A question for older guys in cover bands:

[New Trail]

Do you listen to current music? Do you listen to Top 40? If so, do you listen just to keep current or do you actually LIKE it?

[wades_keys]

 

Do you listen to current music? Do you listen to Top 40? If so, do you listen just to keep current or do you actually LIKE it?

 

No on all counts.

 

"New" for us is anything made within the last 25 years.

[jwlussow]

I haven't listened to current music since the 70's. We occasionally pick up a new tune but it is usually a suggestion from a friend and not something we pick up on the radio. We all have to agree when we add something so if it is added we all do our best to learn and perform the new stuff as good as a bunch of 50 year old can do it.

[Mutha Goose]

I play in 2 hard rock cover bands and am 42 y/o. I try to listen to as much new music as I can. I'm always looking for something new to get excited about. I have 2 sons that turn me on to a lot of stuff, and I check out almost every new band link that gets forwarded to me. To me, one of the most horrible and depressing ideas is that every song worth listening to has already been written. If you can't be open to new ideas and new stimulas why bother going on? Life would simply get too boring.

[kmart]

 

Do you listen to current music? Do you listen to Top 40? If so, do you listen just to keep current or do you actually LIKE it?

 

No

No

No

 

None of those have a thing to do with my playing covers: they have to do with my appreciation of music.

When current radio/Top 40 stands a better chance of playing something I think is actually good than not, maybe I'll get in the habit of listening again.

[flanc]

 

No No No None of those have a thing to do with my playing covers: they have to do with my appreciation of music. When current radio/Top 40 stands a better chance of playing something I think is actually good than not, maybe I'll get in the habit of listening again.

 

 

I'm 47 and play in a band that covers, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lady GaGa, Kings of Leon, The Script, Lady Antebellum and other fairly current stuff.

 

To answer your question, I have a 39 yo wife who loves current pop/rock and she controls the car radio. She also DJ's the breaks at our gig's so I hear a ton of what's current and dancable. Left to my own devices, I'd probably not listen to much of it though...rather, I'm agreeably force fed most of the stuff and some of it grows on me.

[mstreck]

I listen to new music all the time. I'm always curious to see what people are into and I'm amazed at how "out of touch" I can get. When I hear something new (to me), I try to find something that makes it worth listening to. I did the same thing for Chicago jazz when I was in high school0 and learned to appreciate it - so don't see why I can't do the same for new stuff, too.

 

But ask me what's on my ipod and it is mostly older stuff. I did recently buy Slash's new album, though, but it's not even that new any more.

[wades_keys]

The problem is Top 40 is pretty much all formulaic, non-rocking {censored}. Not just some of it like in the past, now it's pretty much all of it.

 

Thank you very much, SONY/BMI - that's what happens when we let one company monopolize a market.

[Mutha Goose]

 

The problem is Top 40 is pretty much all formulaic, non-rocking {censored}...

 

Past, present, and most likely future.

+1

[SeniorBlues]

I listened to radio Luxembourg every night in 1962-63. I was 14, 15 years old, which puts me in the target age demographic for most pop/rock music. I also listened to the car radio during HS, but from then on, all music was by referral - mostly other musicians.

 

I have discovered a lot of music that was written since then, but it's no accident that much of it was written by guys my age. It's where my musical roots are.

 

Just discovered a new release by Elton John and Leon Russell last night.

 

 

[jeff42]

I am the youngest in the band at 36 and I listen to the mainstream pop radio station during my work hours as does our singer who is only a year or 2 older than me. This keeps us up with some of the songs that are hits. Our guitar player does too, but not as much. Our bassist and keyboardist (the two oldest in the band) do not at all. Unless the song is a huge hit they don't know about it. Sometimes they take a little convincing to learn the newer stuff but that's OK.

