This thread makes me a bit sad
Reckon today's younger folks are going to be reminiscing like this in 10-20 years? About freaking hip hop, techno & crap country folk?
90% of these bands got AirPlay on jjj.
Wouldn't get a sniff now. No-one cares about rock, right?
On the contrary, this thread makes me glad that I was in my teens and twenties in an era when all these great bands were around and I could readily see them! If I'd grown up with the music of today, where the likes of Lady Gaga and Pink are considered "edgy" and Muse and Coldplay are unit-shifters, I reckon I'd have lost interest completely. As it stands I've got a lifetime of memories of great gigs, and a CD/vinyl collection which I can cheerfully retreat into and ignore radio entirely...
There's still some ******* good bands out there, there really are. They just get (comparatively) buried. Have a dig around, listen to some community radio (everyone else has gone to a high-rotation playlist, including - to my eternal chagrin - JJJ), get out to some gigs. They're there, they always will be. Just not flavour of the month.
I'm just not feeling it. Sorry, I'm really not! There's the odd track here and there that's decent, but I cannot remember the last time I had a "WOW" moment listening to music. Probably 15 years ago, when I heard OK Computer for the first time.
I'm beginning to wonder whether every possible song has now been written and everything hereafter is consigned to be an imitation of something which has gone before. As a result of the computer age, when pretty well everyone has ready access to a recording studio in their own loungeroom, it's perplexing that the standard of music has dropped to such a dire low. Maybe you're right and what little quality there is is merely being drowned out by a even higher amount of white-noise, but I'm not sure I'm bothered to go looking for the diamonds in the dirt any more. We are truly living in the "drag and drop" era of music.
I used to buy an album a week (at least), now I'm lucky if it's 2 or 3 a year. I got fed up with being jibbed - throwing twenty bucks at something only to get two good songs buried in a bunch of crap (an unfortuante spin-off of the CD age was that artists suddenly felt compelled to deliver 70-minutes of material, quality control went out of window and the hit/miss ratio dropped-off markedly). So now I illegally download for a listen first. If I like them enough I'll then buy them. Nothing much different really from the old listening-post in Brashs, or the music library at uni. Not many albums progress from being scurrilously obtained to being bought I can tell you...
A friend years ago had a theory that all bands/artists should have an allowance of 3 albums, after which they should be banned from recording another note. At the time I dismissed the notion, now I'm not so sure and think it holds some water. Not too many artists get better after their first three albums (the occasional gem if you're lucky). If I go through my collection (a decent enough size), it's incredible how many of my favourite albums are a 1st, 2nd or 3rd release.
Worth remembering that even in the early/mid-90s or whenever we're reminiscing to, it wasn't the sort of stuff this thread is talking about that was charting. It was Spice Girls, Bryan Adams (the Costner Robin Hood theme song, remember that one?), Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, that song Aerosmith did for the asteroid movie, etc etc. Just cos we were listening to Tumbleweed, Mark of Cain and the Black-Eyed Susans, doesn't mean most of Australia was.
I'm not sure if it's easier or harder for starting out bands doing their own thing to get noticed these days than it was back then. The live pub scene has been brutalised by pokies and is just hanging on by its fingernails, but JJJ went to a rigid playlist-style of airplay way back in 97 or something (god knows they could stand to play less hip-hop shit though, FFS), and there was no equivalent to Youtube or similar back then either.
I think that depends on the band/artist, though
Some bands are still all about the album.
Some follow the single.
Others just want to get out there any way how.
Yeah, but how many albums did you used to buy that only had maybe 3 or 4 great songs on them? I got a stack of them. No need to do that now, there is no place for fillers or even experimental tracks these days.
I get what everybody is saying, I haven't been 'grabbed' by anything new for a really long time. But maybe it's because I'm older now? If I was 15-25 at the moment, maybe I'd find it.
