More Randomness - 1977 and all that

I was born in 1958 so frankly I've seen some shit in my time. Recently I saw a discussion taking place about the merits of new music as opposed to old music. It seems there was a "golden age" an age where somehow a high point was reached which will never be improved upon. "Music today all sounds the same" is the cry, these days it just hasn't got it. Of course I think this is a pretty flawed argument because there is no best of anything. People though are passionate to protect their values (and vested interests). As part of the argument a long list of classic singles was listed, as if throwing down the gauntlet to those of us interested enough to try and top the list with newer material. The list was mindbogglingly average. The last single posted was the ever grey "Brick House". My first reaction was that this 1977 release was typical of just how miserable 1977 was in terms of music. Brick House isn't even as good as the 1975 single "Slippery when Wet". Thinking it through at least Brick House had some balls compared to the insipid Disco around at the time. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, it's also easy to cash in on. Back in 1977 owing music meant just that, you had to pay for it and your taste was defined by your cash flow. Many of the people still in love with that music were DJ's at the time, who converted gig money to black plastic. Often the process of buying records was dominated by record shop workers, they told you what to buy based on stock,and this is a world away from shopping sat down alone at a monitor, so perhaps we have lost something.


We have also gained. Here is Brick House

Here is Malik Pendleton, it's a similar sort of thing with a 30 year gap (it is in fact the same subject matter, 36-24-36= Figure 8). You might argue that Figure 8 reflects the changes over the years, the use of the F Word and the Bada Bing culture, while it pays a homage to the spirit of"Brick House". Music perhaps hasn't changed much at all....Figure 8 wasn't a classic single because it wasn't released. It is however out on the Web. That has to be a good thing.