Do old records affect one's world view?

[EdisonSquirrel]

Old records have been an important part of my life for over 30 years. I can't help but wonder if my attitudes and world view are affected to any significant degree by a lifetime of listening to this music. Would I be a different person if I had never heard an acoustic recording? Who would I be had I not had all those years of exposure to the songs of Byron G. Harlan, Billy Murray, the male quartets, the dance music of Paul Whiteman, Bennie Krueger, and Bailey's Lucky Seven?

I'm not looking for a definitive answer. This is merely to initiate a discussion on how our hobby--music and machines--influences who we are.


Rocky

[larryh]

I believe your right on with that for many of us. In fact when I walk now in the basement of my moms house next door, I often play music that is from the 40's or 50's and of course the victrolas there as well. Often I get a sort of warm feeling for how lucky I was that we grew up in an era where music meant something that made you enjoy its very essence. Most what goes for popular music the past 30 years or more goes totally over my head and I doubt that 50 or 80 years from now people are going to think how lucky those people were to have had it in their lives. Sounds of a 20's record fondly recalls the machines my Grandmother had of her fathers, and my grandfathers fathers edison sitting in the dark cellar when i was a boy. I feel lucky to have loved music all my life, and music that means more than a constant beat of drums to stamp you foot too. lyrics were time pieces unto them selves. The music that accompanied the start and end of a popular radio show still evokes a wonderful time gone by when I hear it. I think perhaps we lived at the best time for music in general with such a range of things, many well done.

[Shane]

I am 30 years old. I think hearing those early records with race-related lyrics and jokes has altered my world view. I've heard records that poke fun at nearly every race out there. It shows me that there was once a time when people were less politically correct, less sensitive, less whiny, and less likely to sue a person over something frivolous. It has shaped my personality and made me into a person who's honesty sometimes straddles the line between appropriate and inappropriate... all in the effort to make a point that I don't like political correctness. I'm not motivated by hatred, just honesty.

[Schmaltz]

Well, to start with, going to school with kids who were into Jimi Hendrix and Alice Cooper (and me keeping quiet about my preference for Billy Murray and Collins & Harlan) did create some tension that might not otherwise have existed. Can't say I regret keeping my own musical consul, though; a lot of those kids wound up in jail, drunk, dead or wish they were, while I'm still here listening to the ancient music and keeping my nose clean.

Fundamentally, the songs that were recorded for the acoustic records were _happy_ ones. There are no happy songs now, unless you count Smashmouth's song "You're a Rock Star," but that's a stretch. Having those happy sounds for my musical roots has, I think, made a positive difference in my life ever since.

I'd love to get Brad's take on this, since he's the resident philosopher as it were.

(on further reflection: Okay, if you look at Country/Western, guys like Toby Keith are keeping some kind of flame alive for happy music, and more power to 'em.)

[EdisonSquirrel]

Good point, Shane! Old records do provide an opportunity for us to see beyond the confines of today's political correctness. And old records have also taught us to put aside the callousness of the modern era and appreciate the simple sentimentality of the early 20th century. I can comprehend the beauty of Byron G. Harlan singing "there's a tear in your eye, Nellie mine," or Henry Burr singing "I'm wearing my heart away for you," while a modern listener would probably laugh himself into incontinence upon hearing such lyrics.



Rocky

[bostonmike1]

Well, to start with, going to school with kids who were into Jimi Hendrix and Alice Cooper (and me keeping quiet about my preference for Billy Murray and Collins & Harlan) did create some tension that might not otherwise have existed. Can't say I regret keeping my own musical consul, though; a lot of those kids wound up in jail, drunk, dead or wish they were, while I'm still here listening to the ancient music and keeping my nose clean.

Fundamentally, the songs that were recorded for the acoustic records were _happy_ ones. There are no happy songs now, unless you count Smashmouth's song "You're a Rock Star," but that's a stretch. Having those happy sounds for my musical roots has, I think, made a positive difference in my life ever since.

I'd love to get Brad's take on this, since he's the resident philosopher as it were.

(on further reflection: Okay, if you look at Country/Western, guys like Toby Keith are keeping some kind of flame alive for happy music, and more power to 'em.)

