Bands And Albums.

As a collector of 650 albums from 1900 to the 1980, when CD's took over, I have come to several opinons about music in America.

I believe the music is "generational" in America. That is to say that there is a 15 year "window" in everyone's life where that type of music appeals to them and their generation only. The time you went to school in America.

I was born in 1952. My window of music is from 1957 to 1972. And music played above or below that time frame is hard for me to listen to unless it is a song so well written that it is considered to be a "standard" or classic song. These songs transend the ages and can be listened to by people of all ages at any time.

Every decade of the 1900's had a different beat and a different sound. I encourage all musicians of our day to explorer and look back to the music in every decade of the 1900's. That is, to see where our "beat" has been, and where it is is going in modern music today.

Test yourself. Play music outside of the 15 year "window" that you went to school here in this country, and see for yourself if you can listen to music that is outside of your "beat".

I was born in 53.
I've got probably 400 albums, & maybe 200 '45s,
While what you say is generally true, I think that you could have a wider range of preferences.
I think my window starts from the 40s, skips much of 50-59, then goes from 60-87 or so. My window is a time period of about 30 -35 years.
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I like some stuff from the 40's.
The 50's were ok, but a lot of the songs have the exact same structure. Learn 1 song, and you can play dozens of other songs of the same period with a rhythm change, maybe some other minor changes.
. . . maybe I just got burned out of the 50's . . .
The 60's seems to me to be the most creative period. There was a lot of new directions - a lot of good, creative stuff.
The 70's were ok - music took some more turns.
The 80's had some good songs, too.
But probably the younger members would agree, and think the music of their generation is the best . . .
Don't know - everyone is different.

Well, I was born in '73, and I don't follow the pattern. When I was younger, I liked whatever the flavor of the month was. However, when I got into college and was exposed to more diverse music, I traded my previous top 10 with older bands. I agree that the 60's were the best decade to find great music. The 70's were awesome. British stuff saved the 80's. And I still find great stuff today. (Check out Skindred, reggae meets metal.) In addition to all this, I also listen to Handel and Bach.

I wonder if there is a difference in variety between music players and music listeners.

I was born in 1982. My music tastes are favored toward 50's 60's (oldies radio that my parents had on in our house and car), then the Early 90's struck me, but I was torn then, the point at around 93-96 post grunge kinda irritated me. Presidents of the United States of America, Flaming Lips etc..., Beck, things felt a little like novelty music to me. Tried other things, country, Garth Brooks No Fences, amazing album. Several other good country tunes during this time frame came out. My taste for them may lie in my mom having been an old country fan...Elvis, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan etc... Went to college, joined a couple bands. Began loving modern rock of 1999-2003. Rediscovered the glory of early nineties music again. So, I'm a massive fan of Green Day, Korn, Nirvana, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Rammstein, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Our Lady Peace, The Animals, The Eagles, CCR, Rolling Stones. But lately, I've been again rediscovering great music. Experimenting with new music tastes because you never know what's out there. Ever heard of Mochipet? Mmm... neat stuff. Blood Brothers. Bright Eyes. Dead Poetic. Coheed and Cambria. All this new music is very exciting if you're willing to attempt to get into it and try to keep up with it. Figuring out these new genres Emo, Grindcore, Screamo, Noisecore, all the various cores... To get caught in one era of music seems a very depressing thought to me. It seems like giving up. Let the world float on past you as you sit in your front porch swing watching the sprinkler swing back and forth and back and forth and back and forth as the neighborhood kids go on discovering music and enjoying the life that you're so proudly wasting. I want to continue experiencing new music. If I ever stop listening, I may as well be dead.

-Brad Scott

I was born in '84. I didn't really listen to music much when i was young, but I used to hear my dad playing all the classic rock music like Def Leppard, Journey, Boston, Blue Oyster Cult, Night Ranger, etc. And those bands basically just rubbed off over time. Then I started listening to stuff like DC Talk, Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline (kinda got into the contemporary christian thing for a while). After that...a friend introduced me to bands like Korn, Sugar Ray, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, etc. and I started to really get interested in music. I started collecting cds when I hit 15 or so and now have upwards 1100+ and its constantly rising all the time. Currently, I listen to things ranging from Pantera, to Britney Spears, to Static-X, to The Temptations, to Ayumi Hamasaki, to My Chemical Romance....you name it. The only thing I regret to say is I don't really listen to country music, disco, and jazz. I really want to enjoy all the music I possibly can and I try.

