Alice Cooper for President!

[TAE]

Wow...guess I'm super lucky....or have a terrible ear The whole family sings damn well...My 3 older sisters would do these harmonies back in the day that were seriously money ....There is some magic when siblings can harmonize and for sure had they pursued it, they could have been pros. Alas that was not something any of them wanted they just had fun pulling it off at home.

Both my daughters have awesome pipes ...My oldest actually got to sing the national anthem at Dodgers stadium once...proud papa moment....and the wife who says she can't sing and would never dream of singing publicly actually has a great voice that only my kids and grand kids heard when they were little and she'd sing to them...she definitely has a good ear and can spot off key in a heart beat with a cringe....

 

[Snowman999]

Wow...guess I'm super lucky....or have a terrible ear The whole family sings damn well...My 3 older sisters would do these harmonies back in the day that were seriously money ....There is some magic when siblings can harmonize and for sure had they pursued it, they could have been pros. Alas that was not something any of them wanted they just had fun pulling it off at home.

Both my daughters have awesome pipes ...My oldest actually got to sing the national anthem at Dodgers stadium once...proud papa moment....and the wife who says she can't sing and would never dream of singing publicly actually has a great voice that only my kids and grand kids heard when they were little and she'd sing to them...she definitely has a good ear and can spot off key in a heart beat with a cringe....

Wow, sing at Dodger Stadium CONGRATS! Was it a choir, school band? You better not say solo. Let me send some songs for your wife to listen to, she'll be cringing all night.

I was lucky with my parents also, but in a different way. Neither sang or played. But, mom listened to swing and rock and roll, and dad listened to country. So, we had it all. Being the freak I am, I'd go to flea markets and pick up great album covers for a quarter a piece. So, as a kid I had The New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Suzi Quatro... How could you not buy Black Sabbath's albums just for the cover art? Remember when the graphics helped sell albums? Today I was in a music store and all I saw was shit for artwork. Of course back then, they had the music to back it all up.

 

[Snowman999]

I know a few people that don't listen to my music.
Like the entire current population of earth !

People do not listen to music the way we did. It's the same with movies. They're declining art forms. It's horrifying in my opinion.

 

[grimtraveller]

People do not listen to music the way we did. It's the same with movies. They're declining art forms

I struggle with this......because I'd like to agree, yet my memory doesn't allow me to forget that when I was younger, loads and loads of people listened to music just the way we say younger people listen to it today. Same with TV and films......not everyone was studious about the art that was entertainment. Most people I knew didn't really look at album covers. They saw them, but they didn't look at them. A number of my friends {especially female} would just have the telly on, not really watching what was on. They would say they just wanted "background noise"......it used to drive me nuts. Because I studied LP covers, I studied what I listened to, I didn't study what I watched but it wasn't just mindless "eye on the telly and mind switched off" type stuff either. The way I listen to music hasn't changed since the 70s. It's developed and progressed but it's essentially the same. But I was always conscious that I didn't know many that took it the way I did.
I think I'm starting to see that actually, there wasn't once this golden period when everybody took music with a certain seriousness, that in truth there has always been a mixed bag, a sliding scale. But that I've remained consistent to the way I developed within that.

 

[Orson]

Music is just the same. It is massively cheaper than 40-50 years ago to produce a song on file or disc and video. The result is there is a million times more of it out there by a million more producers.

I think its even more listened to and watched but peoples tastes have changed. When we watch something now we want to watch shorter length things instead of 90 to 120 minute epics. Do we listen to the end of a song anymore or do we cut and play the next track?

 

[TAE]

Wow, sing at Dodger Stadium CONGRATS! Was it a choir, school band? You better not say solo.

Yeah man she was 18 and she stood out there on home plate and sung her heart out all by her lonesome... There was my kid on the big screen and on TV for millions to see....I'd a shit my britches trying to pull that off at 18.

 

[grimtraveller]

Do we listen to the end of a song anymore or do we cut and play the next track?

This is where I say my musical listening habits haven't changed since the 70s. I only listen to the songs I want to listen to, I haven't really listened to music radio since 1976, on all my albums I only have the songs I like and not only do I listen to them to the end, many times I'll play it again and again and again. I've been recently known to play the same song for a week !

