Most everybody likes music to a certain degree or other. Like someone recounted "music has charms to sooth the savage beast."
But some music is more predominant than others at any given time. I say "any given time" because musical tastes change. What was preferred in the 40's and 50's is not as favored today. The fact that tastes change is just a incontrovertible fact.
Back in the 40's swing music and big bands were very hot. Except for a brief re-surge in the mid 90's this danceable, groovin ' music went out of fashion in the 50's and apart from the older generation that grew up on it, not that many people consider it their favorite music.
In the 50's Rock and Roll took control of. Stars like Elvis and Chuck Berry and hundreds of other music-makers made music to reach the wishes and taste of the new "teeny-boppers" of the Baby Boom generation. Yet they were all still dancing.
In the 60's, the hippies and counter culture adopted music that was a little bit further out. The music was developing from the easy rock style into something much more intrepid and creative. Psychedelic music, as it was called, was "far out" with long solos and strange sounds and instrumentation. It was nearly a type of jazz with a "no holds barred" perspective, just like what the culture itself was experiencing. People stopped dancing and started listening far closer.
By the 70's the music was following it's evolutionary path from the 60's. It was beginning to separate into categories and bands started to specialize into particular styles. You had your folk rock bands, your country rock and roll bands, your hard rock and roll bands and your jazz rock bands... Plus many other groupings. The time when a band would play all types of songs was just about over. Maybe the record firms were the reason for this. There had been so much profit involved now, they wanted to be well placed to "brand" bands into desirable classes.
Late in the decade the music started to strip down and dancing was back in. Disco led the change and "the beat" and danceability of a song was back in the advance guard. But there had been also a faction that was making music that was more sophisticated and even jazzy. The hippy bands were starting to learn their craft and becoming better musicians and for some people the music approached complex jazz. Bands like Steely Dan and Santana followed this track.
Yet there was also a movement to go back to earlier, simpler rock styles. This is when New Wave and Punk bands began to appear. They shunned long guitar solos and fancy arrangements and instrumentation and welcomed the energy and the sounds of the 50's once more. Again, anyone could be in a band if they could play 2 of chords and apply the required attitude.
In the 80's music was splintering into many camps. You had the hard rocking "hair" bands that targeted on volume and guitar-based music. This was very popular. But you also had bands utilizing the new instrument, "the synthesizer," to create music that had new sounds and chances. This instrument was used in both pop music and jazz rock to expand the vocabulary of the tune.
Yet while all of these changes were taking place there had been a base style of music that always appeared to be there. As the "popular" styles came and went, there was always "The Blues" and other roots oriented music to get heard somewhere. The camps for blues-based music were occasionally small and often bigger (when there had been a popular renascence). But the Blues was always being played somewhere.
I think this fact is founded on the reality that many kinds of music are based mostly on The Blues. Who can argue that rock and roll came right from the rhythm and blues bands of the 40's. And to a certain degree, soul, country, and jazz all share commonality with the blues sound and practice. I imagine everybody has grown up with blues music being around us.
It is simply the American Way. After all , we invented it over 100 years back.
So , in preferred music change is inevitable. Yet while things continue to change, there are some bits that stay the same.
But some music is more predominant than others at any given time. I say "any given time" because musical tastes change. What was preferred in the 40's and 50's is not as favored today. The fact that tastes change is just a incontrovertible fact.
Back in the 40's swing music and big bands were very hot. Except for a brief re-surge in the mid 90's this danceable, groovin ' music went out of fashion in the 50's and apart from the older generation that grew up on it, not that many people consider it their favorite music.
In the 50's Rock and Roll took control of. Stars like Elvis and Chuck Berry and hundreds of other music-makers made music to reach the wishes and taste of the new "teeny-boppers" of the Baby Boom generation. Yet they were all still dancing.
In the 60's, the hippies and counter culture adopted music that was a little bit further out. The music was developing from the easy rock style into something much more intrepid and creative. Psychedelic music, as it was called, was "far out" with long solos and strange sounds and instrumentation. It was nearly a type of jazz with a "no holds barred" perspective, just like what the culture itself was experiencing. People stopped dancing and started listening far closer.
By the 70's the music was following it's evolutionary path from the 60's. It was beginning to separate into categories and bands started to specialize into particular styles. You had your folk rock bands, your country rock and roll bands, your hard rock and roll bands and your jazz rock bands... Plus many other groupings. The time when a band would play all types of songs was just about over. Maybe the record firms were the reason for this. There had been so much profit involved now, they wanted to be well placed to "brand" bands into desirable classes.
Late in the decade the music started to strip down and dancing was back in. Disco led the change and "the beat" and danceability of a song was back in the advance guard. But there had been also a faction that was making music that was more sophisticated and even jazzy. The hippy bands were starting to learn their craft and becoming better musicians and for some people the music approached complex jazz. Bands like Steely Dan and Santana followed this track.
Yet there was also a movement to go back to earlier, simpler rock styles. This is when New Wave and Punk bands began to appear. They shunned long guitar solos and fancy arrangements and instrumentation and welcomed the energy and the sounds of the 50's once more. Again, anyone could be in a band if they could play 2 of chords and apply the required attitude.
In the 80's music was splintering into many camps. You had the hard rocking "hair" bands that targeted on volume and guitar-based music. This was very popular. But you also had bands utilizing the new instrument, "the synthesizer," to create music that had new sounds and chances. This instrument was used in both pop music and jazz rock to expand the vocabulary of the tune.
Yet while all of these changes were taking place there had been a base style of music that always appeared to be there. As the "popular" styles came and went, there was always "The Blues" and other roots oriented music to get heard somewhere. The camps for blues-based music were occasionally small and often bigger (when there had been a popular renascence). But the Blues was always being played somewhere.
I think this fact is founded on the reality that many kinds of music are based mostly on The Blues. Who can argue that rock and roll came right from the rhythm and blues bands of the 40's. And to a certain degree, soul, country, and jazz all share commonality with the blues sound and practice. I imagine everybody has grown up with blues music being around us.
It is simply the American Way. After all , we invented it over 100 years back.
So , in preferred music change is inevitable. Yet while things continue to change, there are some bits that stay the same.
About the Author:
Rick Honeyboy Hart is an experienced blues guitarist. He's played in numerous bands over time and now helps others guitarists learn blues guitar on his web site www.BluesGuitarInsider.com
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