Friday, May 10, 2013

Saturday Music Digest--May 11th, 2013

     I have become a big fan of twitter. Those are naysayers who grouse about the massive amount of inane stuff posted, but have you looked at Facebook lately? I can assure you as well that most phone conversations are just as useless. We just live now in a newer generation of consumers, where idiocy can be broadcast world-wide. On the other hand, it can and is a powerful tool for getting information out quickly and for those who want to find people of like mind on any subject, in my case, older music.
     There is software that allows you to not only see all of the activity on your twitter account at any time, but also to filter words. For instance, I have 60's music, and 70's music in my filter. Anytime anyone uses those words, anywhere in the world, I get to see it, this allows me to perhaps answer a question, or interject an opinion (which I'm full of those). A very useful tool for those who do not have a marketing budget.
     It also allows me to see trends at times, and there are a couple that I find intriguing and/or amusing, and it gives me cause to address a couple of them, even though given the audience for this blog, I'm probably preaching to the choir.

    The first trend is an odd interest in 70s porn music. First of all, in full disclosure, I've seen a few 70's porn flicks in my life, but cannot remember for the life of me any music in the background. It could have been that the movies I saw had such low standards for production that there was no thought to actually use any music, or was just so gobsmacked by what my eyes were seeing that my ears shut down to allow my vision to capture with the upmost clarity what was going on.
     With so many of the tweets mentioning it's use, I figured that there must be something going on. So I put out a call to my twitter family to see if anyone could give examples. Either thinking that my mind had checked out early for the weekend, or just too embarrassed to admit it in public, there was no response. 
     Having struck out there, I went to You Tube (not to find porn...just to find the music. Perverts.) and found songs from an album called, "Porno Sonic", and a picture of Ron Jeremy on the front. Ron, who has come to the point in career where a woman will not get within a 10 inch...er...10 foot pole of his...well...uh...pole, has happily become the Gene Simmons of porn, allowing the likeness (just of his face thank God) to be put on any product that will get him some extra cash.
    The following song is not only humorous, but gives a pretty good example of what those who never actually lived in the 70's, an idea of what this music was suppose to sound like

    It says on the front of the cover that it was, "unreleased" 70's porno music. What audience the producers of this CD were marketing this for, I'm not sure. As far as I can remember this kind of music brought back visions of the 70's like Colt 45 malt liquor and shag carpeting. Just goes to show there is an audience for everything ...especially if  that something didn't actually exist.

    Which brings me to my second observation. I hate to break it to a couple of generations of men and women, but not everyone who grew up in the 60's grew their hair long, wore tie-die, and dropped acid. I hear all the time, "I SOOOO wish I could live back in the 60's where everyone got stoned, and there was so much LOVEEEE all the time.'
     Let me put it to you straight, unless you were white, male and rich, the 60's (outside of the music) wasn't that cool of a place to be. I love Grace Slick's  (singer from the Jefferson Airplane...Starship...etc.) comment on the subject of what it was like to in the "in" crowd; "If you can remember the 60's, you weren't there". I wasn't quite old enough for that era to be exactly in my wheelhouse (I was born in 1960), but can remember that growing hair beyond your collar was a sin, and those who did it, even in the mid-70's, were ostracized. There was a lot of experimentation with pot, but alcohol was the drug of choice, not only because it was more available, but because it was CHEAP. There were lame attempts a 60's fashion in my school, but few pulled it off. Thank God there were no pictures of me in my imitation Nehru jacket that I wore in 5th grade....
     Why is there a  need to always go back to the good ole' days anyway? There are many more answers to that question than I want to delve into in a blog, but just to say the reasons are legion. Our media however (many who are Baby Boomers themselves) has sanitized and sanctified the era to the point where much of the reality has left the building. This is not an anomaly with the 60's however. Growing up, if all I had was the radio and television to decide what the 50's were all about, than it would occurred to me that it would have ROCKED to been a teenager in the 50's. Thankfully I had
older siblings who reminded me that the decade wasn't all that hot either.
     Having said that, what we are left with is how the music of a certain time relates to the good memories that we have, no matter which era we grew up in. It is natural for us to remember the fun times, but even for those times that were not so good, songs and artists frame the era that define our lives. To my younger readers, let me remind you that if your lucky, the music that defines you will be around 30, 40 or more years as well, but don't forget the reality of your life and times now, before the generation of your children or grandchildren attempt to redefine it as well.  

The following is a short digest of the news of classic rock/pop. The first link is a fantastic story about the musicians behind the scenes of many of the classic soft pop/rock albums of the 70s.
     
The Knights of Soft Rock:  http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-section-knights-of-soft-rock-20130411

Bon Jovi playing Europe and South Africa without Richie Sambora: http://www.oldies1150.com/News/Music.aspx?articleID=1142684

Robert Plant Gets Restraining Order Against Delusional Fan: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/robert-plant-restraining-order-stalker/

Aerosmith Cancel Concert Due to Bomb Threat: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/aerosmith-cancel-concert-bomb-threat/

Boston an Aerosmith to perform at Boston Benefit Show:  http://www.rttnews.com/2109928/boston-and-aerosmith-to-perform-at-boston-benefit-show.aspx?type=crk

Foreigner's Lou Gramm Puts and End to Reunion Talk: http://www.rttnews.com/2109864/foreigner-s-lou-gramm-puts-an-end-to-reunion-talk.aspx?type=old

Jethro Tull To Release 1970-2005 DVD Set:  http://www.rttnews.com/2111036/jethro-tull-to-release-1970-2005-dvd-set.aspx?type=crk

Motley Crue Guitarist Gets Tackled On Stage: http://www.rttnews.com/2111867/motley-crue-guitarist-gets-tackled-onstage.aspx?type=crk

Three Donovan Classics to be Reissued: http://www.rttnews.com/2111875/three-donovan-classics-to-be-reissued-on-vinyl.aspx?type=old

Grateful Dead to Release Box Set of 1977 Tour: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/grateful-dead-may-1977-box-set/

David Bowie Releases "The Next Day" Featuring Gary Oldman:  http://www.rttnews.com/2113559/david-bowie-releases-the-next-day-video-featuring-gary-oldman.aspx?type=crk

Rod Stewart Wants to Reunite the Faces:  http://www.rttnews.com/2111783/rod-stewart-wants-to-reunite-the-faces.aspx?type=crk

Bruce Springsteen Collaborates With The Dropkick Murphys:  http://www.rttnews.com/2113442/bruce-springsteen-collaborates-with-the-dropkick-murphys.aspx?type=crk

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