Would you have prefered to have been born at another time?

[leschirons]

Over the years I've had many conversations with musos both here in France and back in our native UK. All the time I hear
"you were so lucky to have been around at that time" (I'm 61 so my passion with music started in the 60's)

It seems that, especially over here, all my friends wished they could have been around to see all those people like Jon Hiseman, Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, John Mayall, Yes, Jethro Tull, The Who, Alexis Korner, Page / Clapton etc performing at a time when they were pushing boundaries and available to watch in clubs, Uni's and pubs. All at a time when music was evolving at a real pace.

Obviously they still have an opportunity to see those that are still alive and performing but when they mention some name from the past and I tell them that I saw them at the Marquee or the Cook's Ferry etc, they can't believe it.

Of course, music is still changing and I've tried to embrace all that has come along but having had the opportunity to see artists like Buddy Rich, Laura Nyro, Genesis with Peter Gabriel, Gong, the original Fleetwood Mac, and all the artists above, I guess I was lucky.

[BassBus]

I am quite happy to have been born when I was. I was a teenager in the 70s so I was able to see my fave bands at the height of their powers and great they were too. Never saw Pink Floyd though, sad to say. Even now that I've morphed into a jazzer and living in austere times I wouldn't change anything. We have all sorts of fun toys to play with which hadn't even been thought of in the 70s.

I may not listen to much 'young persons' music but there is still plenty out there worth listening to. I get more fun out of playing in bands now than I did then. With all of us being older now there aren't the same ego problems around.

I wouldn't change a thing. Now, who sang that?

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1368959121' post='2083338']
I am quite happy to have been born when I was. I was a teenager in the 70s so I was able to see my fave bands at the height of their powers and great they were too. Never saw Pink Floyd though, sad to say. Even now that I've morphed into a jazzer and living in austere times I wouldn't change anything. We have all sorts of fun toys to play with which hadn't even been thought of in the 70s.

I may not listen to much 'young persons' music but there is still plenty out there worth listening to. I get more fun out of playing in bands now than I did then. With all of us being older now there aren't the same ego problems around.

I wouldn't change a thing. Now, who sang that?
[/quote]

+1

[chris_b]

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1368958015' post='2083317']
...wished they could have been around to see all those people like Jon Hiseman, Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, John Mayall, Yes, Jethro Tull, The Who, Alexis Korner, Page / Clapton etc performing at a time when they were pushing boundaries and available to watch in clubs, Uni's and pubs....

....and I tell them that I saw them at the Marquee or the Cook's Ferry etc, they can't believe it....
[/quote]

Ah, what a time.... permission to reminisce.

I was one of 40 people who saw Hendrix at the Hounslow Ricky Tick the week Hey Joe came out.

I can't remember the number of Cream, Fleetwood Mac and Jeff Beck Group gigs I saw, but it was at least a couple a month. And Geno, Zoot and Jimmy James, with Phil Chen on bass. Arthur Brown, The Birds, Yardbirds, Gary Farr, Victor Brox, Tony Knights Chessmen, Alexis Korner's Free At Last......

Those guys rearranged my brain cells.

My only regret; if I was born 5 years earlier I'd have been part of that world, rather than watching it.

[Fat Rich]

Was a teenager in the eighties, I always hated the pop scene at that time and listened to the soul and funk London pirate radio stations like Solar, JFM and LWR.

But when I started playing bass there was a healthy live music scene where you could get plenty of gigs without the inconvenience of having to be a good band, so I guess it was a pretty good time.

Would have been interesting to be playing in the 60s and early 70s though, some great music happening then.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Fat Rich

[Cat Burrito]

Like Fat Rich I too was [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]a teenager in the eighties and also always hated the pop scene at that time. The biggest influence in my formative years was my parents record collection so ranging 50s, 60s and 70s. I tend to worry about things I can change so it doesn't upset me that I was born in the early 70s (far from it!) but I think it would have been cooler to have had a chance to see and play with the bands who influenced me the most. [/font][/color]

[Lozz196]

I would have liked to have been a teenager in the early 70s and seen all the great bands - Bolan, Bowie, Roxy, Sweet, Slade etc. Then I would have also got the benefit of being around to have seen bands like the Pistols, Clash, Jam, Stranglers etc when punk came out.

[Truckstop]

I would have loved to have been in America in the 50's and 60's. All that great music! Blues, rock n roll, soul, surf, swing! Imagine seeing the likes of Etta James and Aretha Franklin in smoky clubs in the small hours!

It's amazing to think about. London in the 60's would also be very cool indeed. I would have loved to have seen Cream.

