Why boomers hate pop!

[Tony L]

Rick Beato is on the case!

Oh noes!

FWIW I don’t actually agree with many of his points. I’m just on the borderline between ‘boomer’ and ‘gen X’; I was a school kid through glam and punk (all boomer music, obviously), but old enough to get to new-wave and synth-wave type gigs at the start of the ‘80s and I started playing that sort of music myself. As such I’m totally at home with drum machines, synths, sequencing etc, in fact one of the first instruments I ever bought was a drum machine (a Boss DR55 that I wish I still had!). I just loved Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Donna Summer, Human League, OMD, Throbbing Gristle, Foetus etc along with some of the early wave of rap such as Grandmaster Flash etc, and whilst I spent much of the ‘80s in the indie scene I jumped ship to techno, IDM etc, which seemed to link-in with a lot of leftfield minimalism and avant garde stuff I also liked. As such I really have no issue with drum machines, repetitive beats, loops etc. They have always been a part of a lot of music I love.

Sure, I don’t like the stuff in the first video much at all, but I don’t like pop music as a whole, e.g. I find the Supremes, Ronnettes, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Freddy & The Dreamers or whatever just as tedious. It just isn’t me. Sure some great music (Hendrix, Bowie, Talking Heads, The Orb, even Dave Brubeck) used to get into the “pop charts” when it was a catch-all for all ‘non-classical’ genres, but it just isn’t anymore and I think Rick misses that all important point. All the stuff that doesn’t sound like the stuff he cites (and is actually quite kind to) exists in its own district ecosystem be it indie, grime, metal, jazz, IDM or wherever. The democratisation of music via the internet has totally changed the marketplace, and for the better IMHO.

 

[kjb]

I've seen a few of his "Best of all time videos" so this comes as no surprise. My son recommended him to me for his videos on music theory.

Pretty much all of his "best ofs" - best guitar solo, best drum riff, best bass line, best acoustic intro - are to my ears dull examples of classic American rock. He'll take "hard rockin'" over a groove every day of the week.

Boston, Kansas and Van Halen feature quite heavily and Zeppelin are regulars although he does also worship the Beatles. Too much of it is stodgy white guitar rock with barely a look in for any black music. I find him an interesting character and an amazing musician but wouldn't want the guy to choose a record collection for me.

For example:

Of course the right answer should have been "Good Times".

His "What Makes this song great" is fascinating, even then the songs aren't always that great.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

 

[Arkless Electronics]

The "Why boomers hate pop" nailed it!! I would have been rather more judgemental (who'd a guessed!?) but he said all the stuff I've been raving about but with rather greater musical theory knowledge than me.

And yes his playing of those mind numbingly obvious and simple chord progressions but on a real guitar and with human expression behind it sounded WAY better than the actual songs.

 

[Marchbanks]

Hasn’t getting up old people’s noses always been one of the primary purposes of pop music?

 

[blossomchris]

Hasn’t getting up old people’s noses always been one of the primary purposes of pop music?

Pop music is pop music, not really getting up peoples noses as such, as it would be banned, can only remember a few that have been.

Pop/chart music was a little more diverse in the past, but only just, the majority was fodder as it is now. There may have been more unusual/inventive music in the charts, albeit a small percentage, but this mainly occured when singles were being purchased by young boomers etc, now old boomers very rarely buy singles.

 

[Marchbanks]

I can’t thinking that - for example - if my parents had liked the Sex Pistols I would have thought something was seriously wrong. And you can draw a line backwards from there via (for starters) the Stones, Elvis, Frank Sinatra... and forwards of course until you get to the Antisocial Justice Worriers.

 

[blossomchris]

I can’t thinking that - for example - if my parents had liked the Sex Pistols I would have thought something was seriously wrong. And you can draw a line backwards from there via (for starters) the Stones, Elvis, Frank Sinatra... and forwards of course until you get to the Antisocial Justice Worriers.

Bizarre, all my friends at the time when punk arrived hated it, I loved it, open to any music at all times in my life, and I hope I continue to do so. I bought John Hasssell, Public Enemy, Kelly Lee Owens and Tricky so far this month

 

[Arkless Electronics]

I'd love to see new music getting up "old" peoples noses but because it's irreverent, challenging, aggressive, anti establishment and is trying to "kick down establishment doors"... not because it is so boring, repetitive, lame, samey and in many cases in fact now seems to flaunt how establishment, clean cut, wealthy, bling bling, shares portfolios etc etc the artists are! Wheres the rebellion? The punk attitude? The mohican hair cuts/safety pins through nose etc?
And yeah yeah there's some stuff "straight outta compton" but not the mainstream.

