From djacques@csulb.edu Thu Jun 03 10:27:29 2010
Subject:Re: New Vanilla Fudge Video

By today's standard, contemporary popular music does not stand a
chance when compared to classic pop and rock. Consider the diversity
of music, styles, musicianship, etc during the 60's and 70's, and
compare it to the drivel of today's popular music. Mark Stein may not
be considered a great Hammond player by "today's standards", but his
style fit perfectly with the music that Vanilla Fudge was creating.

The same can be said of Jon Lord of Deep Purple, Hugh Banton of Van
der Graaf Generator, or even Keith Emerson of the Nice. All these
musicians could play rings around anyone on this list, and many of
today's professional organists. However their styles fit perfectly
within the music they were creating.

Plus you could listen to each player by themselves and identify them
with their style. I could argue that this great distinction no longer
exists. I hear great players basically playing similar runs and
scales. Jon Lord's use of scales in his solos were quite distinctive,
and sounded nothing like Rick Wakeman or Mark Stein. Same for Keith
Emerson. I heard Tarkus the other night on XM radio and was once again
amazed at the very distinctive style of this musician during the 70's.

Finally, this discussion goes to the homogenization of today's popular
music. Below is a list of bands during the late 60's and 70's that
sounded nothing like each other. They all had extremely distinctive
styles (which is why many of my students are so into classic rock
right now... they are bored with much of today's music). I challenge
anyone to create such a list using contemporary artists...

The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
Spirit
Deep Purple
Van der Graaf Generator
ELP
Sweetwater
Seals and Crofts
Janis Joplin
The Doors
Johnny Winters
Yes
Jefferson Airplane
Country Joe and the Fish
King Crimson
Genesis
Quatermass

and on.. .and on....

On Jun 3, 2010, at 11:09 AM, hammond.b3@verizon.net wrote:

> Although I was a fan back then, they're a mess by today's
> standards. Stein is not impressive.