Quote:
Originally posted by charly
As someone who lived through it I can tell you the Beatles changed everything. Listening to White Album & Sgt Peppers for the first time was awesome.
But not to forget the contribution made by these.
Bob Dylan, suddenly lyrics could mean something.
The Who or more Pete Townsend. Tommy is a masterpiece.
Pink Floyd, look at the sales of Dark Side and not a "Pop" record.
The Stones, Santana, Steppenwolf, The Who and Zepplin were all great live bands.
Clapton, Hendrix, Skynard, Alvin Lee, Page were all great guitarists.
Unfortunately I can hardly think of two bands formed after 75 who hold a candle to any of these. Any ideas why this was a Golden Time for music and now it's just dross?
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It'd be too difficult for me to tell which is my favorite rock band. Zeppelin would be high on the list, but there are groups like the Beatles that are phenomenol. Their music sounds "poppish" by today's standards but it's just incredible. The melodies and harmonies they made are taken for granted now and seem 'simple'. If they didn't exist you'd be hard pressed to find any group able to come up with the tunes they did. The Who, Hendrix, and Rolling Stones would be in there too.
On your point about after 1975. There are plenty of groups that continued the tradition of amazing music. Pearl Jam, Aerosmith (ok maybe they started in '73? I forget), and U2 to name some.
I don't know if we get stuck in a time period and atrophy but I feel the same way you do but the date changes; instead of 1975, maybe more like 2000. Nothing I've heard since then compares to the bands listed here. Part of this is that I simply don't listen to what's out now so I wouldn't know if there is a great group or not. I'd rather not be bombarded with hundreds of less than mediocre bands to find the new shining star.
What I wouldn't include in my list of favorite groups/artists are those that have a tradition of being overrated (Pink Floyd) or which became famous because of the mystic or cult aspect of the vocalist (The Doors - yes they were orginal but aside from the song "People Are Strange", there really isn't a great catalogue there; Jim Morrison is a cult icon and that's why The Doors legacy persists). I wouldn't include AC/DC (great band, but not enough variety - they follow a format you can predict for the most part) or Metallica (great band but more bad/rough guy image association and poor singing which does sound good with the music though).