 

[DM60]

I think this was taken a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Snowman999]

I struggle with this......because I'd like to agree, yet my memory doesn't allow me to forget that when I was younger, loads and loads of people listened to music just the way we say younger people listen to it today. Same with TV and films......not everyone was studious about the art that was entertainment. Most people I knew didn't really look at album covers. They saw them, but they didn't look at them. A number of my friends {especially female} would just have the telly on, not really watching what was on. They would say they just wanted "background noise"......it used to drive me nuts. Because I studied LP covers, I studied what I listened to, I didn't study what I watched but it wasn't just mindless "eye on the telly and mind switched off" type stuff either. The way I listen to music hasn't changed since the 70s. It's developed and progressed but it's essentially the same. But I was always conscious that I didn't know many that took it the way I did.
I think I'm starting to see that actually, there wasn't once this golden period when everybody took music with a certain seriousness, that in truth there has always been a mixed bag, a sliding scale. But that I've remained consistent to the way I developed within that.

I don't know. I just think about the music we had in our time, and what's being released now (over the past 20 years) and it doesn't even come close to comparison. I watch a ton of movies, and I'd wager that 60-70% of recorded songs used in budgeted films use classic music as opposed to new music. I rarely hear modern music in any store. I don't see young people walking down the street with earbuds in. When I pull up next to cars with radios on, it's usually talk I hear coming out of the car. Seriously, why the hell do you have to blast talk radio? It is what it is. I still love hearing new music and even old things I never gave a listen to.

I remember Gram Parsons death in all the music magazines back in 73, and the controversy over his body being stolen. I never listened to him. Lucinda Williams and Patty Griffin (two of my favorites who I first heard in the movie Niagra Niagra, great soundtrack) used to mention him as a huge influence. Last week I was in a record shop and found his combined GP/Grievous Angel CD cheap. I now understand why so many love him. Better late than never.

Yeah man she was 18 and she stood out there on home plate and sung her heart out all by her lonesome... There was my kid on the big screen and on TV for millions to see....I'd a shit my britches trying to pull that off at 18.

WOW. Okay, next question: How and why did they choose your daughter to sing at Dodger Stadium?

Music is just the same. It is massively cheaper than 40-50 years ago to produce a song on file or disc and video. The result is there is a million times more of it out there by a million more producers.

I think its even more listened to and watched but peoples tastes have changed. When we watch something now we want to watch shorter length things instead of 90 to 120 minute epics. Do we listen to the end of a song anymore or do we cut and play the next track?

I will merely disagree that people listen more than they used to. Tastes of course change with the times. I agree attention span has shortened. That's not a good thing.

I tell all my friends (we're all old farts) that we're at the point in life where we talk about how crappy things have gotten, the same way our grandparents did when we were growing up. The difference being, rock and roll is great, music did not decline. It's certainly not swing or Pat Boone pop. But, still great. Where's the modern musical ingenuity? It has to come from youth. Page said in that interview, (paraphrasing) he still goes to clubs to hear live music, and see how people are using their instruments today. When asked what's the difference between the times he said "We were interested in capturing a performance. Now, it's done broken down to the syllable." He's so correct. Modern music is the technology, not the music, which is ass backward. There's still great songs being recorded. It's just much harder to find them. Cayetana who I first heard in the movie Fighting with my Family, broke up after two indie releases.

50s came rock and roll. 60s - psychedelic, Motown. 70s - Punk and disco. 80s - New Wave , metal hair bands and rap. 90s - grunge and hip hop. 21st century? The newest sounds are types of rave music, which are basically rhythm tracks and completely unmemorable. Who needs melody in music it's the 21st century?

Anyone born after 1990 has no experience in hearing a new musical genre that turns the world on its ear.

 

[Orson]

Anyone born after 1990 has no experience in hearing a new musical genre that turns the world on its ear.

I think some of the 1990's UK music was very good. Excluding the SpiceGirls and other girl and boybands there was some fantastic music produced.

The Progidy's 'Fat Of The Land' was brilliant.......... and I'm a rocker. There was some really great 90's music. Ok it may not have been done on guitar and drums but it was still good stuff.

Suede..........Blur......Supertramp.......Oasis.......Shaggy......Scatman.....Primus........theres tons of bands who made a great tune or two from the 90's.