Truckstop

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1368964043' post='2083405']
I would have liked to have been a teenager in the early 70s and seen all the great bands - Bolan, Bowie, Roxy, Sweet, Slade etc. Then I would have also got the benefit of being around to have seen bands like the Pistols, Clash, Jam, Stranglers etc when punk came out.
[/quote]

Hindsight is a wonderfull thing. I was there, it wasnt so great. As well as the bands your thinking of there was just so much drivel. it was the time of The Osmonds and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. as well. Just have a look at the charts from the time, or listen to Tony Blackburn on saturday afternoons. I did get to see some great bands for noraloramoney though.Like The Who for £2.45, and countless bands just before they made it at clubs in Brum..

Mself, I'd have liked to be playing Bass in the early 60s, which is when I first started to take notice. There were loads of gigs to be had back then and the better musos from that time became the class acts of the 70s

[attachment=135074:charlton-poster76.jpg]

Edited May 19, 2013 by BILL POSTERS

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1368964736' post='2083415']As well as the bands your thinking of there was just so much drivel.
[/quote]

It's a fair point and I've heard it said before [b]but[/b] isn't that the same of any time period / genre?

[chris_b]

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1368965114' post='2083419']
It's a fair point and I've heard it said before [b]but[/b] isn't that the same of any time period / genre?
[/quote]

Yes.

When Cream were playing the charts and radio were full of stuff like Green Green Grass of Home, Distant Drums and Please Release Me.

Why worry about stuff you don't like. There's so much more.

[Happy Jack]

A lot of "great bands" are only that good in hindsight, once you know how the story turns out.

I was 20 in 1977 when the whole punk thing happened. I saw plenty of punk bands, pretty much all of whom were complete sh*t. I saw the Sex Pistols, thought they were rubbish. I saw The Damned, thought they had something but wasn't much fussed about seeing them again.

The really great bands of 76/77 were people like AC/DC, The Motors, Eddie & The Hot Rods.

The other factor in all this reminiscing is that going to pubs & clubs to see bands cost money. Between the ages of 17 - 22, I seem to remember that money was something that other people had ...

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1368965114' post='2083419']
It's a fair point and I've heard it said before [b]but[/b] isn't that the same of any time period / genre?
[/quote]

Yes, course it is. The point I was trying to make is that then, as now, 99% of music isnt what you'd call great. Now and then theres a classic, album/track/single which will be remembered, and in 30 years such classics are what will be remembered. But even the drivel will influence others, so itsn necessary and it has its place , doesnt it ?


Theres also an age factor, what an 18 year old listens to, mightbe a classic track defining the era to him, but might not be the same to a 40 year old who has gone through the angst and whatever that the youth is going through.

Edited May 19, 2013 by BILL POSTERS

[spongebob]

I think access to music is an issue as well.

These days, with the internet and MP3's, we can get so much music so easily.

I remember in the 80's (I was born in '74) that the records I wanted were often so hard to get. Rubbish record shops (around here anyway) that had to order, and maybe, just maybe, might be able to get what you request...eventually!

Obviously the music magazines have changed as well - there are now the 'retro' mags in which you can find more out about 'older' bands than I'm sure you could have done at the time!

With the internet we now get to hear more bands as well - living even in the remotest part of the country does not get in the way of access to a particular band or song - something which wasn't the case before.

For me, we live in the best time now for music. Not that I particularly like much out there right now, but for the fact that we can find and own music so easily, more that I ever dreamed of in the days of C90 cassettes and scratched vinyl! If you want to live (musically) wherever you want, you can - we have the technology!

[Roger2611]

I guess if I knew then what I know now I would have liked to be a few few years older when Punk first exploded but being that bit too young I got to experience the second wave of punk bands, the start of goth and new romantics, so all in all I am happy with my lot

[Painy]

I was born in 1981 so completely missed most of the music I love by 10-20 years but only in the sense of being there at the time. I think the key thing is that we still have all that incredible music available to us and everything since as well. After all it's music I love because I've been able to hear it so I'm pretty happy with the here and now. Not to mention being born in a time when I never had to worry about growing up with rickets!

Edited May 19, 2013 by Painy

[EssentialTension]

I was born 1952 and so a teenager through the 60s and 18 years old in 1970. I always reckoned that 1945 was a better year to be born because then I would really have been old enough to enjoy the 60s completely.

However, you get what you get.

[White Cloud]

As a believer in reincarnation I am of the opinion that we all have been born at different times. Out of the left field, I know.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Good point by sponge bob . There is more stuff today , and it's a lot cheaper and easier to access than ever before.
Left school in'79 , so missed Sabbath and Zep in their prime.(and never saw Floyd either).
Would like to have seen ABba;) Missed cream and Hendrix and the groundhogs. Not too bothered by punk, as I didn't fancy getting spat at at gigs.

