Comments on: Changing Tastes

By: astralwicks

astralwicks — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:51:55 +0000

I think its a question of frequency. The hazy days when the same band, artiste or song could be heard continuously are definitely over. If they are rejected outright now, then they should have been a fad even then IMO. I have stopped listening to The Doors, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd now but that doesn’t mean that their worth has decreased. I can still listen to them. But I cannot bear cheesy rock / metal / glam rock of that era; either because they were a passing phase then and enjoyed no emotional connect even then. You do outgrow. like i cannot hear metallica or even pearl jam. too loud. this happened in college…when coming in touch with Van Morrison and Astral Weeks. I will always like Lou Reed although he too gets punkish…so it’s not a question of genre but the emotional strength of the artist and the memories it evoked and still evokes…a universality that refuses to die. But do we outgrow the memory too…? Of standing in line, flashing your half-torn i card and buying a ticket to the most campy film ever made. But to stop enjoying all from the past is not a welcome sign. Enjoy.

By: Shefaly

Shefaly — Sun, 25 May 2008 10:11:08 +0000

Oops, make that ’small pubs in London’ because Newcastle is about 4 hours by train from London

By: Shefaly

Shefaly — Sun, 25 May 2008 10:10:40 +0000

@ Amit: MK lives in Newcastle so I think his popping into small pubs is urban legend The same stories also float about Ian Anderson but I doubt he does any such thing either. Occasionally some musicians do play small venues but the events are well-publicised - after all they will not play for free, do they?

I have found I can no longer go to crowded stadia to watch shows. I prefer relatively
smaller venues such as Royal Albert Hall or max, Earl’s Court which is huge. I pay to sit closer to the stage away from the madding crowd. And increasingly there are fewer and fewer artists I wish to see live.

That said David Gilmour plays in South Bank centre sometimes and I would like to catch him there some time.

By: gargi

gargi — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:15:36 +0000

@amit - knofler rocks. always has…. Led Zepp i agree, the same with other stuff like G N R ; a lot of floyd, … i can no longer hear whole albums… select songs are ok…but the album is too much…

i read ayn rand as a romantic novelist. not any different from Colleen McCullough or Margret Mitchell. And in such novels rape fantasy is a part of the genre. Dashing man forces himself on a woman and opens her eyes to the world around her…and of course, her everlasting love for him:( .

it wasn’t therefore insignificant, i thought that was the way it was … .and i wasn’t 25 , more like 21….so dashing, forceful male was the romantic ideal… it is later you realise that if a man behaved like that with you, most likely you would slap them or report them to the police….

By: Amit

Amit — Fri, 23 May 2008 21:32:41 +0000

Harini,

I’m curious to know how you missed the rape fantasy the second time you read the book? Or were there other aspects of the book that made the rape fantasy part insignificant?

Shefaly,

I saw MK in concert here in Boston many years ago. He played with James Taylor and the concert was well worth the money. I’ve read that he sometimes pops up (or maybe used to) in local pubs in London to play to a smaller crowd.

By: Shefaly

Shefaly — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:10:03 +0000

@ Amit: Have you see Knopfler in concert? If not already seen, you _must_! His beautiful guitars are all lined up on stage and he wears his reading glasses while playing. He plays even the whole of Telegraph Road (the long riff) from memory. That is just superb. I have seen him serially over the last 4 annual concerts but am missing this year out because Kill To Get Crimson just did not grow on me. I am going to watch a modern dance performance with Shaolin Monks instead (the coming weekend or the next is usually when he plays in Royal Albert Hall).

Led Zepp played not far from me in London. Alas I do not like any act so much as to spend a few thousand quid on them, so with Led Zepp. That said, Def Leppard are re-forming and their music is so different now; a couple of them have also become vegetarians causing much mirth in the rock circles… Age, the point of Harini’s post, comes into the picture yet again.

By: Amit

Amit — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:20:34 +0000

I used to like Led Zeppelin a lot, but not anymore. I think two artists who have withstood the test of time for me are Mark Knopfler and Bruce Springsteen. And I’m not sure if I’ll ever outgrow Hemant Kumar, Talat Mehmood, Geeta Dutt or Shamshad Begum.

I’ll spare your comments section of the bee-in-my-bonnet regarding Rand, or rather, randroids.

By: gargi

gargi — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:06:12 +0000

Lewis Carroll is someone I won’t outgrow .. but you never know

By: Shefaly

Shefaly — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:28:48 +0000

What can one say except cite Lewis Carroll?

You are old, father William,” the young man cried,
“The few locks which are left you are grey;
You are hale, father William, a hearty old man;
now tell me the reason, I pray.”

“In the days of my youth,” father William replied,
“I remember’d that youth would fly past,
And abus’d not my health and my vigour at first,
That I never might need them at last.”