Questions and Answers

[scotty]

Thought id start a new thread here folks about any questions you would like to raise about Music in general.No limits here guys and feel free to answer anyones questions as you see fit,everyones got an opinion.Lets get our hands dirty here and raise some good issues with interesting debate.in calling this questions and answers cause there might be somethings that you've thought about and wondered what someone's else's thoughts were on the topic. A simple idea for a simple guy!

To kick off id like (if possible) to ask an American/Australian on what his opinions are on British music today. Is Britain a leader in music or do you think that in general British music is more channeled to a worldwide audience.Does the small island still influence or has Britain been influenced? Also id like when youve maybe answered someones question you create a question yourself,thus keeping the torch alight.

[whojamfan]

I thought it was a question about the Sham 69 song with the same title. Drat! I could have answered that one. From what I've heard, which admittingly isn't a whole lot, British music appears to have blended itself in so well with their take on what's popular today, that you can't readily tell if a group is British, Canadian, or in some cases even Austrailian anymore.

Americans singing with "British" accents, Brits doing ghetto rap, and Aussies doing country, you need a guide to know who is who. It's beginning to get like it was with Rickenbacker instruments, where people thought, and some still do, that they are made in Great Britain or Germany.

[jps]

Who was John Galt?

[scotty]

Who was John Galt?

This maybe the answer you are looking for jeff if it is not let me know.
The phrase “Who is John Galt?” was imprinted on the back of Tripp Eisen’s guitar picks during Static-X’s 2003 tour supporting their album, Shadow Zone.

[jps]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galt_(Atlas_Shrugged)

[scotty]

Americans singing with "British" accents, Brits doing ghetto rap, and Aussies doing country, you need a guide to know who is who.

Great point Mike.So to generalize would i be right in assuming you would agree that music from the UK/USA are pretty much munching from the same Trough.As the world becomes smaller due to technology are people today more open to different backgrounds of musical taste, due to easer access to global music,at their finger tips.

[scotty]

You got me Jeff

[scotty]

Ok heres another question?
Does anyone think that music today is of a better standard than lets say 20 years ago.Do you think that music has moved on or do you think that its just the same only with different bands playing in a different decade!Has music progressed ?

[paologregorio]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galt_(Atlas_Shrugged)

It's a favorite book of mine. I like the The Fountainhead as well.

I'm not sure about right now, but I think GB will continue to be a leader in popular music. I think the 90s, at least a fair part of it was the only decade that Britpop was a bit ignored by a lot of American radio. A lot of really cool bands were largely ignored here.

[royclough]

There Are More Questions Than Answers

Johnny Nash 1972

[whojamfan]

Define "progression". Few groups are as progressed musically as Yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Rush, King Crimson, and the many other technically brilliant bands of the 70s. Being 1988, it was the height of pop hair metal ballads with REM and U2 being about the only consistant popular alternative at that point. Guns and Roses and Metallica were very popular, but was really the hayday for hairmetal. This of course, put up against the boygroup bands and other teenie attractions, and the explosion/exploitation of "Gangsta Rap".

Here it is, 20 years later, Metal has tuned their instruments way down, and rhythms have that stop and start chunk thing going on, punk has been homoginized and assimilated in all genres, including country and teeny girl idols,country has picked up where hair metal left off(look at the videos, turn off the sound and throw a Bon Jovi album on, what's the difference?) Rap has spread itself out into many categories, especially advertising.

REM and U2 still do what they were doing, along with Aerosmith, and very few others, and have achieved even greater success than they ever had. We have cds, MP3 players, and satellite radio to give us more choices than ever. With the wall coming down, we now have greater access to music we have never heard before, as well as music subcultures that are of interest as well.

With the world wide access to listening/purchasing music, I think the local radio station has and/or will take as big a hit as it did with the invention of television. Their will always be college radio,but that too, may well be available only on line. I see radio as we know it, really becoming more of a local forum for news, and interactive talk, rather than music. How can they compete, or worse, how can they pay the bills without hours of advertising time?

[scotty]

Thanks for the response Mike.I knew when i typed progression that it probably was the wrong word.What i was getting at was has music taken another step forward in terms of you know the way that music changed from lets say the 50s to the 60s.There was a massive musical change in the timescale of a decade from that era but as you quite rightly have stated not much has transpired in the last 20 years in terms of musical direction except that different genres have bled into one another.Thus offering a multi of diverse culture and more openly received music that can be enjoyed by everyone on the planet.
I would also like to personally at this moment thank Mike Snow for this contributions to this forum,they are valid and respected.Cheers Mike
If someone else would like to ask something that is on their mind about music in general feel free to ask,either Myself, Mike or Brian.We would be more than happy to try to discuss the topic.