As a collector of 650 albums from 1900 to the 1980, when CD's took over, I have come to several opinons about music in America.

I believe the music is "generational" in America. That is to say that there is a 15 year "window" in everyone's life where that type of music appeals to them and their generation only. The time you went to school in America.

I was born in 1952. My window of music is from 1957 to 1972. And music played above or below that time frame is hard for me to listen to unless it is a song so well written that it is considered to be a "standard" or classic song. These songs transend the ages and can be listened to by people of all ages at any time.

Every decade of the 1900's had a different beat and a different sound. I encourage all musicians of our day to explorer and look back to the music in every decade of the 1900's. That is, to see where our "beat" has been, and where it is is going in modern music today.

Test yourself. Play music outside of the 15 year "window" that you went to school here in this country, and see for yourself if you can listen to music that is outside of your "beat".

I agree with you that people tend to stick with their own generation regarding really anything from music to hair styles, etc. I was born in 1984, but I don't like my own generation's music. There are very few acts that can claim to have made anything classic in my time... Actually, most of the masterpieces I can think of from the '90s are rap albums (I believe rap was the very last fresh music to come about - but don't get me wrong... it too was taken over by uninformed/unintelligent 'artists' hungry only for money). I think the merging of many popular music genres since the '60s have created a blundering mess. There's nothing 'new' going on and everyone else is still trying 'merge.' Well, that's just how I feel about it...

I'm always listening to music outside of my time... The only stuff I dislike from before the '60s is some of the pop music (like 'who's that doggy in the window' haha). I can list a giant paragraph of genres I dislike from the '60s on...

I understand what you are saying about originality of rock, And it is great to see someone from a younger generation involved with music in the depth that you are. Alot of younger people should have your insight & versatility with the different styles of music. But you are not giving the 90s enough credit. [just my opinion Bro]. One of my favorites, Is the Seattle scene of the early 90s. In my personal opinion, not meant to step on yours. There is alot of classic rock from the 90s era, let alone the 80s also. LIVE-Throwing Copper, is a classic album. Not to mention Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, etc. I liked alot of the hip hop style more than I did Rap. Keep on Rockin Brother..........Peace.

I generally like a lot of albums from the '90s, not the bands themselves so much. I did like Pearl Jam quite a bit, and Rage Against the Machine's lyrics and social activism. I also liked Pavement and Oasis as well. Some of my favorite rock albums from the '90s are (in no particular order):
Pearl Jam - Ten/Vs/Vitalogy
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Oasis - Definitely Maybe/What's the Story...
Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted/Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
Blur - Parklife
Nirvana - Nevermind/Incesticide/In Utero/MTV Unplugged
Smashing Pumpkins - Gish/Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie...
Weezer - 'Blue Album', Pinkerton

I can't think of any more right now... I did use to listen to Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots, I grew up with that stuff. I used to listen to albums like Dirt, Purple, Badmotorfinger, etc. but going back in time and discovering more accomplished works have left me bitter and critical about each subsequent generation's work haha. Those aren't bad albums though... The '80s had a lot of great records, probably more than the '90s...

Does anybody know of any great modern bands?? The only modern release that I've heard and actually liked is Oh, Inverted World by the Shins. I've heard a lot of these modern 'indie' groups but most of it seems unoriginal in my opinion...

I guess I also Do Not follow the norm or at least your norm.
I was born in 75 (shhh, don't tell anyone) and I have a hard drive of over 12k songs, not to mention the CDs that I never find the time to import and stack of audio cassettes I still break out at Christmas time and listen to from my grade school - Jr High years. LOL!
I don't think there is one person who could look at my collection and NOT find something that they like. I have everything from Classic music to Polka to Blues, POP, Rock, Alternative, Country (my fav) on and on.