Back then we wanted to "tune in, turn on and drop out"... now it's "look at my £250K Merc and Jimmy Choo shoes"! It's more Gordon Gecko than Sid Vicious!

FFS with the orange shit gibbon and doris de piffle around there should be protest songs abounding that make The Beats "Stand down Margaret" seem passe! Where's the new "Ghost Town" by The Specials?

Kids today huh!?

 

[Marchbanks]

Bizarre, all my friends at the time when punk arrived hated it, I loved it...

But I’m guessing you weren’t a generation older than the punk musicians?

 

[Tony L]

I can’t thinking that - for example - if my parents had liked the Sex Pistols I would have thought something was seriously wrong.

I remember actually hiding my Sex Pistols singles under the carpet in my bedroom as my Tory parents would have destroyed them if found. I was 14 in ‘77.

I'd love to see new music getting up "old" peoples noses but because it's irreverent, challenging, aggressive, anti establishment and is trying to "kick down establishment doors"... not because it is so boring, repetitive, lame, samey and in many cases in fact now seems to flaunt how establishment, clean cut, wealthy, bling bling, shares portfolios etc etc the artists are! Wheres the rebellion?

It is in rap, it is in grime, it is in jazz, it is in all manner of genres that exist nowhere near bloody Radio 2 or the piped music in Brexitspoons!

You are now basically my parents except you like ancient dad rock rather than classical. They could look through my teenage record collection and recognise absolutely nothing (aside from the aforementioned Sex Pistols whom they’d have read about in the Telegraph). Be more like John Peel. Take the initiative and look around you!

The thing that has changed is most great music is now democratised and artist marketed rather than being a commodity spoon-fed by corporate moguls via major labels. It is independent, underground and refuses to conform to whatever a handful of A&R scouts wish to push. There is a truly amazing music scene at present. I’m personally most interested in the rebirth of jazz, and a lot of that is, as always, hugely political. It remains protest music as it always was, and it is great seeing the age of cutting edge musicians decline each year. So much great jazz coming from folk in their 20s and early 30s again, just as it should be. Great to see it overlapping with other genres such as rap, techno, soul, reggae etc into a wonderfully vibrant new music. I wish it was safe to go out again as there is just so much I’d love to go and see at present.

 

[Marchbanks]

I remember actually hiding my Sex Pistols singles under the carpet in my bedroom as my Tory parents would have destroyed them if found. I was 14 in ‘77.

Ha! I still remember the look of utter disgust on the face of the middle-aged assistant in the record section of our local department store when I asked if they had ‘Anarchy In The UK.’

 

[Arkless Electronics]

I remember actually hiding my Sex Pistols singles under the carpet in my bedroom as my Tory parents would have destroyed them if found. I was 14 in ‘77.



It is in rap, it is in grime, it is in jazz, it is in all manner of genres that exist nowhere near bloody Radio 2 or the piped music in Brexitspoons!

You are now basically my parents except you like ancient dad rock rather than classical. They could look through my teenage record collection and recognise absolutely nothing (aside from the aforementioned Sex Pistols whom they’d have read about in the Telegraph). Be more like John Peel. Take the initiative and look around you!

The thing that has changed is most great music is now democratised and artist marketed rather than being a commodity spoon-fed by corporate moguls via major labels. It is independent, underground and refuses to conform to whatever a handful of A&R scouts wish to push. There is a truly amazing music scene at present. I’m personally most interested in the rebirth of jazz at present, and a lot of that is, as always, hugely political. It remains protest music as it always was, and it is great seeing the age of cutting edge musicians decline each year. So much great jazz coming from folk in their 20s and early 30s again, just as it should be. Great to see it overlapping with other genres such as rap, techno, soul, reggae etc into a wonderfully vibrant new music. I just wish it was safe to go out again as there is just so much I’d like to go and see at present.

You just don't seem to "get it" Tony! So outta touch with us kids that you don't know that they NEVER have any music in spoons for a start
The point is that back then "The queen is a moron!" and "Talking 'bout my generation!" were snarling out of every radio and jukebox. You couldn't avoid it. There was the infamous pistols interview on the telly... and the hilarious one with Annabella Lwin and B A Robertson! The papers were screaming "stop this filth!" etc etc.

