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[maculated]

I was raised in a household of fifties-lovers. My dad was a DJ and my parents pretty much thought their highschool days were the best. Needless to say, I know pretty much the entire catalog of late 50's-early 60's songs.

My MP3 collection is pretty massive these days and I was sitting there listening to Postal Service when Everly Brothers came off and I was like - huh, minus the electronica, they have sort of the same sound . . .  and I started to screw around and was like, hmm . . .

So then I played some stuff for my parents (Wilco, Deathcab, Old 97s, OAR, Neko Case, Pete Francis, etc) and they really, really liked it. My parents like nothing but oldies and Andrea Boticelli.

I am not a music snob, and I am not obsessed with labels and history, so I hope someone out there can draw the connection I think must be there . . .

[Druid]

I've had the same thought that modern indie kind of sounds like am oldies radio. Specifically the Phil Spector produced stuff.

I grew up on the same stuff, but somewhere I acquired a taste for distortion and noise.

[AnonymousPosterChild]

It wouldnt at all surprise me. Lots of music retains close ties to older stuff. For instance, a lot of French-Canadian music still has strong ties to European folk music.

[Johnny C]

If you have an electric guitar, try this:

Turn your amp's distortion on to a low gain setting. Play an early Beatles song ("I Wanna Hold Your Hand," "Can't Buy Me Love," etc.) as if it was like an indie-rock song.

See how well it works?

I rest my case.


My dad was a DJ back when "Puppy Love" was a hit song, so most of the stuff he likes is from way back when, but it's generally quality. I was raised on a diet of "Golden Oldies" and Springsteen.

[mooface]

This is a bit OT but.. YAY Andrea Bocelli!

[Inlander]

Just a bit OT mate, just a bit . . .

[mooface]

My parents like nothing but oldies and Andrea Boticelli.

Just so you don't think I'm being completely random ;)

[Inlander]

Curse you, skim-reading!

(Shakes fist, realises it's all his own fault, slinks away quietly.)

[Willis]

I visit various message boards and forget what I post where, so I apologize if I've said this before.

The first band that reminds me of this is Weezer.  I saw them back in 2001 with my then-girlfriend.  She had to write a paper for a music class she was taking.  During that show something hit me -- this guy reminds me of Buddy Holly.  He looks like him, sings a song about the guy, and his songs tackle the same material.

Think about it.  A lot of the early rock and roll has the same subject matter as what we may dub emo these days.  Both of them address subjects such as love that got away.  Musically, they may sound different, but the subject matter is all there.  

I had another thought too, but I've been drinking, so its lost on me.

~~Willis

[maculated]

Yeah, Rivers looks like Buddy Holly. But then again, all the cool "hipster" things going on are reverting back to that style. Wait . . . did I just hit on something? Is it conscious postmodern coolness? It might be . . .

Dreeeeeam, dream, dream, dreeeeeam, dreeeeeam . . . I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine, anytime, night or day . . .

[Willis]

Dude that is soooo 20 years ago.
R.E.M. recorded a version of that song while recording Lifes Rich Pagent

What I forgot to mention in my first post regarding Weezer is this:  I know I've been dissing on them a lot lately due to the crap that is Beverly Hills and Make Believe, but I realized something about that song.  There is teh middle section where Rivers does teh whole "talking thing" and it is just like an old do-wop song.  Thats what they would do - stop in the middle and someone would talk and say something like "Even though you're gone baby/you're still here/in my heart/in my dreams/every night as I go to sleep."

We need more of that.

~~Willis

[nothingwitty]

I have my radio set to the oldies channel, so in case my CD ends and switches to the radio, I won't be bombarded with utter shit.  Kind of the same thing, only backwards.

[zekterellium]

you guys know pierre schauffer? he was a fifties musician that did something called musique concrete. music concrete was like, the electronic music of it's day, except instead of, say, using instruments, they smashed pianos and hit steel pipes together and made children say scary, scary things in no kind of bar at all. the reason i bring it up, it was obviously like the precursor to electric music like aphex twin and autechre. i guess, maybe all electronic music has it's roots here, so... postal service? is that link too tedious? god i hope not.

[Inlander]

is that link too tedious?

Even though that makes me giggle in a very happy way, I think the word you meant to use was "tenuous"!

[zekterellium]

ah, i did! gosh darn it. thanks for embarassing me in front of all the pretty girls, inlander.

