Remember When Music Was for Adults?

[Polymath257]

OK, thank you, sir, this is good perspective. I especially love "They were kids going off to war facing adult problems."

OK, perfect, my contention as a hobbyist who knows musicians addressing the time there is no way to get it in a record company. Once Reagan identified a youth culture, music was certainly dead and so were the icons who would later be adults and their audience grow with them

At this point, anything not completely constructed by the music industry, such as Harry Styles or Miley Cyrus, has no chance of ever getting in. So long as it addresses the world in a meaningful way, it will never make it to a record label and that is the death knell of most musicians who could be the Dylan's of our time.

One huge difference between then and now is that it is much easier to get out on the web and have your sound be heard without going through the record labels or radio stations. In the 60' and 70's, if you didn't get on the radio, you simply were not heard unless you had people spreading bootleg tapes (which happened). And the radio stations had an iron grip on what could go over the air. That's why many from this time had to 'hide' their messages behind symbolism that was opaque to the adults around them.

 

[Searching1981]

I never cared for Frank Sinatra until I was well into me 40s.
As he grew older, he became more interesting.....more adult, I'd say.

Adult music abounds in movies, Broadway, TV.
It might be a minority in some venues, but it exists.


Brain not working well.....head hurts....me own posts seem lower quality than usual.

Hey, that's not a bad post. I actually dig Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Tony Bennet and people like that who grew with their audience. What I'm pointing out is you will never see that again. Elvis was loved by all ages and so was Johnny Cash but you will never see that music again.

It's fine if people don't like my government conspiracy angle but there are valid financial reasons for it: streaming music pays artist so little you always have to be sponsored by the industry to get even a portion of your wealth and this after the 80's where the music industry was out of control with fraud.

 

[Searching1981]

You are dead wrong. There is plenty of music intended for adults. It just takes some effort. It's not like you are going to hear it on the radio. It's up to you to seek it out ... no one is going to spoon feed it to you.

Well, share it, this is the thread to share it. Let me edit my OP to ask people to share it. It doesn't do the artist any good to keep it hidden to yourself. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Eliab ben Benjamin]

Yes bring back Gracie Fields, Vera Lynn et al.
Oh and John Denver
Gigglez

 

[Nietzsche]

At this point, anything not completely constructed by the music industry, such as Harry Styles or Miley Cyrus, has no chance of ever getting in. So long as it addresses the world in a meaningful way, it will never make it to a record label and that is the death knell of most musicians who could be the Dylan's of our time.

I'm going to assume you don't know much about the Metal scene? That's a genuine question.

 

[Revoltingest]

Hey, that's not a bad post. I actually dig Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Tony Bennet and people like that who grew with their audience. What I'm pointing out is you will never see that again. Elvis was loved by all ages and so was Johnny Cash but you will never see that music again.

It's fine if people don't like my government conspiracy angle but there are valid financial reasons for it: streaming music pays artist so little you always have to be sponsored by the industry to get even a portion of your wealth and this after the 80's where the music industry was out of control with fraud.

We still have adults offering music for their kind.....
Kristin Chenoweth, Idena Menzel, Barbara Cook, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Kelsey Grammer, Rachel Bloom, etc.

 

[Searching1981]

I'm going to assume you don't know much about the Metal scene? That's a genuine question.

When I hear Metal now I hear I IV V (a very, very simple chord progression) with no solo, or meaningless solo, no meaningful lyrics, glosses of Red States, and people who are out of shape wearing glasses. Not my scene. But post it and I will dissect it for you. (NOTE: I play Guitar and all the Guitar Magazines only show Metal)

Now, keep in mind I like 80's Metal like Eddie Van Halen, like Metallica, like Rat, like Def Leopard..and more but they were genius doing something beyond the label of Metal and they were cool and they were from Blue States..

 

[Searching1981]

One huge difference between then and now is that it is much easier to get out on the web and have your sound be heard without going through the record labels or radio stations. In the 60' and 70's, if you didn't get on the radio, you simply were not heard unless you had people spreading bootleg tapes (which happened). And the radio stations had an iron grip on what could go over the air. That's why many from this time had to 'hide' their messages behind symbolism that was opaque to the adults around them.

You're a good man, sir, but here you are getting theoretical. What I mean by that is there are venues for musicians to get their songs out there, I know this as a hobbyist. Here is one such venue and it sounds cool but it is not:

https://www.cdbaby.com/Landing.aspx

This site seems perfect for self publishing, putting it on many streaming music platforms. But the problem? Look how much you get per click in royalties: you get something like 0.00001 cent per click. Do the Math, you would have to be bigger than some of the biggest out there to even scrape by with a lower middle class income. So, at this point the music industry is worse and more in control of the message.

