I feel bad for GenX'ers that missed out on the 60s and 70s.


I feel sad for GenX'ers and millennials that missed out on two of the greatest decades for music. The 60s and 70s. 

Our generation had Aretha Franklin, Etta James, James Brown, Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix, Donna Summer, Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, The Kinks, The Stones, The Doors, Elton John, Velvet Underground and loads more

We saw these legends live during their peak, concert tickets were cheaper, music was the everything to youth culture, we actually brought album on a vinyl format (none of that crappy CDs or whatever the kids call it).

60s-70s were the greatest time to be a music fan.
michaelsherry59
I mean aren’t we all audio files here? Music sounds so good right now.

I'll preface this all with saying that I was born in 1981 and I have no idea what that makes me to be honest. Kind of like a generational border baby?

Good music today is just an aural experience that nothing else can even touch. The recording, production, and technology put into good modern music is just mind blowing. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s very rare when good music is made nowadays (as opposed to the past), but at the same time to idolize all these old musicians from the 60s and 70s, when we have incredible musicians nowadays that can create artful music at the pinnacle of music technology, it just doesn’t seem fair.

Yeah, definitely less bloat music in the 60-70’s but music making was so laborious and expensive that only truly talented artist could make it to that level and get the backing an support they needed in order to get studio time. That’s also why there was such a monumental push to make as much money as they could when artist did reach that level that so many people/entities backed artists that music/musicians became a cultural phenomena, epic concert tours, massive stadiums, merchandising, advertising. Music was so prohibitive and exclusive that when there was a major record that was going to drop everyone involved needed to make as much money as possible and there were fewer players in the game.

That’s like saying Standard Oil was the best oil company even, and so was the East India Tea Company at making tea.

Don’t get me wrong that must have been an incredible time to experience music, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best of times. Maybe just the most memorable and well documented, especially for those people who live through it.

I feel this is kind of akin to the first time I drove an electric car. I had a Tesla back in 2014, and the first time I ever put my foot on the accelerator completely blew my mind away. That doesn’t necessarily mean Tesla makes the best electric vehicle, but as far as my memory goes that was an experience that will never be replicated. A little bit of a fondness bias on all our parts when it comes to the past I’m sure.

People nowadays can make music from their own homes and to a fairly high degree in quality, so of course you’re going to get a lot more crap, but still imagine what true professionals and talented musicians can create today. And then imagine how very few people will ever hear their music, because music can be cheaply made and there doesn’t have to be a windfall profit to follow. Not to mention there’s more music now than there’s ever been.

I always tell people my favorite song is one that hasn’t been written yet and my favorite album is one that I haven’t heard. I am a die-hard music progressivist when it comes to what the future could hold. Probably the most optimism I have for Humanity in this world when it comes to anything of culture or art.

Hope it delivers 😉
@tyray 

Your logic "you can't comment if you haven't been to to any shows duh." Lol what a idiotic logic. 

I've been to many shows (as if that proves anything). 
The best time for music is now.
The best time for music always will be "now", as long as all the music from the past continues to be available on good recordings.

Some previous time was "better" only with respect to live music by specific performers. But it’s not as though I would have had a realistic shot at hearing the Beatles live in 1965 or Franz Liszt live in 1843. Today we have better access to more recordings, on a greater variety of media, than ever before.

Granted, you probably can no longer walk to a local store with a couple of buddies to find bin after bin of vinyl records, with wonderful album art, for about $3.99 each. That was fun.
Don't feel too bad, many are making $$$ with YouTube channels "reacting" to the music we grew up on.

Imagine that. Well, if their parents didn't expose them to these masterpieces while growing up at least their "subscribers" are clueing them in.

Maybe there is hope for this generation aft....ah who am I kidding they're f'd
There is a good argument to be made that right now is the best time to be a music fan. We now have available all the music made from the beginning of recorded music to now, we have better systems to play it on, with performers in room sense of my system, a concert is available to me everyday, and I get to control the songs.  We have much greater access to all this great music, so many obscurities, and we can stream it at amazingly low cost. The magical experiences continue for me, just in a different way. Nostalgia sometimes fools us.