As intimated by others, the Beatles, and by extension all the best music of the 60's (including R&B and Motown), was different from anything else that had come before it, and it was the basis for everything that has come since, which is maybe why those who came of age then, the baby boomers--fairly or unfairly--still hold it in such high regard. Of course it's not that there hasn't been anything worth listening to since the 60's, but most of what is done by even the most talented and successful recording artists since seems, to varying degrees, derivative of that era. I know it sounds both arrogant and tiresome for younger people to hear baby boomers constantly praise the 60's music scene as superior, but it more or less set the standard for subsequent decades, and so much of what has been done since just seems like a pale imitation. Boomers, as I recall, mocked the music of our parents, the popular standards and the great singers of the WWII generation--Frank Sinatra, etc--as being dull and outmoded, but eventually came to recognize how truly talented and brilliant those people were (Imagine, people who actually knew how to sing!). Thankfully there are those who carry on that tradition, some even able to achieve an appreciable degree of popularity (like Michael Bublé, Diana Krall) despite all the odds stacked against them.

EVD, I am just ornery today so don't take it personal. It's been a long week....

 

And answering your assement of the the music of the 60's. My question is; wasn't it derivative of jazz, blues, folk, C&W, early rock n' roll/rock a billy and soul music? The music that you listen to during your formative (say 15-25) always seems to remain the original to you, making it harder to realize that when you do some exploring that a lot was lifted from other artists. At least that is what I have seen from my personal experience. This gets to my point that influence has as much to do with the massive influence of the boomers on pop culture for the last 40 years as it does the quality of the music.

 

The biggest influential change I see the artists of the 60's accomplishing was the move of popular music singers from the realm of merely entertainers sing other peoples songs to more autonmous artist singing and playing their own compositions.

 

Musically I would have to say that Hendrix probably added the most original  element to music, adding another dimension with tone control, feedback and overdriving the amp to the R&B/Blues skills that he learned to play on the Chitlin' circuit as a back up player.

evd:

While some may be pale imitation, some would aptly be called refinement. In that sense, "derivative" doesn't mean bad.

 

To claim there has been no shift in modern music as big as there was in the 60's may be defensible, but to say there hasn't been anything but slow evolution on the 60's model is a stronger claim, and I would argue ridiculous. Development of hip-hop and hip-hop-influenced music was a pretty radical, post-60's shift. Electronic music may have roots in the 60's, but it's hardly "derivative" in a significantly weaker sense than 60's music was derivative from that which came before.

 

Your ears were tuned in the 60's, so music that came later which you can appreciate is that which is more highly influenced from that era. You need to get beyond that bias.

 

The uniqueness of the Beatles is their ability to tie mainstream popularity with avant garde experimentalism. Basically, they were on top of both of those (typically competing) games. No one else has achieved that before or since. It was a fluke of the culture at the time that such an environment was produced where that was possible.

 

Once radical experimentalism became cool, it's easy to cop-out and say that everything made since is derivative of the 60's. It's a new sound, so it's experimental, so it's 60's-influenced. (If it's not new, then of course it's derivative by definition.)

Since we're on the topic of music, I thought of another cultural blasphemy of mine.  While I have songs in my play list that range from the present to 100-150 years ago, (excluding classical, which can go back many centuries) most of my music selection comes from 1955-1963.  I was turned on to oldies from that era when I was 10.  I was at the sitter's house, and she was cleaning out a big box of old 45's that belonged to her parents.  I've been hooked ever since.

 

This isn't necessarily blasphemous, except that I, more or less, turned my back on current pop-culture until I started college.  There, it was force-fed to me in the architectural studio.

I watched "you're cut off".  I can't believe I watched 4 hours straight of that shit! I love every minute!

- I think people who think the Beatles are overrated know absolutely nothing about music.

 

 

I think they're overrated. What am I missing?

 

Well, to start, you're missing the point that personal taste has nothing to do with deciding if something is overrated or not. You might not like the Beatles, but to deny their incredibly vast influence (which is what you're doing when you say they're overrated) tells me you know nothing about music. The way they arranged songs, wrote songs, wrote and performed harmonies, etc...that all had, and still has, a HUGE impact on pretty much everything that came after. If that's not something you can appreciate or understand, that's fine. But it's the truth.

I don't listen to a musician/bands because they were 'influential'. I listen to it because it's fun to hear. I can appreciate their influence on those who came after them but that's not going to make me think their songs are any more enjoyable.