 

[Nietzsche]

When I hear Metal now I hear I IV V (a very, very simple chord progression) with no solo, or meaningless solo, no meaningful lyrics, glosses of Red States, and people who are out of shape wearing glasses. Not my scene. But post it and I will dissect it for you. (NOTE: I play Guitar and all the Guitar Magazines only show Metal)

Now, keep in mind I like 80's Metal like Eddie Van Halen, like Metallica, like Rat, like Def Leopard..and more but they were genius doing something beyond the label of Metal and they were cool and they were from Blue States..

Modern American metal is kinda garbage, no arguments there. However, European is simply amazing. Lots of Manowar, Meatloaf and Queen influences.

When I get some time I'll link you to some of my favorites but for now, I suggest looking into bands like Blind Guardian, Sabaton, Tyr, Rebellion, Alestorm, and if you don't mind tongue in cheek, purposely over the top stuff, Powerwolf is a thing of beauty.

 

[Desert Snake]

Confirmation bias thread?

 

[Skwim]

That's a good point...but Rock, R&B, Soul, Jazz, Funk unlike modern versions of it was not for kids. Look at the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bobby Blue Bland, Bill Withers, Santana...if you read their lyrics this was not kids music.

Not saying the music was for kids, but that those under twenty-one finally found a sound that not only appealed to their parents but themselves as well. The music buying demographic became a bit younger. Then when Elvis Presley and rock and roll hit, that demographic really changed. The music buying public continued to buy show tunes, jazz, funk, country, blues, and the crooners, but not like it bought rock and roll and doo woop. The other forms became a secondary market, continuing to be shut out by new groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and folk, punk, disco, hip hop, rap, heavy metal music, etc. etc. And so the diversity of the chart toppers continued. Tuneful music having given way to incoherent screaming and electronic wailings and drumings that appeal more to one's viscera than to the ear. Not saying this is bad, only that tastes have radically changed since music began appealing to younger people in the 40s.

OK, let me rewrite the question: what music out there is for adults?

Because the range of favorite music among adults today span so many years, 70+, and, for whatever reason, we prefer the music we "grew up with" it's impossible to pin down. By in large people in their 70s like rock and roll, whereas those only ten years younger seem to prefer the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and folk music.

.

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

"Talking 'bout my generation"
"Schools out for the summer"
"Ain't no cure for the summer time blues"
"Hello little school girl"

 

[Jumi]

No I don't remember. There never was such a time.

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

Just like there is homophobia there is also heterophobia and all gays have it.

Because gays fearing the group of people (straights) who've been trying to deny them basic human rights, dignity or even to stamp them out altogether in almost every society for the last millennium or two is an 'irrational fear'.

 

[Kapalika]

You have to be living under a very very big rock to not know of any music directed at adults. Like, I'd say 90% of music is directed at adults. It's not music's fault that the crappy top 1% of music is all the same and intended demographics so wide that it has some marketing towards teenagers.

I'm actually having trouble thinking of what music I listen to that is particularly kid friendly. Though I listen to mostly metal and electronic genres that are not particularly popular due to obscurity and being too complex for the typically musically illiterate that is the majority of humans.

Or just too weird or otherwise inaccessible because everyone thinks all art is like a political cartoon where you are supposed to "get it" in an instant.

?

No mental gymnastics just honest truth. It's very simple when you are straight, you really don't understand gays and their music and their modern control of music and you resent it as a straight musician. Just like there is homophobia there is also heterophobia and all gays have it.

You sound like the kind of person who likes to say "everyone is racist" to justify your own racism. I imagine you are doing the same here with your homophobia.

Good, point...but people in their thirties felt that way and it was written by people in their thirties at times or nearing it. What does Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds mean? Look it up? What does Wild Horses Mean, coming from a Father. What does Eric Clapton's Tears from Heaven mean? All this is Rock, Blues and it was consumed by adults. What does Pink Floyd mean?

What is the modern equivalent if it exists?

It means whatever you want it to mean to you. Art isn't something that has a definite meaning, unless I guess the artist intended something to very blatant. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds could mean LSD or it could mean nothing, but it really doesn't matter.

What does this mean?

Full-On Guitar (Demo)

I wrote this, recorded it, did everything. And I don't even know what it means. I couldn't even think of a name for it at the time That sentiment is pretty common among artists, so if even they don't know, how can anyone say what the "real" meaning is?

