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Topic: Where are the instrumentls? |
Sherman Willden
From:
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 6:03 am |
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Why are we not interested in the instrumentals on mainstream radio anymore?
In the 60s and early 70s we had on the Pop side performers like The Ventures, Floyd Cramer, Chet Atkins, and The Tijuana Brass who were played regularly on the radio. On the Country side we had performers such as Floyd Cramer, Chet Atkins, Curly Chalker, and Buddy Emmons who were played regularly on the radio.
Although not instrumentals we had Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Caberet, and Jesus Christ Superstar. I can think of two recent ones which are not animated; Evita and Moulin Rouge.
Thanks in advance;
Sherman |
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Leroy Riggs
From:
Looney Tunes, R.I.P.
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 7:54 am
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Yeah, that's a good question. Willie's Place on XM/Directv will occasionally have steel instrumentals but mainstream doesn't.
People really liked instrumentals in the 'old' days, but .......
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A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
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Richard Sevigny
From:
Salmon Arm, BC, Canada
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 9:33 am
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I think it's the boogieman of marketing rearing its ugly head again. Vocal music is sold just as much on the basis of ego (each singer cultivates its own "cult of personality") as it does on ability to actually sing.
The suits who decide what gets airplay don't know how to sell a melody (they obviously don't think a talented player can express personality through their playing...), and instrumental music is more heavily reliant on a good melodic hook. 
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If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.
-Albert Einstein |
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Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 11:22 am
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I listen to XM Jazz, which is almost all instrumentals.
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Darvin Willhoite
MSA Millennium, Legend, and Studio Pro, Reese's restored Universal Direction guitar, a restored MSA Classic SS, several amps, new and old, and a Kemper Powerhead that I am really liking. Also a Zum D10, a Mullen RP, and a restored Rose S10, named the "Blue Bird". Also, I have acquired and restored the plexiglass D10 MSA Classic that was built as a demo in the early '70s. I also have a '74 lacquer P/P, with wood necks, and a showroom condition Sho-Bud Super Pro. |
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Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 1:19 pm
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I don't depend on radio or tv for my listening pleasure,Most of my CD'S,tapes etc,are instrumentals,guitar players such as Hank Garland,Chet,Wes,Les,Kessel,etc,Most of the great steel players,two of my most played are Bobbe,and Frank Arnett,I love horn players,such Charlie Parker[my favorite],Stam Getz,Sil Austin,etc,Love all the old big bands,If I'm in the mood,like some of the new age stuff,The ONLY vocal music I have bought in years is the great Dale Watson,don't you know.
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Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC ! |
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Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 1:32 pm
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PS,years ago all venues had a lot of instrumentas on the radio,the country stations played a lot of Chet,Jerry Byrd,Bud Issacs,Bob Wills,the rock stations played The Ventures,Bill Doggett[heard Honky Tonk]many times,in the 70's,Billy Preston,Edger Winters,May be wrong but seems like the last charted instrumental I heard on FM radio was Eric Johnson's Cliffs Of Dover,don't you know.
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Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC ! |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 3:31 pm
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The mind of the average American has been so over-saturated and addled by listening to a constant barrage of tiny musical fragments on their TV that they're no longer capable of processing an instrumental "song" without visual excitement to keep their attention.
To appreciate an instrumental, you've got to be able to remember the beginning, the theme, the bridge, and process the variations that make it interesting. Plug some headphones into a TV sometime - each little interlude in any drama or even sitcom has some dreary little "mood music" spooling away in the background, some 30-second commercials may have 8 or 10 different fragments streamed together. Go to buy groceries - music. Go to the doctor's office - muzak.
I was filling up my car with gas recently, they HAD A TV ON THE GAS PUMP. You could easily hear a thousand musical fragments a day, without even NOTICING.... A large percentage of the American people are just way too fried, mentally, to even know what "music" is anymore, except as an adjunctive tool for selling them some more crap that they don't need. |
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Jeff Garden
From:
Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 3:49 pm
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I've never understood why the casual music listener can't appreciate instrumentals. I've spent years trying to informally promote instrumentalist Steve Morse, the best 6- string guitarist I've ever heard and the best 6 string guitarist no one else has ever heard of  It wasn't until he signed on with Deep Purple as a hired gun a few years ago that anyone even noticed him (and his previous instrumental efforts with the Dixie Dregs and Steve Morse Band have been far superior IMHO).
I think you may have to be a musician yourself to fully appreciate the technical and musical aspects of playing an instrument well. I've always thought the surest way to sink an above average club band is to have really mediocre vocals...it seems all too often a reasonably talented back-up band falls victim to a poor vocalist.
I can't even tell you the words of many popular country songs - I've always been too busy trying to listen to the steel parts. That's why steel shows are always such a treat...mostly all steel performances with no other distractions. |
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Clyde Mattocks
From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2007 11:40 pm
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Long ago, they should have changed the name of the Country Music Awards show to the Country Singing Awards. Now it should be the Country No Part of
Nothing Awards. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 30 Nov 2007 5:15 am
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I agree about Morse, though he did win Guitar Player Magazine's "Best Overall Guitarist" award five time in a row in the 1980's and hence got removed from the competition. I still evaluate other guitarist's albums on the "Morse-O-Meter" - in 1990 & 1991, he released "Southern Steel" and "Coast to Coast", two perfect albums with 10 perfect songs each, absolutely no filler whatsoever. I don't think Steve Vai or Joe Satriani have ever released an album that ranked higher than 4 or 5 on the Morse-O-Meter, the closest of late has been John Petrucci's "Suspended Animation" that gets about a 7 (he copped all his good licks from Morse anyway). 
There is a profound disconnect between genuine talent borne of hard work, and celebrityness these days - I'm sure tens of millions of people think Jimmy Page is a celebrity who plays guitar.... Brad Paisley could just as well be a talk-show host, for all anyone cares. I was watching a Derek Trucks video on YouTube recently and one of the learned commentators said that he was sure Trucks could play "all the Vai stuff", he just didn't want to.  Like, playing "all the Vai stuff" is just a matter of attitude, if you Follow Your Heart and Be True to Yourself you can Achieve Your Dreams! The hell with practice.... |
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Greg Simmons
From:
where the buffalo (used to) roam AND the Mojave
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Posted 30 Nov 2007 6:47 am
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...there's an instrumental on the New Eagles CD 
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<i>�Head full of this kaleidoscope of brain-freight, Heart full of something simple and slow�</i>
-Mark Heard
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