I have a 21 year old nephew who is music crazy atm. He still finds good stuff, he still loves going to gigs, but he also listens to all my old sh*t.
Whether it was made in the 50's, 70's, 90's or last week. Good music is good music, and it will always be that way.
This thread makes me a bit sad
Reckon today's younger folks are going to be reminiscing like this in 10-20 years? About freaking hip hop, techno & crap country folk?
90% of these bands got AirPlay on jjj.
Wouldn't get a sniff now. No-one cares about rock, right?
On the contrary, this thread makes me glad that I was in my teens and twenties in an era when all these great bands were around and I could readily see them! If I'd grown up with the music of today, where the likes of Lady Gaga and Pink are considered "edgy" and Muse and Coldplay are unit-shifters, I reckon I'd have lost interest completely. As it stands I've got a lifetime of memories of great gigs, and a CD/vinyl collection which I can cheerfully retreat into and ignore radio entirely...
There's still some ******* good bands out there, there really are. They just get (comparatively) buried. Have a dig around, listen to some community radio (everyone else has gone to a high-rotation playlist, including - to my eternal chagrin - JJJ), get out to some gigs. They're there, they always will be. Just not flavour of the month.
I'm just not feeling it. Sorry, I'm really not! There's the odd track here and there that's decent, but I cannot remember the last time I had a "WOW" moment listening to music. Probably 15 years ago, when I heard OK Computer for the first time.
I'm beginning to wonder whether every possible song has now been written and everything hereafter is consigned to be an imitation of something which has gone before. As a result of the computer age, when pretty well everyone has ready access to a recording studio in their own loungeroom, it's perplexing that the standard of music has dropped to such a dire low. Maybe you're right and what little quality there is is merely being drowned out by a even higher amount of white-noise, but I'm not sure I'm bothered to go looking for the diamonds in the dirt any more. We are truly living in the "drag and drop" era of music.
I used to buy an album a week (at least), now I'm lucky if it's 2 or 3 a year. I got fed up with being jibbed - throwing twenty bucks at something only to get two good songs buried in a bunch of crap (an unfortuante spin-off of the CD age was that artists suddenly felt compelled to deliver 70-minutes of material, quality control went out of window and the hit/miss ratio dropped-off markedly). So now I illegally download for a listen first. If I like them enough I'll then buy them. Nothing much different really from the old listening-post in Brashs, or the music library at uni. Not many albums progress from being scurrilously obtained to being bought I can tell you...
A friend years ago had a theory that all bands/artists should have an allowance of 3 albums, after which they should be banned from recording another note. At the time I dismissed the notion, now I'm not so sure and think it holds some water. Not too many artists get better after their first three albums (the occasional gem if you're lucky). If I go through my collection (a decent enough size), it's incredible how many of my favourite albums are a 1st, 2nd or 3rd release.
Anything after III? Anything after 'beatlemania' ? Anything after 'satanic whatever'?
Seems legit.
Bin it.
Rubbe Soul, IV, sticky fingers & Exile on Main St...
In short, couldn't agree less.
Uggghhhh
Just looked at a few mor bands & when their best albums came in chronological order.
No.
I don't want to be too critical of the 'albums are just a rip-off anyway' generation, but...
There's very few albums I own where I'm less than happy that I know the album-tracks.
The idea that anything Paul Kelly puts on an album could be called filler...
And I'm most dismissive of bands that I've never heard an album from...I don't think that's a coincidence.
There's no theme here, just a few rambling thoughts.
Edit: And that applies to acts like DJ Shadow, current stuff...I don't know what genre he is...he's a friggin' dj. But there's wonderful, varied stuff on his whole album.
I don't want to be too critical of the 'albums are just a rip-off anyway' generation, but...
There's very few albums I own where I'm less than happy that I know the album-tracks.
The idea that anything Paul Kelly puts on an album could be called filler...
And I'm most dismissive of bands that I've never heard an album from...I don't think that's a coincidence.
