500 songs released weekly, and hard to find a real rock song. A young lady once told me that a song that was playing was her favourite but she couldn't tell me who sang it.
p.s. I saw Daryl Hall live last summer at an outdoor concert. We were there to see Elvis Costello actually. Hall was the headliner. Daryl Hall played a very short set. He was grumpy with his roadies and yes, we had to suffer through his rendition "Man Eater". He did play a yacht rock ditty from his new album that we, admittedly, liked, emo sops that we are. I mostly found the music of Hall and Oates grating, but they did produce one tune I am rather fond of "She's Gone" which has an old school R&B vibe I can get behind. Elvis Costello, on the other hand, was cheerful in the 34 degree blazing heat and played a long energetic set, wearing a black blazer and scarf no less. Such a strange pairing to put those two artists together on the same bill. LOL. Two distinctly different groups of fans. I'll let you guess which fans were wearing the black T shirts and doc marten boots, and which had the big teased blonde hair, LOL.
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a throughtful comment, Nadine! I had to laugh when I read your P.S. Who on earth thought it'd be a good idea to pair Daryl Hall with Elvis Costello? I actually saw Elvis here in Prague a few years ago and it was a memorable experience to say the least. Saw a few pairs of Docs that night as well. Teased blond hair, not so much. :)
Hah hah. I love how you worked Hall and Oates in there. It is true it is easy to get lost in the sheer amount of crap that exists. Of the those on the list you mentioned, I only recognized two of the TV programs (British Bake OFf and Only Murders in the Building). I wish I did not know who the Kardashians were though, thankfully, I can ignore them. It is true we are a generation raised in a monoculture, and there was a certain comfort in that. My friends and I quoted our favourite SCTV sketches day and night, for example. We all knew SCTV. There were certain pop culture juggernauts I ignored back then. I never watched Friends I had passing familiarity with the characters because they were, for better or worse, impossible to ignore. I do rather like that the universe has broadened. TV is of higher quality and there is more variety of programming to choose from, albeit I get that it can feel like too much. I always was somewhat of a maverick, even in the 80s, because I did listen to music programs like CBC's Brave New Waves, and I discovered jazz While I was familiar with commercial radio hits, my music tastes ran to punk and new wave, not really part of the mainstream of the era. I was listening to Joy Division and The Clash and Yaz when fellow highschoolers were tuning in to Lover Boy (blargh, I hate Loverboy). Movies were important to people then, and my friends and I went to see all kinds of crazy midnight movies. I do believe many of the hallmarks of pop culture in music were deserving of icon status in the eighties, though there was some awful stuff too, of course. My partner listens primarily to music of the lexicon of his past. He hasn't the time to discover new artists. I feel a particular attachment to the music of my youth, and I do think it was a genius era for music. But I do explore contemporary music and I find stuff I love there too. Maybe because my tastes are wide ranging. There are so many more women artists now thriving and I find that exciting. Thanks for taking me down memory lane Sonny. It was a blast!
I started to “tune out” mid 90s, found my own musical niches. It was way harder then to discover anything outside of the mainstream. You had to dig, you had to read every zine you could get your hands on, you had to listen to endless hours of (late night) college radio. Most of it was crap, but when you found something great, it was all worth it. You got to show it to your friends, they would reveal what they discovered. It is my favourite part about music. That is all muddled with AI generated playlists and fake top 10s.
Same here. Who knows how many hours I spent in record stores reading magazines and unearthing artists/albums I”d never heard of before. Like you said, there was a lot of crap to wade through, but when you found something that resonated, nothing beat that high. I’ve never bothered with Spotify or other services. They’re run by pigs whose only concern is maximizing profit. I refuse to give them a cent of my money. Much rather spend it on the artists instead.
Sometimes someone breaks through my isolation: Dua Lipa! I guess she's someone I should listen to for 15 seconds or so, before concluding that I can go back to ignoring her.
I like that I'm not captive to whatever is on the radio like it was when I was growing up, especially once boy bands took over. I'll take streaming over all that any day. Even when we lived in a "monoculture" there were still little silos of people listening to stuff you never heard of just like there are now, except now THAT'S the monoculture.
But the older I get, the more I realize that most popular culture isn't really made for me anymore anyway, so I don't get too chapped about following it or not.
Sure, most TV is bullshit, and the Tulsa King should get lost on the Outer Banks, but 'Shogun' is superb and "Slow Horses' is the best present the UK has given us since 'River' and 'Utopia'.
I saw the original Shogun when I was a kid. Maybe I'll get around to the remake eventually.
As for Slow Horses, I've heard great things. And I couldn't agree more regarding River and Utopia. Perhaps I'll give it a shot after I finish watching Strike.
I'm chuffed to meet someone who watch 'River' and 'Utopia'. As an art argument, I read the great Clavell novel, so it must count towards thinking the series good too :)
Me too. Hell I’m reading some Substack Best of 2024 lists and I don’t know most of the artists on them either. That makes me happy.
500 songs released weekly, and hard to find a real rock song. A young lady once told me that a song that was playing was her favourite but she couldn't tell me who sang it.
PS: I'm making a movie list - ha ha.
I've read some of those lists too. I'm so lost that half the time they read like a foreign language.