[Inlander]

Don't worry, just do that bashful smile thing - they go mad for it!

EDIT: but I do like the idea of a tedious link: "God, are we talking about the influence of musique concrete on contemporary independent music again?"

[Revenge_Therapist]

Some of the more pop based stuff I will tell you does have a lot in common with fifties rock and roll. However band like the Arcade Fire, or Mogwai have way more in common with say Genesis or King Crimson. It's only about a generation apart from oldies' rock and roll.

[maculated]

::Goes mad for bashful smile::

ANyway, very educational, all. Thank you.

[Druid]

you guys know pierre schauffer?

That sounds like what Sonic Youth did on SYR4. Lots of found sounds, and since I mention that kind of like a precursor to industrial.

@Revenge_Therapist: The Arcade Fire are the ones who made me think of the stuff Phil Spector did in the 60s. I'll have to check out the bands you mentioned to see.

[Revenge_Therapist]

Yeah Phil Spector stuff is way too big bandish. He was of the opinion all bands sounded better with an ochestra behind them. The Prog rock generation was very studio savvy and made big sounds out of electronics and spacy guitars.

[Johnny C]

We need more of that.

Except, uh, except not by Weezer.

Seriously. I even like the talkbox solo and I don't like that part of the song.

Although in the video he looks like he believes every damn word he says.

God damn you, Rivers. I don't know what to think.


Phil Spector's wall-of-sound stuff is awesome, though, and try and tell me that a lot of indie bands haven't tried to achieve that (and sometimes succeeded).

[Willis]

Yeah, that song has grown on me.  Not so much that I like it.  But so I diss it less.  On the Weezer topic, does liking Weezer ruin my Weezer cred as I'm not part of the group that thinks "Weezer and Pinkerton are some of the best albums ever and the other two are shite?

Anyway, I don't know where I stand on the Phil Spector issue, aside that he's a raving lunatic!  The whole wall-of-sound definitely hits you like a...wall...of...sound.  But after hearing Let it Be....Naked, and specificaly, The Long and Winding Road, it seems that the wall added too much.  I liked the stripped down version of that song.  

But yes, we need more indie-rockers to do the whole talking during the bridge thing.  You thought there were enough retro-garage bands out there?  Wait till ya hear retro-garage-do-wop! Ha! Take that genre enthusiasts!

~~Willis

[Johnny C]

TV On The Radio or something needs to do the doo-wop thing, NOW.

And I hope there's no such thing as Weezer cred. Frankly, I loved Maladroit, although I still think that Pinkerton was a triumph.

Finally, I wasn't that impressed by Let It Be... Naked, with the exception of the title track. "The Long And Winding Road" kind of lost something, for me.

[Revenge_Therapist]

If you listen to the demo version of Staring at the Sun, they already have.

[Johnny C]

I haven't, but you made my day, congratulations.

[Druid]

Yeah Phil Spector stuff is way too big bandish. He was of the opinion all bands sounded better with an ochestra behind them. The Prog rock generation was very studio savvy and made big sounds out of electronics and spacy guitars.

I'm not saying that Spector is a direct reference, a lot of his stuff is unnecessarily over the top. I'm saying that he added those elements into the rock canon, and I think of the work he did with various bands including Brian Wilson and Beach Boys.

I can see Mogwai coming from more of a prog rock back ground, but they are very different then the Arcade Fire.

[David]

If you listen to the demo version of Staring at the Sun, they already have.

When you say demo version, do you mean the one on the EP, or is there a demo floating around somewhere?

[Revenge_Therapist]

It was tacked on the back of the album in itunes. I have it on soulseek my user name is RivetPunk.

[OtterErotic]

I think the 50's influence comes largely second-hand through punk / new wave.  The Ramones took up all kinds of fantastic and ridiculous 50's stuff, Elvis Costello basically WAS Buddy Holly for his first record, etc.  A quick listen to the Stiff Records Box Set is basically a tour of (mis)appropriated 50's music / culture / language.

Also, The Cars.  The Cars -> Weezer.

[Inlander]

And let's not forget the Clash.  They basically took their musical influences wherever they found them, and a significant one was rockabilly - witness their cover of "Brand New Cadillac" on London Calling.

[Willis]

the Ramones! How did I forget them?
As much as a punk band that they were, they were also one fine pop band.  They knew how to create perfect pop melodies.  They also covered a good number of songs from that era and took their names from the Beatles.

~~Willis