Non-Classical Music Listening Thread!

[AnotherSpin]

By the mid 70s? How did people get into all this music in the 70s, especially in a country like Soviet Union? Didn't they play mostly Russian songs/artists on radio? Didn't they have black lists of western music that is capitalistic propaganda? I didn't listen to radio as a child (I didn't even have one. My father had decent Pioneer hi-fi system with radio, but didn't listen to it. Instead he played his jazz vinyl records). I heard music passively on TV programs and some other places, but almost none of it interested me at all, because I had of course very underdeveloped music taste and a lot of the music I heard was poor quality mainstream music. Maybe 70 % of the music I heard was Finnish music, Finnish artists (e.g. Juice Leskinen).

Was it really possible to buy the albums of these bands in Soviet Union at that time? Hard to believe. How did you hear the music then? Radio? But radio plays only the "hit songs", not entire albums and that can give very wrong picture of an artist. I am exploring Vangelis at the moment and even the "best of" compilation CD I have owned gives very incomplete picture of his art. In 2024 I can actually explore Vangelis thanks to Spotify, but there was no way to do it (without buying the music) just 20 years ago let alone 40 years ago!

I didn't understand how much music has to offer because of most of it being kept "hidden." As I have told many times how I got hooked on music when I discovered acid house in 1988. That's when I realized there is much more interesting music "behind" the "dull" stuff I hear everywhere. It is not all Abba, Kiss, Madonna or A-ha. There is also completely different kind of music genres such as acid house. At this point I was in high-school and I was able to earn some money to buy a SHARP boombox with radio. That opened the World of music for me a little bit. Late 90's changed things a lot. Not only did I get into classical music, but there was the internet. I could surf online and find out what music has to offer! Of course that didn't solve the problem of filtering out the stuff I don't like from the stuff I do like. For me it is very slow process to find music I like. Sometimes years go by without success.

That's why I am surprised how people tell how they had their favorites sorted out before they were 15 years old! I played with Legos as a child! How does anyone even relate to adult rock type of music at young age? You don't even understand the lyrics unless you speak English...  ...how to listen to BBC in Ukraine?!?

As I mentioned earlier, I used to listen to Voice of America and BBC World Service broadcasts on shortwave radio. In addition, I listened to Radio Free Europe broadcasts; we could receive Eastern European languages programs, such as Hungarian or Romanian. Russian and Ukrainian language programs were often jammed. Besides, I lived in Odessa, where I still reside. It's a port city that housed one of the world's largest shipping company, the Black Sea Shipping Company, which had hundreds of merchant ships regularly visiting ports on every continent. Sailors brought back home LPs. Also, Odessa had many Jewish families with relatives in the West who sent packages. Altogether, there was fairly good access to popular music and jazz. By the early 1970s, I had started to gradually build my own collection of Western rock LPs. Every Sunday, hundreds of enthusiasts would gather at an improvised market in city main park where one could buy, sell, or exchange LPs.

Added: I forgot to mention reel tapes and later cassettes. An ordinary Soviet music lover would collect hundreds of tapes with recordings of albums from various genres. American and British rock and jazz, French chanson, German disco, Italian pop, and so on.

[71 dB]

It was just pop hits on TV and radio for me, then some of my friends bought (or were given) a few singles and albums. I didn't buy anything myself until Tangerine Dream's Ricochet (on cassette) after the BBC broadcast Live At Coventry Cathedral 1975 (i.e. audio extracts of Ricochet) on TV in October 1976, when I was 14.

My friends never where much into music. We almost never talked about music. One of my earliest friends (this was the first class in school, 1978 or so) had a what I think was a dictation machine of sorts using C-cassettes and some silly disco influenced Boney M. "Raa Raa Rasputin" music recorded on it, maybe Finnish cover versions (    ) of that type of music. Even if I was only 7 years old I found that music horrible and I was puzzled as to how my friend liked it. His family moved away after one year of friendship and I never met him since.

