How To Appreciate Music From Our Past
How To Appreciate Music From Our Past
Plus Michael Jackson, Television, Bob Marley & The Wailers, The B-52's, LL Cool J, The Ramones
Welcome to the Best Albums Ever project, episode 5. This week (and every week of this project, really) got me thinking about how to listen to music from previous generations, and how to balance between listening for education and listening for pure enjoyment.
Listening to music from before your time
The BAE project is all about a Millennial (me) listening to and rating music that is to a large extent from before my time. It’s been eye opening how many different ways older music can appear to me now, and it also got me thinking about how our ever-growing catalog of music will seem to future generations.
Music curators love to be the ones to find the deepest cuts, the lesser known artists, and the overlooked songs. I love that - I think we should amplify great artists who for whatever reason miss out on the biggest media coverage.
My current project, listening to the best albums ever to refine and define my taste, naturally covers some pretty well-known and popular music. But the lens is different - as a younger person, the well known hits of the past are not obvious to me, or to my generation. They’re especially foreign to the younger crowd. That’s natural and good - each generation has to seek out their own sound, and that typically involves making new music of their own. But that means the great music of the past will become more and more unknown to them.
Jamwise isn’t only going to focus on the past, of course. Rather, it will focus on how to discover great music regardless of generation. Thats the point of the Best Albums Ever project, and future projects will go into the past as well as present day.
I think it’s probably common to grow up with your parents’ generation’s music. Mine listened to 70’s and 80’s soft rock, singer/songwriters, folk and some country, so that’s what I knew. Every generation and individual will learn a different mix of music from whoever raised them. And now we’re getting to the point where lots of widely known music is 2 generations old, and doesn’t have a natural mechanism to become widely known to the next generations, aside from stuff like Greatest Hits albums and movie soundtracks.
My fear isn’t that the old stuff will be forgotten - my fear is that people might miss out on enjoying it. I’d rather discover an artist and make my own decision about them than never discover them at all.
That can mean listening in an academic way to appreciate a trailblazing or important artist, or it can mean listening purely to see if you like the music. Both are great. And music from the past will sound different to current young people than it did to the young people who made it. That’s also awesome, and it also means that, for example, the 70’s hits chosen by that generation might not match the favorites from the 70’s chosen by a future generation, assuming they were able to discover them.
That last part is key - we can only choose our own old favorites if we listen beyond the greatest hits. Otherwise we’re only echoing the critics, algorithms, and top 40 stations of the world - which, as always, is fine if you like that! But if you want to listen more deeply, it pays to be aware of who decides what music you are exposed to.
Listening to entire albums is a great start in exploring music more deeply, although it’s a habit that’s become far less popular in the streaming age. Learning what kinds of music we do and don’t like is another way to penetrate the mists of history - that’s the point of the JamWise tracker. I want to use this data to understand why I like music, rather than letting an algorithm figure that out for me, and hopefully use that information to find great music from all generations.
I’m trying for a balance between listening for appreciation of our forebears and listening for pure personal taste. I try to approach all music from the past that way, especially when the music has had widespread critical success.
Appreciation of music’s context involves research, which again, isn’t everyone’s favorite thing. I prefer a light brand of research - enough to lend some context to the music I’m hearing, but not enough to bog me down and keep me from actually hearing the music. I’m not saying everybody has to do that, but I am sharing the fact that a little context has made me happier when listening to music.
On the other hand, some older music simply sounds great to me. That’s certainly impacted by my familiarity with the songs, but it’s also because many things people sing about are timeless. I relate more to a song by an artist who was my age when they recorded it in 1970 than I do to a song by an older artist released in 2023. So yes, the year of the album’s release might look old, but if the singer is young (or whatever age, gender, race, genre of music, etc. that most resonates musically with you) I enjoy the music just the same. Human expression doesn’t age, only the way we convey it.
And as I’ve said before, “all that stuff only matters if you like the music.”
