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I recently received the following email, and thought I would share it here, and hopefully get some feedback from the peanut gallery as to what you think on the subject. Read on>>>
"I was pondering this thought last week:
Why is it that it seems music never goes out of style but everything
else does, such as clothes, hair styles, furniture, etc.?
Or, does music go out of style? It seems rock n roll songs have been
around forever. I mean I can listen to a song from the 60s or 70s,
such as "Fortunate Son" by CCR or a Zep tune and they don't seem out
of style.
My boyfriend says eventually this music will go out of style. It's the
music our parents grew up listening to and they passed it on to us,
but won't we pass it on to our children, and they to their children
and so forth?"
J.K.
My reply:
I think certain things endure,like blue jeans and leather jackets...they
may be on the fringe of what's in style, but they never quite go OUT. Good
melodies seem to have a staying power that transcends time. Other times I
think it's the message that keeps a song alive through generations,
because maybe it still carries weight today.
To me, The Beatles were the classical music of the 20th century, a
template that will be emulated in some shape or form for centuries,
whether the artists doing so are aware of it or not.....much the way Bach
or Vivaldi compositions are purloined from on a daily basis even today,
hundreds of years after their debut.
D.
p.s. It all comes back around eventually anyway, even the lame stuff, you
just have to wait long enough. Why do you think I'm holding on to my
parachute pants and Members Only jacket?
So, what do you think? I'm curious as to how much weight my assessment might carry. Is all popular music disposable, and nothing more than a trend, or will some stand the test of time...not mere decades, but centuries?
I'm the singer/guitarist and occasional ivory tickler of fORMER (Nashville, TN), and I also play guitar for some gentlemen who call themselves The Beauty School Dropouts. My musical resume includes stints with the now-defunct Bombshell Crush & Loveshine, as well as the occasionally active The Great Affairs & Best Of Seven(Los Angeles, CA), and you can probably find CDs from these bands somewhere on Amazon, eBay, or some random used CD shop in Tupelo, MS, if you were so inclined. I'm a songwriter. I appreciate a tall Jack & Coke when the mood strikes(it seldom does these days, to be honest). I had an old dog…but he died(RIP Maxwell), so we got a new one, a sweet fella that can run faster than anyone on steroids...his name is Pioneer. Pioneer has recently been joined by a vagrant that has adopted us, who goes by the name Cash...she's too sweet to send packing. I own a record shop in Pekin, IL, Co-Op Records. Occasionally I travel north from my home in NashVegas to supervise my henchmen as they do my bidding. I often waste my time driving without a destination just to hear myself think. I love Sun Drop cola....sue me. I can't eat anything with bones in it or anything that retains the general shape of itself in living form....it just grosses me out, though I have recently grown quite fond of Sushi (thanks, Joey). I have great friends and a cool family...in particular my Mom...the best. I don't go to church, but I'd like to believe. I eat too much junk food...my sweet tooth is the stuff of legends, but I have shaken the pastry monkey from my back. I used to love that band Trixter, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I hate cold. I miss California. I love Nashville...most days. I don't sleep much. I hate idle time. I think Elvis Costello's "Man Out Of Time" is quite possibly my favorite song of ALL time....not sure though, and it's looking like The Afghan Whigs' "Crazy" might steal the prize. I'm red/green colorblind if anybody wants to mess with me at a traffic light. I guess that's all for now....more later.
