So who or what do you think will be remembered from the 20th century? Duran Duran? Yaz? Dixie Chicks? OK, I'm using those as joke examples. Pete Townshend? He's been around for at least 2 decades, and at least his material from 'The Who" ought to stick in people's heads. "The short-lived rise and fall of 'record companies'"? It seems like this century is extremely heavily influenced by technology.34 responses total.
over how long a period are we guessing? as the centuries roll on, the number of the remembered will decrease, probably reaching zero within 500-700 years.
Hey don't be dissin on Yaz.
I love Yaz! But it took me forever to figure out a girl was the lead singer...oops...
Tha Beatles. Their music still stands pretty well. Some of it is still used in commercials, which a lot more people will see/hear than heard it on the radio or bought the record. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will male sure we don't forget even the one hit wonders.
How about we say 200 years? I was thinking about how we remember Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, etc., but I'm sure there were hordes of other people who were popular at the time.
i love yaz. upstairs at erics is a wonderful album. i have to mention that phil collins, between genesis, his solo career and his disney stuf has had quite an impact.
who will be remembered? TAFKAP
These stupid 'pat-yourself-on-the-back' entertainment industry awards (grammy, tony, oscar, etc.) don't mean shit. nobody will remeber something because it got one of these awards, because in order to keep them happening, they have to give out so damn many of them that they no longer distinguish lasting quality from ephemeral popularity. I suspect that the great classical composers of the last 300 years were standouts in a much smaller field and a much smaller marketplace and because of those factors, the fact that they are remembered and celebrated today cannot be taken as indicative of any likelihod that any of today's artists will be long remembered. Keep in mind that the mass media of today (which created the phenomena which these artists are) thrives and survives on the latest cool thing, and more and more so as time goes on. The only time yesterday is remembered is when there is profit in it. How many successful marketing campaigns of today use the classical compositions of the great masters? If the mass media forgets, the mass market forgets. Only the academics will remember, and only for so long.
Since it has been a century of technology, the audio quality of
recordings has helped with rock and roll being well remembered. The
Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" again being toted as the best Rock and Roll
song ever is one point. It is 35 years old. It has survived well, partly
because the recording is close in audio quality to what is produced today.
Whereas, a 1930 era recording of 'Lucky Lindy' listened to 35 years later
in 1965, just did not make the audio grade.
The other part of remembering is by the way music broadcasting
first began. The concept of "Those Oldies but Goodies" did not become
part of broadcasting music until near 1959. Before that, it really was
just "Your Hit Parade"...today's music. Any song remembered in 1939 was
a 'remake', usually by someone else.
I would have so many names to be remembered, but I'll only
add Hank Williams here. His songs will be rediscovered and re-done
for many years. Some may even enjoy the poor-fideltiy originals a
hundred and fifty years in the future.
What will happen when the people who really grew up with, say, the Rolling Stones are dead? Will the music still have much popularity? Perhaps the big thing from this century will be the switch from sheet music to recorded music. I'm more curious which musicians will "stick".
My nephew and his friends were all into the Doors and the Stones and Zappa in late high school and early college. Seems to be a phase they went through. But they remember. Patrick's eight and learning Beatles songs on his guitar, and watches Yellow Submarine on video. I suppose that as long as there are anniversaries (25th, 50th, hundredth) some wag will write a story about the old guys, Rhino will re-release some new version of an oldie, and they'll remember.
i think some of us pass along the good stuff.
How many of the "legends" of the 20th Century are already being forgotten? The only 20th Century song that will be part of the social lexicon in 2200 willbe "The Girl from Ipanema," because it'll still be playing in elevators everywhere. =}
All of you who are standing up for Yaz, have you listened to any lately? I greatly enjoyed "Upstairs at Erics" in the late 80's, but hadn't listened to it in a loooong time. Came across it about two months ago in my record collection and gave it a spin. Whooo has that album aged, and not particularly gracefully.
i listen to it sometimes, and i still like it.....
I heard "Situation" on the radio recently, enjoyed it.
There are tracks on the Yaz albums that sound childish now, but only because
they were innovative then, and the innovations have developped. The straight
up pop songs ("Situation" and "Don't Go") are still fine.
How about the greatest classical composer of the 20th century? Fifty years ago there were people saying the greatest, or at least most influential, composer would be Schoenberg, because his twelve-tone system was taking over the classical planet. (And contributing mightily to the rise of high art in popular music, as both musicians and audiences deserted the twelve-tone academy in droves.) Fortunately twelve-tone turned out to be a dead end, so he's out. The usual candidate is Stravinsky. But though certainly very influential, his music has not worn equally well, and I can't believe "greatest" of a composer whose place in the repertoire is so spotty. My candidate? Shostakovich. His music is profound, beautiful, highly varied, always of high quality except for some designated hackwork (and even Beethoven and Mozart had designated hackwork), and has been rising in tremendous popularity ever since Volkov's _Testimony_ made people feel it was politically OK to like it. It's a big change. 35 years ago, the statement that Shostakovich would be a plausible candidate for greatest composer of the century would have been greeted with total incredulity. But I admired him then as much as now, and am pleased that he's coming into his own.