When I was a kid, I used to listen to radio1/ luxembourg& Caroline. In my house, I was the first person out ofbed in the morning. Switched on radio around 7am.
(It was a dansette with record player and a large lid). You used to get crackling rose by Neil diamond, lyn Anderson rose garden , mungo jerry baby jump,and the carpenters before 8am;)
Hated disco(99% of it anyhow). Around '77 I didn't care about the charts on a Sunday anymore. I became a headbanger and my first gigs wre at the music machine,
Marquee , Lyceum etc. if I could turn back time, I would never have worn all the badges . I still have a memory of walking about my business and my British Steel razor blade started to peel off the back of my leather bike jacket in the hot sunshine. I never had a motorbike either.

So no, I don't think I would have preferred to have been born at another time;)

[Lozz196]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1368964043' post='2083405']
I would have liked to have been a teenager in the early 70s and seen all the great bands - Bolan, Bowie, Roxy, Sweet, Slade etc. Then I would have also got the benefit of being around to have seen bands like the Pistols, Clash, Jam, Stranglers etc when punk came out.
[/quote]
[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1368964736' post='2083415']
Hindsight is a wonderfull thing. I was there, it wasnt so great. As well as the bands your thinking of there was just so much drivel. it was the time of The Osmonds and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. as well. Just have a look at the charts from the time, or listen to Tony Blackburn on saturday afternoons. I did get to see some great bands for noraloramoney though.Like The Who for £2.45, and countless bands just before they made it at clubs in Brum..
[attachment=135074:charlton-poster76.jpg]
[/quote]

Take your point Bill, and agree there was a lot of stuff at the time I wasn`t keen on, but those are bands I liked at the time from between the ages of 7 - 14, so it would have been great to have the opportunity to see them live, at their peak. Reaching the age where I could go to gigs on my own was the early 80s, when punk was on its way out (as many of the bands learned to play a bit, so lost their raw energy) and the New Romantics came in. Now I like that stuff now, due no doubt to nostalgia, but hated it back then, so I just missed out on all the bands I`ve liked since I understood music really.

[molan]

I totally agree about hindsight being a wonderful thing.

I was buying my first music in the late 60's and I still love some of the stuff I bought then but there was way more awful stuff around in the general airspace than good.

My early teenage years were all glam, Bolan, Bowie, Roxy etc, soon to be followed by some serious program years - meanwhile most of the stuff being listened to by most people was still pretty awful.

Moved to London at 18 just in time to see people like the Clash and the Jam at their peak and went to some great gigs. Got to roadie for U2 when they were still playing places like the Marquee in Wardour Street and moved into Billy Idol's room when he could afford the whole flat next door. Meanwhile the charts were awful.

Then we hit some New Romantic stuff - great club scene in London and a lot of fun. Charts still rubbish.

Etc. etc. etc. etc.

We all have great memories of our early years in music and it's so easy to be selective and carp on about only the good stuff. My children have exactly the same sort of memories about house, techno, garage etc that I had about all the music I loved in my youth.

To echo an earlier post, the only time I'd want to have been born at might have been a more recent one so I would still have it all to look forward to instead of drowning in nostalgia. . .

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1368968377' post='2083473']
Yes, course it is. The point I was trying to make is that then, as now, 99% of music isnt what you'd call great. Now and then theres a classic, album/track/single which will be remembered, and in 30 years such classics are what will be remembered. But even the drivel will influence others, so itsn necessary and it has its place , doesnt it ?


Theres also an age factor, what an 18 year old listens to, mightbe a classic track defining the era to him, but might not be the same to a 40 year old who has gone through the angst and whatever that the youth is going through.
[/quote]

Again I get that and can only agree.

[paulpirie8]

The Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris kind of makes fun of this idea. It's more focused towards writers & artists but the same mentality applies. People often wish they were born in an age they believe to be better but the truth is that very little would be different. It's quite a fun film.

Paul

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='paulpirie8' timestamp='1369042995' post='2084101']
The Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris kind of makes fun of this idea. It's more focused towards writers & artists but the same mentality applies. People often wish they were born in an age they believe to be better but the truth is that very little would be different. It's quite a fun film.

Paul
[/quote]
Yes, good film.

[KevB]

Decided some time ago I was born pretty much exactly 10 years too late. Just a bit too young to have seen many of the bands I like play at their peak and yet would still be young enough to appreciate those bands that have come around later. Also would have benefitted from having a much better standard of living after retirement than I probably will when I do eventually stop work.