To one person, it was about being in an Indiana Jones style adventure. To another it was good ritual music. To me it originally was a trippy rock, trance induced excitement, something unusually upbeat for me, but it took on a different meaning after I got other opinions and came back to it later.

 

[omega2xx]

Well, it is a boring Sunday Afternoon and I decided to start a discussion on Music because Music is dear to me.

The Topic? Remember when Music was for Adults?

I can relate to pretty much all recorded music before around the time of 2005. I can relate to the Swing of the Roaring Twenties and the Musical Show Tunes of the time; I can relate to the incoming Holy Blues and Jazz; of course, I can relate Rock of the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties and Nineties; of course, I can relate to the Rap and Hip Hop Revolution of the Eighties and Nineties just as I can Soul, Funk and R&B which birthed it. Everything international from Afro-Cuban, to Jamaican Reggae, Latin Jazz and Rock is all beautiful.

What is the common theme of all this music? It was all meant to be consumed by adults. The dark themes, the brooding philosophy, the joyous complexity of it's thought all of it had something for an adult to listen to, understand and appreciate.

Now, music is written for children Nietzsche wrote, "without music life would not make much sense." It sure seems that way. Now that music, all music, only appeals to a twelve year old well life sure seems stupid.

There is hope out there. Here is the hope:

1) Jazz is coming back and that is signalling a time when Blues and Rock come back.
2) If you live in a Blue State or Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, Florida there is a vibrant music scene where Jazz, Blues, Rock, Rap and Hip Hop are being produced.

Cheers!

Update: Share adult driven music if you know it. This is also the thread to share that. By adult I mean something someone could gratefully consume it past 25 to old Age.

I have yet to understand why someone with a bad voice screaming into a mike is considered music.

 

[Augustus]

What is the common theme of all this music? It was all meant to be consumed by adults. The dark themes, the brooding philosophy, the joyous complexity of it's thought all of it had something for an adult to listen to, understand and appreciate.

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be...

 

[SomeRandom]

I'm actually having trouble thinking of what music I listen to that is particularly kid friendly. Though I listen to mostly metal and electronic genres that are not particularly popular due to obscurity and being too complex for the typically musically illiterate that is the majority of humans.

Lol "kid friendly." I remember back on the playground we were all singing stuff like 2Pac, Biggie Smalls, Eminem, Baby Got Back (the big butts song) and Informer (which was hard af) much to the dismay of our teachers. I think the bubblegum pop stuff like Barbie Girl or I dunno Oh Mickey or whatever we either mocked or recoiled from, depending on how catchy the song was.

 

[Thief]

the Pale Emperor.....Marilyn Manson

very adult music

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I'm writing to hope to connect with other musicians and music lovers?

Musician here. Long time electric guitarist, mostly a fan of rock and blues. My avatar might mean something to you. If not, meet Red, one of the Jerry Bears that became part of the Grateful Dead's iconography early in their careers. I'm 62, and grew up in LA in the late sixties, early seventies. We all bought tons of music - vinyl then - and played an instrument, formed garage bands, and mostly played improvisational stuff - but not jazz.

You were soliciting musical choices. Here's the music I would share if I had to pick a single piece:

It features Duane Allman (slide guitar) and Eric Clapton soloing in the same song - two of the best, most passionate improvised guitar solos ever in my opinion.

It's a great blues about loving another man's woman that I'm sure you know, and it comes off of one of what I think most of us would call the most important albums from its era - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs - on a par with the Dark Side of the Moon and the Beatles White Album or Abbey Road.

Here are the essential lyrics

"Have you ever loved a woman so much you tremble in pain? And all the time you know she bears another man's name. But you just love that woman so much it's a shame and a sin. But all the time you know she belongs to your very best friend. Have you ever loved a woman and you know you can't leave her alone? Something deep inside of you won't let you wreck your best friend's home."

What I like about this piece is the way the two guitarists capture the agony and passion indicated in the lyrics in two very different styles of guitaring. Hear these guitars cry and moan to express that pain and decide if they tell the same story as the lyrics.

And of course, it's no secret that Eric Clapton had such an affair with George Harrison's wife, although this song was not written by him.

If you want to skip ahead to the guitar solos, Duane's starts at about 2:33, and goes two verses (12 bar blues, so 24 bars).

Clapton comes in at about 4:14 for 24 more bars, although he's been doing a lot more than chording behind Allman during his solos.

Keep the lyrics in mind when listening to the instrumental passages. I hear whimpering, pleading, and angry frustration there. And don't fail to notice

Unfortunately, although the original recording was solid, there are some problems with this video's sound track, but nothing you can't overlook: