Comments on: I’ll see your wacky music and raise you an explanation http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/ Feminist, anti-racist, pro-fat, plus whatever else we feel like talking about. Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:01:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: mark http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-28143 mark Fri, 25 Feb 2005 22:41:32 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-28143 many years ago in the mid 70s there was a song,kind of a political satire of sort where a reporter would ask a question to say,....... the president and a exerp/song would answer, such as Bertha butt she's one of the butt sisters or, here come the judge. What was it called ????? many years ago in the mid 70s there was a song,kind of a political
satire of sort where a reporter would ask a question to say,…….
the president and a exerp/song would answer, such as Bertha butt
she’s one of the butt sisters or, here come the judge. What was it
called ?????

]]> By: Jakobpunkt http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12792 Jakobpunkt Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12792 Dude, PDP's younger than me?!?! Who knew? I was seven when the 80s ended. Dude, PDP’s younger than me?!?! Who knew? I was seven when the 80s ended.

]]> By: Helen http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12793 Helen Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12793 PDP, I think I can explain the appeal. I'm a lot older, on the cusp of Gen X and Baby boomers, and I was in bands in the 80s. The crucial part was that at that time (late 70s to early 80s), as now, the music industry was going through a kind of flat spot where the emerging acts were highly manufactured and highly dependent on marketing (although we didn't say "marketing" back in those days, sonny ;-) ) The only difference was that the emphasis today is on singers (crooners?) with a high sex appeal content, lavishly produced shows and Svengalis in the background. Then, it was more "supergroups' (who were playing music to a higher and higher technical level and being more snobbish about it) and disco. The punk movement of the late 70s and the subsequent New Wave / power pop / grunge / thrash bands of the 80s shared a DIY ethos where we said Stuff'em to all the supergroups and the regular music industry. In the 80s, you could get together with a few of your mates in a room with really horrible carpet and thrash out - I use that word advisedly - some songs of your own which you would then go and play in a dark pub with equally horrible carpet. What the 80s represents is rebellion against the A & R machine. Unless you are referring to Kim Wilde and all those kind of people. PDP,

I think I can explain the appeal.
I’m a lot older, on the cusp of Gen X and Baby boomers, and I was in bands in the 80s. The crucial part was that at that time (late 70s to early 80s), as now, the music industry was going through a kind of flat spot where the emerging acts were highly manufactured and highly dependent on marketing (although we didn’t say “marketing” back in those days, sonny ;-) )
The only difference was that the emphasis today is on singers (crooners?) with a high sex appeal content, lavishly produced shows and Svengalis in the background. Then, it was more “supergroups’ (who were playing music to a higher and higher technical level and being more snobbish about it) and disco.
The punk movement of the late 70s and the subsequent New Wave / power pop / grunge / thrash bands of the 80s shared a DIY ethos where we said Stuff’em to all the supergroups and the regular music industry.
In the 80s, you could get together with a few of your mates in a room with really horrible carpet and thrash out - I use that word advisedly - some songs of your own which you would then go and play in a dark pub with equally horrible carpet.
What the 80s represents is rebellion against the A & R machine. Unless you are referring to Kim Wilde and all those kind of people.

]]> By: Helen http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12794 Helen Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12794 D'oh. I have just made a damn fool of myself by not seeing your June 18 post before I commented on your next. Now I can see the actual playlist. Kitsch appeal, pure and simple, PDP. "Stayin' Alive" was the kind of thing 80s bands were rebelling <i>against</i>. D’oh. I have just made a damn fool of myself by not seeing your June 18 post before I commented on your next. Now I can see the actual playlist.

Kitsch appeal, pure and simple, PDP. “Stayin’ Alive” was the kind of thing 80s bands were rebelling against.

]]> By: Echidne http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12795 Echidne Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12795 Sometimes I'm very glad that I have van Gogh's ear for music. I can't remember any music that was played when I was a teenager or any time after that. It's probably like not having one of the senses that others have. Most music is just noise to me, though I do like Laurie Anderson. Sometimes I’m very glad that I have van Gogh’s ear for music. I can’t remember any music that was played when I was a teenager or any time after that. It’s probably like not having one of the senses that others have. Most music is just noise to me, though I do like Laurie Anderson.

]]> By: Ben G. http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12796 Ben G. Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12796 I don't think this is a new phenomenon. When I was in high school, in the early 1980s, I and my friends were really into music from the late 60s and early 70s. When I was in college, in the late 80s and early 90s, funk music from the mid 70s was the in thing. When my dad was middle school and high school age in the 1940s, the cool music was hot jazz from the late 20s and early 30s—Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Bix Biderbeck, Pee Wee Russell, Fats Waller, and so on. It seems to me there is a recurring trend for young people to form subcultures around the pop music of a decade or two before their current one. The idea is to find culture to identify with that feels removed enough from their current moment. There may be things to say about why 60s and 70s psychedelic rock appealed to kids in the 80s as compared to why 20s and 30s hot jazz appealed to kids in the 40s as compared to why 80s music appeals to kids in the 00s. But there's something going on here that is not precisely about the music. I don’t think this is a new phenomenon. When I was in high school, in the early 1980s, I and my friends were really into music from the late 60s and early 70s. When I was in college, in the late 80s and early 90s, funk music from the mid 70s was the in thing. When my dad was middle school and high school age in the 1940s, the cool music was hot jazz from the late 20s and early 30s—Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Bix Biderbeck, Pee Wee Russell, Fats Waller, and so on.

