How did the Magic Happen?

[Cygnus X1]

SW and I often fall into this question, and others seem to either agree, or just think I'm nuts and nod in agreement to get rid of me....

The years 1969 through 1973, plus or minus a few months...it seems that an enormous amount of great, original music hit the airwaves of AM, then FM radio, a record collection of rock music would not be complete without many of the albums that were recorded through this time period.
Just a few examples:
Zep 1-4
Allman Bros
Lynyrd Skynyrd
PF-DSOM
Dead-American Beauty
CSNY
Black Sabbath
Aerosmith
Doobie Bros.
Eagles
and many more...
Just way too many to list....so many different sounds, styles, spreading across RCA, to Epic, Columbia, all the labels. What happened? Did the talent search guys get high or something, and just throw money at anyone? Has there ever been another time when such a wide spectrum of original sounding bands got airplay, and popularity?
I want your opinions, what do you think happened, what do you remember from those times, and will it be this way again? I'm thinking of giving a speech on this, give me everything you can think of, or know.

Thanks

[thetroy]

I was born in December 1985, but it does seem that the 60's and 70's had a much better variety of music that was both good and popular. Now it seems like stuff is either good OR popular and the popular stuff all sounds the same.

[dg]

Rock music was still a relatively new thing, there were fewer preconceived notions about what you had to sound like or look like, and most important (as far as sales & airplay) there were ballsy execs like Ahmet Ertegun willing to take risks & throw themselves behind new & different acts, and give them a chance to grow rather than just one shot before pulling the plug. I still believe there's plenty of real talent out there, but little to no chance any of it will get serious exposure. Shit, think of how many great musicians & singers from back then would now get ruled out right away based on physical appearance.

[emperor_black]

I liked the 90's. Lot of awesome death metal bands. Carcass, Obituary, Sepultura, Napalm Death, Death, Morbid Angel, etc. I love this type of music and growing up as teenager with big posters of Sepultura on my walls is all I can remember. The newer metalcore/hardcore bands suck big time and I hate the modern metal.

Just the other day, I was listening to the album Arise by sepultura and even after 16 YEARS recorded in standard tuning, the album kicks ASS!! I thought of learning the song Desperate cry and its so freakin easy. Just a few power chords, they have made a song that stays in your mind much longer after you've turned off the player.

[scotty]

I think that there will always be great bands out there that the masses will never hear because the radio stations spoon feed us what they want us to hear.

I really like that thread "what are you listening to right now". Every time someone mentioned a band or a song I hadn't heard of, I YouTubed it. I found a lot of new bands and old that I really liked. I may not have liked a lot of the stuff but I got introduced to it. No commercialism here, just people talking about music they like.

[Reverend Timmy]

I think that the political climate fed the machine.The youth of America,Britain and most points in between realized that they did'nt have to accept the cookie cutter culture that was being forced down their throat.Vietnam played a roll in that the kids that were being sent into that cesspool needed something new and refreshing and exciting to come back to.Drugs added to the mind expanding musical experience. A evolution for the revolution,so to speak..........

[skorb]

Rock music was still a relatively new thing, there were fewer preconceived notions about what you had to sound like or look like, and most important (as far as sales & airplay) there were ballsy execs like Ahmet Ertegun willing to take risks & throw themselves behind new & different acts, and give them a chance to grow rather than just one shot before pulling the plug.

that is exactly correct and very well-said.

[DrDoug]

Also, the bean counters are at it now, and we are being fed what they want us to like, not what we actually like. The variety of the early years of rock was due to the fact that the people in the music industry were willing to try anything to sell a product, and they found the acts where they were playing. In front of the people who loved them.

After things like the Partridge Family, The Monkees and such, the industry found that they could make more money selling music by selling the band to the public. So they packaged it up and we got stuck with it. After awhile, talent was not even necessary. Just package it up in the glitter of the current era and it sold.

I think the music industry saw the success of the Pet Rock, and they discovered that if they wanted to make big bucks then they had to put together a package that would attract people.

