus Amigo
Barry
Yonks! I have the Live Aid DVD set. It’s phenomenal. Neil Young is still one of my all time favourites – what about Bette Midler as hostess. Pity she didn’t whack out a couple of songs of her own. Tom Petty, another great one. BTW – that was music and those were the days. I think a lot of our modern music is based on those old timer’s hits but we have some phenomenal artists these days as well. Coldplay, Linkin’Park, Black Eyed Peas – hang on, while we are about it where are Fleetwood Mac and Journey? I’m a New Yorker and the live music line-up is and will always be outstanding. Groups that we don’t hear of. Groups that the rest of the world may never hear. Talking about Brit and USA groups what about the European group Shocking Blue, I think they were Dutch. Germans Rammstein may not be everyone’s cup of tea but they are unbelieveable on stage. You mention Juluka, I thought they were French. Did some research, yes, a South African band. Just Junger is very popular here – there seems to be some hidden talent down south. Moonbeam, you played 78′s. Those must have been the hit singles. I don’t recall them. Yes, music tastes do become more ‘visible’ as one hits your late thirties but one should not hide behind certain music which other people scoff at. Ridicule Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow if you want – but go to their shows. I had a girlfriend years back from France – went their and listened to a group called ‘Leaf’, Dutch pop sensation – their music is outdated now but was very much in vogue at the time. I heard Juluka there for the first time but not live.
Long live the old rockers. You know of course that Aerosmith is one of the biggest selling bands of all time.
Enjoy!
Adieus Amigo
Barry
what about Yes, Genesis, ZZ Top, Jefferson, Santana, Van Halen, Oasis, Boston, Midnight Oil, you miss The Eagles, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Cream, Stones, Talking Heads, Madness, Pink Floyd, Sting,. The Police, The Animals, The Kinks, radiohead, Zappa, The Cure, Judas priest – I can go on for hours. Yea, I know this about Live Aid, but this Music for All. I am part of the All, right?
Throw in some europop. Throw in some country. Then we have a mix.
Go to http://www.rollingstone.com/
what about Yes, Genesis, ZZ Top, Jefferson, Santana, Van Halen, Oasis, Boston, Midnight Oil, you miss The Eagles, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Cream, Stones, Talking Heads, Madness, Pink Floyd, Sting,. The Police, The Animals, The Kinks, radiohead, Zappa, The Cure, Judas priest – I can go on for hours. Yea, I know this about Live Aid, but this Music for All. I am part of the All, right?
Throw in some europop. Throw in some country. Then we have a mix.
Go to http://www.rollingstone.com/
Yo Barry, haven’t you got a brother called Peter? 🙂
Gee…all of a sudden the names of great groups pop up…
How could I forget Van Halen!! Think two Dutch brothers were founder of that famous rockband in the USA.
The Eagles,(did not miss them..) The Police, Eurythmics, Midnight Oil, awesome bands!
And Boston! More then a feeling…. one of my all(old) time favourites…
And Dean thanks for the link…shall check it out.
So much more I need to explore…:))
Moonbeam
Yo Barry, haven’t you got a brother called Peter? 🙂
Gee…all of a sudden the names of great groups pop up…
How could I forget Van Halen!! Think two Dutch brothers were founder of that famous rockband in the USA.
The Eagles,(did not miss them..) The Police, Eurythmics, Midnight Oil, awesome bands!
And Boston! More then a feeling…. one of my all(old) time favourites…
And Dean thanks for the link…shall check it out.
So much more I need to explore…:))
Moonbeam