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Post by kds on Jan 15, 2021 14:38:02 GMT
Oh yeah, here's a fun topic for a Friday?
Does anyone have any music regrets they can think of? I know hindsight's always 20/20, and it's rather pointless to dwell on past things you can't change, but we're humans and these thoughts are only natural. Any concerts? Bands you wished you'd gotten into sooner? Bands you wish you didn't squander time and money on?
Other than some questionable choices in my early 20s (I, as an adult, actually bought Godsmack albums and concert tickets on purpose), I've got one big one.
Listening to some Pink Floyd and David Gilmour material this past weekend, I remembered pack to when Gilmour released his On an Island album in spring 2006. I contemplated getting on a train to see him at Radio City Music Hall in April. But, decided not to, hoping that he'd do a full US Tour. Sadly, no US Tour ever happened for that album, nor his 2015 Rattle That Lock album, and realistically, it's now highly unlikely I'll get to see him in concert. To add insult to injury, Richard Wright, Floyd's keyboardist, was with Gilmour's band in 2006, and he passed away in 2008.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 15, 2021 14:47:34 GMT
I can be both general and specific on this.
Specific:
I wish I'd gone to a C50 show. For some unknown reason, they didn't come to Minneapolis (or Minnesota in general). This is odd, considering it has been on basically every single Brian Wilson tour, and on several occasions the first spot on tours (BWPS, Christmas, and I think at least one more), as well as a regular spot for the M&B Beach Boys and destination for Al on several of his solo show. But they didn't come here. I guess I figured they'd schedule a date here sooner or later, so I didn't go to Milwaukee or Chicago. Those would have been 6 or 7 hour drives, which seemed silly. But of course they never scheduled a show here and they re-broke up.
General:
I wish I'd been more open and curious throughout my life to more kinds of music at a time. I've often been very focused on something to the exclusion of other things, which means I'll be hyper-familiar with some band or genre for a specific period but oblivious to other things from that time; and then I'll get bored of that band or genre and go to another one, getting heavily into that while ignoring or eschewing everything else; and so on.
As a result, for example, I had a ton of exposure to/knowledge of rap and hard rock for the latter half of the 80s through the early 90s, but almost none for the subsequent decade. I got into the late 60s classic bands, but often didn't even follow those artists into the 70s. I focused on avant garde music and jazz throughout the mid to late 90s and missed almost everything that was actually going on at the time. And so on and so forth.
It's hard to do otherwise, because there isn't enough time in the day to sift through everything in every genre. But if I'd had a different attitude, I could have appreciated and absorbed a lot more music in real-time as well as hindsight, which would have been nice.
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Post by kds on Jan 15, 2021 15:01:56 GMT
I do wish I'd have gone a little deeper on some 60s and 70s artist in my 20s and early 30s when I had a little more free time to listen to music. Instead, I spent so much time trying to find modern bands, which rarely paid dividends. But, such in life, and at least I can say I tried before finally throwing in the towel around 2012.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 15, 2021 15:42:52 GMT
Great topic! My two are Doors' related and they both still...bother me.
I became a Doors' fan in the summer of 1971. One main reason is that my sister bought that strange comp, 13, which quickly became a staple on MY turntable. After much thought through the years, I think I also became a Doors' fan at that particular time because of Jim Morrison's death on July 3, 1971. I wouldn't be surprised if the Doors' music was being played prominently on AM radio after Jim died, which I was listening to constantly. Also, "Love Her Madly" and "Riders On The Storm" were hit singles in the summer of 1971. My regret? That I missed the whole Doors' "trip" from 1967-71. I just missed it by a few years. There have only been two "huge" groups for me - The Beach Boys and The Doors - and 99% of my Doors fandom was AFTER their career. Damn, how I wish I would've seen them in concert...
The second biggest regret is that I didn't see Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek when they were touring together as The Doors Of The 21st Century or the Riders On The Storm or Robby Krieger & Ray Manzarek or any other names they were touring as. I have no good reason(s) for not seeing them, just a bunch of bad ones. For some reason, I wasn't following their touring schedule online, and I never heard or saw any ads for them playing near my hometown - though they did, several times actually. Also, around that time, I was kind of in a concert-seeing slump, not really going to many live shows. I lost contact with some of my buddies that I used to go to concerts with. And, finally, I thought "I still have time...one of these days..." And then Ray passed away and I was devastated. Now I would never get the chance to see him play those amazing keyboards live. Well, I made sure that wouldn't happen with Robby Krieger. I did start to follow his touring schedule, and a few years ago I caught one of his concerts just outside of Philadelphia. It was a great show!
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Post by kds on Jan 15, 2021 15:50:47 GMT
I got lucky with The Doors. I didn't really follow them on the internet in 2005, and social media wasn't really a thing yet. But, while thumbing threw a local free newspaper, I caught an ad for The Doors of the 21st Century at a place called the 9:30 Club in DC. I was still in radio at the time, so I was able to use a contact to get on the guest list (unfortunately, this means I have no ticket stub).
