has this site turned into Mojo/Uncut?

[Nigel w]

As I write the top four subjects in this fourm are

AC/DC (flowing into Led Zeppelin)

David Bowie

The Clash

The Doors.

WHAT HAPPENED TO WORLD MUSIC ????

[Nick Boyes]

WHAT HAPPENED TO WORLD MUSIC ????

Maybe it has just gone too acoustic and safe for the old rock and rollers in town.

[howard male]

Mr Williamson boomed -

WHAT HAPPENED TO WORLD MUSIC ????

Sorry, Sir. We'll all get back to our desks right away. I had meant to submit a 2000-word essay on the fab series of 70's African CDs being put out by Oriki. But then I saw the words David Bowie and went into a retro-trance. It won't happen again, Sir.

[Nigel w]

Maybe it has just gone too acoustic and safe for the old rock and rollers in town.

In which case try Buraka Som Sistema...

And Howard - that 2,000 word essay on my desk by lunchtime, eh? Otherwise it's Saturday morning detention for you, my boy...

[Ted]

The Clash

I was actually listening to an old Chaba Zahounia tape when I read the words "The Clash". The red mist descended and well i just don't remember what happened for the next few minutes..

[Charlie]

I was actually listening to an old Chaba Zahounia tape when I read the words "The Clash". The red mist descended and well i just don't remember what happened for the next few minutes..

Probably triggered by e reminder in a retro thread here, I've been listening again to N'Sel Fik, what a groove, what a track, vocally, melodically, in fact in every way

And in response to Nigel's valid question, perhaps a discussion could be sparked by the recent Songlines initiative to launch a new Awards for World Music event at WOMAD next year. I will find and post the relevant email in a moment

[Nick Boyes]

Thank you Nigel I will check out Buraka Som Sistema.

It was just my most recent buys Seprewa Kasa and Amadou Sodia are very pleasant nice music but not very exciting.

I much preferred the Samba Mapangala and Brenda Fassie re-issues

[joel]

My response has been to order 20 - count 'em - new(ish) Ocora and Prophet releases. Of no interest to the hipster rockin' fusionistas on here, but enough oxygen to keep me going :-)

[howard male]

Nigel W wrote -

In which case try Buraka Som Sistema...

or Moussa Doumbia.

[kas]

A valid question...
Maybe mentioning The Clash has worked a bit like opening a Pandora's Box of past (rock) sins...
You mention Joe Strummer and out comes Angus Young...

[Dayna]

I'm happy Robert Plant got to come out of the box for a little bit, at least. I thought maybe The Who would too, but it didn't work.
The other day, I turned my CD player on & just let it start where it wanted to & it landed on Pirates Choice. So I got back into that for a bit too. So, I'm happy to discuss all of it, what I know anyway.

[c hristian]

i forgot to tell Dayna that rest assured, the Honey Drippers cd holds a valued spot in my cd case. I play sea of love, and from the other robert plant cd right next to it, Big Log every so often to hear some Plant beauty, and to take ....me....back.

[garth cartwright]

A general query here: why does rock music from the 60s/70s continue to hold such strong appeal? AC/DC are the biggest selling act of recent years, the Zep reformation concert last year was the hottest ticket ever, Dylan and Stones and co keep filling stadiums etc etc. Uncut/Mojo are set up to cater to these tastes - and their readers are not just wrinklies - while in the US Classic Rock stations abound (with extremely conservative playlists - Zep, ZZ Top, the Cars being the acts i heard the most when listening in). The Pistols and the Clash are now classic rock (even if not on those US stations) and popular with teens internationally - when I travel I find grafitti for AC/DC, Zep, Motorhead, Iron Maiden etc everywhere, even in places like Guatemala and the Ukraine. Deep Purple remains giants in East Europe. Elvis and his contemporaries don't appear to match this demand - I realise Prez is still a big earner tho - and jazz/blues/soul/country etc from the 60s-70s doesn't get the same kind of massive demand. So what is it about the 64-84 rock scene that generates such interest and income? Yr thoughts please.

[Dayna]

Here in the Cleveland area, our Classic Rock station plays, Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Rush, Yes, Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Ted Nugent, ELO, Lynard Skynyrd, & all the other Classic bands. Cleveland's always been very well known for being a Rock town!


The Clash & The Cars are usually on stations that play 80s for some reason.

They play Elvis on the Oldies stations.

[howard male]

Garth asked -

A general query here: why does rock music from the 60s/70s continue to hold such strong appeal?

My theory, which I've voiced on the forum before, is that rock music (or perhaps we should expand the label to include reggae, hip-hop, and all the pop forms that blossomed or exploded into life in the second half of the Twentieth Century) will be the dominant musical language for at least another century or two, just as classical music dominated western culture for centuries.

I used to get quite distressed by how Western popular music has stood stock still, and just looked back for decades, until this theory dawned on me. Then I was able to just shrug my shoulders and stop hoping for any new Western pop to come along and shake me awake again.

There have always been periods of invention followed by much longer periods of stasis in all the arts, so just because our experience as 40 Somethings, 50 Somethings, and 60 Somethings has been of constant developments, digressions and refinements, that clearly wasn't going to go on forever.

So we just have to be thankful that we all grew up when these musical styles were being born, and feel pity for all those poor, young kids who are stuck listening to some 2D, sterile carbon copy of the bands we loved, until it dawns on them to start raiding their parent's or grandparent's record collections.