There's no theme here, just a few rambling thoughts.
Edit: And that applies to acts like DJ Shadow, current stuff...I don't know what genre he is...he's a friggin' dj. But there's wonderful, varied stuff on his whole album.
I worded it poorly, but I was actually trying to say similar.
How many albums can you remember where you'd listen to mainly 5 or so songs for the first few months? But then, a track you used to think was a bit 'meh' suddenly hits you and it becomes your new favourite?
I think there is less room for that sort of discovery these days.
I don't want to be too critical of the 'albums are just a rip-off anyway' generation, but...
There's very few albums I own where I'm less than happy that I know the album-tracks.
The idea that anything Paul Kelly puts on an album could be called filler...
And I'm most dismissive of bands that I've never heard an album from...I don't think that's a coincidence.
There's no theme here, just a few rambling thoughts.
Edit: And that applies to acts like DJ Shadow, current stuff...I don't know what genre he is...he's a friggin' dj. But there's wonderful, varied stuff on his whole album.
I worded it poorly, but I was actually trying to say similar.
How many albums can you remember where you'd listen to mainly 5 or so songs for the first few months? But then, a track you used to think was a bit 'meh' suddenly hits you and it becomes your new favourite?
I think there is less room for that sort of discovery these days.
I think there's less likelihood people make that sort of discovery, because a lot of people don't buy albums, but that's at least as much to do with the people as the albums.
I don't want to be too critical of the 'albums are just a rip-off anyway' generation, but...
There's very few albums I own where I'm less than happy that I know the album-tracks.
The idea that anything Paul Kelly puts on an album could be called filler...
And I'm most dismissive of bands that I've never heard an album from...I don't think that's a coincidence.
There's no theme here, just a few rambling thoughts.
Edit: And that applies to acts like DJ Shadow, current stuff...I don't know what genre he is...he's a friggin' dj. But there's wonderful, varied stuff on his whole album.
I worded it poorly, but I was actually trying to say similar.
How many albums can you remember where you'd listen to mainly 5 or so songs for the first few months? But then, a track you used to think was a bit 'meh' suddenly hits you and it becomes your new favourite?
I think there is less room for that sort of discovery these days.
I think there's less likelihood people make that sort of discovery, because a lot of people don't buy albums, but that's at least as much to do with the people as the albums.
Time period helps too. In my case, music changed in a major way as I grew up. Before my time it was all swoony type stuff, and people like Bill Haley and co were the wild side. Then Elvis did his thing and sex sort of came into it. And then all of a sudden music exploded into what we know today. Along came the Beatles and Stones etc and the whole lanscape changed and new genres that were like nothing before them started to appear. Zep and Purple etc created heavy rock, and so on and so forth. Just a rare time in the evolution of popular music I think. Luck of the draw of when you were born.
Great band! F*** they rocked hard. I'd forgotten all about them.
Saw Spy V Spy at the infamous Wildwood concert in the early 90's.
They had plenty of commercial support. Over here at least anyway.
Then... nothing.
Still around - do a double with the Radiators. Had them here this year and they belted out some great Rock & Roll. Like me, they are old.
Is Craig Bloxom still with the Spys these days? Last I heard, there were two rival Spys treading the boards - one with Bloxom & Wiley (who couldn't call themselves V. Spy V. Spy for legal reasons) and the other headed by the second drummer (who came onboard around Trash The Planet time). Somewhat along similar lines as the Angels and LRB (i.e. legal fighting about who owned the brand name).
Seems once they severed ties with Gary Morris & the Oils the Spys just disappeared unfortunately. Harry's Reasons and AO Mod TV Vers were great records...
Yes Craig is still with the band!
No he's not. He turned his back on the music industry in 2003 and is very happy in his new career as a chef. He is currently the head chef at a hospital in Newcastle.
Hoodoo Gurus took that 60's inspired guitar framed sound to the next level but The Stems' "At First Glance, Violets Are Blue" album was a highlight in 1987. Had to listen pretty hard though to hear them though.