The show actually happened right after Densmore sued them and forced their name change. The ad said Doors of the 21st Century, and they were even selling Doors of the 21st Century merch, but over the PA before they took the stage, we heard "Please welcome....Riders on the Storm."
Speaking of DC, I also regret not attending a Mike Love book signing in DC. It was on a Wednesday night, and I didn't really want to make that drive. But, I'd met Brian and Blondie (and would eventually meet Al at one of his shows), so that was a missed opportunity to meet Mike.
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Post by kds on Jan 15, 2021 15:52:14 GMT
Good question I think most of my regrets music-wise are about listening to a song/album so many times that I get tired of it. The first one that comes to my mind is Emerson Lake & Palmer's 1971 album Tarkus... I used to love this album so much when I was 14~15 but I kind of wasted it by over-listening. I mean, I can come back to it and even enjoy it, but it's so much more difficult now to be impressed by the songs, this feeling just got away. That happened to me with Pink Floyd's The Wall when I was 16. I actually barely listened to it at all in my 20s, but I came around back to it after seeing Roger Waters perform it in 2010.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 15, 2021 16:04:15 GMT
I do have a BB-related one. I never saw a BWPS concert. I'm not being a wise guy. Brian was still just touring it; the studio album didn't come out yet so I wasn't soured on it yet. I think the closest Brian came was Philadelphia (about a two hour drive) and I guess I was just lazy.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 15, 2021 16:07:46 GMT
I do have a BB-related one. I never saw a BWPS concert. I'm not being a wise guy. Brian was still just touring it; the studio album didn't come out yet so I wasn't soured on it yet. I think the closest Brian came was Philadelphia (about a two hour drive) and I guess I was just lazy. I have to say that seeing those was high on my list of things I'm most thankful for having done--things I've got the LEAST regrets for. In fact, my first BWPS show was also my one and only (so far) transcontinental trip: I went to Scotland to see one of the early shows in spring of that year. It was really special to see those shows, especially the one in Scotland before the album was out. There was still a sense of "I wonder what it's going to be?!" Like, how much would be familiar? New? How closely would it track to the popular boots?
I saw that one in Glasgow and another one in the fall here in Minneapolis.
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Post by B.E. on Jan 15, 2021 16:09:39 GMT
Not attending a C50 show might actually be one of mine as well. While I had always been a casual fan, and a fan of Pet Sounds, it wasn't until around 2012/3 that I really dove in. While the hardcore fans were going to the shows and appreciating the reunion for the miracle that it was, I was busy buying up and listening to their back catalog.
More generally, and even more so, I regret not learning music theory, how to read music, and how to play the piano when I was a kid.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 15, 2021 16:24:47 GMT
More generally, and even more so, I regret not learning music theory, how to read music, and how to play the piano when I was a kid. Oooh that reminds me: I took one school-year of piano lessons in third grade. In fact, I would miss the first little bit of school for it, which was weird. I don't know how that was arranged, since the lessons were outside of school, not provided there. I'd go to take lessons from a woman in the basement of the Catholic church (just me and her in an empty auditorium, the piano in "the pit" in front of the stage).
Piano was like a lot of subjects have been for me: supremely easy for a while, so I don't really do things the right way or try very hard but yet am "doing well." And then suddenly it's hard, I don't get it, and I suck. I quit piano partly because of that, but also largely because it just seemed effeminate to an 8- or 9-year-old boy. Shockingly my parents let me quit.
But once I got to college as a jazz performance (guitar) major, I had to pass piano proficiency. And it was the same situation all over again (well, minus the church basement). But I kept wishing I'd just stuck with it, because by then I was also just more musically inclined in general, having recorded on cassette 4-track at home, jamming with friends, etc., and it was obvious that being a real piano player would have helped. I definitely learned piano around then (actually in late high school) and advanced somewhat later, but I learned it like guitar, not like piano. Does that make sense? Like, I would basically plunk along with chords, not sight-reading at all and very slow even to read not in real time. My hands' independence is crap. I'm just a plunker, and it's my own fault.
The one bright side: that means I can usually manage Brian Wilson's piano parts!
EDIT - all that said, somewhat ironically based on your post, music theory was something I really did pursue and work on. While I didn't get it in high school (except through my private guitar lessons and personal effort), I absolutely dug into that in college, even switching my major from jazz performance to theory and composition. It turned out I was better at theory than at any instrument--by far.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 15, 2021 16:47:22 GMT
More generally, and even more so, I regret not learning music theory, how to read music, and how to play the piano when I was a kid. Oooh that reminds me: I took one school-year of piano lessons in third grade. In fact, I would miss the first little bit of school for it, which was weird. I don't know how that was arranged, since the lessons were outside of school, not provided there. I'd go to take lessons from a woman in the basement of the Catholic church (just me and her in an empty auditorium, the piano in "the pit" in front of the stage).