 

[TAE]

WOW. Okay, next question: How and why did they choose your daughter to sing at Dodger Stadium?

Ok to make a short story long.... Both my girls have super cool pipes and both were fortunate enough to have a high school choir director who was way above his pay grade knew how to bring out the best of the good and even the not so good.

The wife used to be in banking and did a lot of the local socializing like smoozing in the chamber of commerce and one of the local events she got involved in when my girls were little was the Miss Covina pageant which was part of the Miss America pageant...Well I think that is where the seed was planted and the older of the two who is just a real outgoing A personality type person aspired to compete and her talent was singing...Well she won which meant she then had to represent Covina in the Miss California pageant..BTW the whole pageant thing from a Dad perspective is weird ass shit. It was a strange experience but there she was competing for Miss California. She did not win but... Not really sure how it happened but in these social things there are a lot of politicians, movers n shakers and someone there who had heard her sing put it out that if she was open to it they would like her to sing at Dodger stadium. And that's how it all came to be.

She never joined a band and though she loves to sing, it is a rare occurrence. She sang Hole in my Heart by Jewel and I accompanied her on piano at my Mom's funeral and left everyone there balling their eyes out. She works as an admin for a school district and every now and then she'll belt out a song for some event..

Below is the video of my precious kid barely 18 doing her thing at Dodger Stadium. This was in 2001..

 

[spantini]

That was very nice. Thank you. It's refreshing to hear a straight forward performance of this favorite.

 

[TAE]

I don't know. I just think about the music we had in our time, and what's being released now (over the past 20 years) and it doesn't even come close to comparison.

I suppose it's all subjective The youth will be the ruin of our world has been an underlying theme for the elders of most societies for 1000's of years.

Memories are very jaded and science has shown that we all screw it up in how we remember...some worse than others but we all do. Good gets better and the bad gets worse... and the facts get real blurry...

I really am not a fan of "beats" and Techno and Rap but I have heard really decent creative stuff come out of all of it...but mainstream pop and rock IMO we have a shot load of really talented people out there...Sadly it is a business and always has been but with computers and analytics ithas really sterilized the main stuff we see and hear...

But watch the young and the raw and you'll be pleasantly surprised that musical creativity is alive n well...The Music Machine can't kill it because it is from the universe ( God) and inspires all who participate in making music.

One really popular young man is Shawn Mendez...Yeah they will totally commercialize him but check out his early stuff...brilliant player and songwriter in my dusty old fart opinion.




I also dig Nate Ruess of Fun that song " We are young" kicks ass again in my demented old man thinking.. I know it's not Love it to death Alice Cooper Rock n Roll.....but there are youngsters still out there making that kind of music...Sadly in 2021 a song like "long way to go" (Love it to death) by ol Alice is highly unlikely to get the youth of our world( I'm tellin ya they are the ruin) to go click crazy on it make it go viral and it get world wide airplay...



I remember in the Cave about 10 or 15 years ago having this same type of conversation...and Pink was brought up...she kicks ass

I wrote a little diddly @ 15 -20 years ago that went

I remember last December
Or was it July?
I really can't remember
I don't try

Cause that was then and this is now and things have changed
Names and faces , games and places rearranged..

 

[Snowman999]

Ok to make a short story long.... Both my girls have super cool pipes and both were fortunate enough to have a high school choir director who was way above his pay grade knew how to bring out the best of the good and even the not so good.

The wife used to be in banking and did a lot of the local socializing like smoozing in the chamber of commerce and one of the local events she got involved in when my girls were little was the Miss Covina pageant which was part of the Miss America pageant...Well I think that is where the seed was planted and the older of the two who is just a real outgoing A personality type person aspired to compete and her talent was singing...Well she won which meant she then had to represent Covina in the Miss California pageant..BTW the whole pageant thing from a Dad perspective is weird ass shit. It was a strange experience but there she was competing for Miss California. She did not win but... Not really sure how it happened but in these social things there are a lot of politicians, movers n shakers and someone there who had heard her sing put it out that if she was open to it they would like her to sing at Dodger stadium. And that's how it all came to be.