This thread makes me a bit sad
Reckon today's younger folks are going to be reminiscing like this in 10-20 years? About freaking hip hop, techno & crap country folk?
90% of these bands got AirPlay on jjj.
Wouldn't get a sniff now. No-one cares about rock, right?
On the contrary, this thread makes me glad that I was in my teens and twenties in an era when all these great bands were around and I could readily see them! If I'd grown up with the music of today, where the likes of Lady Gaga and Pink are considered "edgy" and Muse and Coldplay are unit-shifters, I reckon I'd have lost interest completely. As it stands I've got a lifetime of memories of great gigs, and a CD/vinyl collection which I can cheerfully retreat into and ignore radio entirely...
There's still some ******* good bands out there, there really are. They just get (comparatively) buried. Have a dig around, listen to some community radio (everyone else has gone to a high-rotation playlist, including - to my eternal chagrin - JJJ), get out to some gigs. They're there, they always will be. Just not flavour of the month.
I'm just not feeling it. Sorry, I'm really not! There's the odd track here and there that's decent, but I cannot remember the last time I had a "WOW" moment listening to music. Probably 15 years ago, when I heard OK Computer for the first time.
I'm beginning to wonder whether every possible song has now been written and everything hereafter is consigned to be an imitation of something which has gone before. As a result of the computer age, when pretty well everyone has ready access to a recording studio in their own loungeroom, it's perplexing that the standard of music has dropped to such a dire low. Maybe you're right and what little quality there is is merely being drowned out by a even higher amount of white-noise, but I'm not sure I'm bothered to go looking for the diamonds in the dirt any more. We are truly living in the "drag and drop" era of music.
I used to buy an album a week (at least), now I'm lucky if it's 2 or 3 a year. I got fed up with being jibbed - throwing twenty bucks at something only to get two good songs buried in a bunch of crap (an unfortuante spin-off of the CD age was that artists suddenly felt compelled to deliver 70-minutes of material, quality control went out of window and the hit/miss ratio dropped-off markedly). So now I illegally download for a listen first. If I like them enough I'll then buy them. Nothing much different really from the old listening-post in Brashs, or the music library at uni. Not many albums progress from being scurrilously obtained to being bought I can tell you...
A friend years ago had a theory that all bands/artists should have an allowance of 3 albums, after which they should be banned from recording another note. At the time I dismissed the notion, now I'm not so sure and think it holds some water. Not too many artists get better after their first three albums (the occasional gem if you're lucky). If I go through my collection (a decent enough size), it's incredible how many of my favourite albums are a 1st, 2nd or 3rd release.
Anything after III? Anything after 'beatlemania' ? Anything after 'satanic whatever'?
Seems legit.
Bin it.
Rubbe Soul, IV, sticky fingers & Exile on Main St...
In short, couldn't agree less.
Uggghhhh
Just looked at a few mor bands & when their best albums came in chronological order.
No.
Yep, I thought the Beatles, Stones (and XTC) were obvious exceptions when the notion was first raised. Pink Floyd too (although does the clock get reset when the principal songwriter changes?)
This thread makes me a bit sad
Reckon today's younger folks are going to be reminiscing like this in 10-20 years? About freaking hip hop, techno & crap country folk?
90% of these bands got AirPlay on jjj.
Wouldn't get a sniff now. No-one cares about rock, right?
On the contrary, this thread makes me glad that I was in my teens and twenties in an era when all these great bands were around and I could readily see them! If I'd grown up with the music of today, where the likes of Lady Gaga and Pink are considered "edgy" and Muse and Coldplay are unit-shifters, I reckon I'd have lost interest completely. As it stands I've got a lifetime of memories of great gigs, and a CD/vinyl collection which I can cheerfully retreat into and ignore radio entirely...