On a similar note, I’ve started tracking some more data about my tastes that might be useful going forward. After reviewing a decent chunk of albums from the Rolling Stone list, it looks like there is actually less difference in my taste rating for older music vs. newer music. I know there are lots of albums to go, as well as a lot of other factors that determine if I like the album or not, but I think this is a pretty cool visualization that great music can be found in all generations.
This is something I’ll keep a close eye on going forward, but it seems clear that music from the past, when it’s new to me, can feel just as fresh and relevant as brand-new music I’ve never heard before. In the end all that matters is what I like, and I have to avoid the frequent feeling that I’m dumb for not knowing an artist from a long time ago. That’s just counterproductive.
Project B.A.E. - Best Albums Ever
And now, here’s the random list for this week:
I’m psyched for this week’s lineup, so let’s jump in!
The B-52’s - The B-52’s - 1979
First reaction, which will show my age - “OMG this is the band that did that song from Family Guy (Rock Lobster)” Then I realized the song I was thinking about was “Surfin’ Bird” (which strangely enough appears as a cover on another album in this week’s newsletter) and that “Rock Lobster” was never on Family Guy. Then Google told me “Rock Lobster” actually was on the show, but it was in 2018, and I think everybody stopped watching Family Guy in like 2012, so who the hell knows. The point is I know very little about the B-52’s.
Continuing in the spirit of honesty, I was also expecting late 60’s soft rock when I started this album. I jumped right in to listen before researching the band, and somehow I was confusing the B-52’s with someone else, who even knows why. “Planet Claire” corrected my age-related misconceptions real quick.
Here’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine’s take on the album, which was the B-52s debut:
“Even in the weird, quirky world of new wave and post-punk in the late '70s, the B-52's' eponymous debut stood out as an original.”
Weird and quirky is right. But what’s interesting is that from my 2023 point of view, this brand of quirky doesn’t actually sound that old. There was apparently a New Wave mini-revival in the mid 2020’s, which is probably part of where my perception comes from, plus I’m sure I’ve heard B-52s-like music in movies since I was a kid.
I had a great time listening, and although this album won’t be going in my rotation, it was a fun music history moment.
Objective Rating: 7
Taste Rating: 1.5
New Jams
“52 Girls”
Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J - 1990
Best album title ever. Just pure poetry.
I think it’s worth mentioning how LL Cool J entered my life as a Millennial. I grew up after his prime music career, meaning the LL Cool J I know is the one starring in NCIS and hosting (whatever he hosted). I can’t help that - I was born when I was born. So this is a good exercise to go back in time and listen to this guy’s music as if I didn’t see him as more of a TV character than a rapper. That’s not disrespect, that’s just the problem you have listening to an artist from before your time, especially one who’s had so many other careers in addition to music.
You might say this is the mission of this Best Albums Ever project - to learn to appreciate older music that’s new to me, just as much as we appreciate brand new music. Nothing wrong with discovering something after everyone else. Even 33 years after everyone else.
It’s also unique to listen to music from a formative time in the genre, when the state of the art has progressed so far. How to evaluate art that’s been updated and used as an influence for so long? A deep question - too deep for me right now.
Also I hate to break it to you Gen Z, but “bet” isn’t new. This album actually seems to be speaking to the younger generations, the main message being “you ain’t shit.” I’m not saying that’s true about the generations after mine - but it’s funny that this sentiment is found in every generation. Whoever comes next just becomes our rival by default.
This is an important album, it was obviously innovative and involved serious amounts of talent, and it’s just from before my time. I get all that and I still can’t get past how dated it sounds enough to put in rotation. Both are true - it’s great, and it’s only got a place in my 90’s party playlists. I’m glad I listened all the way through, and I’d recommend it to anyone.
It’s OK for things to sound old - you can’t help when you were born. Listening to older music that you have pre-conceived ideas about is a specific experience that depends on you, what your parents listened to, and a million other variables.
But more on that later.
New Jams:
“Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem)”
“Mama Said Knock You Out”
“To Da Break Of Dawn”
Bad - Michael Jackson
I learned something from this album. I learned that MJ has so much range, musically and between genres, that it’s hard to understand. I knew he was a genius, but this is another situation like Amy Winehouse where the big hits I was familiar with don’t even capture the breadth of talent involved. I also learned, or maybe remembered, that “Man In the Mirror” is one of my personal top 5 songs of all time. This album is a work of absolute genius and I can’t wait until the next MJ album I get to listen to.