I don't listen to music because it's "influential" either. I don't know what point you're trying to make, but I'm pretty sure you missed mine completely.

I don't listen to a musician/bands because they were 'influential'. I listen to it because it's fun to hear. I can appreciate their influence on those who came after them but that's not going to make me think their songs are any more enjoyable.

 

Calling artists "overrated" is not supposed to be a declaration about how enjoyable their music is to you. That's his point.

Are we seriously arguing about this on a message board ? Who gives a sh!t. They're overrated to ME. I don't care what other people listen to.

Influence and "Overrated" can be quite different in this subjective-turned-to-music-lord-knows-why thread.  The Beatles were without question one of the most influential bands in history.  Elvis may have pioneered black music into white homes but the Beatles took it up a notch with unique, unparalleled songwriting.  Of course, that isn't to say that many people (such as myself) can still say the Beatles were overrated as "rated" to begin with is perception.  I never cared for their songs nor melodies.  That doesn't imply those songs/melodies weren't globally, musically influential.  I don't care for them and thus, I find them overrated in terms of how I see people perceive their songs.  And I'm not talking their commercial hits.  The same exact argument can be made for Michael Jackson, Elvis, etc. but I actually enjoy Michael Jackson and Elvis, meh.

I've realized over the last few months that when watching sports, I actually prefer a slightly one sided game over a really close one. Not so much a blow out, but I want to have an idea who's going to win going into the 4th quarter. It keeps me from getting too frustrated. If the game comes down to the last play, I'm really excited and then often let down when the team I'm cheering for loses. I like to be let down easy. And if the team I'm cheering for is going to win, I don't want to feel like they just got lucky on the last play.

 

As an example the Super Bowl was perfect for me this year. Pittsburgh was behind the whole time, but after the first quarter and a half, it's not like they didn't look like they belonged there. It was close enough that I knew Pittsburgh had a chance, but once Mendenhall fumbled, I knew it would take a miracle for the Steelers to win.

I've realized over the last few months that when watching sports, I actually prefer a slightly one sided game over a really close one. Not so much a blow out, but I want to have an idea who's going to win going into the 4th quarter. It keeps me from getting too frustrated. If the game comes down to the last play, I'm really excited and then often let down when the team I'm cheering for loses. I like to be let down easy. And if the team I'm cheering for is going to win, I don't want to feel like they just got lucky on the last play.

 

As an example the Super Bowl was perfect for me this year. Pittsburgh was behind the whole time, but after the first quarter and a half, it's not like they didn't look like they belonged there. It was close enough that I knew Pittsburgh had a chance, but once Mendenhall fumbled, I knew it would take a miracle for the Steelers to win.

 

Reading the above is the first time in a few days that I remembered the Super Bowl, and the first time I knew who won.

Not 100% certain I understand but here goes:

 

I say "Ont" for aunt to sound fancy

I basically like mainstream rock music because it's just easier

I once ordered Dewarr's scotch calling it Dew-Wars (as in "stars")

I only like watching Sci-fi and hockey on Tv anymore

I have a bigger car than I need

 

Bonus: i recycle more than I throw away only because our recycle bin is bigger than our trash bin

 

I say "Ont" for aunt to sound fancy

 

Funny you claim to say "ont" to sound fancy. I get "corrected" all the time for saying that. Most New Englanders say "ont" instead of "ant". Additionally, I don't know any black people (which I am) who say "ant".  It sort of falls into the same category of the Soda vs. Pop debate. I will always say soda.

 

But my cultural blasphemy is that I do not drink alcohol. People always assume I'm a heavy partier and drinker, so I'm always getting invited to go out for drinks.

l love Lady Gaga. Every time I get on youtube or facebook there's some jackass talking about how she has a penis! What a bunch of haters. I hope they all get a virus.

^I think she's hot.

She can sing, I'll give her that. She's got an interesting look, once you get past the meat outfits, and the Ferengi Cardassian skull implants

 

 

Edit: I changed my geeky Star Trek reference. Thus enhancing my geekiness!!

I personally like a women who is willing to drape herself in raw meat, so much hotter than Pam Anderson's PETA Cabbage bikini.

Born This Way...Alejandro.. that Telephone song. Those are timeless classics.

