MLT Club Member Jürgen
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
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Hi Folks and David,
my active radio time ended sometime in the 90s. For the reasons you mentioned David: I didn’t like the current Top Ten 20 that were played all the time. Nevertheless, I occasionally follow current music trends as I’m still on the lookout for new music. Yes, I am not particularly interested in mainstream music. Why? This is no longer my generation and my attitude towards life. But let’s be honest: wasn’t every older generation angry about the music of the following, younger generation? What became of the Beat Era, panned by the older generation? And then those long haired hippies in the 70’s who tortured their guitars… An abomination for the older ones. I think there is still critical music today. But this is channeled, for example, in rap music or other sub-genres. Not my music at all, but the attitude towards life of a younger generation.
Of course I can start analyzing and dismantling music on an intellectual level. But that’s not the essence of music. My very personal opinion: Music should appeal to the feelings in a person and not serve the intellect. If the music does both, so much the better. How did Morrissey from “The Smith“ sing so right: “Hang the DJ, because his Music says nothing about me or my life”. I think that’s the point: the younger generation’s attitude towards life has become strange to us and the younger ones can’t relate to the music that most of us here love. Here’s an example: The Sgt. Pepper album and I came out at almost the same time. So I don’t really know much about the Woodstock era. Yes, I understand what moved people back then, what they protested against and what kind of world they wanted. But it’s not my way of life. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and co.: I can’t listen to that kind of music, no reference. On the other hand, why do I love The Beatles and the 60s? A time before or during my birth? No idea. I’m an 80’s kid and I love the music of that era (also all the independent stuff of that time, like Sisters of Mercy, New Model Army, Joy Division etc.). A music era that one or the other here in the forum certainly doesn’t particularly like. That’s just how it is with taste in music: music finds you and not you the music. Even in today there are musical pearls. Like Mona and Lisa, for example. But also other young musicians who have sought and found their own style. And trends seem to repeat themselves: in fashion, in design and also in music. Who knows, maybe in 20 years the kids will be listening to beat music and rock ‘n’ roll again? And what will the next older generation,the current young ones , say about it?
„…Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music without the idea is simply music…”
– E.A. Poe –
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A nice Christmas greeting from Indonesia. The instrumentation of the group is surprisingly minimalistic. More instruments a good band actually does not need:😀
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Here are two entertaining versions of the song “Feliz Navidad” (Merry Christmas).
Whether the guitar performance is really successful, I’m not sure, but the idea for the music video is funny and the implementation is well done.
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Yeah David. In the 50’s and 60’s, for whatever reason, people needed an outlet to let off steam quickly. I would like to remind of the crazy times of Beatlemania.
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Hi Jacki,
of course I know you live in Canada. You and Jung have divided Canada between you: Jung resides on the west coast and you in the east of the country. I checked once: The driving distance between Vancouver and Montreal is around 4700 kilometers (about 2900 miles). What dimensions. That’s about the distance from my hometown to Nigeria / Africa (well, at least as the crow flies. It’s a bit further by car…).
I think I’m up to date now on what Christmas food is popular in Canada. Similar to ours: at Christmas there is often roast goose or duck, with potato dumplings, sauce and red cabbage. A specialty are sausages with potato salad on Christmas Eve (well…). But it also varies from region to region. In southern Germany, the kitchen looks different again than in northern Germany, for example. Is your kitchen more of English or French origin?
You are right, the dream winter looks like this: on December 24th it starts to snow. Then on December 25th everything has turned into a winter wonderland and on December 26th Frosty the Snowman will come to visit. And from December 27th it will be 22 degrees again and the sun will be shining down on us from a bright blue sky. We used to have a lot of snow here in the area where I live, but in recent decades it has been a rarity (now I sound like an old man: “Children come quickly. Grandpa is telling about the snowy winter again….”).
Yes, I listened to the list of your Christmas carols: I know Glas Tiger, I had two CDs by the band myself. The Irish Rovers also tell me something, unfortunately I don’t know the other artists. They are very unknown to us.
Here I have found a groovy Christmas song from a compatriot of yours:
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A rocking Christmas anthem that has been a part of Christmas for me for many years:
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Even Santa has the blues in his blood…
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Hi Jung,
thank you for the interesting video contribution. No one can say how “Stairway to heaven” would have been produced today. Probably not at all. The 70’s was the time of endless long songs. Some songs should not have been much shorter at all, like Stairway to Heaven, or they would have lost their magic. Other songs, which followed this trend later, could have been a little shorter. Art is not only a question of quantity, but also of quality.