In school, pupils had engraved band names on the school desks: Mötley Crew, Yngwie Malsteen etc. These artists where very heavy rock/metal oriented and I HATED that kind of music with passion. Even today, 95 % of this kind of music sounds idiotic to me. One of my friends really liked Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon." Again, I didn't care much of it. The music others liked around me in general had very little appeal to me or I even hated it. That's why I thought music just isn't for me.

In Finland we have this church-related thing called "rippileiri", confirmation camp. While there (this was in 1986), one of my class mates had brand new Genesis' Invisible Touch album on C-cassette + a walkman with him. He let others listen to it. I liked it. That is one of the earliest popular music albums I heard and liked. Later I even bought the album first on vinyl and then on CD. In high-school a few years later one semi-friend of mine was into Simon & Garfunkel. I became a fan of Paul Simon for a brief time and the second CD I ever bought was none other than Graceland! Ironically I hardly enjoy the music of Paul Simon anymore.

So, before adulthood I have been exposed to Boney M type of disco garbage, Culture Club, Genesis, Simon & Garfunkel and the mainstream pop music of the 80s. That's not a good foundation for discovering quality music or music I REALLY like myself. That has taken decades and the help of the internet.

[71 dB]

As I mentioned earlier, I used to listen to Voice of America and BBC World Service broadcasts on shortwave radio. In addition, I listened to Radio Free Europe broadcasts; we could receive Eastern European languages programs, such as Hungarian or Romanian. Russian and Ukrainian language programs were often jammed. Besides, I lived in Odessa, where I still reside. It's a port city that housed one of the world's largest shipping company, the Black Sea Shipping Company, which had hundreds of merchant ships regularly visiting ports on every continent. Sailors brought back home LPs. Also, Odessa had many Jewish families with relatives in the West who sent packages. Altogether, there was fairly good access to popular music and jazz. By the early 1970s, I had started to gradually build my own collection of Western rock LPs. Every Sunday, hundreds of enthusiasts would gather at an improvised market in city main park where one could buy, sell, or exchange LPs.

Added: I forgot to mention reel tapes and later cassettes. An ordinary Soviet music lover would collect hundreds of tapes with recordings of albums from various genres. American and British rock and jazz, French chanson, German disco, Italian pop, and so on.

I don't know what shortwave radio is or what Voice of America and BBC World Service are. When I got into music in later 80s, I listened to FM radio stations in Helsinki area. The reception was okay. There were a couple of local radio stations playing more interesting music than the typical radio stations. These were Radio City formed in 1985 and Radio Ettan formed in 1987 I think. Those were my favourite radio stations before they were bought by larger stations in early 90s and the programming went dramatically downhill.

I am sorry for my ignorance, but I had zero knowledge of how life was in Odessa at that time. Looks like you have been in a relatively good position compared to many other Ukrainians.

[71 dB]

SPOTIFY:

Vangelis - Soil Festivities (1984)

I like this one! Somehow these 80s albums are more pleasant (softer, more velvety etc.) than the more brutal sounding 70s albums.

[SimonNZ]

[steve ridgway]

Tangerine Dream: Out-Takes From Phaedra

[AnotherSpin]

My friends never where much into music. We almost never talked about music. One of my earliest friends (this was the first class in school, 1978 or so) had a what I think was a dictation machine of sorts using C-cassettes and some silly disco influenced Boney M. "Raa Raa Rasputin" music recorded on it, maybe Finnish cover versions (    ) of that type of music. Even if I was only 7 years old I found that music horrible and I was puzzled as to how my friend liked it. His family moved away after one year of friendship and I never met him since.

In school, pupils had engraved band names on the school desks: Mötley Crew, Yngwie Malsteen etc. These artists where very heavy rock/metal oriented and I HATED that kind of music with passion. Even today, 95 % of this kind of music sounds idiotic to me. One of my friends really liked Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon." Again, I didn't care much of it. The music others liked around me in general had very little appeal to me or I even hated it. That's why I thought music just isn't for me.

