highway of popular music

[VitaMan]

The beginning of the shift is contributed to the arrival of Elvis in the 1950's. Prior to that, only folk groups like the Limelighters, Peter, Paul and Mary, and others were the alternative to crooners of the 50's.

The Beatles pushed it along, and by their last albums, had opened the way for experimentation. Many variations came from that, eventually heavy metal was distilled. The Rolling Stones made that possible. Folk music was still around, but subdued. Crosby, Stills, and Nash gave a slight edge to it. Bob Dylan kept it socially relevant.

That paved the way for John Denver. It is said John Denver was as big as the Beatles in the 70's. Linda Ronstadt and what became the early Eagles followed from that. When Joe Walsh joined the band, the Eagles sound shifted a lot, to guitar licks. Joe Walsh was so prevelant that they sounded very much like his former band, the James Gang, only with better lyrics. With that combination, they became a super group.

Linda Ronstadt moved to classical songs, gained about 100 pounds, and lost her way. The Eagles disbanded. David Bowie got popular. The music scene was fragmented, no real new direction, kind of wandering. That allowed punk and flannel rock to fill the void for a short time.

The Police arrived, sounding very close to a punk rock sound, when Sting went solo, he put together several combinations of different sounds and instruments. Simon and Garfunkel continued to come and go. Simon himself began experimentation for sound combinations.

Music listeners became satisfied with the sounds of bands like Fleetwood Mac and Phil Collins. Songs could be listened to many times without tiring of them.

[Chung Tran]

Originally Posted by VitaMan

The beginning of the shift is contributed to the arrival of Elvis in the 1950's. Prior to that, only folk groups like the Limelighters, Peter, Paul and Mary, and others were the alternative to crooners of the 50's.

The Beatles pushed it along, and by their last albums, had opened the way for experimentation. Many variations came from that, eventually heavy metal was distilled. The Rolling Stones made that possible. Folk music was still around, but subdued. Crosby, Stills, and Nash gave a slight edge to it. Bob Dylan kept it socially relevant.

That paved the way for John Denver. It is said John Denver was as big as the Beatles in the 70's. Linda Ronstadt and what became the early Eagles followed from that. When Joe Walsh joined the band, the Eagles sound shifted a lot, to guitar licks. Joe Walsh was so prevelant that they sounded very much like his former band, the James Gang, only with better lyrics. With that combination, they became a super group.

Linda Ronstadt moved to classical songs, gained about 100 pounds, and lost her way. The Eagles disbanded. David Bowie got popular. The music scene was fragmented, no real new direction, kind of wandering. That allowed punk and flannel rock to fill the void for a short time.

The Police arrived, sounding very close to a punk rock sound, when Sting went solo, he put together several combinations of different sounds and instruments. Simon and Garfunkel continued to come and go. Simon himself began experimentation for sound combinations.

Music listeners became satisfied with the sounds of bands like Fleetwood Mac and Phil Collins. Songs could be listened to many times without tiring of them.

Hmm.. okay.. I'm not sure why you posted this. and how you came up with some of it.

it's impossible to chart a course of rock and roll so briefly, but there's some errors here.. first, you imply that PP&M preceded the Beatles, and were around in the 50's.. not true, in fact, they both germinated in 1962.

the Beatles as experimenters? absolutely, but they were joined by the Doors, the Who, Love, Van Morrison, the Moody Blues and others at the same time.

the Rolling Stones had nothing to do with Heavy Metal's creation.. Led Zeppelin should get that credit if anyone.. the Stones never approached hard rock, even. if you want to give them credit, say that they made it easier for bands (like Zeppelin) to rip off Blues material.

who said John Denver was as big as the Beatles? I will make sure that Individual gets a proper psychiatric medicine to deal with his delusion.

I would say the Eagles were a Super Group right before Joe Walsh joined.. unless you define it in specific terms, like important group members joining other established groups to combine their efforts.

that musical void you speak of was filled by Disco.. very popular.. Punk was a sidebar.

the Police were no where near punk.. barely new wave.. more faux-reggae than either of those.. they were a pop-rock group with some experimentation.

and what does "became satisfied" mean? it suggests Fleetwood Mac and Collins are bathwater music, LOL.. no argument regarding Collins, but Fleetwood Mac is equally important and strong as the Eagles.

you left out a lot.. especially the rise of early to mid-80's hard rock, and the new British pop of the same time period, vaulted by MTV..

the biggest issue I have in your analysis, is the stance that black music had no impact on popular music from the 1950's to the 1980's.. when in fact it was more important than "white" music.. even "white" publications like Rolling Stone would agree.

[VitaMan]

That is what this thread is for...

[Chung Tran]

to underscore the role of black music, or better said, "black pop music"..

in 1978-79, Donna Summer had 3 platinum double-albums in a row.. no other act has ever done that, let alone in a compressed time period. from 1975-79, she and the Bee Gees slugged it out, both were omnipresent on the Billboard charts.. both released a double greatest hits album at the end of 1979, that revealed Summer to be the dominant artist.. she spawned 2 NEW hit songs from her album, one of which hit #1.. the Bee Gees album was largely ignored.

in the 1980's, Michael Jackson and Prince duked it out for #1 of the decade.. 3rd place, George Michael, had some great material, but basically copied the same dance-ready pop laden hooks of the other 2, with an occasional ballad tossed in the mix. #4, Lionel Richie, went head-to-head with Jackson, his "can't slow down" album was huge in 1983-84, but "thriller" was more huge, as in best-selling album of all-time to this day.

don't tell me about Madonna or Janet Jackson.. they were hit machines, but there was little depth to their music. in fact, one could argue that women's artistry was set back in the 1980's, when formulaic dance pop "artists" ruled over recent REAL female musicians like Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Carole King, Hell, even Joan Jett. Donna Summer was "dance", but quality dance, and she also interspersed rock, a bit of jazz, and some great ballads ("the woman in me", for example, one of the great underrated ballads).

you want 1960's? James Brown had more soul in his Pinky, than any combination of 3 artists had in their whole bodies. more charted singles than the Beatles, Stones, and the Who combined. Jimi Hendrix and Arthur Lee's music was as strong as any white artist in the rock realm. Aretha, the Supremes, Smokey..

[viking2341]

Haha, true.

[VitaMan]

What about Cream ? They were the first band that showed what was possible with only 3 members.
And how about Iron Butterfly - a 17 minute song with In A Gadda da Vida.
You could give credit to these 2 bands for ushering in the heavy metal bands.

And Jethro Tull....unique sound.

[Chung Tran]

Originally Posted by VitaMan

What about Cream ? They were the first band that showed what was possible with only 3 members.
And how about Iron Butterfly - a 17 minute song with In A Gadda da Vida.
You could give credit to these 2 bands for ushering in the heavy metal bands.

And Jethro Tull....unique sound.

Cream? yes, very good band, but only a 2 year history.. Jack Bruce was their top guy, but Clapton gets all the recognition.

Iron Butterfly? no sir.. a long, plodding, boring song, nobody knows shit about them, save that one dumb song.

Tull? some good stuff, but I dock them because Ian Anderson lost his voice 25 years ago, and still charges people to watch him "sing"..

[zerodahero]

Originally Posted by VitaMan

What about Cream ? They were the first band that showed what was possible with only 3 members.

Rush has that honor. Geddy Lee was singing, playing bass. and playing keyboards with his feet.

[viking2341]

Heard before