All too often do we hear people saying "how things were so much better back then" and while this "back then" is referring most of the times to the sixties or the eighties, i'm always surprised people actually believe that.
Ok, as a musician one can say some era were better than others in some aspects but there are always two sides to a coin (and who's using coins these days ?):
Yes, the late 60's must have been exciting as from the distance of time it looks like a gigantic Tsunami of Love but still, the times were hard and making a buck back then meant you nearly had to build your network yourself.
The 70's have seen new instruments coming up (synthesizers): it's not everyday new sources of sounds are being put at musicians's disposal, but they were expensive and rather unreliable. Punk was also an extremely exciting period where everyone could actually have a decent shot at making it with a DIY attitude and most of what you needed was the desire to do it but at the same time promoters would kick you off if if there was a mohican hundred meters from the café.
The 80's ? Well, besides having to wear ridiculously large shoulder pads and stupid looking haircuts, yes, that was a good time for indie musicians as things were starting to build up nicely: MTV wasn't sold out back then, labels were signing truckloads of bands and one could hope having decent advances.
The 90's ? At last looking like an unshaved artist was possible and it looks nice from from a distance, but the 90's were also the decade the music industry really became that: an industry where bands were just commidities bringing in cash...And the beginning of internet piracy.
2000 ? Does anyone remember anything exciting about the years 2000 ? Sales drop ? Piracy ? Daft Punk plays in my house ? Music gets everywhere and all the time, somehow killing its mysery and aura. At the same time, the internet opens up alleyways of possibilities.
2010 and counting: at last a great period for music: one can buy decent equipment to compose and record (altho never forget that a sound engineer and a real desk will beat a pumped up Imac everyday) but sales are a joke. The internet is the greatest and worst thing that ever happened to music: you can make anyone aware you're a great composer, but so does your neighbour, the daughter of the newspaper shop and the cousin from the guy who works at the Mall...
The best time to make music is the one your realized you have to do it, and do it right, no matter the opposition, the plus and the minus: it's all down to how good and original your music can be.
We leave you with this great video of a US (Detroit) band back in 1969: the Pleasure Seekers. The singer is dancing the sixties' way exactly like it must be danced, like it's done in our mind, in a mixture of movies we've seen and things we imagine about that precise time....
Her name is...Suzi Quatro and she would later become the first ever female singer to become a major rock star and went on to sell more than 50 million albums.
Here, you can see the Tsunami Of Love in her eyes, she IS the sixties, she is IN THE MOMENT.
(By the way Iggy Pop dated the drummer in that band).
Thanx to Julianne Regan for the recognition software :) http://on.fb.me/HkrCHR
Comments
Nostalgia
I agree ... this is the best & worst time for musicians. Artists can produce music more inexpensively than ever, and get more exposure & grassroots support... if they're willing to put in the effort.
Musicians can distribute music digitally without the manufacturing costs of CDs, can gain support through social media, etc. Some artists are better at this than others (and more willing to do it). Other musicians prefer to have a record label to handle that kind of thing, but of course those deals are increasingly rare.
Of course, the bottom line is that the "good old days" are long gone, and one can only deal with the reality that exists today!
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