Skip_dup1 Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 sorry for the bad pun on the Aerosmith song... But what do you do? you write a great song, catchy melody, relavent topic, snappy chorus, or title that captures a moment perfectly-and it sits...and sits...maybe you get to play it live a few times, but by the time you can really do anything constructive with it, it`s...well, dated. What do you do? rewrite it? play it anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLsound Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 Good topic! If you are pleased with the song leave it alone. If it seems dated, wait a few more years than play it again. Chances are it might sound more relevant to you then. Personally, I think that music communicates a particular feeling or emotion at any particular time for a listener, and can not be dated. However, commercially it could be. Still, I believe that if someone likes your song, it won't be dated to him/her. I am always going back and listening to songs or music that right now wouldn't be commercially viable or perhaps dated, but that particular music makes me feel something. Jim http://www.artistlaunch.com/artist4.asp?artistid=3633 http://www.myspace.com/jlockmusic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fender Bender_dup1 Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 A great riff is a great riff IMO My only concern about time passing 'as a writer' is that some other git comes up with something similar.. For instancce I had the idea to rock up Cameo's Word Up ..long before Gun recorded it..then what d'yi know.. Classic Rock is big businees now so does age matter?..As the poem says ....age will not weary them ... Give me a break! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip_dup1 Posted March 6, 2003 Author Share Posted March 6, 2003 well, that goes to one of the big problems in not having a big-money machine bankrolling your material. Bruce Springsteen writes a song about 9/11 and blam-it`s on a record somewhere in a few months. So yeah, I`m thinking at least partly in commercial terms. I mean, in the silly psuedo-ethos of marketing, the worst thing is to seem behind the times, unless it`s an updated take on something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fender Bender_dup1 Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 Anything that comes from the heart will never be 'behind the times'..IMO ..because it comes from a pure source ...yourself. While anything contrived or derivative will be... the bands that ripped off Zep in the 70's , Van Halen in the 80's & Nirvana in the 90's ..are mostly forgotten ..but the original artists remain in the collective memory I've heard Springsteens 'Rising' , its got a great pulsing bass and builds nicely... Havent bought it myself I must add. Give me a break! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshy Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 I try to avoid sounding dated by proding "timelss" recordings: not too much verb, skip the latest fads (e.g. autotune), use real drums, etc. Some examples would be the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, (maybe) Matchbox 20, Dave Mathews, etc. That way, your tune can stand the test of time. Learned this the hard way of cours--by sounding too dated a few years later "Pray for the dead . . . but fight like hell for the living." Mother Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fender Bender_dup1 Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 Roots music is where its at e.g Steve Earle , Black Crowes , blues. So much derivative stuff going on e.g Audioslave = Creed Drop D? is that the same as drop dead ? Give me a break! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolipsismX Posted March 8, 2003 Share Posted March 8, 2003 ::I try to avoid sounding dated by proding "timelss" recordings: not too much verb, skip the latest fads (e.g. autotune), use real drums, etc. Some examples would be the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, (maybe) Matchbox 20, Dave Mathews, etc. That way, your tune can stand the test of time. Learned this the hard way of cours--by sounding too dated a few years later :: I agree with this a little, and disagree with it a little. There are some things in music now that are obviously fads. Orchestral hits in dance music like britney spears is one and the pseudo break beats in hip hop are another. But I wouldn't recommend just sticking to what works simply because acts like The Beatles were fresh in their day This is because bands sticking to that sonic setup nowadays can seem tired. Most of the respected artists today are trying to do some stuff that sounds new, or explores areas in music that have only been touched on. If anything, I'd just stick to what sounds good, but not stick to traditional rules. Some new things we hear in music are simply fads, but some newer ideas may stick around because they sound good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Walsh Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 People seem to be talking about two different things here: 1) The underlying song 2) The production It seems to me that a good song is a good song. How many permutations of a basic blues progression have been squeezed through the mold of umpteen million different bands and still come out sounding fresh? Tons. If the song is good maybe you could freshen it up by exploring different production styles for it, different angles or instrumentation. Fads, fads, fads... fads this and that... the way I see it, NOT DOING something because every one else is doing it is exactly the same thing as DOING something because of everyone else. That being said, if all else fails just re-work it into a mid-tempo country pop song about love and it'll sell like hotcakes. Support bacteria: they're the only culture some people have. - Steven Wright visit my website at patrickwalsh.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fender Bender_dup1 Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 or better still slow it up to a tear jerking ballad and cash in on the military out in Iraq Give me a break! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SongCritic.com Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 I mostly agree with "peugotpigeon". I don't believe a song in itself can be "dated". The production is a different matter. I really hate it when people simply use the buzzword "dated" to describe a tune. As we all know, most styles and techniques come back full circle at one time or another. I guess you just need to keep tweaking some parts to keep up with the times. I agree that you want to keep your song as "real" as possible (ex: real drummer, guitar parts, piano, etc.). I think the songs that get "dated" the most are the looped, appregiated, groovebox driven tunes. If you went back and listened to some of the 80's tunes, would they not be good tunes today, if re-recorded? I think some would still stand up. IMO. http://www.SongCritic.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshy Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 Most would! The 80s had great music, but bad fashion "Pray for the dead . . . but fight like hell for the living." Mother Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip_dup1 Posted March 17, 2003 Author Share Posted March 17, 2003 SongCritic- A quote from Dave Mustaine may illustrate the problem with songs, though others have said the same thing: `If you write about topics it`s dated. If you write about emotions it`s timeless.` Unfortunately, songs themselves can become dated. in fact, what prompted me to start this topic is a song of mine, which I recorded some time ago in a small studio. It`s a good song, it really deserves to be redone in a better environment, but there is, literally, one word in the title that I can`t seem to find a replacement for, that instantly says-screams, actually-`80s`. It shouldn`t matter but I sing it to myself and suddenly I`m back flipping burgers at Arby`s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revolead Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Songwriting is a hard process, but a great song will never become dated or overplayed. The goal is to come up with something unique. My favorite bands are ones that stand out from the rest. Too many band now days sound like the other guy so nobody notices them, well musicians anyway. Look at your favorite songs and question them to death. Figure out what it is that makes them so appealing and use that as your approach. The goal in my band is to revive solos and the art behind music, nonetheless create songs that will have the audience singing by the last chorus. I like lyrics I can relate to, yet the song has to show some catchiness or talent. If a song seems dead or like a clone I won't listen to it. Pick a goal for your song, and achieve it. A great song doesn't have to appeal to everyone or any particular group of people, it has to appease you. Shut up and play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylver Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 Don't think of it as dated. Think of it as a snapshot in time. The same thing goes for the rest of the arts. Artisic works are a reflection of the time, so how can any archive be a bad thing? I really don't know what to put here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric VB Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Paddles! ... Clear! ... *WHUMP!* (Topic successfully resusitated.) Dated songs ... try going to an antique mall and look for sheet music. Then there's classics that should sound dated, but that's actually part of their charm. "Mack the Knife" by Louis Armstrong. The language in the lyrics is on the order of a century old, but that's an acceptable quirk. "Did our boy do something rash?" Not how it would be said in today's speech, but it still works. The language in other songs is so rediculous by today's standards. I can't think of anything off hand, but I'm thinking of 40s/50s material that used $10 words and rhymed them! You just can't do that today. Lyrics are like newspaper articles; you gotta keep it to a 5th grade reading level or below (to be commercially viable). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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