Will today's and future generations know the difference between "British Invasion" and classic American rock bands? Will they think it matters?

[Tricone]

This question popped into my head when reading a thread earlier today. We of the Boomer and X Generations spend a lot of time discussing and pontificating on the differences and glories of certain bands and eras of rock music. It is fun and sometimes heated.

With times as they are and moving in different directions do you think today's and future generations will distinguish between British blues and American blues? Will bands like the Beatles hold the same aura as they have held for so many since the 1960's?

I think we as a couple of older generations can see how things have changed in music, musical taste, and the importance of music to today's consumers and trend setters. We live in a world today that you don't have to move from home to L.A., London,NYC, or Paris "to make it." You can broadcast a concert to the world from your bedroom.

So what do you think? What is the future of guitar and music? Where are the new generations going to take it?

It may not be where we would go, but it may be a lot cooler. There is potential.

 

[radiocaster]

I would think there are a lot more older kids that know something about 60s and 70s music than kids of that time that knew about 20s and 30s music, even though there was sort of a revival/rehash of 20s music in the 60s.

 

[stxrus]

Does it really matter?

 

[Peegoo]

Remember when Dixieland was popular--and virtually every home in the US had a banjo? How often have you thought about and discussed the merits of the various groups that created and developed the jazz movement--from the US, to Europe, to south America and Japan and beyond?

Yeah, me neither.

 

[Trenchant63]

Don’t discount the youth knowledge of that era of music - they’re far more aware than you think. Not that I particularly care if they do. I wish for them to look back at their own era of music vs. ancient times - it’s just plain healthier. Kids today listening to 50-60 yr old music constantly is equivalent to me listening to 30’s big band music all the time when I was young. Although I heard it on occasion, I wasn’t listening to it much from my dad’s record collection. I was listening mostly to the music of “now” at that time across genres. Nothing at all wrong with liking any era of music but it’s cool if a generation has their own musical “classics” that they cherish IMO.

 

[Killing Floor]

Will your generation know the difference between slow flow and mumble? And does it matter?

 

[Killing Floor]

Remember when Dixieland was popular--and virtually every home in the US had a banjo? How often have you thought about and discussed the merits of the various groups that created and developed the jazz movement--from the US, to Europe, to south America and Japan and beyond?

Yeah, me neither.

A nightmarish hellscape.

 

[telleutelleme]

There is such a wealth of information which describes changes in music it seems hard to believe there wouldn't be some knowledge passed on.

Serious musicians and students of music will know the differences and causes.

 

[buster poser]

Music didn’t start in the 1950s. Do most Gen Xers and Boomers similarly understand jazz or what came before “their” music? I’ve met relatively few

 

[Dismalhead]

The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon. Classic rock is a classification of music. Most of the British Invasion bands were classic rock.

 

[Tricone]

Remember when Dixieland was popular--and virtually every home in the US had a banjo? How often have you thought about and discussed the merits of the various groups that created and developed the jazz movement--from the US, to Europe, to south America and Japan and beyond?

Yeah, me neither.

Actually yes. At university in a couple of music history and jazz classes. I have read quite a bit in jazz musician biographies about the big rift between the "Trad" guys and the "BeBop" school and what constituted as "real" jazz.
Interesting stuff. Reinforces the point of nothing is new under the sun.

 

[Peegoo]

Remember too that all classical music written by all those famous dead people that were just heads and shoulders was created at the behest of royalty--not the common citizenry. It was not 'popular' music at all. It's what kings wanted to hear.

 

[Tricone]

Does it really matter?

That wasn't the question.

Will your generation know the difference between slow flow and mumble? And does it matter?

I am Generation X. I know more about mumble than slow flow. My 25 yr old son is a fan. I haven't delved that deep though.

 

[Tricone]

Music didn’t start in the 1950s. Do most Gen Xers and Boomers similarly understand jazz or what came before “their” music? I’ve met relatively few

Clearly, we have never met.

 

[Peegoo]

Actually yes. At university in a couple of music history and jazz classes.

Of course--as have many of us, I'm guessing, that have formally studied music.

But the general population does not delve too deeply into a wide variety of music; individuals find something they like to hear (usually influenced by their peer group), and they consume it and other stuff that sounds very much like it. Along with that comes a confirmation bias that the music of their youth was the best music in the universe. Most of the stuff after that is not good. Maybe some stuff before it was good.

Every generation goes through this cycle.

My parents were huge into big band stuff, as well as jazz and country and latin/carib stuff. I consider myself very fortunate to have had that as a kid.

 

[brookdalebill]

I doubt if they’ll think it matters.
When I was young, I cared nothing for my parent’s or grandparent’s music.
Glen Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, legit jazz (whatever that is), Broadway musicals, and country was just boring music sadly lacking (except for Charlie Christian with Benny) in hot guitar solos.
Heck, I even thought Elvis Presley was a cornball.
Some young people may care, and even like Boomer music (British and American rock).
Let the kids be kids, and dig what they dig.

 

[985plowboy]

They only time they will need to differentiate between American and British rock bands will be when selecting replacement speakers from Eminence.

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

For me the easiest guess is that future generations will continue the trend of re-categorizing or mis-categorizing, depending on POV. I don’t think most listeners of a diverse selection of music toil over how to pigeon-hole their downloads on their devices. It's a sticky business, the anatomy of art.

 

[SuprHtr]

I remember when I was very young and jazz was the cutting edge music, as much as rock and roll was at the time. Friends who are 4 or 5 years older than me have a much better appreciation for it. The Allman Brothers Band had a style that went in that jazzy direction a lot. I appreciate bebop but it was arguably before my time. Good music endures, regardless of style.

 

[Tricone]

I remember when I was very young and jazz was the cutting edge music, as much as rock and roll was at the time. Friends who are 4 or 5 years older than me have a much better appreciation for it. The Allman Brothers Band had a style that went in that jazzy direction a lot. I appreciate bebop but it was arguably before my time. Good music endures, regardless of style.

The Allman Brothers Band are my favorite band (including all the different lineups) since you mentioned them. I miss my annual ABB road trip every summer. Greatest band ever. Imho. Miles Davis' late 1950's early 1960's quintet and sextet a close second.