In Finland we have this church-related thing called "rippileiri", confirmation camp. While there (this was in 1986), one of my class mates had brand new Genesis' Invisible Touch album on C-cassette + a walkman with him. He let others listen to it. I liked it. That is one of the earliest popular music albums I heard and liked. Later I even bought the album first on vinyl and then on CD. In high-school a few years later one semi-friend of mine was into Simon & Garfunkel. I became a fan of Paul Simon for a brief time and the second CD I ever bought was none other than Graceland! Ironically I hardly enjoy the music of Paul Simon anymore.

So, before adulthood I have been exposed to Boney M type of disco garbage, Culture Club, Genesis, Simon & Garfunkel and the mainstream pop music of the 80s. That's not a good foundation for discovering quality music or music I REALLY like myself. That has taken decades and the help of the internet.

The factor of communication is very important. I guess I was lucky, but I've always had someone around with well-developed taste, and these were people 5-10 years older than me, those who influenced my musical interests and shared their tapes or albums with me. Many years have passed, and the main reason I'm here on this forum is the opportunity to learn something and catch up with more refined musical tastes than my own.

Since childhood, I had an unquenchable craving for all things unusual, impossible and challenging. That's why at 12 I was reading Flaubert and Maupassant and listening to Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull, at 20 reading Rajneesh and listening to Anthony Braxton and Frank Zappa, and a few decades later, I started travelling to India, which became my second home.

[71 dB]

The factor of communication is very important. I guess I was lucky, but I've always had someone around with well-developed taste, and these were people 5-10 years older than me, those who influenced my musical interests and shared their tapes or albums with me. Many years have passed, and the main reason I'm here on this forum is the opportunity to learn something and catch up with more refined musical tastes than my own.

Well I did not have people 5-10 years older than me to influence my music interests. I have mostly figured things out myself and that's why it has been a slow and long process.

Since childhood, I had an unquenchable craving for all things unusual, impossible and challenging. That's why at 12 I was reading Flaubert and Maupassant and listening to Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull, at 20 reading Rajneesh and listening to Anthony Braxton and Frank Zappa, and a few decades later, I started travelling to India, which became my second home.

Well at age 53 I don't know who Flaubert and Maupassant are. Quick googling reveals they were 19th century French authors. I haven't explored Led Zeppelin, Anthony Braxton or Frank Zappa. I have heard some Jethro Tull. I don't know who Rajneesh is. I read my father's science fiction books as a child (Stanislaw Lem, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, etc.). I had time for books because there weren't much else to do back then (no endless Youtube videos to watch    ). In adulthood I have read very few books, mostly the math/physics/engineering textbooks for my studies in the University in the 90s.

I have always been different from others too (Aspergers/autism I think). At young age I developed an obsession for the architecture of Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto. I have books about his architecture. I even tried to get accepted to study architecture in the Helsinki University of Technology (renamed as Aalto University maybe 10-15 years ago). The main building of the university is designed by Alvar Aalto (Otaniemi campus, 1964). I failed to get in, but instead I was chosen to study electric engineering there and it was so cool.

I also LOVED Legos as a child. I build a lot of stuff from Legos and whatever money I had I used on Lego sets and of course I was given sets as Christmas present.

Music had near zero place in my life before high-school when I finally got interested. I even hated music notation and classical music, because for me those things represented old obsolete undeveloped times. I wanted to look forward. In time I understood how my taste in music differs from that of the masses and how much there is "alternative" music out there to the mainstream garbage force-fed to people.

[steve ridgway]

King Crimson: Starless And Bible Black



I don't listen to this very often; it's very good musically but I find it a little depressing .

[AnotherSpin]

King Crimson: Starless And Bible Black



I don't listen to this very often; it's very good musically but I find it a little depressing .

My first favorite King Crimson LP many years ago. Now it's probably Red.

[AnotherSpin]

Well I did not have people 5-10 years older than me to influence my music interests. I have mostly figured things out myself and that's why it has been a slow and long process.