After all, if you can put a rock in a milk carton and sell millions of them to the public, why bother with quality? So now we get the cookie monster vocalists and the weedelie-weedelie-weedelie guitarists, and to me they all sound the same.

I never bought a Pet Rock. Can you tell?

[straycat]

Vietnam is a very beautiful country and we were there for a reason.The American media and left wing who controlled it fed you what they wanted not what was really going down.

[AdRock]

Radio stations actually played what they wanted to rather than being another cog in the giant corporation that already has a set 40 songs to play over and over everyday.

[Cygnus X1]

I liked the 90's. Lot of awesome death metal bands. Carcass, Obituary, Sepultura, Napalm Death, Death, Morbid Angel, etc.

Absolutely Emp...a rough timeline since the early days of "the hit parade" starting in the late forties went Big Band Swing, Country, Rock n Roll, Beatlemania/Surf/Motown, then "boomed", where pcsychedelic, southern rock, fusion rock, country rock, heavy metal (hard rock) all happened in a short time. Then it plummeted to disco, a return of rock, punk/new, hair metal, then grunge. The pop acts have always been around...I'm ignoring that. It's that high and wide plateu that influenced the later bands that came along that I'm curious about.

Perhaps the political climate was a factor..the apocolyptic feel of the cold war, also the hangover from the pay-ola scandals. Music has been packaged for as long as vinyl started selling, if not before. So I'm not too hip on that concept. Perhaps look at roots of these "hump" bands...keep going guys...we'll figure it out. And let's not fight vietnam over again in this thread, please. Thanks, off to the old Steel Mill...

[Norton]

Rock music was still a relatively new thing, there were fewer preconceived notions about what you had to sound like or look like, and most important (as far as sales & airplay) there were ballsy execs like Ahmet Ertegun willing to take risks & throw themselves behind new & different acts, and give them a chance to grow rather than just one shot before pulling the plug. I still believe there's plenty of real talent out there, but little to no chance any of it will get serious exposure. Shit, think of how many great musicians & singers from back then would now get ruled out right away based on physical appearance.

I wonder where he's from

[yard dawg]

We arent being spoon fed and forced anything. You still have a button and can turn it off. Satellite radio now makes it easier to find specific music all day. Bottom line is record companies only make what sells. Britney Spears SUX but she has a market and is worth multi millions now. No one forced her stupid dans to like her. Nirvana changed the direction back in the day and people think he sux but he sold records and many people liked them. (not me)

Rock music as main stream is dead as far as sales go. Hip Hop has the kids attention now. Almost every white teen in america wants to be a gang banger. Livin in a 4000 sq foot house drivin a $30,000 vehicle that daddy paid for actin all ghetto. Its sad.

[atomic charvel guy]

let's not forget that in the 70's, that also includes Kiss, Boston, Van Halen, ACDC, and I'm leaving out a bunch of others as well, just the obvious ones that propelled the electric guitar further inthe shortest amount of time span. through the 80's the songwriting suffered a bit with the plethora of hard rock bands, but for all around talent the 80's contained the best guitar missile launchers when it comes to athletics. the 70's I think had it all, and i like all kinds of music. The song is either good or it sucks , that's how I look at bands and artisits , by the songs. The 60's were a launching pad, and Jimi Hendrix was EVH until EVH came along-lol You had the yarbirds, Zeppelin, Stones (tied for favorite band) zeppelin, Deep Purple, Beatles-(duh),etc. but the 70's had hard rock, soft rock, middle of the way rock, dicso, punk and the rebirth of hard rock at the end thank god.Alll in all, the most progress had been made in the 70's. The 80's fed off the late 70's and started a fretboard karate contest by the end with a lot of bands unlistenable, much like every decade, but each one, including the 90's and post milenium all have something to offer and something to make you turn the channel, be it the radio, or T.V. now-lol The 90's for me had the Black Crowes, Alice in Chains, some Soundgarden, Jeff Buckley, and not too much else in the way of new bands after the karate tournament. Now I don't listen to the radio at all, just sports radio-lol. I'm also 42 , going on 16.

[atomic charvel guy]

i have Billy Preston lyrics in my signature, that should show you the diverse types of music i like and listen to.