I think there will be muscians recognized in all catagories many decades to come from the 20th century. Coltrane & Miles Davis in Jazz, Bartok and Stravinsky in Classical, The Beattles, Bob Dylan (at least) in Rock/Pop. Hank Williams in Country. Probably many more but these artist at least I thnk will have their recording preserved in whatever digital medium is the format of choice in the future. Actually I would add Duke Elington and Public Enemy to that list as well. I think an intersting question is about women in music in the 20th century. Will Joni Mitchell and Bessie Smith be part of the archive or has the patriarchy still pushed woman muscian to the margin? Also how about world music such as Balinese Gamelan, the African Drummer Olitugi, etc. Perhaps the late 20th century will be remebered as the time of global musical awareness?
The Greatest Classical Composer of the 20th Century? You're gonna slap me, but I'd say the one who most aptly combined the musical trend of the 20th Century -- popular music -- with classical techniques. That would be John Williams. He created a few of the most recognizable classical themes of the 20th Century, if nothing else -- the duh-DUM duh-DUM duh-DUM of Jaws and the inspirational themes of Star Wars. My favorite composer (and this shows how much of a simpleton I am) is probably Prokofiev. =}
I don't think popular music is such a uniquely-20th-century trend. They just used to call it "folk music" or "dammit, the peasants are making that infernal noise again" or some such. Most composers of any time period -- and especially those who wrote dances -- have been inspired by the popular music of their day. Now, you could make a pretty good case for the pop music _star_ as unique to the 20th century. In which case, the Greatest Classical Composer of Our Century should be Michael Daugherty, composer of "Dead Elvis" and "Sinatra Shag."
I'll agree with the Beatles, the Doors, the Stones, and Zappa-- probably more so the Beatles and Zappa. resp:11 Yes, we do remember-- there's just something about these artists kids like. It seems most of the music department here reveres Zappa as some sort of god. But I should note that Zappa is a music satirist, and his book was actually quoted by my music aesthetics professor. I remember his writings have been discussed elsewhere in this conference. Remember, we have noted elsewhere that musicologists have begun to consider the Beatles, and some music history textbooks-- at least the music appreciation ones-- have included the Beatles. Hank Williams is considered a pioneer in the country-western genre, and if the medium continues to survive (as it has been heavily mixed with pop, R&B, and rock), then he will likely be noted. John Williams? Yes. I think Paul said it well. He's been compared with Gustav Holst, who *does* have a place in music history and musicological texts, and he was even asked to write a piece for Pluto to complete _The Planets_. Go ahead, give it a listen-- Williams was *strongly* influenced by him. I feel like I'll likely keep tabs on this.
I thinkit willbe the disco song that refuses to die.. Shake Your Groove Thing.
more votes for Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich
Scriabin. Love that synaesthesia (sp?) thing.
I am THE real slim shady.
John Williams hardly combined classical and pop techniques. He simply took the stylistic traits of early modern classical composers like Richard Strauss and Gustav Holst and applied them to film music. Very well, too, and you won't get much criticism of him from me -- though the repetition of the same-old same-old in _Phantom Menace_ seemed a bit tired, and for the first time, I felt that _Star Wars_ really seemed like an old hack Sunday serial, as Lucas intended. But even at its best, I wouldn't count Williams's achievement at century-best level. Who did combine classical and pop techniques well? Surprisingly, the minimalists, several of whom have been brilliant at writing classical music with a rock sensibility (especially in pacing and structure). And a lot of classical-influenced pop musicians, especially of the art rock school: not ELP, who suck, but Renaissance in particular. I like Prokofiev a whole lot. He isn't #1, but he's definitely in the top ten of the century for me, possibly the top five.
Gershwin <sp?> would be the inovator of combing classical and popular music in the 20th century. Rhaposody in Blue is probably going to be remembered for a while if nothing else for being so damn catchy. I still think Bartok the best of 20th century harmonic inovations and combined them with haunting melodies and interesting percussion to make some of the most intersting 20th century classical IMO.
Gershwin may have done it before the Minimalists did, but in my opinion he didn't do as good or as interesting a job of it. "Rhapsody in Blue" is catchy, yeah, but the combination of classical and popular ideas doesn't run very deep -- it's basically a straightforward classical showpiece with a few "jazzy" notes thrown in for effect. If you want an earlier example of popular/classical crossover than Gershwin, I'd look at Charles Ives, who managed to incorporate a lot of the spirit and raucousness of popular music into his compositions, rather than writing fussy classical pieces on the blues scale.
Charles Ives is *already* a part of music history study. He's already been cast by scholars, so don't bother worrying about whether or not he'll be remembered.
Gershwin, I think, would have had a profound influence on both classical music and jazz had he lived, but he died before he was able to take his fusion program very far. Neither the minimalists, Gershwin, nor Ives, was the innovator of combining classical and pop music. It's been going on as long as either has existed. Many classical composers wrote popular songs in the forms of their day; and music for popular dances has been part of classical music from the beginning: Bach and Mozart, for instance, wrote whole suites of dance music. It could even be said that dance music is the root of all classical instrumental music. At any rate, classical music isn't "fussy". Only bad classical music is fussy.
I own a copy of Gershwin plays gershwin, it's a great lil albumn.
Varese
Maurice Ravel. His orchestration of Pictures AT An Exhibition is simply incredible, and just about everyone who knows figure skating has heard Bolero. I'm also tossing in a vote for Aaron Copland and my gratuitous votes for Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix
Once upon a time, it was everyone who knew Bo Derek who had heard Bolero. A protean work, indeed.
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