Old rappers are ready for retirement???

[Notes_Norton]

The first wave of rappers are old enough to live in adult, over 55 year old only communities.

 

That means for the kids, rap is the 'music' of their parents and their grandparents.

 

It's a child's duty to rebel, and music is a safe way to do that. For those who follow it, are there any new trends the youngsters might be listening to that will replace grandma and grandpa's 'music'???

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[KenElevenShadows]

Black metal is always willing to step in to that role.

[Anderton]

Personally, I think the next big thing is going to be Finnish death metal whaling songs.

[KuruPrionz]

EDM has a profound abilty to annoy and cause deafness.

Plus, it isn't about anything, mostly.

 

So, it's perfect.

[Anderton]

That means for the kids, rap is the 'music' of their parents and their grandparents.

 

It's a child's duty to rebel, and music is a safe way to do that. For those who follow it, are there any new trends the youngsters might be listening to that will replace grandma and grandpa's 'music'???

This is what I asked about in my thread on why aren't there any new genres (although several people pointed out there are "splinter" genres).

 

But I think that canard about rebellion may be a thing of the past. I went through a period of time a few years ago where I was spending huge amounts of my life in airports. When

I saw some kid with earbuds, I'd inquire politely what they were listening to, hoping to get turned on to all kinds of new music. The answers were usually "AC/DC," "Led Zeppelin," "Pink Floyd," "The Who," "Van Halen"...you get the idea.

 

So the question is...why? My theory (as you've probably figured out by now, I have a theory for everything) is that music is no longer transitory. Everything recorded since the history of time is available somewhere online. When music was totally transitory, you could identify your level of hipness by embracing only the new - but often, it was a rehash of something from a previous generation, just re-packaged for "the kids." You can't get away with re-hashes any more. There's no need for "the next Springsteen" when you get hear anything he ever did, and if you hadn't heard him before...he's new to you.

 

[Anderton]

Great thread topic, though, Mr. Notes

[David Emm]

The first wave of rappers are old enough to live in adult, over 55 year old only communities.

 

That means for the kids, rap is the 'music' of their parents and their grandparents.

 

It's a child's duty to rebel, and music is a safe way to do that. For those who follow it, are there any new trends the youngsters might be listening to that will replace grandma and grandpa's 'music'???

 

Hard to say; they've been pretty well trained to dance in prescribed lanes. One sure line of demarcation is the point at which even listening to your old favorites at a loud enough volume, much less trying to dance or rap to them, is a ticket to the doctor. If you try to mosh pit dive at 60, no one should have pity for you when the inevitable happens. Besides, rap got co-opted so fast, it was barely known as a protest music before it became mere support for commercials.

 

The ground for new trends has been salted by the lack of variety and the observation Lyle Mays made about people "not buying music anymore." You have to play live quite a bit AND often have moneyed backers before you can even think about paying the rent, much less setting a trend. That demands stylistic homogeneity. Many of our creative old white guy favorites would starve on the first night if they tried to present a 15-to-20-minute piece of music to a current crowd, whose attention spans are often defined by very small data packets.

 

(A friend said people would listen to Yes & co. in the 70s because the weed got better. Hah. As it becomes more available, maybe the style will make a resurgence. Bugger off, stupid hippies, I have to update my mutual funds.)

 

Its not as if all hope is lost, since numerous festivals and "Austin City Limits" roll right on. Groups of any kind who have a prominent vocal component do well. The pleasure of live music and the fascination with the gear aren't going anywhere, at my house or yours. Frank Zappa was once impressed by some young lion who was writing his own orchestral works with a stack of E-mu Proteii. Sometimes its the restless who set the next trends.

 

There's really not much further for synth design to go and still remain recognizably & humanly approachable. Logically, the next trend will hopefully be to focus all of that power more on better melodies & harmonies and less on Alien Squee sounds. Or Roland's V-Accordion sales could take off because some Swedish death metal band ran one through a filter bank that gave the audience 1/10th of an orgasm.

 

OTOH, I play Eno and Roedelius on repeat to keep from screaming at the TV; I get hives from "American Idol" promos; and I'm playing pipe organs & toy pianos from an XKey and the last iteration of the Korg Triton. I saw Larry Fast playing live with NEKTAR. Do I look well-positioned to say jack about new trends? Please. Just leave an old man to his cherished harmonic dissonance. Damn, that was hard. You all owe me $5.

 

[Anderton]

Will reimburse as a drink at a NAMM show. I'm the one with the badge that says "Craig"

[KenElevenShadows]

Personally, I think the next big thing is going to be Finnish death metal whaling songs.

 

I'd give that a listen, just to see what it's like!

 

In all seriousness, I do really love the Scandinavian psychedelic/freak folk sort of music, both from way before as well as now. I know more about the Swedish stuff, and am hardly an expert, but bands like International Harvester,

Älgarnas Trädgård, Dungen, and Pärson Sound are amazing.

 

I don't think most people on this forum will like this stuff, but for everyone else...

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

[Notes_Norton]

<...snip...>

So the question is...why? My theory (as you've probably figured out by now, I have a theory for everything) is that music is no longer transitory. Everything recorded since the history of time is available somewhere online. When music was totally transitory, you could identify your level of hipness by embracing only the new - but often, it was a rehash of something from a previous generation, just re-packaged for "the kids." You can't get away with re-hashes any more. There's no need for "the next Springsteen" when you get hear anything he ever did, and if you hadn't heard him before...he's new to you.

 

That's a good observation.

 

I live in Florida and have been playing at the yacht club, country club, retirement community, and other 50+ venues since the mid 1980s. The work is steadier, the pay is better, and the audiences more appreciative than night club work.

 

When we started it was all about "big band" music - Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw with vocalists like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and so on. If you played even an early Elvis Presley song you would get some complaints.

 

But those people died out, and Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, The Coasters, and the early rockers became the staple of our sets.

 

Little by little the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and other "Invasion Groups" took center stage, Elvis was still OK, but if you played an "American Standard" someone would come up and say something like "You know, Harry James is dead."

 

Now Elvis is passe, Beatles, Eric Clapton, and later songs by the Stones, and others are welcomed. I can still mix in an Elvis now and then, but I'll get more traffic with a Hendrix, Dylan, Janis Joplin or a "soul music" song by Sam And Dave, Otis Redding, or Aretha Franklin.

 

It's about time for Rap to enter the 50+ communities. If that happens, I guess I'll go to nursing homes - I just can't talk that fast and remember that many words

 

I hope you are right Craig. One of my agents put me in a couple of nursing homes. The work is easy, pay OK, but it's bittersweet. It's nice to see the severely handicapped by age people come alive with the music, but it's sad to see once vibrant humans in their final decline.

 

Notes