And I’m not even Gen X… Boomer here.
p.s. I saw Daryl Hall live last summer at an outdoor concert. We were there to see Elvis Costello actually. Hall was the headliner. Daryl Hall played a very short set. He was grumpy with his roadies and yes, we had to suffer through his rendition "Man Eater". He did play a yacht rock ditty from his new album that we, admittedly, liked, emo sops that we are. I mostly found the music of Hall and Oates grating, but they did produce one tune I am rather fond of "She's Gone" which has an old school R&B vibe I can get behind. Elvis Costello, on the other hand, was cheerful in the 34 degree blazing heat and played a long energetic set, wearing a black blazer and scarf no less. Such a strange pairing to put those two artists together on the same bill. LOL. Two distinctly different groups of fans. I'll let you guess which fans were wearing the black T shirts and doc marten boots, and which had the big teased blonde hair, LOL.
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a throughtful comment, Nadine! I had to laugh when I read your P.S. Who on earth thought it'd be a good idea to pair Daryl Hall with Elvis Costello? I actually saw Elvis here in Prague a few years ago and it was a memorable experience to say the least. Saw a few pairs of Docs that night as well. Teased blond hair, not so much. :)
Hah hah. I love how you worked Hall and Oates in there. It is true it is easy to get lost in the sheer amount of crap that exists. Of the those on the list you mentioned, I only recognized two of the TV programs (British Bake OFf and Only Murders in the Building). I wish I did not know who the Kardashians were though, thankfully, I can ignore them. It is true we are a generation raised in a monoculture, and there was a certain comfort in that. My friends and I quoted our favourite SCTV sketches day and night, for example. We all knew SCTV. There were certain pop culture juggernauts I ignored back then. I never watched Friends I had passing familiarity with the characters because they were, for better or worse, impossible to ignore. I do rather like that the universe has broadened. TV is of higher quality and there is more variety of programming to choose from, albeit I get that it can feel like too much. I always was somewhat of a maverick, even in the 80s, because I did listen to music programs like CBC's Brave New Waves, and I discovered jazz While I was familiar with commercial radio hits, my music tastes ran to punk and new wave, not really part of the mainstream of the era. I was listening to Joy Division and The Clash and Yaz when fellow highschoolers were tuning in to Lover Boy (blargh, I hate Loverboy). Movies were important to people then, and my friends and I went to see all kinds of crazy midnight movies. I do believe many of the hallmarks of pop culture in music were deserving of icon status in the eighties, though there was some awful stuff too, of course. My partner listens primarily to music of the lexicon of his past. He hasn't the time to discover new artists. I feel a particular attachment to the music of my youth, and I do think it was a genius era for music. But I do explore contemporary music and I find stuff I love there too. Maybe because my tastes are wide ranging. There are so many more women artists now thriving and I find that exciting. Thanks for taking me down memory lane Sonny. It was a blast!
I started to “tune out” mid 90s, found my own musical niches. It was way harder then to discover anything outside of the mainstream. You had to dig, you had to read every zine you could get your hands on, you had to listen to endless hours of (late night) college radio. Most of it was crap, but when you found something great, it was all worth it. You got to show it to your friends, they would reveal what they discovered. It is my favourite part about music. That is all muddled with AI generated playlists and fake top 10s.
Same here. Who knows how many hours I spent in record stores reading magazines and unearthing artists/albums I”d never heard of before. Like you said, there was a lot of crap to wade through, but when you found something that resonated, nothing beat that high. I’ve never bothered with Spotify or other services. They’re run by pigs whose only concern is maximizing profit. I refuse to give them a cent of my money. Much rather spend it on the artists instead.
I think I attempted to watch a few of the movies on your list but, alas, the obvious plots set in within 5 minutes. Give me more like “Baby Reindeer”
Totally agree. The formulaic nature of most of these shows render them unwatchable.
Well written
Thanks, man. Appreciate you.
I've seen one: Tulsa King! I win.
Sometimes someone breaks through my isolation: Dua Lipa! I guess she's someone I should listen to for 15 seconds or so, before concluding that I can go back to ignoring her.
I tried listening to Dua Lipa. Once.
… and that’s plenty.
Hall and Oates were fantastic, if cheesy, sing writers.
I think the current culture is ill-making and best to avoid.
I try to avoid nostalgia though, so I’ve ended up falling in love with Film Noir and Classical Music.
I like that I'm not captive to whatever is on the radio like it was when I was growing up, especially once boy bands took over. I'll take streaming over all that any day. Even when we lived in a "monoculture" there were still little silos of people listening to stuff you never heard of just like there are now, except now THAT'S the monoculture.
But the older I get, the more I realize that most popular culture isn't really made for me anymore anyway, so I don't get too chapped about following it or not.
Sure, most TV is bullshit, and the Tulsa King should get lost on the Outer Banks, but 'Shogun' is superb and "Slow Horses' is the best present the UK has given us since 'River' and 'Utopia'.
I saw the original Shogun when I was a kid. Maybe I'll get around to the remake eventually.
As for Slow Horses, I've heard great things. And I couldn't agree more regarding River and Utopia. Perhaps I'll give it a shot after I finish watching Strike.
I'm chuffed to meet someone who watch 'River' and 'Utopia'. As an art argument, I read the great Clavell novel, so it must count towards thinking the series good too :)