[SpaceNorman]

The only time I ever listen to the radio is in the car - and that's pretty much NPR (National Public Radio) exclusively. However, I listen to my iPod for hours every day at work (I do alot of "heads down" IT work). The iPod is filled with a wide variety of more obscure stuff - lots of jazz, alot of R&B, a little zydico, some classical stuff. I record virtually all the rehearsals I'm a part of - and those end up on the iPod as well. I'm somewhere around the 10,000 song point - which means there's a little bit of everything in there. I usually just whack the "shuffle songs" button and listen to whatever comes up.

 

As far as exposure to current stuff goes - it's only if I happen to hear it when I'm out and about (juke boxes, stores, etc.).

 

I'm ambivalent about what tunes the bands that I work with play. Personally, I hate wasting energy debating what gets put on the playlist. Since it's not a big deal to me one way or the other, I pretty much leave that up to my bandmates.

[tim_7string]

Do you listen to current music? Do you listen to Top 40? If so, do you listen just to keep current or do you actually LIKE it?

 

Now that I'm 40, I'm struggling with the concept that I'm now one of THOSE guys...the ones I used to make fun of, the ones I used to say, "I'll never be like THAT!"

 

But I am.

 

A lot of the stuff in the last 10 years? Can't stand it. I'm not too big on Nickelback. Songs like "Something In Your Mouth" really irritate me. Songs like "I Hate My Life"...I REALLY hate that crap. And "Pornstar Dancing"? Yuck. Makes me feel dirty to even think about working on it for our next gig.

 

I like Seether. I like Chevelle. I like Stone Sour. I like Breaking Benjamin. But most of the bands, like Hinder, Theory Of A Deadman, Nickelback, Saving Abel...not a big fan.

 

I still like 90s bands like Foo Fighters, Green Day and weezer, but...they're from the 90s, y'know? Not modern bands. Every decade, it seems like I'm finding less and less bands that I'm into. Heck, it might even be every year now.

 

So, to answer the questions in order:

 

Yes. Only part of it. I listen because the radio is on at work and I'm trying to stay current, at least mentally. But I don't like a lot of it.

[wades_keys]

I like Seether. I like Chevelle. I like Stone Sour. I like Breaking Benjamin. But most of the bands, like Hinder, Theory Of A Deadman, Nickelback, Saving Abel...not a big fan.

Same here. God, I despise Hinder with almost every fiber of my being - they're even more contrived than NickelBack, but in an anti-hedonistic way.

 

I just hate it when after I listen to music I feel manipulated. That's what a lot of the new {censored} makes me feel like - like someone is trying to force me to feel a certain way, usually with some pseudo-outrageous imagery mixed with gimmicky vocals and guitars.

[Rich4Once]

When we decide to add "new" songs, as opposed to old songs we don't yet play, it's either suggested by friends/family, or it's me checking out Billboard's rock charts. From there I weed out the stuff that's detuned (further than drop D is FAIL), has no melody, or is otherwise a bad fit for us. Occasionally we find something that works well enough to keep around...sometimes it only lasts 3 or 4 gigs. If it fails the performance test, it goes away.

 

Stayed:

Muse - Uprising

Train - Hey Soul Sister

 

Went:

STP - Between the Lines

Sick Puppies - Odd One

[Vito Corleone]

 

Do you listen to current music?

 

Yes.

 

 

Do you listen to Top 40?

 

Yes.

 

If so, do you listen just to keep current or do you actually LIKE it?

 

 

Good question. A few years ago there wasn't much of anything on Top 40 you could even get me to listen to. But as I started listening to more of it just to keep current, the more I started to actually LIKE it.

 

I've always been a big "pop" music fan. Since before I started playing music. Some of my best musical memories involve me being a little kid huddled up around my AM radio listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every Sunday afternoon. THAT was my church.

 

A good pop song is still a good pop song. The only thing that has really changed is the fashion of the instrumentation and production. Which, like most anything else in music is an acquired taste. Sounds and production I found to be totally off putting a few years ago don't bother me anymore.

[rangefinder]

 

The problem is Top 40 is pretty much all formulaic...