It seems to me there is a recurring trend for young people to form subcultures around the pop music of a decade or two before their current one. The idea is to find culture to identify with that feels removed enough from their current moment.

There may be things to say about why 60s and 70s psychedelic rock appealed to kids in the 80s as compared to why 20s and 30s hot jazz appealed to kids in the 40s as compared to why 80s music appeals to kids in the 00s. But there’s something going on here that is not precisely about the music.

]]> By: Amanda http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12797 Amanda Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12797 Thanks for making me feel like an old, old fart, PDP! Nah, just kidding. But I confess, I did have a fluttering moment of thinking, "Wow, she's smart for her age," which is the sort of insulting thing that old farts say. Thanks for making me feel like an old, old fart, PDP! Nah, just kidding. But I confess, I did have a fluttering moment of thinking, “Wow, she’s smart for her age,” which is the sort of insulting thing that old farts say.

]]> By: RA http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12798 RA Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12798 PDP, I already knew that you were 1) male and 2) EIGHTEEN years younger than I am. I think the shocker of Amp's post isn't that they like 80s music, but that they like all the kitschy mainstream hits of the 1980s. Or really, late 1970s--I remember they used to play My Sharona at all the bar mitzvah parties I went to in 1978 and 1979 (and other songs by The Knack, we all liked Good Girls Don't. Bohemian Rhapsody was even earlier than that! I think this is deliberate kitschy camping it up to the truly danceable tunes. I hate to disagree with Ben like this, but if it was really about what was cool, wouldn't they be listening to XTC and Steve Winwood? Though maybe I think that was cool and actually I'm a total doofus. Please don't tell me if you think it's the latter... PDP, I already knew that you were 1) male and 2) EIGHTEEN years younger than I am.

I think the shocker of Amp’s post isn’t that they like 80s music, but that they like all the kitschy mainstream hits of the 1980s. Or really, late 1970s–I remember they used to play My Sharona at all the bar mitzvah parties I went to in 1978 and 1979 (and other songs by The Knack, we all liked Good Girls Don’t. Bohemian Rhapsody was even earlier than that!

I think this is deliberate kitschy camping it up to the truly danceable tunes. I hate to disagree with Ben like this, but if it was really about what was cool, wouldn’t they be listening to XTC and Steve Winwood? Though maybe I think that was cool and actually I’m a total doofus. Please don’t tell me if you think it’s the latter…

]]> By: Ben G. http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12799 Ben G. Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12799 I'll confess that I think the psychedelic rock I listened to and the hot jazz my dad listened to are cooler than the kitschy 80s stuff the kids were listening to at the graduation party Amp observed. But when I was talking about what was cool and what wasn't I didn't mean cool in some quasi-objective sense of the word. The thing that makes the retro music cool to the group that forms around it is that they can be in the know about some slightly secret quality that it has—generic 60s psychedlia, African-American funky psychedelia, swing (African-Amerian context also important here) and, in the current example, 80s kitsch. I do think we could come up with some analysis of why the ineffable-you've-got-to-be-in-the-know-to-be-in quality that appeals to today's highschool students is kitsch rather than the hep rhythmic sophistication of swing rhythms or the mind-expanding dimensions of (some) psychedelic rock. There's definitely something historical and interesting about the appeal of 80s kitsch to young people today. But the cyclical part was what I was getting at, the part that's about being young and learning to express self and group affiliation thorugh one's taste—a phenomenon that is not quite so historical. So, RA, if you were into XTC, I'd say the thing that you and your friends were in the know about was it's intelllectual edginess and it's self-consciosness about pop music forms. That's a cool thing to find cool in my book.It certainly doesn't make you a doofus. I’ll confess that I think the psychedelic rock I listened to and the hot jazz my dad listened to are cooler than the kitschy 80s stuff the kids were listening to at the graduation party Amp observed. But when I was talking about what was cool and what wasn’t I didn’t mean cool in some quasi-objective sense of the word. The thing that makes the retro music cool to the group that forms around it is that they can be in the know about some slightly secret quality that it has—generic 60s psychedlia, African-American funky psychedelia, swing (African-Amerian context also important here) and, in the current example, 80s kitsch.

I do think we could come up with some analysis of why the ineffable-you’ve-got-to-be-in-the-know-to-be-in quality that appeals to today’s highschool students is kitsch rather than the hep rhythmic sophistication of swing rhythms or the mind-expanding dimensions of (some) psychedelic rock. There’s definitely something historical and interesting about the appeal of 80s kitsch to young people today. But the cyclical part was what I was getting at, the part that’s about being young and learning to express self and group affiliation thorugh one’s taste—a phenomenon that is not quite so historical.

So, RA, if you were into XTC, I’d say the thing that you and your friends were in the know about was it’s intelllectual edginess and it’s self-consciosness about pop music forms. That’s a cool thing to find cool in my book.It certainly doesn’t make you a doofus.

]]> By: cleek http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12800 cleek Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12800 i blame "I Love The 80's". i blame “I Love The 80’s”.

]]> By: ScottM http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12801 ScottM Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12801 While the movie may have been bad, the book Neverending Story is quite good. (Yes, willfully off topic, but it had to be said.) While the movie may have been bad, the book Neverending Story is quite good. (Yes, willfully off topic, but it had to be said.)

]]> By: Lauren http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12802 Lauren Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2004/06/19/ill-see-your-wacky-music-and-raise-you-an-explanation/#comment-12802 Hey, I can't wait for I Love the Nineties. 90210 jokes abound. Hey, I can’t wait for I Love the Nineties. 90210 jokes abound.

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