rock music vs. automatic music
Hello all, I have heard some unkind words here and on other groups (such as MMD) said about certain modern musical genres, particularly rock music. One such thing I have heard several times over is that the quality of the music today has gone down significantly. With so many musicians (artists) out there today, I wonder how they can even begin to make such a generalization when all they've probably heard is just the typical top 40 (or whatever) radio. I've learned that a lot of collectors, especially the older ones, tend to be somewhat set in their ways and don't feel like listening to anything new, especially anything in a different musical genre than they're used to. I suppose this is true of many people (not just collectors), in and outside of the hobby. Also, a lot of collectors (most?) are not musicians, and some could not probably carry a tune if they tried (which explains the out-of-tune organs you hear sometimes!). Thus they are not, maybe, the best judges of what is quality music, only what they like to listen to (again, this can be said of the general non-musical public as well). As a musician, I thought I'd let you know there are some (in my opinion) really excellent groups out there today, which I suppose I can arbitrarily divide into two camps: 1. Some of them write songs and things that are not terribly melodic and are probably almost impossible to adapt to any regular automatic instrument. Their musical merits I consider based more on their performance and arrangement of the tune than the tune itself. Oftentimes, a good band can really "put across" a tune that would sound horrible played by any other combination of instruments, or even any other performers.HERE>
This is why there are these modern-day "tribute bands" that try to re-create the whole rock performance, costumes, posturing, timbre, instrumentation etc. rather than being more creative with sort of a jazz or classical mindset as to how to re-arrange the tune to make the new version distinctive, but as good as the original.
2. Some of the rest are great bands, but are more songwriting oriented; oftentimes one or two members of the band (sometimes more) will write the songs, and they generally turn out very good by songwriting standards, and should certainly hold up to being played and sung by different people, on different instruments, and in distinctive styles.
This latter category I will concentrate on here, because it's the one that's pertinent to arranging the music for things like fairground organs :)
Rather than waste your time with a lot of blather about how great I think these 3 example bands are, (examples of how good modern-day stuff can be), I'll just give you the names and links to their stuff and maybe stick in a general comments paragraph at the end.
Please, these are all Youtube video links. Just click on them, and listen. You don't even have to look at the accompanying video, you can minimize the browser window and/or close your eyes and just listen to the audio. In fact, I recommend this, since the videos generally just distract people from listening to the song, and can especially slant your view of it one way or another.
I put forth these examples as terrific modern-day rock songwriting:
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Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0hTJF7xqV0
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The Shins - Phantom Limb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkITsv3Nk6M
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Nightmare of You - I Want to be Buried in Your Backyard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1HctfS-H0M
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I know the lyrics will tend to prejudice people for or against some of these songs, so just try to mentally strip off the lyrics and just listen to the melody and harmony (I know this isn't easy for a lot of people).
P.S. I know there will be inevitable comparisons to examples of "classic" songwriting from broadway, the music hall, tin pan alley, "great american songbook" etc. etc.. Just keep in mind that this is a different genre of songwriting and has a somewhat different musical language.
P.P.S. you don't have to LIKE this... just appreciate it.
Hello all, I have heard some unkind words here and on other groups (such as MMD) said about certain modern musical genres, particularly rock music. One such thing I have heard several times over is that the quality of the music today has gone down significantly. With so many musicians (artists) out there today, I wonder how they can even begin to make such a generalization when all they've probably heard is just the typical top 40 (or whatever) radio. I've learned that a lot of collectors, especially the older ones, tend to be somewhat set in their ways and don't feel like listening to anything new, especially anything in a different musical genre than they're used to. I suppose this is true of many people (not just collectors), in and outside of the hobby. Also, a lot of collectors (most?) are not musicians, and some could not probably carry a tune if they tried (which explains the out-of-tune organs you hear sometimes!). Thus they are not, maybe, the best judges of what is quality music, only what they like to listen to (again, this can be said of the general non-musical public as well). As a musician, I thought I'd let you know there are some (in my opinion) really excellent groups out there today, which I suppose I can arbitrarily divide into two camps: 1. Some of them write songs and things that are not terribly melodic and are probably almost impossible to adapt to any regular automatic instrument. Their musical merits I consider based more on their performance and arrangement of the tune than the tune itself. Oftentimes, a good band can really "put across" a tune that would sound horrible played by any other combination of instruments, or even any other performers.