I've gone from listening to primarily classic rock such as Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones, to Indie Rock/Pop and other music. At this point I've really evolved to listening to anything ranging from electro-pop to experimental and drone influenced French Folk Music, and almost everything in between.
I essentially had the same progression. Beatles, Floyd, Zeppelin, Dylan, Stones and then as I got older I expanded in to more progressive, Indie bands. For me, classic rock was a solid foundation for appreciating the music to come. In particular, the Beatles taught me to appreciate structure, both lyrically and compositionally, while also appreciating that touch of chaos and serendipity you can't fake. They could be calculating and completely earnest on the same album, even in the same SONG. #thebeatles taught me most of what I know about making music. How have my tastes changed? Well, I suppose I don't actively seek out angst-ridden music anymore. All of the hard-rock music of my youth I still love, but I often wonder if I would if I heard it for the first time now? So much of music is context. It's such a personal thing that relevance has a lot to do with it. I'm no longer a high school kid fighting authority. So I don't empathize with that type of art as much as I used to. If I do, it's in a more nostalgic way and less immediate. This week I listened to Neil Young Harvest, Beck Sea Change and Stevie Wonder * Talking Book*. -all if which were very enjoyable. P.S flagamuffin, you should just make this the #weeklymusicthread, it's an interesting angle for one.
You've went from being against the man to being the man. Duh. But really, I think that happens with a lot of people. Which probably explains why you don't see many older people at those kind of shows. Harvest is one of the greatest albums ever recorded, I used to despise Neil Young but he's since grown on me a lot. Also, made the #weeklymusicthread but I'll happily delete it if this gets used instead!
Definitely don't delete it, but can you change the community tag on this post? That's be great. Thanks for posting the weeklymusicthread, I always look forward to them.
I wasn't the person to submit the community tag on this post so I don't believe I can make that change. Anytime, I too look forward to them every Sunday (or around then).
I was the one and once I submit, it can only be changed by another community member and in the event that a number of people submit a com-tag, the most popular prevails.
This is where I started, too. Thing is, I've still never found a modern album that joins the ranks of Rubber Soul or Blonde on Blonde or Exile on Main Street. Seriously. There are a few that've gotten sort of close, but not really. I wonder if that's because the music you listen to in your youth always seems better? I've observed this before but never really asked anyone if they had the same opinion.
I think Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is right there with them. I also think Sea Change and Yoshimi are too. I'd throw The Bends in there as well. I know others would argue that there are better Radiohead albums, but I disagree. There's no doubt that nostalgia plays a large part in the equation, but for quality of songs and cohesiveness of albums I think all of those are right up there. No doubt there are a number of others too. What make bands like the Stones, Beatles and Dylan so damned impressive is how many times they appear on the best albums all time list. That's really a unique and special thing. I'd say Wilco is in that ballpark and I think history will see it that way.
It's tough. You named four albums, three of which are among the 15 best modern albums. I love them all. But basically everything by the Stones I consider out of that ballpark -- never mind Simon & Garfunkel or Dylan. There's some weird divide in my mind centering around the time I was born. It's like I see music of the last 20 years as not being worthy of inclusion in that company (yet?). Maybe someday. But a U2 album from 1988? Sure, yeah. So that's weird. Never really thought about this much, it's interesting. Other albums I consider probably worth being in the Rolling Stones-level discussion -- Kid A, In the Aeroplane over the Sea and the album I'm listening to now, American Slang.