She never joined a band and though she loves to sing, it is a rare occurrence. She sang Hole in my Heart by Jewel and I accompanied her on piano at my Mom's funeral and left everyone there balling their eyes out. She works as an admin for a school district and every now and then she'll belt out a song for some event..

Below is the video of my precious kid barely 18 doing her thing at Dodger Stadium. This was in 2001..

Pretty as a picture and sounds GREAT!

 

[Snowman999]

I suppose it's all subjective The youth will be the ruin of our world has been an underlying theme for the elders of most societies for 1000's of years.

Before the 60s this country had immense problems in "everyone being equal". It's not perfect in 2020, but it's a hell of a lot better. Look at what the kids of today are fighting for. There are good justified fights, and then there's the shit that's going on now. A guy rushes a cop with a knife, is shot and killed and there's a week of rioting. Is that a good winnable fight? Is it even sane? Somethings aren't subjective. Sometimes it's just right and wrong.

Memories are very jaded and science has shown that we all screw it up in how we remember...some worse than others but we all do. Good gets better and the bad gets worse... and the facts get real blurry...

I really am not a fan of "beats" and Techno and Rap but I have heard really decent creative stuff come out of all of it...but mainstream pop and rock IMO we have a shot load of really talented people out there...Sadly it is a business and always has been but with computers and analytics ithas really sterilized the main stuff we see and hear...

But watch the young and the raw and you'll be pleasantly surprised that musical creativity is alive n well...The Music Machine can't kill it because it is from the universe ( God) and inspires all who participate in making music.

There will always be good musicians and music. But, there was a century of creative genius that shaped culture and the way we live. NOTHING like that has happened this century. Over twenty years of nothing new. I'm listening to Cayetana who I think are fabulous. But, they're certainly not original. They just write great songs.

I remember in the Cave about 10 or 15 years ago having this same type of conversation...and Pink was brought up...she kicks ass

I wrote a little diddly @ 15 -20 years ago that went

I remember last December
Or was it July?
I really can't remember
I don't try

Cause that was then and this is now and things have changed
Names and faces , games and places rearranged..

Nice lyrics.

 

[Snowman999]

I think some of the 1990's UK music was very good. Excluding the SpiceGirls and other girl and boybands there was some fantastic music produced.

The Progidy's 'Fat Of The Land' was brilliant.......... and I'm a rocker. There was some really great 90's music. Ok it may not have been done on guitar and drums but it was still good stuff.

Suede..........Blur......Supertramp.......Oasis.......Shaggy......Scatman.....Primus........theres tons of bands who made a great tune or two from the 90's.

The 90s (IMO) was the beginning of the end. There were some great bands and songs. But, I said born after 1990 because you really don't grasp music till you're a teenager. I've loved music since I was a baby. But, I've found that most people (at least the people I hang out with) their favorite bands are when they're in their teens. So, if you were born in 1990, your "music" would be from the early 2000s.

 

[grimtraveller]

There will always be good musicians and music. But, there was a century of creative genius that shaped culture and the way we live. NOTHING like that has happened this century. Over twenty years of nothing new

The thing is, there was so much creative and innovative stuff in the 20th century that really, the ramifications of that explosively fertile and creative period are part of the music of the 21st. If you really think about it, music listening wasn't widespread until radio, then stereos and these occurred in the 20th century en masse. Therefore, the inspiration was so much wider spread, as were the huge number of imitations {meant in the nicest possible way} and possible fusions and directions one could be inspired to go in. And something really important and overlooked, something we are at the vanguard of ~ the notion of the ordinary Joe or Josephine either embarking on a musical career {and its associated fields of engineering, journalism, instrument building etc, etc} or people being able to just write and record songs they like, much of which they write.
By the way, I'm not so sure I'd agree that nothing new has happened in the last 20 years.

I'm listening to Cayetana who I think are fabulous. But, they're certainly not original. They just write great songs

But that has always been the case with the overwhelming majority of artists of any era, particularly the 20th century. Innovators are few and far between. Those writing great songs are not. What would you rather be known for, originality {that may actually be near unlistenable} or writing great songs that people love ?
And when we use a term like 'originality' what do we actually mean ? That's a kind of paradoxical term.

---------- Update ----------

What would you rather be known for, originality or writing great songs that people love ?

I'm greedy. I want both !