Well at age 53 I don't know who Flaubert and Maupassant are. Quick googling reveals they were 19th century French authors. I haven't explored Led Zeppelin, Anthony Braxton or Frank Zappa. I have heard some Jethro Tull. I don't know who Rajneesh is. I read my father's science fiction books as a child (Stanislaw Lem, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, etc.). I had time for books because there weren't much else to do back then (no endless Youtube videos to watch    ). In adulthood I have read very few books, mostly the math/physics/engineering textbooks for my studies in the University in the 90s.

I have always been different from others too (Aspergers/autism I think). At young age I developed an obsession for the architecture of Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto. I have books about his architecture. I even tried to get accepted to study architecture in the Helsinki University of Technology (renamed as Aalto University maybe 10-15 years ago). The main building of the university is designed by Alvar Aalto (Otaniemi campus, 1964). I failed to get in, but instead I was chosen to study electric engineering there and it was so cool.

I also LOVED Legos as a child. I build a lot of stuff from Legos and whatever money I had I used on Lego sets and of course I was given sets as Christmas present.

Music had near zero place in my life before high-school when I finally got interested. I even hated music notation and classical music, because for me those things represented old obsolete undeveloped times. I wanted to look forward. In time I understood how my taste in music differs from that of the masses and how much there is "alternative" music out there to the mainstream garbage force-fed to people.

I have certain idea about Aalto's works, and I think his furniture design resonates with me more than his architecture.

[Todd]

Some lighthearted AI fare:

Followed by something reliable that is guaranteed to please:

[NumberSix]

Oof. Why is David Gilmour's music so breathtakingly beautiful and yet somehow so stunningly boring at the same time?

I am guessing this is what people think of The Division Bell and thus have hated it for 30 years?


It might yet grow on me, this new Gilmour record. I don't know. These days I bounce around so much that no individual record gets the attention it might deserve.

That's the drawback to having every album ever, easily available.

[SimonNZ]

Curious how much easier the three discs of this set go down compared to Dylan's two earlier single discs of Sinatra/Crosby repertoire. Once again I played all three parts in a row, but have never wished either of the earlier two even one track longer.

[SimonNZ]

Cuba: I Am Time

playing the first of the four discs, which covers the legacy of Nigerian Yaruba traditions

[steve ridgway]

Tangerine Dream: Phaedra Out-Takes 2

[AnotherSpin]

Oof. Why is David Gilmour's music so breathtakingly beautiful and yet somehow so stunningly boring at the same time?

I am guessing this is what people think of The Division Bell and thus have hated it for 30 years?


It might yet grow on me, this new Gilmour record. I don't know. These days I bounce around so much that no individual record gets the attention it might deserve.

That's the drawback to having every album ever, easily available.

After Waters left Pink Floyd, something strange happened. Gilmour's guitar lost its meaning; the endless repetition of the sound discovered in the '70s turned into impotent self-parody. Waters' meaning was left without music, gradually transforming into the screams and yells of a man hurt by everything and everyone.  Gilmour and Waters should come together again, to reunite the two incomplete halves, but Heraclitus won't allow it

[KevinP]

Some lighthearted AI fare:

No AI needed:

[71 dB]

SPOTIFY:

Vangelis - Mask (1985)

This felt like return to the mid 70s sound/style for Vangelis. I am not very fond of this side of his artistry.

I have certain idea about Aalto's works, and I think his furniture design resonates with me more than his architecture.

Alvar Aalto is pretty well-known around the World.

[Todd]

No AI needed:

Untrue.  Last I knew, unlike Ruthie Foster, John Denver was world famous, one of the biggest musical artists of the 70s, and known for his gentle folk music.  Hence the value in juxtaposing his style with the slow, grinding heavy metal of Black Sabbath and contrasting a simulacrum of his vocal style with that of Ozzy Osborne.  Hopefully the channel goes the other way and has Ozzy sing "Rocky Mountain High" (naturally) mimicking his solo days, perhaps mashing it up with "Flying High Again".  Parody is not the same as a remake.  Unless you are implying that Ms Foster is so bad that her version accidentally tips over into parody.