Piano was like a lot of subjects have been for me: supremely easy for a while, so I don't really do things the right way or try very hard but yet am "doing well." And then suddenly it's hard, I don't get it, and I suck. I quit piano partly because of that, but also largely because it just seemed effeminate to an 8- or 9-year-old boy. Shockingly my parents let me quit.
But once I got to college as a jazz performance (guitar) major, I had to pass piano proficiency. And it was the same situation all over again (well, minus the church basement). But I kept wishing I'd just stuck with it, because by then I was also just more musically inclined in general, having recorded on cassette 4-track at home, jamming with friends, etc., and it was obvious that being a real piano player would have helped. I definitely learned piano around then (actually in late high school) and advanced somewhat later, but I learned it like guitar, not like piano. Does that make sense? Like, I would basically plunk along with chords, not sight-reading at all and very slow even to read not in real time. My hands' independence is crap. I'm just a plunker, and it's my own fault.
The one bright side: that means I can usually manage Brian Wilson's piano parts!
EDIT - all that said, somewhat ironically based on your post, music theory was something I really did pursue and work on. While I didn't get it in high school (except through my private guitar lessons and personal effort), I absolutely dug into that in college, even switching my major from jazz performance to theory and composition. It turned out I was better at theory than at any instrument--by far.
One of my biggest LIFE regrets is that I didn't learn an instrument and get in a band.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 15, 2021 17:11:53 GMT
Being in a band can be a tremendous amount of fun ... but it also makes one question his life choices!
Whenever people say "why can't [band] just stick together!?" I think they're missing the reality of being forced to collaborate with people. Sometimes it's fine, but it can be so, so toxic. Think of your work relationships and how when they're bad, they can just ruin your daily life. It's a lot like that, but maybe worse in that you don't necessarily expect to get along with your coworkers; your bandmates and you are (theoretically) doing something you enjoy, something that's a distraction and recreation. So if it is toxic, it's really hard to stick with it.
That said, I assume making millions of dollars would be an incentive to stick with it. (Of course, it could also make you resent it even more: feeling "forced" to stick with it for the money while resentment festers and grows.)
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Post by kds on Jan 15, 2021 17:16:26 GMT
I'm ok with never having learned an instrument or played in a band. Sort of like football, I'm happy to watch others do it.
Being 40, if I'd been in a band, it would've been in the 2000s. Not exactly an ideal time to want to play the kind of music I'd have wanted to play.
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Post by jk on Jan 15, 2021 20:44:09 GMT
The only thing I can think of right now is the time a colleague in the music business (I worked in a music library that hired out music for films, ads and TV) took me to the Top of the Pops bar, next to the studio, for a drink. (This must have been in '69 or '70.) I noticed Cilla Black was there, maybe others (it was long ago!). After a while, everyone headed into the studio to shoot that week's show. My colleague asked if I wanted to go in and watch. Teetering on the brink of being an alcoholic at the time, I passed on what would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Then there's the recent incident at EH I keep harping on about (I really do regret that) but that's only indirectly "music-wise".
I'll keep thinking...
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 16, 2021 0:34:42 GMT
Being in a band can be a tremendous amount of fun ... but it also makes one question his life choices!
Whenever people say "why can't [band] just stick together!?" I think they're missing the reality of being forced to collaborate with people. Sometimes it's fine, but it can be so, so toxic. Think of your work relationships and how when they're bad, they can just ruin your daily life. It's a lot like that, but maybe worse in that you don't necessarily expect to get along with your coworkers; your bandmates and you are (theoretically) doing something you enjoy, something that's a distraction and recreation. So if it is toxic, it's really hard to stick with it.
That said, I assume making millions of dollars would be an incentive to stick with it. (Of course, it could also make you resent it even more: feeling "forced" to stick with it for the money while resentment festers and grows.)
Other than sports in my youth (I played football, baseball, and basketball from age 8-18), music always seemed to interest me the most. I spent more time listening to it, reading about it, and just thinking about it probably more than anything else. The school band never interested me because I was always on the field or on the court. Now, a rock and roll instrument, that was different. My best friend and I used to talk about learning an instrument and forming a band, you know the type of conversation; we even had names for the band. We never followed through on it. Then as I got older and started to see bands live, I thought it be cool to form a cover band and just play local gigs. You know, make a couple of extra bucks on weekends, meet some girls, and pretend I'm Jim Morrison or Brian Wilson or Bob Dylan. As I look back, I'm surprised I didn't do it. Instead I started a DJ business and played music that way for, oh, about twenty years. Still made a couple of bucks and met the girls, though.
Anybody wanna form a band?
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