No one touches the Beatles and Dylan to me. The Byrds, Animals, Stones, Zep, Who, Kinks, Floyd, CSNY, Allman Bros, Prine, Bruce, Tull, Chicago, Elton, Seger, REM, Talking Heads, U2, Willie, Emmylou, Lucinda etc. and scores more, all among my favs.--but in those days I used to sometimes spend hours listening to an album before I realized how much I liked the band (Thick As A Brick anyone?). Music was then and remains now extremely meaningful to me--sometimes as pure fun and other times as thought provoking musical poetry.
The attention span of most music fans under age 25 today is not the same as it was when I grew up. Video games, youtube, tiktok, instant messaging and other forms of engagement or entertainment simply did not bombard me during my rarely inactive (ie-non-sports occupied) leisure time. That time was spent reading, watching some tv and mostly listening fairly intently to music at length. I wonder how often teenagers and early 20 somethings have the inclination to sit down undisturbed with a lyric sheet and listen to an entire album a number of times before deciding it it’s ok, good or great.
As a 60+ year old, I do not give most music today the same privilege because, well, I just don’t find it "musical" or involving. Albums often don’t cohere. Lyrics, usually the product of teams of formula lyricists, do not grab me and, frankly, are not as literate as some of the great music of the 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s. The music today often sounds like the same compressed garbage where musicianship and vocal talent are not part of the mix. But over the past few years, I’ve given some bands like 21 Pilots a number of listens and find that they are, in fact, very musical and very talented in a completely different way than I had ever experienced. Oblique lyrics, synthesizer dominated--but with a rock heart and attitude and excellent melodies that invoke genuine emotional response. There are only a handful of such groups and they are the exceptions. That being said, the wife asked me months ago to get an album by the Weeknd which I have occasionally listened to with her. It’s pretty good (not great), but there are some catchy tunes there and some excellent, albeit compressed, production. Since I knew some of his songs, I was actually able to enjoy the halftime show. Had I not been familiar with the album, I certainly would not have. This struck me as I watched the halftime show. Sure enough, my work colleagues thought it was terrible.
I do not lose sleep over the fact that as i get older, I hear less and less musical talent on the airwaves. I don’t lose sleep wondering if the style of the music of my youth (with exceptions like the Beatles and Dylan) will be to the future generations what Perry Como was to mine---anachronistic and meaningless. Rather, I often wonder how many groups like 21 Pilots are "buried in the hail...poisoned in the bushes an’ blown out on the trail" of most of the crap I hear today and how I can separate the wheat from the chaff so that I can capture and enjoy the likes of 21 Pilots more often.
