smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Like sand in an hour glass... |
| Date | Wed, 04 Aug 2004 15:40:43 -0400 |
[Part 1 text/plain (3.0 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
At Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2004 19:04:20 Steve wrote:
> > >Well, really, to some degree everything is transitory, including us
> > >and eventually we'll be forgotten too.
> >
> > This is what I'm saying.....
>
>All right! I largely agree with you that all is transitory.
>However, I'd argue that things or people that actually impact a
>culture, while maybe forgotten in terms of cause and effect, would
>still have a lingering impact. The old cliché of the long forgotten
>stone hitting the pond but the ripples it causes continuing. Thus,
>I'd argue even if the Beatles are forgotten someday (500 years from
>now??), their impact is irreversible. Well, until the planet freezes
>over or rock n roll is a memory.
I never said the Beatles didn't make an impact. I never said they didn't
have an affect on our culture. What I said was is that they would be a
footnote. Look at history now for those that made BIGGER contributions than
the Beatles....just trivia questions on Jeopardy. And isn't it philosophers
and sociologists that keep the spirit alive of those who apparenty turned
the tide or made the impact significant? Oh, wait, I'm thinking of CNN.
What I want to make perfectly clear is that I actually LOVE the Beatles.
But, not above everything else. They were my divining rod. They were my
inspiration as a musician. But the contribution they made to my career is
finite and can be traced to the summer of 1976 as the beginning and it ends
in 1990 when I saw McCartney live for the first time. In only 14 years I
grew tired of them and had absorbed all I needed to of their pop culture
impact. And so I found myself hanging with people whose world view was
longer than the end of their noses and whose musical palettes were larger
than the sum of everything the Beatles and their solo careers could hope to
offer. And believe me, there are bands and performers out there who were NOT
influenced by The Beatles. Just ask the acts who lived and breathed the
Rolling Stones. Some of the older factions on this list can confirm the camp
divisions between Beatles and Stones fans.
And yes, by association generations of bands have grown out bands who were
influenced by bands were, in turn, influenced by the Beatles. So, as agreed,
The Beatles' tendrils grew large. And if the Beatles invented the wheel,
will anyone generations from now, with the wheel firmly used by everyone,
everywhere, remember where that wheel came from?
The Beatles organization is trying damn hard to make sure you do. But the
Internet has levelled the playing field to a series of faceless audio
clips....many not even identified by title. The Beatles are no longer king,
but merely one of a sea of tens of thousands of musical acts available to be
tried and tasted by generations of kids to come who know nothing of
history...only of consumption.
Jaimie Vernon,
President, Bullseye Records
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicPopEncycloPages
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.