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Unsung Forum » Most Influential Band of Last 20-25 years |
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IanB 6761 posts |
Edited May 01, 2008, 16:46
May 01, 2008, 09:24
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I am with you on Kraftwerk and, as per above I would put Moroder and Larry Levan in the same pot. Despite all indications to the contrary on this board, most of the innovative music from the last 25 years has been from the 'dance' 'scene' and hip hop rather than from guitar music. We're still largely in an era of rock recycling itself with the hipper artists recycling the most obscure artefacts from earlier generations and / or putting a cynically post-modern spin on old crap. Where is the truly adventurous rock and roll is to be found? Not a clue but I've heard nothing made with guitars in the last 20 years that went anywhere close to going as far out out of the AABA structural box as Matmos or Boards of Canada or FSOL have been. These artists are rarely on my proverbial turntable as I can get all that I can get from them, and get it in spades, from Reich and Adams and Ligetti but I can see their importance and live in hope that rock and roll will at some point stop settling for drinking its own piss and get out a bit more. Like jazz, it's a fantastic museum to explore but that's what rock and roll is now. Fully embraced as a mainstream art form and utterly flumoxed by its own lack of cultural relevance.
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Dog 3000 4611 posts |
Edited May 01, 2008, 16:05
May 01, 2008, 16:04
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I just saw Kraftwerk about a week ago, and unlike the first time I saw them in 1997 it didn't feel like a "visitation from the future." The laptops aren't futuristic, they're contemporary. Yet the music seemed "more live" this time, hearkening back to old bootlegs of their 70's concerts (occasional notes sounded "out of tune", meaning whatever knobs they're twiddling must give them more control over the sound than the knobs they twiddled with their 80's-90's "console" gear, which was their first all-digital setup as I understand it.) The videos they project on screen also seem more nostalgic now as well (old 1930's photos of the Autobahn, 1970's "neon lights", etc. -- only possible because they've got higher resolution now. The old low res graphics were more "futuristic" in a sci-fi cliche kind of way!) Ironically, newer better faster smaller technology seems to be making them seem old fashioned! (Still a great show however!! Everyone should see Kraftwerk live at least once.)
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Dog 3000 4611 posts |
May 01, 2008, 16:14
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Jazz seemed to go into "museum mode" when Miles retired in 1976. Rock went into "museum mode" I suppose whenever Jann Wenner built his actual "rock and roll museum". Hiphop is an interesting case -- it doesn't seem to have followed the same path as past popular music paradigms. Perhaps since it was literally built on bits and pieces of every preceeding music (the pomo bricolage thing.) There are a lot of important artists in this realm, but no one jumps out like "The Beatles" for rock or "Miles Davis" for jazz. The styles change so fast that it's nearly impossible to be a relevant rap artist for more than 2-3 years. All the stars of 10-15 years ago are either struggling nostalgia acts or turned into TV and movie actors. Eminem's one flop album away from going the same route (or maybe he already is?) I think technology is a very big driver of changes in music, so I assume the computer / sampling is going to be the central "instrument" for the next few decades, as guitars were to rock and saxes to jazz.
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shanshee_allures 2563 posts |
May 01, 2008, 16:51
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IanB wrote: Despite all indications to the contrary on this board, most of the innovative music from the last 25 years has been from the 'dance' 'scene' and hip hop rather than from guitar music. Oh too true! Wonderfully true in fact. I've been in an electro daze the past few months. I regularly find myself doing that infact. Electronic music is still evolving and it's limited only by human imagination. But of course like anything it has its duffers too. Innovation though doesn't always lead to influence, (probably because in this instance, most of the great electro is too unique/complex), which in a way I'm glad of. x
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IanB 6761 posts |
Edited May 01, 2008, 17:59
May 01, 2008, 16:57
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Yes I agree, The situation with rock and roll reminds me of jazz around 1982 - All the greats of the most creative era in the genre (1965 to 1978ish in rock) are on their last few rounds of the circuit before retirement and infirmity beckons (just as the jazz artists who were vibrant from the late 1940s to early 1970s were in the early 80s). Not many great records are getting made by that generation but they are still drawing the crowds. Then there are contemporary artists who maybe once had the vision and chops to be boundary pushers to some degree but take the traditional route and are lovingly revisiting the past modes from that 'classic' era instead - for Wynton Marsalis read Black Crowes (who I love) and the likes of Oasis, Paul Weller and Govt Mule (who I don't). Ground breaking artists seem to either move off into other genres for some breathing space, opt for ironic recreations of old sounds (Flaming Lips are a good example), or go into the Art Music realm (like Eno) or abscond from song based rock music altogether (Radiohead) leaving a void where the radical end of the mainstream should be and leaving the mainstream to the dull dull dull world of Muse and Coldplay. The Mars Volta are a notable exception but their recent shows were much less exploratory than in 2003. Will we ever hear a mainstream song based rock record as soncially shocking as say Low or For Your Pleasure? Probably not. But hip hop and electronica seems to still throw out some interesting and commercially successful curve balls. As I say those genres are not really my cuppa tea but I respect the willingness to push the envelope. As I think we've discussed ad nauseam the new Me'Shell and Erykah Badu records have taken their music to places rock and rollers seem incapable of going.
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laresident 861 posts |
May 01, 2008, 17:30
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That took me back to my school days! Pisces Babies was my favourite.
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shanshee_allures 2563 posts |
Edited May 01, 2008, 17:39
May 01, 2008, 17:32
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EDIT THIS OUT, COZ IT'S DOUBLE POSTED SOMEHOW! x
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shanshee_allures 2563 posts |
May 01, 2008, 17:37
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I do like S-s-s-single Bed! Guilty pleasure maybe. Maybe not guilty at all! I have their first album on vinyl, and I don't for the life of me know where it came from! Strange how that can happen! x
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Dog 3000 4611 posts |
Edited May 01, 2008, 21:20
May 01, 2008, 21:20
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How about Neil Young? The godfather of grunge, alt-country and emo . . . And just about the only guy from decades past who still seems "relevant" and not on a permanent oldies tour (Stones, etc.) (OK so he's not a "band.")
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singingringingtree 964 posts |
May 01, 2008, 21:42
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who cares? ok, i say kraftwerk too ... w/out them, dance music + hip hop wd be much diminished (+ they're the main new musics of the last 25 yrs, RIGHT???)
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