I think the average length of the songs says something about the respective decade (maybe also about the state of the technology at that time). In the 50s and 60s the running time of most songs was about 3 to 4 minutes. The songs were easy to consume, the content mostly entertaining but mostly not particularly demanding. Towards the end of the 60s the trend changed. The lyrics of the musicians became more political or philosophical, more diverse and had more to tell. Music at that time was not only used for entertainment, but became a kind of art in its own right (as mentioned in the video). Towards the end of the 70s and in the 80s the music remained more critical, but the songs became shorter again (nevertheless, maxi singles were distributed for a while, but they were mostly bad, because a well-written song was artificially stretched out). I can only speculate what was the reason for this renewed development: perhaps people no longer had so much time and leisure to devote to individual pieces of music. The consumer behavior of people is subject to constant fluctuations and also fashion trends. Perhaps the songs could be better integrated into radio and television programs due to the shortened running time. Who knows. Most of today’s music titles have also settled down to an estimated running time of 3 to 5 minutes. At least as far as the main stream is concerned. So the time of epic rock music seems (for now) to be over.
Yes, and then the role of the music industry: did it create trends or simply pick up on trends and cleverly market them? Mona and Lisa’s way of releasing their songs on their own is a good way, but also a rocky, arduous way. I’m glad they decided to put their music out without a major label. Ironically, in this day and age this is possible with the help of youtube, facebook and co., actually those media that live on controlled mass consumption. I hope for MLT that the guidelines on these platforms will not be further restricted and that they have a possibility to present their great music in the future. Much nicer and only a pious wish: The old fashioned way to present music: Going on tour and giving many people the opportunity to experience their music up close. In this day and age, certainly an enormous cost factor that can’t be done without the help of the music industry and its sponsors. And here the cat bites the tail again.
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Hey Daryl,
very nice to hear from you. I looked up the exact location of Alberta and what it might look like there. Wow, that seems to be a beautiful and impressive spot on earth. Wild nature and a fantastic countryside. I am always completely fascinated when I see such landscapes. I live in the western part of Germany, almost on the Dutch border and very close to the Ruhr area (where the steel industry and mining was located). Since the heavy industry is disappearing more and more, it has become more beautiful here in the meantime. But of course we don’t have such breathtaking landscapes. Here everything is very flat and clear.
We also have the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree, although I have not done so for a long time. I remember when I was a child, my father always put up the tree a few days before Christmas Eve and then we decorated it together. After that, the whole house smelled wonderfully of fir. Your Christmas menu sounds very delicious.
-40 degrees during wintertime? That’s damn cold. -10 to -15 degrees, that’s it for us (and also a big exception), at least here in the west. It’s funny to hear that Boney M. hit the Canadian stereo.
I am already very excited about your festive decor and would be glad to see some pictures. I wish you also a wonderful Christmas season.
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Hi Jacki,
thank you for your feedback. I wasn’t sure if you live in Ottawa or Montreal (I kinda had Ottowa in mind though…). Now I know it. Thanks again for the Canadian tidbits. (Although, I wasn’t that bad after all. Montreal and Ottowa seem to be quite close together).
PS: do you have some nice pics of Ottawa? I found the following: (That looks very nice. I hope the pictures really show Ottawa, otherwise that would be very embarrassing now…).😀
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Every year on December 23rd, exactly when the hands of the big tower clock slip to midnight, this winter fairy tale comes to mysterious life. Only for a few hours, until the first cockcrow, then all life falls silent and rigid again and longingly waits to be brought back to life by the midnight chime of the clock tower in the village. Once again in a year, when the snowflakes fall from the sky again… .
A miniature winter wonderland that couldn’t be more beautiful:
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Wow Jung, the enumeration of the Christmas delicacies sounds like a complete assortment of a delicatessen (and the rockin’ twins on top of that). We traditionally have so-called shortbread cookies (Spritzgebäck), Christmas stollen (Christstollen), Dominoes (Dominosteine), Gingerbread (Lebkuchen) and Printen. I do not know if you can do much with the translation, so I once attached pictures. At the Christmas markets, mulled wine is drunk or mead (hot honey wine) is served. Yeah, I also like to eat all kinds of nuts and exotic cheese sounds really good. Accompanied by a glass of red or port wine. You already sent great pictures of your Christmas lake last year. I hope the Christmas market there looks just as great this year.
PS: to all these sweet delicious things, also fits the following cute video. Not particularly rocking, but soft and sweet like a piece of Christmas pie:
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Hi David,
thanks for sending the music clip. Unfortunately the video is not available in our country. Very pitty. I can only see that it should be “Christmas At Ground Zero” by Weird Al Yankovic. Such a beautiful and harmless melody… . When did he write this song? Was there anything special going on in the world or just the normal madness?
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Thanks Jung, of course the Beach Boys can’t be missing under the Christmas tree 😀 (I didn’t know the song yet). We already had the first Christmas sweets in our shops in September. You shouldn’t support this trend, but I did it anyway because there were no dominoes and Printen in December last year. They were long sold out. Next year there will probably be the first Christmas cookies shortly after Easter… .
What are typical Christmas cookies or sweets in Canada and what do you like to snack on at Christmas?
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Thanks Jacki, I don’t know most of the songs you mentioned, but it sounds like a whole lot of good stuff.
When I hear “The Irish Rovers”, the Pogues spontaneously come to mind: