To Pull This Off at Age 69 Is Incredible

Oh man, that was the golden age. That was the age of Journey, Boston, Wings, The Cars, Rush, Heart and on and on. Then you had the mellow "AM Gold": Bread, Player, Ace, Ambrosia, America, etc., etc.

Since I'm old I get to say "Today's music is crap! Get off my lawn."
Yes, Yes and Yes (not the group) Case closed! Those of us in our seventies are totally underrated. It’s amazing what arthritis cream, glucosamine tablets, knee replacements, coupled with hair dye and wrinkle cream can do for our musical abilities ...... or lack thereof. Have to admit that a couple of naps during the day helps as well.
 
Hmm...what's worse?
Being an old geezer today, swooning over ELO and other ancient bands who had incredible talent, bled their souls into every second of their songs and were promoted by a talent-obsessed industry?

Or being a future-geezer -- young and bulletproof today, but when it's time for you to get nostalgic, all you'll have are vacuous, paint-by-number songs, pushed by a spreadsheet-obsessed industry promoting low-talent artists that never ripped you open, never inspired you, and never really mattered to you in the long run?

Is there a door number 3? LOL
 
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Whenever I see someone older doing something impressive, I am reminded of Eubie Blake and this film I saw as a kid.


I saw Eubie and Cab Calloway's Orchestra perform in our city when I was a teenager. I had never seen anything like what I witnessed that evening. I remember that night to this day. One of the top 5 most musically impressionable moments of my youth.
 
The 70's were my formative years growing up. My favorite culture, music, movies, all of that, are from those years.

I love to unearth obscure, and not so obscure, bands, videos, and footage on YouTube from that decade.

Some of my favorite channels there are "Beat Club" and "The Old Grey Whistle Test"; man, there are some very cool songs/bands/clips on those channels....where else are you going to find live, raw, amazing footage of "Captain Beefheart" or "Captain Beyond"???

Funny, I just watched a bunch of old and new ELO videos/concert clips a couple of weeks ago and was also marvelling at their music and performances...so many of their songs take me back to when they were hits and I'd listen to the top-10 every night with my small transistor radio.....sigh I miss those days...and bands and music like this....
 
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Oh man, that was the golden age. That was the age of Journey, Boston, Wings, The Cars, Rush, Heart and on and on. Then you had the mellow "AM Gold": Bread, Player, Ace, Ambrosia, America, etc., etc.

I love all of that stuff and almost everything that came from that decade...there are so many songs from that era that rekindle deep, happy memories when I hear them. I recently heard "Summer Breeze" and can instantly remember a sunny day back in the 70's...I was about 6 or 7 and my grandfather had taken me for a walk to get a hamburger. As we were waiting for the order that song played though a small radio they had by the cash register and I remember listening to it intently...I have dozens of memories like that. I can still remember how the sun was warming my back through the window that day...

In many ways music is capable of evoking deep memories like nothing else can. I've read a couple of essays about that...smell is another major trigger of emotions and memories strangely enough.
 
Oh man, that was the golden age. That was the age of Journey, Boston, Wings, The Cars, Rush, Heart and on and on. Then you had the mellow "AM Gold": Bread, Player, Ace, Ambrosia, America, etc., etc.

Since I'm old I get to say "Today's music is crap! Get off my lawn."
Cliff, I don’t know how many times across several generations of the music that followed that I’ve said how thankful I was to have been alive and attending concerts in the very late 60s, 70s , and early 80s. It was the age of giants, and I lived in it. I always felt blessed by that.
 
I need that T-shirt that says "I may be old, but I saw all the great bands." Some of them several times.

Kansas, Yes, ELP, Zep (their worst show, though - Tempe 1977), Queen, Rush, Renaissance, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Heart, Deep Purple (once with Bolin, once with Blackmore, once with Morse), Sabbath, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, The Who, Stevie Nicks, Montrose, Cheap Trick, and too many more to remember.

There are some lesser-known bands from the last few years that I'd like to see - Karnataka (but the original line-up), Panic Room, and others - but it's likely not to be.
 
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Been listening to the first couple of Firefall albums lately (76, 77) - some great guitar tones going on there, and, early Toto (Lukather 👍👍).

Also, as recommended by someone here (sorry, forgot who): Donald Fagan's "The Nightfly". I've been listening to a lot
of Steely Dan in the last few years and had never bothered with any Donald Fagan solo stuff, but, since discovering it, "The Nightfly" is my favorite "Steely Dan" record lately - playing it constantly for 2 months now!.

Though older generations tend to always say that their generation's music is better than what came after, in my generation's case (I'm 60) I think it's actually true. The period from 69 to around 84/85 was unbelievably rich and holds up today. So much happened during that 15 year span - I have fond memories of being a young concert goer / music addict of that time:
  • Birth of heavy rock (Led Zep...).
  • Birth of heavy metal (Sabbath...).
  • Singer Songwriter (Elton, JTaylor, Lightfoot...).
  • Birth of Punk (Sex Pistols).
  • Country Rock (Eagles...).
  • Southern Rock (Skynrd..)
  • Birth of Prog (Genesis, Rush, Yes...).
  • Virtuoso Guitar (EVH, Vai...).
  • Disco (BeeGees...).
  • Birth of New Wave (New Order, Police, Cars...).
  • Birth of Glam (Alice Cooper Group, Kiss, Bowie...).
  • British Invasion Stage 2 (ie Rolling Stones, The Who selling out huge stadium gigs).
  • Hippie Rock on steroids (ie CSNY filling Wembley Stadium).
  • The Funk craze (Sly).
  • The whole accoustic + harmony thing (America, Simon+Garfunkel, CSN).
  • Studio Nerd Rock (Steely Dan, Toto).
  • Birth of Hair Metal (Bon Jovi...).
  • British Heavy Metal Invsion (Priest, Maiden)
  • Birth of Thrash / Speed metal (Metallica...).
  • Soft Rock (Firefall, Bread, Carpenters).
  • Birth of mega album rock (Boston1, Rumours, Dark Side of the Moon).
  • The mega live albums (Frampton Comes Alive, Kiss Alive...
  • Rap breaking through (Run-DMC).
  • Individual Phenomenons like Mickael Jackson, Prince.

... and on and on ...
 
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Also, as recommended by someone here (sorry, forgot who): Donald Fagan's "The Nightfly". I've been listening to a lot
of Steely Dan in the last few years and had never bothered with any Donald Fagan solo stuff, but, since discovering it, "The Nightfly" is my favorite "Steely Dan" record lately - playing it constantly for 2 months now!.
The Nightfly is in my Top 10 albums of all time. It's a masterpiece.
 
Oh man, that was the golden age. That was the age of Journey, Boston, Wings, The Cars, Rush, Heart and on and on. Then you had the mellow "AM Gold": Bread, Player, Ace, Ambrosia, America, etc., etc.

Since I'm old I get to say "Today's music is crap! Get off my lawn."
My first concert was in '76, when I was 12. My older bother took me along with his girlfriend and her brother to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls to see Foreigner, with Ambrosia opening up for them.
I remember seeing an ambulance and they were wheeling someone out on a gurney. I asked my brother what was going on, and he said, "Some idiot probably just OD'd before the concert!"
Great concert - Foreigner's first USA Tour, I think.
 
Damn, the grocery store is playing really good music!
Takes me back to my youth...albums, charting AT40 every Sunday as a kid. As soon as I heard the opening line, I was teleported right back! Then I grabbed my guitar and learned the song. Just.Amazing.Talent. Those dim & Maj7 chords are magic! Thanks for posting!
 
Was driving home with my recently-turned-14 yr old son, when Foreigner started playing Juke Box Hero on the radio. We had the volume up a bit from the prior SRV tune that just ended, so I asked if he had heard this one.

He started singing it. Knew every single word, and when to play a very appropriate air guitar.

There is hope.
 
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