 

 

Um, almost by definition, that's what Top 40 is, and always has been.

 

That doesn't mean some of it can't also be good music.

 

I'm pretty much forced to listen to it for much of the day since my 21-year-old stepsister moved in with me. (Well, not exactly FORCED, but I try to pick my battles.) Much of it sucks. But some of it rocks. And some of THAT made my set list. So I come out ahead when all is said and done.

[SBF3000]

i'm 33. kinda old I reckon. I listen to bands I like, if a "new band" has something good, I am open to it. But I aint doin no Akon, emininem, that terrible rapper that gave that country singer grief, lady gaga, or anyother talentless {censored} parade band/group/performer.

[neverdunn]

I actually lucked out with my current band. I just turned 46 this week - I'm 14 years older than the youngest guy in the band and 7 years from the next oldest. We play 80's hard rock - Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Guns n' Roses.... all the stuff I played when it was new! I don't have to listen to new stuff, but I do because I do like some of it and like to be current. I listen to XM, stuff on Octane and some of the other channels just to hear what's out there. Not my favorite stuff, but there is good current music if you look for it. We do some newer stuff that fits with our set list: Buckcherry, Theory of a Deadman, we are even looking at Pornstar Dancing because it's so big around here. That said, my iPod is loaded with the stuff I grew up on in the 70's and 80's along with a bunch of bands from the 90's that were more hardcore than anything.

[cooterbrown]

I keep a peripheral watch on trends and current artists.

I may not like it, but I do it anyway.

[timrocker]

I'm 48, in cover bands, and have the exact same attitude about new music as old music. I like the songs that I like because I like them. And if I don't like it, it's outta here.

[SeeU 22]

 

Yes. Yes. Good question. A few years ago there wasn't much of anything on Top 40 you could even get me to listen to. But as I started listening to more of it just to keep current, the more I started to actually LIKE it. I've always been a big "pop" music fan. Since before I started playing music. Some of my best musical memories involve me being a little kid huddled up around my AM radio listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every Sunday afternoon. THAT was my church. A good pop song is still a good pop song. The only thing that has really changed is the fashion of the instrumentation and production. Which, like most anything else in music is an acquired taste. Sounds and production I found to be totally off putting a few years ago don't bother me anymore.

 

 

Yep, well put.

 

Todays pop music is no more formulatic than Hair Metal was in the 80's or arena rock was in the late 70s, the bubble gums singers of the 60's, etc. When the Beatles first landed here they were talking about holding hands and twisting and shouting. If they wouldn't have developed into the prolific songwriters they did would anyone consider those songs anything other than forumlatic pop crap? There is a lot of good stuff and a lot of crap out there.

 

Look back at what many of you listened to and LIKED when you were coming of age. Some of it has stood the test of time and other stuff you would be embarassed if anyone saw that you actually owned that cassette at one time.

 

I agree with what Guido says about production, etc.

 

Neil

[summit111]

My Brothers,

 

I'm 57, keys and guitar are both 67, bass 50, sax 56, organ 41. We play DANCE music from the 50's and early 60's. We do a damn good job of it cause we know how to play that kind of music! Our fans range in age from college kids to retirees. They like us cause you can dance to all of our songs. All covers, no originals.

 

New Orleans style R & B is what we do. I also follow jazz and play in a New Orleans jazz group. I think most of the new music is studio contrived crap. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

[6stringmofo]

 

Do you listen to current music? Do you listen to Top 40? If so, do you listen just to keep current or do you actually LIKE it?

 

 

No. Sadly, after my 90's early millennium kick died.. I went back to the 70

[rhat]

I listen to top 40 modern country when I turn on a radio. I do get to play a ton of music I have never heard before. our front man knows prolly a 1000 songs and is always tossing different material to the band. Most of it is songwriter stuff or classic texas music. Every gig is an adventure because i will always end up doing songs I never have heard. Typically they are pretty easy to play , so you can just cold cock them as a band.