You're mostly right but your historical angle is not.

In the fifties rock music established itself as the voice of youth rebellion. People like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis were NOT writing shallow pop tunes about parties and girls. Consider the lyrics of Berry's, "My Ding-a-Ling", not exactly subtle about what he was going on about even if he didn't get around to recording it until 1972.

Moving into the sixties consider the first few Beatles and Beach Boys albums, you want to talk shallow pop - "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". It's not that the music was bad but that's when it was it's lightest and fluffiest.

It wasn't until the late sixties that the counterculture movement had taken hold and sociopolitical themes became more prevalent within pop rock music. As for complex and poetic music, I'm guessing you're talking prog rock; either way, early-mid 70s as its peak.

The seventies also saw folksy countrified rock establishing itself as its own style; like a commercialized version of the counter-cultural folk music from the previous decade. Good stuff like Crosby Stills and Nash, or crap like The Eagles.

There were two big levels of backlash in the late seventies. Those who were frustrated with the idealistic garbage being spewed forth by hippies closing in on their forties gave birth to punk rock. Those who just wanted brainless diversions so they never had to pay attention to the crap going on in the rest of the world gave rise to the ultimate horror - disco. Which should not be confused with funk, which draws as much from jazz as rock.

The shallow eighties pop and metal only really established itself after a new generation of kids decided they wanted diversions from the crap going on in the world rather than having it addressed through music via the punk and new wave scenes.

There's also a VERY simple reason why there hasn't been a major musical movement since the late nineties, it's also the same reason we're all on this site. Until label execs and old farts wise up to the internet the current musical environment is not going to change much. I really think Nirvana was the last 'big' band to affect popular music the way it did for the foreseeable future. Not because they were from my generation, but simply because they were the last big band before the bigger change in how people relate to music.


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Sorry if this comes off as a bit harsh. We're glad to have new people on RM, but keep this in mind as you post. This site is going through a bit of a very slow rebirth at the moment. In my eyes it's becoming "web 2.0", not because of some stupid 'Digg' tags or additional metasearch tags stuck under thread topics but because it's survived a major peak of activity and had most of its user base grow up and move on without dying. Most of the people who still post here on a regular basis have been here for about 5 years on average.

By all means post to your hearts content... just be ready to have us set you straight when you make rather questionable claims (like mainstream disco as a counter to political music in the late 60s )

I thought about responding....but I scare enough people away as it is. Having said....this is looking like the front runner for the next Metaphysical panbient feature.



P.S. You're really going to have to start capitalizing things!

i'm trying for a kinder, gentler approach now hehe.

i'll see what i can do about the capitalization in a little bit.

Yeah, I know.....but we all miss Old School panbient. Hell, you made me seem semi-nice (who knew that was even possible!!!!) when you went Old School panbient. Of course, you never came close to being in the same universe in terms of Superior Prickish!


P.S. I am reallly close to starting to lose track of just how many nicknames I have given you over the years.

By the way....you mention the Eagles....but HTF? do you not mention DA MAN * (as in, Gram Parsons) and the reason there is even a genre called Country Rock?



Directorial editing will be taking place!




* Yes, a DA MAN sighting just took place.

by all means do it up i just got done capitalizing hehe. never really got into country rock myself so that's my excuse for neglecting Gram Parsons. my immediate musical thought on hearing the name Parsons is Alan.

To paraphrase Larry Holmes....Alan (whom I actually like) couldn't carry Gram's jockstrap.

So I didn't have my facts 100 percent straight, it's the same idea, people get sick of too much thought, they want to think less, then they get sick of no meaningful message, so they say more, that's all I was trying to say.

Now you must tell me, what the hell is this "panbient"/"unpanbient stuff? You have me so lost there, but all that I could gather, was the idea that you could have let into me for not having my history totally right or something... That just seems like a funky way to look at it to me.

Everyone has things they believe, and to what extent they believe them, different things they've heard, been told, seen, etc. leads them to believe them, they aren't always truth, but if someone states something and they're partially off, or even totally off, why would you "scare them off"? Now once again, I don't understand this panbient word, am I missing something?

1. No, you're generalizing way too much was the point being made.

2. If you stick around long enough....you will find threads go off into about 10,000 tagents.

3. You can believe all you whatever you want and whenever you want. That's your right....but there is also the issue of being accurate or having an idea what your talking/posting about. That's important here.

Around here if you're going to post something you should know that this isn't your average clueless music/whatnot related site. Even the young'uns posting on RM know more than a great many of those 3 times their age.

If you're interested in learning, archaeological digs in the older threads, and willing to stick around and be challenged....there is a great deal of knowledge to found on this site.

Most people have no idea what they stumbled upon when they first find this site.

By the way, unpanbient? That's not even possible....even in his current kinder gentler mode.