This posting is confused and wrong on so many counts----let me address just a few----because my time is valuable. First, I listened to Hendrix and Cooper and did not go to jail (although I did get drunk and got laid in high school ----a true part of growing up and participating in ALL activities---it sounds as if you still harbor bad times in your experiences. Second, as a black child growing up in the 50's and early 60's in South Boston, the "happy" music you refer to totally escaped me. I did NOT see people dancing in the streets. What I DID SEE, was an attempt to burn down the dormitory in the orphanage where I was warehoused. I suppose the fine folks that had that need to perform that societal betterment act, missed their daily dose of "happy music". Music's impact on life is minimal at best. If it did, how come the anti-war songs of the 60's did not keep me from serving two tours in Vietnam? This revisionist history of "happy times" is in my opinion just plain crap----actually "happy crap" Michael

[Brad]

.....

Fundamentally, the songs that were recorded for the acoustic records were _happy_ ones. There are no happy songs now, unless you count Smashmouth's song "You're a Rock Star," but that's a stretch. Having those happy sounds for my musical roots has, I think, made a positive difference in my life ever since.

I'd love to get Brad's take on this, since he's the resident philosopher as it were.

(on further reflection: Okay, if you look at Country/Western, guys like Toby Keith are keeping some kind of flame alive for happy music, and more power to 'em.)

I do think music does effect one's view of the world. Though, as I look back, the songs of my youth to which my dad used to yell "Turn that crap down" by todays comparison could be considered happy tunes. The attraction for me, as I am sure for many of us, is that it harkens back to a simplier more innocent time. Though the sentiments and issues of the day seem very familiar to me now. I grew up as military brat and when I hear a song from the 60's or 70's it evokes memories of where I was living at the time (I attended 15 different schools as a kid) and it brings back the happy memories of that time. Rarely does it evoke bad memories.

As for country and western music, I'll follow the advice of Thumpers Mom: If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothin' at all.

So yes, if you are attracted to old music, and think of them as either happy, innocent, or positive, your outlook on life would probably follow.

Interesting topic, thanks for starting the thread.

[richardh]

I'll follow the advice of Thumpers Mom: If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothin' at all.

Interesting topic, thanks for starting the thread.

Here, here. I agree with both sentiments Brad. The first sentiment of which applies to all areas of life and all topics I find.

I'll post a fuller reply later...

RJ

[gramophoneshane]

I'd have to say like Mike, I think old music has had a very minimal effect on my attitudes & world views too.
If fact, I think the opposite is true, and that because of my attitude & world views, it's allowed me to enjoy old music. If anything, it's probably taught me that the good old days weren't all they're cracked up to be, and people were generally pretty ignorant & easily pleased.
I mean, there's not much too life changing or inspiring about being as pretty as a rose, falling in love with your best friends gal (or him stealing your gal), or making out that white man is superior & a good woman should be kept chained to a sink.lol.
Most of the music itself is fairly simple & the lyrics are corny, but that doesn't always make it less enjoyable or fun.
I'd be more inclined to think that any music which may have influenced my attitude or views never came out on wax or shellac.

[B.B.B]

Great topic!

As for records that has really changed my view of the world, I must say that recordings done in the first half of the last century ain't it for me.
I'd say that artists like MC5, John Coltrane, Velvet Underground & most of all Bob Dylan had the greatest influence on me, personally.
(Note that a big part of the population consider these artists as "old" , they think Madonna is "old...)

That is not to say that I don't like old music, I love old music, the older the better most times!

But like someone wrote, lyrics & music of the 1910-1940's were almost always about gay times or if it weren't, they only
stated the facts, they never critizised its origin.
There are a number of great songs about poor boys long ways from home.
Not many of them go to the bottom of the issue, lack of social security, racism, hunger, the rich people using the poor, drug abuse et. al.

"Father papered the parlour" simply hasn't enuff thoughful words in it, to provoke the same kind of nourishment for your brain as for example Dylans "Desolation Row".

This said with one exception.
Early Blues, really early rural blues.
Son House, Charley Patton, Bukka White, Blind Willie Johnson & the rest of them.

These guys (and in a few occasions girls) really move me. And my thoughts.
I have never been able to figure out why, being a white kid, raised in a good home, in a good country. I never went hungry for more then 10 minutes at the time,
I do not have very much in common with them.
But I do know, that when I put their music on, I just feel it. And it really gets my mind going.

Sadly, I'll have to stick to Cd's when it comes to the blues, prices on old blues 78s are just ridicoulus.