Soundtrack of the Century: Popular Song
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Posted on Aug 29, 2006 10:22 am
Tadpui
I am not a crook's head
Member Since: Mar 14, 2003
Have any of you been watching this series on Ovation? I've only caught 3 episodes.
The first was about the birth of rock and roll, and what all musical building blocks contributed to the emergence of the style. It was very interesting for sure. They went back to the blues, country, folk, jazz and showed how they all came together for the likes of Elvis to popularize.
Then I caught an episode about the great jazz artists of the jazz era. They went into Louis Armstrong's popularity and many others (I didn't catch the whole thing and I fell asleep towards the end so my recall is pretty fuzzy hehe).
And the one that I saw last night was brought to mind by the thread here about motown records. The episode was titled "the record buyers of the '50s" and showed how the entire popular music scene was changed by the emergence of soul, motown, rock and roll. It ended with a piece about the most-played record ever: "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling". I actually gained a lot of respect for that song last night.
This series is very well done and not as boring as most of the programming that you'd find on the Ovation channel. I actually wouldn't mind having this series on DVD or something, it'd be nice to revisit occasionally to draw inspiration from the music of the 20th century.
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Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Aug 29, 2006 04:55 pm Tad, I havent seen it but have heard about it. And indeed it is very true. I have preached that since I was a teenager. That is one of the biggest reasons I still keep a large collection of vinyl recordings. I can always go back and find a little bit of inspiration there.
As well as having been heavily into world music for many years now. It is amazing to listen to rythms from around the globe and try to incorperate them into modern american music.
TallChapAnswer:On a good day, lipstick.Member
Since: Jun 24, 2004
Aug 30, 2006 01:02 pm I'll have to look out for that program. I love that stuff.
One reason I'm so into Richard Thompson's music is that he's able to draw on many genres, styles, and techniques to make modern music (albeit it a very English way....). He'll use shawms, cumbrian pipes, hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, penny whistle, violin etc. on full tilt rock'n'roll songs. Or he'll have songs that sound like they could have been written in the 1700's, but they're about cars, or motorcycles... I once saw a very cool article about his record collection where he was quoted as saying his fave album of all time was some military marching band...
I think it's very cool to draw on various forms of music to make a new sound. It's those little influences that form who you are today as a musician. The more sources you can draw from, the more versatile your music will be.
Starbucks have launched a series of CD's (ready, aim, merchandise...) that are collections of songs that mean something to a certain artist - an example would be Joni Mitchell. Her CD is full of some jazz greats (duh!). Now, her music is jazzy, and you can hear the influences, but her music has its own style.
Gosh! I got all folky there, didn't I?
Anyway, it's all good (well, there were some moments in the seventies and eighties we might all want to forget). There's so much good music in our history, and bringing those influences into our playing - without being a clone - is what makes for new exciting things. Think of a band like the Clash. What would you call them? Punk? New Wave? Reggae? Tough one. You had Rock'n'roll, dub reggae, punk, and jazz colliding. Result? Something very new and exciting (at the time).
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Aug 30, 2006 01:36 pm Hey TallChap, from your description of Richard Thompson, you just might like Tom Waits' more recent stuff. 'Alice' in particular sounds like that...where the songs all have this feeling like they were all composed a hundred years ago. And he uses most of those instruments that you listed. If you can get past his abrasive and jarring voice on that album, then you just might like it a lot.
I'll have to check out this Thompson cat and see how I like it, I'm definitely interested.
And the series is definitely worth a watch if you can catch it on.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Aug 31, 2006 07:29 pm Tad, also go back to Thompsons early days. with Fairport Convention. And his early solo days. He was a full on brave heart rockin fool.