There's still some ******* good bands out there, there really are. They just get (comparatively) buried. Have a dig around, listen to some community radio (everyone else has gone to a high-rotation playlist, including - to my eternal chagrin - JJJ), get out to some gigs. They're there, they always will be. Just not flavour of the month.
I'm just not feeling it. Sorry, I'm really not! There's the odd track here and there that's decent, but I cannot remember the last time I had a "WOW" moment listening to music. Probably 15 years ago, when I heard OK Computer for the first time.
I'm beginning to wonder whether every possible song has now been written and everything hereafter is consigned to be an imitation of something which has gone before. As a result of the computer age, when pretty well everyone has ready access to a recording studio in their own loungeroom, it's perplexing that the standard of music has dropped to such a dire low. Maybe you're right and what little quality there is is merely being drowned out by a even higher amount of white-noise, but I'm not sure I'm bothered to go looking for the diamonds in the dirt any more. We are truly living in the "drag and drop" era of music.
I used to buy an album a week (at least), now I'm lucky if it's 2 or 3 a year. I got fed up with being jibbed - throwing twenty bucks at something only to get two good songs buried in a bunch of crap (an unfortuante spin-off of the CD age was that artists suddenly felt compelled to deliver 70-minutes of material, quality control went out of window and the hit/miss ratio dropped-off markedly). So now I illegally download for a listen first. If I like them enough I'll then buy them. Nothing much different really from the old listening-post in Brashs, or the music library at uni. Not many albums progress from being scurrilously obtained to being bought I can tell you...
A friend years ago had a theory that all bands/artists should have an allowance of 3 albums, after which they should be banned from recording another note. At the time I dismissed the notion, now I'm not so sure and think it holds some water. Not too many artists get better after their first three albums (the occasional gem if you're lucky). If I go through my collection (a decent enough size), it's incredible how many of my favourite albums are a 1st, 2nd or 3rd release.
Anything after III? Anything after 'beatlemania' ? Anything after 'satanic whatever'?
Seems legit.
Bin it.
Rubbe Soul, IV, sticky fingers & Exile on Main St...
In short, couldn't agree less.
Uggghhhh
Just looked at a few mor bands & when their best albums came in chronological order.
No.
Yep, I thought the Beatles, Stones (and XTC) were obvious exceptions when the notion was first raised. Pink Floyd too (although does the clock get reset when the principal songwriter changes?)
Testeagles ruled
Game over killed it for a short period of time..shotgun was a classic album
Liquid, unearthed band from canberra in 96 sametime as grinspoon...died off quick
Great band! F*** they rocked hard. I'd forgotten all about them.
Saw Spy V Spy at the infamous Wildwood concert in the early 90's.
They had plenty of commercial support. Over here at least anyway.
Then... nothing.
Still around - do a double with the Radiators. Had them here this year and they belted out some great Rock & Roll. Like me, they are old.
Is Craig Bloxom still with the Spys these days? Last I heard, there were two rival Spys treading the boards - one with Bloxom & Wiley (who couldn't call themselves V. Spy V. Spy for legal reasons) and the other headed by the second drummer (who came onboard around Trash The Planet time). Somewhat along similar lines as the Angels and LRB (i.e. legal fighting about who owned the brand name).
Seems once they severed ties with Gary Morris & the Oils the Spys just disappeared unfortunately. Harry's Reasons and AO Mod TV Vers were great records...
Yes Craig is still with the band!
No he's not. He turned his back on the music industry in 2003 and is very happy in his new career as a chef. He is currently the head chef at a hospital in Newcastle.
Thanks Bomba
Craig is still listed on the Spy website as a member of the band. Next time I will ring the promoter and ask the question before posting.
Every generation thinks their era was musically superior to the ones that followed. Most are incorrect.
The thing I think the kiddies of today will miss is great albums. There is still great 'songs' and music around, but the concept of the album is dissapearing
every generation picks on the new one been happening for generations, nothing new here