 

[Snowman999]

The thing is, there was so much creative and innovative stuff in the 20th century that really, the ramifications of that explosively fertile and creative period are part of the music of the 21st. If you really think about it, music listening wasn't widespread until radio, then stereos and these occurred in the 20th century en masse. Therefore, the inspiration was so much wider spread, as were the huge number of imitations {meant in the nicest possible way} and possible fusions and directions one could be inspired to go in. And something really important and overlooked, something we are at the vanguard of ~ the notion of the ordinary Joe or Josephine either embarking on a musical career {and its associated fields of engineering, journalism, instrument building etc, etc} or people being able to just write and record songs they like, much of which they write.
By the way, I'm not so sure I'd agree that nothing new has happened in the last 20 years.
But that has always been the case with the overwhelming majority of artists of any era, particularly the 20th century. Innovators are few and far between. Those writing great songs are not. What would you rather be known for, originality {that may actually be near unlistenable} or writing great songs that people love ?
And when we use a term like 'originality' what do we actually mean ? That's a kind of paradoxical term.

---------- Update ----------

I'm greedy. I want both !

I can break this down (I'm sure I'll miss something along the way. But, you'll get the gist).

1950s: Poodle skirts, slicked hair, rock and roll. Style and music created something totally new.
1960s: Long hair on men, smoking weed, Rock & Roll psychedelics. Style and music created something totally new.
1970s: Polyester and disco. Punk and pins. Music and style created something totally new.
1980s: Excess, big shoulder pads, New Wave/Romantic, hair metal music. Rap and break dancing. Style and music created something totally new.
1990s: Grunge brought it all to an end. Plaid shirts and no style.
2000s: Fill in the blank... What style and music was created for something totally new?

You can trace back jazz, country, and other forms of music/style back to at least the roaring twenties.

Technology has advanced to the point we can sit and speak in real time over a screen. Record on a cell phone. Yet not one frightening beautiful new art/style has risen from these advancements.

If you search hard enough, you can always find a great new song. It's just much harder. You have to wade through mounds of absolute crap to find a good one. That's sad. Last century you didn't have to.

For originality I'll merely point to the name on this thread. The Alice Cooper band took rock and created a singularly original sound and experience.

 

[Orson]

I can break this down (I'm sure I'll miss something along the way. But, you'll get the gist).

1950s: Poodle skirts, slicked hair, rock and roll. Style and music created something totally new.
1960s: Long hair on men, smoking weed, Rock & Roll psychedelics. Style and music created something totally new.
1970s: Polyester and disco. Punk and pins. Music and style created something totally new.
1980s: Excess, big shoulder pads, New Wave/Romantic, hair metal music. Rap and break dancing. Style and music created something totally new.
1990s: Grunge brought it all to an end. Plaid shirts and no style.
2000s: Fill in the blank... What style and music was created for something totally new?

You can trace back jazz, country, and other forms of music/style back to at least the roaring twenties.

Technology has advanced to the point we can sit and speak in real time over a screen. Record on a cell phone. Yet not one frightening beautiful new art/style has risen from these advancements.

If you search hard enough, you can always find a great new song. It's just much harder. You have to wade through mounds of absolute crap to find a good one. That's sad. Last century you didn't have to.

For originality I'll merely point to the name on this thread. The Alice Cooper band took rock and created a singularly original sound and experience.

You missed out quite a lot there but I doubt the fashion had much if anything to do with making the music. It was more like trying something new in fashion just as others did in music.

Perhaps the answer to your point is that by 2000's everything new that could have been done had been done?

 

[grimtraveller]

I think 'new and original' is sometimes overrated. That was what I was getting at. The 20th century had so much innovation musically {the fashion stuff was retreads ~ men had long hair centuries before the 1960s. Just look at old portraits from bygone eras} that there is much for newer bands to mine, refine and be innovative within. Just because you don't invent a genre {and by definition, even if you don't subscribe to genres being evolutions, which I do}, it doesn't mean that by operating within a particular genre that you won't knock out good original work. David Bowie {just one example among thousands I could name} did not innovate a single genre in his whole career. He utilized many already existing styles of music and fashion. But you can't convince me he was not really original in his music. He wrote great songs for the best part of 49 years.