The folks at “Zenergo”, a new pop-culcha website, have run my old piece, “Music Appreciation” – my brief chronology of the rock and roll era – as the inaugural piece in their “music” section. With my permission, even.
It was kinda a fun read, then and now. Glad someone else liked it!
Bringing us into the 21st century:
The Internet and YouTube have made record companies almost irrelevant. You can buy software for a fraction of the price of a Les Paul and crank out professional product without all the nasty AR stuff.
iPods and mp3 technology have made music on demand the norm. The market has more niches now than the Sistine Chapel. If you want a dance version of “All by myself” sung by sampled howler monkeys, there’s an app for that. The “music as file” era has hurt the industry as a whole with increased piracy. In the old days people did make boot vinyl albums, but they were rare compared to the “mouse click” simplicity of file sharing we have today.
Rock n’ Roll ain’t what it used to be.
Should that be 1952 or was there an addition 400 years of rock and roll that I wasn’t aware of? 😉
Being facetious.
Although it reminds me of Richard Thompson’s one-man show/concert, “2,000 years of Pop Music History”.
(Also his “One Minute Hamlet”).
American Hardcore: 1979-84, you missed this. Crucial. Also, how do you miss all of electronic music, like, 30+ years worth?