She can sing, I'll give her that. She's got an interesting look, once you get past the meat outfits, and the Ferengi Cardassian skull implants

 

 

Edit: I changed my geeky Star Trek reference. Thus enhancing my geekiness!!

 

Star Trek had some hotties back in the day.

Influence and "Overrated" can be quite different in this subjective-turned-to-music-lord-knows-why thread.  The Beatles were without question one of the most influential bands in history.  Elvis may have pioneered black music into white homes but the Beatles took it up a notch with unique, unparalleled songwriting.  Of course, that isn't to say that many people (such as myself) can still say the Beatles were overrated as "rated" to begin with is perception.  I never cared for their songs nor melodies.  That doesn't imply those songs/melodies weren't globally, musically influential.  I don't care for them and thus, I find them overrated in terms of how I see people perceive their songs.  And I'm not talking their commercial hits.  The same exact argument can be made for Michael Jackson, Elvis, etc. but I actually enjoy Michael Jackson and Elvis, meh.

 

I see a lot of people on here with opinions about the Beatles and other groups from back at that time. The Beatles had already broken up before many of you were born and I wish you could have been there. They were a cultural phenomenon. Everything did a 180 degree turn when they came out. The music, the hair, the attitude.

 

Elvis had been tamed, doo-wop was trite and really was just fluff. The difference was like night and day. Every new song was musical high and at one point they hogged the charts...the top five songs at one point were all Beatles tunes. Just amazing.

 

Wish you could have been there, but glad you appreciate them.

Meh, I still probably wouldn't have loved them.  I would've been into James Brown more so.

Meh, I still probably wouldn't have loved them.  I would've been into James Brown more so.

 

Check out JB at the TAMI award show on You Tube. Electrifying!

Oh yeah, my cultural blasphemy is living in Columbus and NOT being a Buckeye fan! Love the looks I get when I respond that I didn't see the game or know the score. :laugh:

I kind of like that new Avril Lavigne song.

I really enjoy raunchy comedy.  Lonely Island is hilarious, Margaret Cho, anyone who is dirty and raw and twisted makes me laugh so freaking hard. 

I cant stand Margaret Cho. She acts like anyone with an actual sexual orientation is stuck in the dark ages.

Mandy Moore. I have liked her since "Saved!", anybody who can make that movie has to have a good sense of humor.Then she goes off and marries Ryan Adams, which just confirmed she was cool. Her music has been getting better too. Waiting for the Johnny Cash/June Carter style album from the her and Ryan.

I like Glee! :)

Your straight card has been revoked.

 

MTS will soon be over to issue your temporary queer pass and begin your "initiation" process.

Glee is a good show. I like musicals as long as its not too cheesy. I think someone snatched my straight card after my Rocky Horror name-drop.

 

I like musicals as long as its not too cheesy.

 

A paradox.

 

That's like saying I like rainbows as long as they don't have too many colors in them.

I become addicted to horrible reality TV

 

As the kids say, "I love me some":

• Real Housewives of New Jersy - Those broads are just straight hood rats!
  
• Mafia Wives - Those broads are straight ghetto hood rats!
  
• Yard Crashers - I hate grass but that man has a butt you could bounce 50 cent piece off of!
  
• Master Chef - Anything with a cursing Gordon Ramsey is "entertainment"!
  

 

I like musicals as long as its not too cheesy.

 

A paradox.

 

That's like saying I like rainbows as long as they don't have too many colors in them.

 

 

Who are you telling? Dude I'm color-blind, rainbows have no more than three colors for me. Repo Man was the cheesiest, forgettable movie I've ever seen. I like Glee, and well...anything Ryan Murphy does.

Repo Man rules.

I become addicted to horrible reality TV

 

As the kids say, "I love me some":

• Real Housewives of New Jersy - Those broads are just straight hood rats!
  
• Mafia Wives - Those broads are straight ghetto hood rats!
  
• Yard Crashers - I hate grass but that man has a butt you could bounce 50 cent piece off of!
  
• Master Chef - Anything with a cursing Gordon Ramsey is "entertainment"!
  

 

 

Similar to Yard Crashers...Me and my son like Desperate Landscapes...although purely for the landscape part of it.  I also like Jerseylicious just a little bit.

Repo Man rules.

 

I only saw some of it. Maybe I should watch the whole thing. I don't like horror movies unless they're spoofs. The only good horror movie I've seen recently that I really liked was the Halloween re-make that Rob Zombie made.