What we need is Sleaford Mods in the top 10! Not some "radical jazz" playing in Pizza Express Islington for 20 people

 

[Yank]

I'd love to see new music getting up "old" peoples noses but because it's irreverent, challenging, aggressive, anti establishment and is trying to "kick down establishment doors"... not because it is so boring, repetitive, lame, samey and in many cases in fact now seems to flaunt how establishment, clean cut, wealthy, bling bling, shares portfolios etc etc the artists are! Wheres the rebellion? The punk attitude? The mohican hair cuts/safety pins through nose etc?

You beat me to it. I expect to be outraged by the younger generation, not bored by them. Most "pop" could be Broadway show tunes or theme songs from movies. It's so utterly conventional. There's nothing new about it. It's like Simon Cowell won.

 

[Yank]

But I’m guessing you weren’t a generation older than the punk musicians?

The Punk musicians were in my age cohort. But it seemed that most of the people I knew were into Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan in '76/'77. I loathed yacht rock and thought the punks were a welcome change, the enema that society needed at the time.

 

[Tony L]

What we need is Sleaford Mods in the top 10!

The thing is that they are, as are say Idles, countless highly political rap acts etc etc. They just don’t get counted in the ‘pop chart’ as that is just for mainstream or children’s music these days and is sold via entirely different channels. There is no catch-all chart anymore as it is entirely obscure as so much of the music scene is now democratised and independent.

PS Here’s someone attacking the queen with a tuba and two drummers:

 

[Monitor Gold 10]

I'd love to see new music getting up "old" peoples noses but because it's irreverent, challenging, aggressive, anti establishment and is trying to "kick down establishment doors"... not because it is so boring, repetitive, lame, samey and in many cases in fact now seems to flaunt how establishment, clean cut, wealthy, bling bling, shares portfolios etc etc the artists are! Wheres the rebellion? The punk attitude? The mohican hair cuts/safety pins through nose etc?
And yeah yeah there's some stuff "straight outta compton" but not the mainstream.

Back then we wanted to "tune in, turn on and drop out"... now it's "look at my £250K Merc and Jimmy Choo shoes"! It's more Gordon Gecko than Sid Vicious!

FFS with the orange shit gibbon and doris de piffle around there should be protest songs abounding that make The Beats "Stand down Margaret" seem passe! Where's the new "Ghost Town" by The Specials?

Kids today huh!?

I present to you Sleaford Mods. *Bad language warning*

https://g.co/kgs/UMTPxW

 

[Marchbanks]

The Punk musicians were in my age cohort. But it seemed that most of the people I knew were into Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan in '76/'77. I loathed yacht rock and thought the punks were a welcome change, the enema that society needed at the time.

Ah, I liked the Damned and the Pistols (not all punk, some was utterly dire) as well as Steely Dan. I couldn’t stand (Stevie Nicks-era) Fleetwood Mac though. But that was nothing to do with punk, that was just me.

I admit to generalising here - I haven’t a clue what chart pop music is nowadays. It isn’t aimed at me (a sixty-something) and I see no reason why it should be. I’m also pretty sure I wouldn’t like it, so I don’t seek it out.

 

[Tony L]

Ah, I liked the Damned and the Pistols (not all punk, some was utterly dire) as well as Steely Dan. I couldn’t stand (Stevie Nicks-era) Fleetwood Mac though. But that was nothing to do with punk, that was just me.

I was so young I was still discovering everything at the time, plus I’d already started second hand record buying/trading by that age (I used to save my school dinner money, had a paper round etc). As such what little punk I had (Pistols, Stranglers, Vibrators, Buzzcocks, Devo) sat alongside T. Rex, Slade, prog (Floyd, Yes, Genesis) Krautrock (Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream), plus Hawkwind, Man, Groundhogs etc. I went through a phase a few years after that when so much absolutely amazing new-wave, DIY and synth stuff started happening that I actually sold/traded a lot of the older stuff to be able to buy what was being released. I’ve since replaced most of it as I’ve never really changed my taste. I still like the stuff I did as a teenager, I’ve just added huge amounts of new stuff to it each year across many genres I never even knew existed as a kid/teen.

The thing I’ll never understand is why so many folk just stop wanting to discover the new. I’ve met people who seemed to stop buying music in about mid-1985 and are content with the music of their youth and nothing beyond that. I don’t get that at all! I often get frustrated when I miss new stuff, which I do all the time, e.g. I only find something I love long after all the cool early limited pressings have sold out and are worth LOLprice, but I never want to stop looking both forwards and backwards in time. There is just so much astonishing music to discover both past and present. It is just insane to stop IMO.

 

[John C]

I’m still spluttering with outrage at your casual dismissal of the mighty Supremes as throwaway pop!
The Sex Pistols were just dodgy pub rock with cynical attitude weren’t they?