Objective Rating: 9.5
Taste Rating: 8.4
Jams:
“The Way You Make Me Feel”
“Man In The Mirror”
“Dirty Diana”
Legend - Bob Marley and the Wailers - 1984
I’m going to have a hard time being objective here. Good thing I don’t have to do that if I don’t want to.
I love this album so much. It’s been in my pantheon of favorite pieces of music for years now, since I first discovered the CD version in a used music store in my hometown and listened to it on repeat on my little CD Walkman (yeah, I’m that old or young depending on who’s reading this) and burning out one set of headphones after another listening to it.
Now, I’ll try to be fair here - this is a compilation album. That might make some people raise their eyebrows, I guess, but if it’s good enough to be #48 on the Rolling Stone list then I’m not gonna argue. It was put out as a compilation of Marley’s greatest hits to that point, and therefore lacks the single-album cohesiveness we’ve been learning about in previous issues.
As Evan Welsh writes in Spectrum Culture:
“If there is anything that doesn’t hold up, it’s the album’s nature as a best-of compilation. Legend ebbs and flows a bit awkwardly, without any sense of an emotional arc.”
I think the reason this album deserves recognition as a compilation is the fact that it nearly singlehandedly introduced millions of people to reggae, and if you’re introducing people to a new genre it makes sense to give them a “gentle” introduction through the best hits available. Objectively, that’s a pretty good idea, and there’s no denying the fact that this is probably the only reggae album many people have ever heard of.
All that’s amazing and cool as hell, but screw being objective. Here’s my review: go listen to this album and feel some of the best musical vibes that have ever existed. You’re welcome.
Objective Rating: 9.5
Jamwise Taste Rating: 9.8
Jams:
“Is This Love”
“No Woman No Cry”
“Could You Be Loved”
“Three Little Birds”
“Buffalo Soldier”
“Stir It Up”
“Jamming”
Marquee Moon - Television - 1977
Another blank spot in my musical knowledge. Television is considered to be one of the forerunners of punk rock, but critics describe this album as so much more thanks to the creative arrangement and artful lyrics. (I got all my 70’s music knowledge as a kid from my parents, who weren’t highly punk-y, so I guess it makes sense I missed this one.)
As Steven Thomas Erlewine wrote in his review:
“Marquee Moon is comprised entirely of tense garage rockers that spiral into heady intellectual territory… That alone made Marquee Moon trailblazing album -- it's impossible to imagine post-punk soundscapes without it.”
Sold.
This album sounds like big-brain punk to me. I mean that in the best way. It’s like the A students figured out the system sucks and decided to drop out and start a band instead. Like they’re walking around the streets of New York City making keen observations and innuendo-y puns left and right, hanging out under flickering streetlights, maybe guitar solo-ing out their feelings when words fail. I loved it start to finish.
Objective Rating: 8.8
Taste Rating: 8.2
New Jams
“See No Evil”
“Guiding Light”
“Torn Curtain”
Rocket to Russia - The Ramones - 1977
This was the Ramones third album of punk-rock awesomeness, and was considered by many critics to be the album where they really hit their stride, including Vinyl Reviews, who writes:
“Such relentless energy and romantic idealism make Rocket to Russia more than a punk classic. It’s also a fine example of pure pop songwriting.”
I’m really liking the punk theme this week. The Ramones have been on my radar in the past, but for their big hits like “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “I Wanna Be Sedated.” This album has more depth than those songs alone would suggest, with plenty of the classic cranking guitar riffs, plus some more downcast, introspective tracks that didn’t make it into the “best of the 70’s” playlists I’d listened to. That’s yet another great reason to continue this project - I thought this album was almost a relaxing introduction to punk rock at times, and the energy of the album ebbed and flowed like the rising and falling action of a great movie.
Objective Rating: 7.7
Taste Rating: 7
New Jams
“Rockaway Beach”
“Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”