 

I saw the Roommate and that has to be one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen. It was the exact same plot as that movie with Demi Moore in it. Single White Female, was it? The roommate blows. What's worse is that I got it from Campus Video and if your movie is out for 4 days you owe like 12 bucks.

SWF had Bridget Fonda and a young Jennifer Jason Leigh in it. Whatever happened to the 'erotic thriller' anyway? Edit: I think the concept died w/ Sliver.

 

I wouldn't consider Repo Man a horror. Kind of Sci Fi

Repo Man rules.

 

I only saw some of it. Maybe I should watch the whole thing. I don't like horror movies unless they're spoofs. The only good horror movie I've seen recently that I really liked was the Halloween re-make that Rob Zombie made.

 

I saw the Roommate and that has to be one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen. It was the exact same plot as that movie with Demi Moore in it. Single White Female, was it? The roommate blows. What's worse is that I got it from Campus Video and if your movie is out for 4 days you owe like 12 bucks.

 

Are you talkng about "Repo Man," or "Repo Men?"  "Repo Man" is an 80's movie with Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez.

I become addicted to horrible reality TV

 

As the kids say, "I love me some":

• Real Housewives of New Jersy - Those broads are just straight hood rats!
  
• Mafia Wives - Those broads are straight ghetto hood rats!
  
• Yard Crashers - I hate grass but that man has a butt you could bounce 50 cent piece off of!
  
• Master Chef - Anything with a cursing Gordon Ramsey is "entertainment"!
  

 

 

Similar to Yard Crashers...Me and my son like Desperate Landscapes...although purely for the landscape part of it.  I also like Jerseylicious just a little bit.

 

I like King of Dirt.  Although I have been watching Basketball Wives (I hate Evelyn), Turf Wars, Man Caves and Run My Renovation! 

 

Jerseylicious is a hot ass mess!

SWF had Bridget Fonda and a young Jennifer Jason Leigh in it. Whatever happened to the 'erotic thriller' anyway? Edit: I think the concept died w/ Sliver.

 

I wouldn't consider Repo Man a horror. Kind of Sci Fi

 

Aw yes, Sliver and Basic Instinct both came out when I was in Jr High or early High School, they were a hot commodity to have a copy of...second only to Skin-a-max late night offerings. Kids today have it way too easy with the internet..

 

MTS, can I send my wife over to your place at night, so that I can have my big TV. You seem to watch exactly the same "stuff" that she does...

Internet killed the Skinemax star. Do they even make softcore porn any more? Probably have to go to a hotel and order it with one of those special N64 controllers.

Internet killed the Skinemax star. Do they even make softcore porn any more? Probably have to go to a hotel and order it with one of those special N64 controllers.

 

Well since MTV edged into the soft-core market,not really.... :)

 

Edit: I am sure this a prime spot for an Anthony Weiner Twitter joke, but I couldn't think of one...

MTS, can I send my wife over to your place at night, so that I can have my big TV. You seem to watch exactly the same "stuff" that she does...

 

 

Not unless I'm getting a pedi, mani, payment for the subscription package and I get a "happy ending"!

 

 

Why would you think I'd want to share my big TV?

Internet killed the Skinemax star. Do they even make softcore porn any more? Probably have to go to a hotel and order it with one of those special N64 controllers.

Don't hate on Skin-a-Max!  The number of after 11PM viewers has increased, year over year, in the past 5 years.

^because you're a nice guy?????

 

And as far as skin-a-max goes I am willing to bet it's do to the increase in nursing home/ assisted living population. At least that's been my experience with my 90 year old grandfather....

 

Semi-kidding. He had all the movie channels when he got cable in his apartment. He let us know what he was watching at night...

^ That reminds me of when I walked into my wife's grandfather's house and he was watching competitive cheerleading on the TV.

 

Me: 'What are you watching?'

Him: "Broads!"

I have a new show to watch.  Heat Seekers on the cooking channel.  I've been waiting for a show like this.  Spicy...Spicy...Spicy foods.  :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

I went to the Dominican Day parade.  It was different, very different.

I went to the Dominican Day parade.  It was different, very different.

 

When and where? I've always wanted to go to the one in NYC. And it was different like how? I'm assuming "wild and crazy" different because I know a few Domincan females and they're....ummm...sexually liberated. I don't know what it is in the Carribean Sea, but a lot of 'em seem to be that way.