Most everybody likes music to some degree or other. Like somebody recounted "music has charms to sooth the savage beast."
But some music is more popular than others at any given time. I say "any given time" because musical tastes change. What was well-liked in the 40's and 50's is not as popular today. The incontrovertible fact that tastes change is merely a undeniable fact.
Back in the 40's swing music and big bands were all the rage. Excepting a brief re-surge in the mid 90's this danceable, groovin ' music went out of favor in the 50's and except for the older generation that grew up on it, not a lot of people consider it their fave music.
In the 50's Rock and Roll took over. Stars like Elvis and Chuck Berry and hundreds of other music-makers created music to reach the desires and flavor of the new "teeny-boppers" of the Baby Boom generation. Yet they were all still dancing.
In the 60's, the hippies and counter culture adopted music that was a little bit further out. The music was evolving from the simple rock style into something much more adventurous and creative. Psychedelic music, as it was called, was "far out" with long leads and weird sounds and instrumentation. It was nearly a type of jazz with a "no holds barred" attitude, much like what the culture itself was experiencing. Folks stopped dancing and started listening far more closely.
By the 70's the music was following it's evolutionary path from the 60's. It was starting to separate into classes and bands started to specialize into particular styles. You had your folk rock and roll bands, your country rock bands, your hard rock groups and your jazz rock bands... And many other groupings. The time when a band would play every type of songs was just about over. Maybe the record corporations were the reason behind this. There was so much money involved now, they wanted to be well placed to "brand" bands into sellable categories.
Late in the decade the music started to shed light on and dancing was back in. Disco led the change and "the beat" and danceability of a song was back in the advance guard. But there was also a clique that was doing music that was more classy and even jazzy. The hippie bands were beginning to learn their craft and becoming better musicians and for a few of the people the music approached sophisticated jazz. Bands like Steely Dan and Santana followed this track.
Yet there was also a movement to go back to earlier, simpler rock styles. This is when New Wave and Punk bands started to emerge. They shunned long guitar solos and fancy arrangements and instrumentation and embraced the energy and the sounds of the 50's once again. Again, anybody may be in a band if they could play 2 of chords and apply the required energy.
In the 80's music was chipping into many camps. You had the hard rocking "hair" bands that concentrated on volume and guitar-based music. This was very hot. But you also had bands using the new instrument, "the synthesizer," to make music that had new sounds and probabilities. This instrument was used in both pop music and jazz rock to expand the vocabulary of the track.
Yet while all of these changes were taking place there had been an underlying musical style that often seemed to be there. As the "pop" styles came and went, there had been always "The Blues" and other roots oriented music to be heard somewhere. The camps for blues-based music were occasionally small and sometimes bigger (when there had been a popular renaissance). But the Blues was always being played somewhere.
I believe this fact is founded upon the actuality that many types of music are based mostly on The Blues. Who can argue that rock'n'roll came straight from the rhythm and blues bands of the 40's. And to some level, soul, country, and jazz all share commonality with the blues sound and practice. I imagine we all have grown up with blues music being around us.
It's just the American Way. After all , we invented it over 100 years back.
So , in preferred music change is unavoidable. Yet while things keep on changing, there are some parts that stay the same.
But some music is more popular than others at any given time. I say "any given time" because musical tastes change. What was well-liked in the 40's and 50's is not as popular today. The incontrovertible fact that tastes change is merely a undeniable fact.
Back in the 40's swing music and big bands were all the rage. Excepting a brief re-surge in the mid 90's this danceable, groovin ' music went out of favor in the 50's and except for the older generation that grew up on it, not a lot of people consider it their fave music.
In the 50's Rock and Roll took over. Stars like Elvis and Chuck Berry and hundreds of other music-makers created music to reach the desires and flavor of the new "teeny-boppers" of the Baby Boom generation. Yet they were all still dancing.
In the 60's, the hippies and counter culture adopted music that was a little bit further out. The music was evolving from the simple rock style into something much more adventurous and creative. Psychedelic music, as it was called, was "far out" with long leads and weird sounds and instrumentation. It was nearly a type of jazz with a "no holds barred" attitude, much like what the culture itself was experiencing. Folks stopped dancing and started listening far more closely.
By the 70's the music was following it's evolutionary path from the 60's. It was starting to separate into classes and bands started to specialize into particular styles. You had your folk rock and roll bands, your country rock bands, your hard rock groups and your jazz rock bands... And many other groupings. The time when a band would play every type of songs was just about over. Maybe the record corporations were the reason behind this. There was so much money involved now, they wanted to be well placed to "brand" bands into sellable categories.
Late in the decade the music started to shed light on and dancing was back in. Disco led the change and "the beat" and danceability of a song was back in the advance guard. But there was also a clique that was doing music that was more classy and even jazzy. The hippie bands were beginning to learn their craft and becoming better musicians and for a few of the people the music approached sophisticated jazz. Bands like Steely Dan and Santana followed this track.
Yet there was also a movement to go back to earlier, simpler rock styles. This is when New Wave and Punk bands started to emerge. They shunned long guitar solos and fancy arrangements and instrumentation and embraced the energy and the sounds of the 50's once again. Again, anybody may be in a band if they could play 2 of chords and apply the required energy.
In the 80's music was chipping into many camps. You had the hard rocking "hair" bands that concentrated on volume and guitar-based music. This was very hot. But you also had bands using the new instrument, "the synthesizer," to make music that had new sounds and probabilities. This instrument was used in both pop music and jazz rock to expand the vocabulary of the track.
Yet while all of these changes were taking place there had been an underlying musical style that often seemed to be there. As the "pop" styles came and went, there had been always "The Blues" and other roots oriented music to be heard somewhere. The camps for blues-based music were occasionally small and sometimes bigger (when there had been a popular renaissance). But the Blues was always being played somewhere.
I believe this fact is founded upon the actuality that many types of music are based mostly on The Blues. Who can argue that rock'n'roll came straight from the rhythm and blues bands of the 40's. And to some level, soul, country, and jazz all share commonality with the blues sound and practice. I imagine we all have grown up with blues music being around us.
It's just the American Way. After all , we invented it over 100 years back.
So , in preferred music change is unavoidable. Yet while things keep on changing, there are some parts that stay the same.
About the Author:
Rick Honeyboy Hart is an experienced blues guitarist. He's played in numerous bands over time and now helps others guitarists learn blues guitar on his web site www.BluesGuitarInsider.com
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