The EPIC End-of-Decade Listmaking Thread

Originally posted by uzless
Try again...no one bought your two line explanation

Ah! More uzless' delusions...

Originally posted by Palynka
Yes, there were already 2 recessions and a boom period in the 2000s, but you keep fitting whatever you like to which part you like.

Don't you just love all those degrees of freedom?

As long as one's back doesn't lock.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
When did you become interested in music?

Life Story Alert

I was raised in a Pentecostal household so I was not allowed to listen to so-called secular music when I was young. I used to listen to the worst Christian Rock you can imagine until I was about 10 years old. my favourites were Michael W. Smith, DC Talk and Carman.

It wasn't until my friend played me his copy of Guns N Roses Appetite for Destruction that my eyes were opened to what real rock and roll sounded like.

From there, we both discovered Metallica, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, Pantera, Slayer, etc.

Then came Junior High School and Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails.

Then came High School and Pavement, Six Finger Satellite, Jesus Lizard, Nomeansno, Sonic Youth.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Originally posted by darvlay
Pentecostal household

Poor thing...

Originally posted by Palynka
Poor thing...

Tell me about it...

Originally posted by darvlay

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Pentecostalists got riddim.

At what point did The Fall come into it?

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Pentecostalists got riddim.

At what point did The Fall come into it?

Not until university. I didn't really know much about "post-punk" (or whatever you want to call it), and other stuff before my time until Universtiy and the internet.

Originally posted by darvlay
Life Story Alert

I was raised in a Pentecostal household so I was not allowed to listen to so-called secular music when I was young. I used to listen to the worst Christian Rock you can imagine until I was about 10 years old. my favourites were Michael W. Smith, DC Talk and Carman.

It wasn't until my friend played me his copy of Guns N Roses ...[text shortened]... nger Satellite, Jesus Lizard, Nomeansno, Sonic Youth.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Seems we got into similar stuff, though in the mid eighties I also listened to the Cure,Smiths,REM andU2

Originally posted by uzless
ug, i tried to be a bit general for the ADD folks here who don't like details.

just for you palynka....

the 90's can be split into 2.

1990-1995 - economy was in a recession..music was dark/anger/angst exemplified by bands like Nirvana/Tool/SP/Jane's/AliceinChains/NIN etc

1996-2000 economy turned around...music turned around..grunge died and was re ...[text shortened]... ue to licensing issues...you might have learned something had I been able to post the link.

The study of music and how it reflects the changes going in society is a legitimate pursuit. But it's very easy to come up with some theory and then cherry-pick examples that confirm the theory and ignore everything that contradicts it. With the abundance of music that exists, this is just too easy to do.

I wish these sorts of things were done in a more scientific way. This would mean defining what constitutes an "important" song (probably based on some combination of chart and sales data) - and then finding a way to define what makes a song "happy", or "angry", or "depressing" or whatever. You could then collect data and figure out what time periods had "happier" music.

One assumption seems to be very questionable - the idea that happy people prefer happy music and sad/angry people prefer sad/angry music. This may be true for some people. But I can easily imagine sad/angry people wanting to hear happy music in an effort to lift their mood or otherwise escape their miserable existence - and I can imagine a happy person becoming more interested in the sad/angry stuff because they don't need to "escape". Once again, I would like to see some scientific data on this.

Originally posted by Melanerpes
The study of music and how it reflects the changes going in society is a legitimate pursuit. But it's very easy to come up with some theory and then cherry-pick examples that confirm the theory and ignore everything that contradicts it. With the abundance of music that exists, this is just too easy to do.

I wish these sorts of things were done in a mor ...[text shortened]... 't need to "escape". Once again, I would like to see some scientific data on this.

Another questionable thing is rating importance by sales; The Velvet Underground and Nico, surely one of the most important rock records of all time, barely made it into the Billboard Top 200.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Another questionable thing is rating importance by sales; The Velvet Underground and Nico, surely one of the most important rock records of all time, barely made it into the Billboard Top 200.

Same with the Pixies, very influential without ever becoming mainstream.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Another questionable thing is rating importance by sales; The Velvet Underground and Nico, surely one of the most important rock records of all time, barely made it into the Billboard Top 200.

If I was going to study the correlation between "public mood" and "prevailing musical tastes", I would want to focus on what the public at large was listening to. There are no doubt many important and influential recordings that appealed strongly to the critics and-or discriminating listeners, but which never gained widespread popularity (at least at the time they were released).

Although it might be interesting when looking at a given era to contrast the music that was critically acclaimed with the music that was the most popular.

Originally posted by darvlay
Life Story Alert

I was raised in a Pentecostal household so I was not allowed to listen to so-called secular music when I was young. I used to listen to the worst Christian Rock you can imagine until I was about 10 years old. my favourites were Michael W. Smith, DC Talk and Carman.

It wasn't until my friend played me his copy of Guns N Roses ...[text shortened]... nger Satellite, Jesus Lizard, Nomeansno, Sonic Youth.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Seems you might have learned somewhere in there some manners--like not calling people "Grandpa" when you know nothing about them, save some bits of logic that appear as words on your monitor...

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
Seems you might have learned somewhere in there some manners--like not calling people "Grandpa" when you know nothing about them, save some bits of logic that appear as words on your monitor...

Stuff it, Methuselah.

Originally posted by karoly aczel
Same with the Pixies, very influential without ever becoming mainstream.

Well, they became mainstream later, much like the Velvet Underground.