Will all musical decades look great in hindsight?
I know the relatively recent BBC4 Pop On Trial series has been discussed elsewhere on this esteemed site, but I was listening to a compliation of 60s tracks earlier today and found myself thinking how great it all sounded.
Then I stopped and thought: 'Hang on, not everything that was put out in the decade was that great, was it?'
It's always easy to pull out the highlights of a particular era or decade and make it look rose-tinted, citing various new musical movements, genres or even one-off artists who stand up as legends.
So will the Noughties cut it in years to come, and for that matter, will all subsequent decades always look great in hindsight?
Am I just getting old when I say that there seems to be more dross than ever, or did I just overlook the cack that came out in the 70s, 80s and 90s (erm, not old enough to remember further back)?
For all their popularity, the likes of Dido and James Blunt must sit higher on the dung heap than the likes of Bryan Adams or Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love You, mustn't they?
I know nostalgia ain't what it used to be (arf, arf), but were the 60s really that great?
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60s
If I am being totally honest I would say I don't really think the explosion of great pop and rock from around 65 to 70 has ever been surpassed and never will be - just thinking about the sheer quantity and variety of classic albums and singles produced then. It's not nostalgia - I wasn't much aware of good music until the mid seventies.
But there's been plenty of good stuff since and it's still being made.
It's Number 1, it's Top Of The Pops...
The thing that gives the 60s an edge is the number of great records that were proper, huge selling chart hits. Here is a list of the UK number 1 singles in 1966. Here is a list of the UK number 1 singles in 2007.
Striking!
You can't really argue with that I think
Reading those two charts...
has made me feel quite depressed.
That's interesting
because I don't actually look at the 2007 list and get too depressed.
What I wonder is, was there a major 'underground' or 'alternative' music scene in the 60s.
It seems to me that as the decades have progressed, not only have genres diversified massively, but also there's been a cultural shift with lots of different fanbases wanting to distance themselves from those acts that top the charts... Word magazine is no different in many respects.
60s Underground/Alternative
Loads of soul, ska, psychedelia and garage stuff now being re-issued didn't bother the charts so I would consider that underground or alternative. Plenty of people who are now considered mainstream would have been considered underground at the time. Zapps, Velvet Underground, Love to name 3.
Here is the playlist for John Peel's last Perfumed Garden in August 1967.
As I said in my original post, it's the number of great records in the top 10 that give the 60s an edge. If you look at music released you can make a pretty good case for most decades. as discussed on this thread.
Absolutely...
...even as a 20 year old I'd say British rock is in something of a poor state. Can't think of many new bands I like (I wouldn't say bands like Elbow or Muse or Radiohead are new- been around for some time)- not so much America or even other parts of Europe, but the glut of terrible Libertines clones and post-punk indebted types we have here over the past few years beggars belief. I was staggered to hear Foals' latest single recently; staggered, because I'd already heard that kind of jerky, 'angular' post-punk stuff from Bloc Party about 3 or 4 years ago. And yet, Foals are hyped as 'the next big thing'...does 'the next big thing' have to be indebted to post-punk?? Or is their album considerably different, and I've done them a massive disservice?
I wouldn't really judge too much on the pop charts, though. Whilst there's a lot of 60s pop I love and indeed it's my favourite decade for pop music, it's interesting to note that a widely regarded masterpiece like The Beatles' double header 'Strawberry Fields Forever'/'Penny Lane' was kept off the top by Engelbert Humperdinck's 'Release Me'. So there has always been a long tradition of sentimental ballads selling in droves, really, whether it be Humperdinck or Blunt. I remember being stunned by the awfulness of some of the singles charts of the 70s and a recent repeat of a TOTP Xmas special from 1978, so dross has always been around.
Up until the late 1950s,
this country was still in the shadow of WW2; even food rationing hadn't yet stopped. The 60s saw the new possibilities of peace in our time, the white heat of technology and so on; it was a decade of promise and optimism. The old and the young alike sought expression and had (some) money to spend on things that were finally available to buy again.
What makes the 60s odd is that the pre-war songs of the music hall, the big band sounds of the war years AND the new sounds of rock 'n' roll and pop were all playing on a single stage.