The effects of corporate music

Nrchy, I agree.

I will also suggest that there have been only a few in the past decade or so, but you are right, that they are becoming fewer and further between.

Personally, I think Rock'n'Roll is going through one of the droughts that occurs every 15 years or so. These periods seem to have occured when lessor forms of rock music (IMHO!) were prevalent. It seems like the late 50's to early 60's (Bland rock period of Pat Boone type bands), late 70's to early 80's (Disco, 'nuff said?!), and now the late 90's to early 2000's (Hip Hop and Rap), have all been drought periods. Periods where only a few decent groups made good albums, before some big new type of music broke the drought. Bands such as the British groups of the early to mid 60's (Beatles, Stones, Who, etc..) which lead to the psychodelic era, and the Seattle bands (Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam) lead to a good run of Alternative rock music. (Yes, of course there a few good bands that did start up in the drought periods, such as Supertramp in the 70's or REM in the early 80's, but they seemed to be few and far between.)

Currently, I would recommend Wilco as a top notch group, which you would probably appreciate. They are lead by Jeff Tweedy, and talented singer and songwriter. They are a somewhat experimental group, not so much as to be avantegarde (ie. too bizarre to be more than a footnote), but not straight rock n roll either, such as Godsmack or Creed. Wilco's latest album, A Ghost is Born, is very good as were the last two or three before that (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Being There, Summerteeth).

My opinions of course, but I am pretty sure if you give Wilco a shot you will like them. (If you like them, you might want to try Uncle Tupelo (Jeff's previous band, in which he had a partner - Jay Farrer) or Jay's subsequent band, Sonvolt. (Personally, I don't much like Jay's stuff, but I think I will give it another shot, as I too am desperate for some new GOOD music.)

Good Luck! Maybe others will have some other good ideas!
Cross your fingers that maybe something will break this drought soon!

I sometimes find it a bit difficult to relate to these threads because I never ever really listened to radio that much,I don't drive either which is possible for me to do and still lead a normal life here in Glasgow,Scotland!

Also here in the UK the situation has always been different.

There are so many aspects to this though.
One is that there is more music than ever to listen to but arguably now it's harder to find,more compartmentalised and has less chance than ever of being original.

In my book it is not fair to compare the artists of the 60's and 70's because they were working on a blank canvas.
Nowadays so much of popular music has been covered.
How easy is it to write the perfect pop song when you need to take on Burt Bacharach,Mowtown,Brian Wilson et al?

Get your acoustic out?
Dylan,Young,Mitchell et al might put you off.

The good news that there is still plenty of inspired youngsters about.
The whole Rap/modern day massive in the States thing is another can of worms which I'm not going to get into at this stage.

I might even say there is so much wonderful music already available that we might not even need any new stuff!

I read a lot about music and listen to tons still but another part of the problem is we simply cannot turn back the clock.
I know I will never wear out pieces of black plastic like I used to, I know that it is unlikely I will ever absorb music into my very being the way I did in my teens and twenties.
We got older and our passion changes, our lives become more complicated and time much more valuable but harder to find.

Nrchy it is your post and similar types of posts that have inspired me to start work on the Audiogon music news and reviews,things are coming together in the background, where we are preparing music reviews,articles and opinions from myself some friends and some well known Audiogoners so that perhaps there might be some more focus on music here.

Arnie is also interested in developing things on this front and hopefully we can really work together and develop things even further.

Whilst it would be impossible to keep everyone happy on an Audio site with what we are working on-I have made one thing essential;that everybody that is writing for Audiogon irrespective of their writing talents is both knowledgeable and passionate about the music that they have found and are finding.
However this thing pans out and for however long; if it reaches even a handful of people and turns them onto something new (to them) then it will be worthwhile.

Keep the faith.

The problem, for older audiophiles especially, is that a lot of the new developments aren't in traditional rock genres; they're in electronica. Which they ain't' 'gonna listen to.

It kills me how dismissive this group is of Rap music. It's hardly a "slow period " in music. It's been around since '79 and has crossed over to every segment of the population. It is not my first choice in musical preference. That will always be classic rock. I guess I also prefer classic rap like Run DMC, LL Cool J , Eric B. and Rakim, EPMD and Public Enemy to the overproduced pop of Puffy and Jay Z. Newer stuff like Biggie, 50 cent and Snoop and Dre is also a great listen. Living in NYC, I think this music has brought a lot of ethnicities together. One image that comes to mind is this "posse" of lily-white blonde girls from Conneticut singing in unison to MOP's song "Ante Up!" and copying Rap gestures. Absurd ? Maybe, but I'm feelin it. Maybe you guys should check out Def Poetry Jam on HBO Sun . nites. It's kinda like Rap with no music and more meaningful lyrics.

Having nothing new to contribute to your points about corporate effect,I'd like to consider the end of the Cold War.

As the most abstract art,music is the most difficult art to censor. A totalitarian government would rather have its free thinking,creative people making music that writing pamphlets and making trouble,so it steers many persons into music.(Kodaly's music curricula that were used throughout the eastern block are now catching on in the west.)

With the end of the Cold War,with freedon to travel,a generation of great players is more visible that it was a decade ago.

There are more great players out there than perhaps any time in history. Cuban jazz is blazing new paths that more will travel when that government changes.

The modern composers don't get commercial airplay but many orchestras slip some of their works onto their programs.

Many cross over to work in the studios for hourly pay but art musicians pushing forward their art outside of the commercial mainstream is nothing new.