Classic Rock Snob Bares His Soul
OK, I admit it. I'm a Classic Rock snob.
But how can I not be, when there is simply no doubt that the music from the era 1965 -1976, was the pinnacle, the height of creativity, genius, and the dawning of the New Enlightenment. (Yes, I know some of you may debate the exact years the New Enlightenment began, but let's agree that the time frame I'm suggesting, is somewhere in the ballpark.)
OK. There truly was a change in the world, somewhere around '65 -'66, a change no less profound than the Renaissance in Italy in the 1400's.
And just like during the Renaissance, there was a convergence of energy, creativity and free thinking that all coalesced in one point of singularity. And it culminated into the Biggest Bang, the expansion of consciousness…that created a new wave of music the world had never seen before. And hasn't seen since.
Think about it. Even as shitty as Classic Rock stations are, playing the same group of songs over and over, the music has never died…and I don't believe ever will.
Being the Classic Rock snob I am, all I can say is, how could this music ever die…when it is timeless, ageless, and well, classic.
Something happened in 1965-1966. Some cosmic switch got turned on in the collective consciousness of young musicians mostly here in the US and Great Britain. We went from "Help!" to "A Day In The Life". We went from "King Of The Road" to "Purple Haze". We went from "I Got You Babe", to "The End".
In my opinion, something BIG changed in that era. The psychic elements of protest, experimentation and thinking without restrictions all combined to take the tame, polite music before this time…into the mind blowing work that grabs you by the balls and doesn't let go.
I mean, think about what us Baby Boomers got to do any time we wanted. We could go into the local record store/head shop (do they still have head shops any more?) and browse through the new albums that came out that week. It still makes me ache with nostalgia to think that because I only had $9.00, I had to limit my purchases to the three albums you could get for nine bucks.
I used to wander around the store, (getting distracted by the new bongs and pipes) then focusing on whether I was going to buy the new releases from the Stones, the Who, the Doors, Tull, The Allman Brothers, The Dead, the Band, the Airplane, Janis, Jimi, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, Dylan, Creedence, Yes…and on and on and on.
Sigh. As I'm writing this, I can see myself and my buddies shopping for over an hour, grinding out the agonizing, excruciating process of elimination, whittling down the purchase, album by painful album. Then seeing my buddies' choices, now wondering if I made a mistake, and re-thinking my final decision on the new Who album, maybe switching it for the new Tull. What a confusing activity. Then, of course, once I got home, and waited for my parents to go to work, so I could use my Dad's portable record player, the one with the 33 stem, and the fat 45 adapter, to hear my new choices over and over and over.
(Always having some level of buyers' remorse, when I heard a tune on the underground FM station at 2 am, from an album I didn't buy…wondering if I should have bought it instead.)
And to be honest, with as killer as the music was (is), part of my enjoyment was knowing that the "Man", the "Establishment", and my parents and all their friends, fucking HATED this wonderful and liberating music.
So, yes, I am a Classic Rock snob, and I won't apologize for it. You younger kids who have picked up on it, welcome to our world. To those of you haven't yet joined us, please do. We all need to rock more and worry less!
Jack Straw
www.screwtheresume.com
www.blog.screwtheresume.com
But how can I not be, when there is simply no doubt that the music from the era 1965 -1976, was the pinnacle, the height of creativity, genius, and the dawning of the New Enlightenment. (Yes, I know some of you may debate the exact years the New Enlightenment began, but let's agree that the time frame I'm suggesting, is somewhere in the ballpark.)
OK. There truly was a change in the world, somewhere around '65 -'66, a change no less profound than the Renaissance in Italy in the 1400's.
And just like during the Renaissance, there was a convergence of energy, creativity and free thinking that all coalesced in one point of singularity. And it culminated into the Biggest Bang, the expansion of consciousness…that created a new wave of music the world had never seen before. And hasn't seen since.
Think about it. Even as shitty as Classic Rock stations are, playing the same group of songs over and over, the music has never died…and I don't believe ever will.
Being the Classic Rock snob I am, all I can say is, how could this music ever die…when it is timeless, ageless, and well, classic.
Something happened in 1965-1966. Some cosmic switch got turned on in the collective consciousness of young musicians mostly here in the US and Great Britain. We went from "Help!" to "A Day In The Life". We went from "King Of The Road" to "Purple Haze". We went from "I Got You Babe", to "The End".
In my opinion, something BIG changed in that era. The psychic elements of protest, experimentation and thinking without restrictions all combined to take the tame, polite music before this time…into the mind blowing work that grabs you by the balls and doesn't let go.
I mean, think about what us Baby Boomers got to do any time we wanted. We could go into the local record store/head shop (do they still have head shops any more?) and browse through the new albums that came out that week. It still makes me ache with nostalgia to think that because I only had $9.00, I had to limit my purchases to the three albums you could get for nine bucks.
I used to wander around the store, (getting distracted by the new bongs and pipes) then focusing on whether I was going to buy the new releases from the Stones, the Who, the Doors, Tull, The Allman Brothers, The Dead, the Band, the Airplane, Janis, Jimi, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, Dylan, Creedence, Yes…and on and on and on.
Sigh. As I'm writing this, I can see myself and my buddies shopping for over an hour, grinding out the agonizing, excruciating process of elimination, whittling down the purchase, album by painful album. Then seeing my buddies' choices, now wondering if I made a mistake, and re-thinking my final decision on the new Who album, maybe switching it for the new Tull. What a confusing activity. Then, of course, once I got home, and waited for my parents to go to work, so I could use my Dad's portable record player, the one with the 33 stem, and the fat 45 adapter, to hear my new choices over and over and over.
(Always having some level of buyers' remorse, when I heard a tune on the underground FM station at 2 am, from an album I didn't buy…wondering if I should have bought it instead.)
And to be honest, with as killer as the music was (is), part of my enjoyment was knowing that the "Man", the "Establishment", and my parents and all their friends, fucking HATED this wonderful and liberating music.
So, yes, I am a Classic Rock snob, and I won't apologize for it. You younger kids who have picked up on it, welcome to our world. To those of you haven't yet joined us, please do. We all need to rock more and worry less!
Jack Straw
www.screwtheresume.com
www.blog.screwtheresume.com
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