Unsubstantiated allegations

[William Duffy]

Paul Mather wrote:
>
> On Tue, 4 Feb 1997, John Majka wrote:
>
> >                                                          Even though I'm a
> > huge HW fan, I must admit that many of the fans (of both bands at BOC-l)seem
> > like stuck-in-the-mud types with musical interests that ceased growing
> > approximately 20 years ago.  I mean there have been an awful lot of great
> > bands from every time period, and I guess I just get a little upset
> > sometimes with the narrowness of some people's tastes.  Does anybody on this
> > list buy music by relatively "new" bands which aren't related to HW or BOC?
>
> [list of bands omitted.]
>
> > I don't know what this proves.
>
> This proves once again that every so often someone is determined to start
> the "my musical tastes are more diverse than yours" pissing contest on
> BOC-L.  Congratulations!  You are this month's winner!
>
Looking through the list of bands regarded as relatively "new", most of the ones that I
do know of aren't really, in my own view, all that creative or original. Anyway, nobody
should really comment on other peoples tastes, when they do not really know what is
amongst their collection. My own collection of over 1,000 albums, CD's, etc., has a
large diversity (apart from the obvious HW, Gong, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream,
etc..),including Steeleye Span, Mike Batt, Gary Glitter, The Orb, 10cc, Sandy
Denny, System 7, XTC, Barbara Dickson, Generation X, Ian Hunter, Nick Drake, John
Williams (the guitarist), Roy Harper, as well as some other mixtures. About the only
things I don't have are crap like Saturday Night Fever, rap, disco, soul, etc., etc..

I may buy some of the current artists, but since I've been collecting for so long, I
haven't got the time or money to buy everything that's out there. Anyhow, since there
are so many recordings out there by all the artists I like, and also as I haven't really
heard much new material that I haven't heard before, this limits me from buying much of
the current material.

Anyway, I find that a lot of the current artists have run out of new ideas. One of the
current biggies, Oasis, are a case in point. I heard one song by them (something with
"Cigarettes" in the title) which was a T Rex rip-off. After the song was played on the
radio, the announcer referred to another song by them which apparently rips-off "Timothy
Leary's Dead" by The Moody Blues.
I think a lot of what's current are taking sounds from popular artists of the past,
because their current young fans have never heard the originals because they wouldn't be
seen dead buying the originals.

I think this may be part of the problem. Because a lot of us listen to older artists
more, does not mean we have less diversity in musical tastes. In fact the opposite is
the case, because a lot of the younger generation seem to think of the older artists as
being from their parents era, and cannot see how, for example, Deep Purple is heavier
than Pearl Jam, or whatever.

Sorry if my email is long winded, but I just had to get it of my chest.

William