The Doors

Ya know Wes, flash forward a few years from when you talked about always expecting the flash in the sky and I can tell you we felt that too. It was early 80s before the end of the Cold War and me and my friends were constantly talking about what could or would happen. I grew up thinking of the Russians as nothing but the enemy. But by the end of the 80s it seemed rather foolish.

And I guess that it is a good think that we dont have as much of the social issues that we used to here in the states. I wouldnt have wanted to go through the race riots, segregation, womens issues, and such but man I bet it would have been easier to find topics to write on.

I am thankful that I live in the time that I do and this whole thread takes me back to my constant question. Why is it that I cannot write a song that is not about a relationship gone bad, child abuse, death. It seems so much easier to write about the negative but relating it back to the 60s music I guess it was almost the same thing... just different issues.

Since I started back to church last Nov I have been dying to write a neat little Christian rock song. But the desire to do that is really interfereing with all of my writing because I feel to hindered. Maybe I need to just let go and write whatever spills out no matter what genre.

I am getting of track but it does relate back to my initial post. I have pin pointed the time that the music changed. To me, it was definately the 80s. Mid 80s. I am not sure what social, economic, corporate change took place at that time but for me that is when the music changed. Not that it was worse or better.. but the mood or topic of it seemed to alter. But I dont know if that was just a point in time that I changed or if it was industry that did.

This has all been really interesting and educational for me. Thanks everyone for sharing your point of views. Its really helped. Keeping coming if you like.

Geoo

Geoo

There is always great innovative music being written and performed. what's changed is the outlet for it, or is there one? The two things that stick in my mind about the late sixties is underground radio and free concerts. There still are free concerts but underground radio has gone the way of the DoDo bird. I remember staying up all night listening to whole albums with out commercials on KPRI in San Diego. Back then the DJs played what ever they wanted, today it's some canned junk from corporate headquarters. Even after underground radio died you could sometimes get the late night DJ to play something new you'd heard. But not now, if it's not in the corporate rotation they can't play it. Sad!

Wes got me remembering about the nuke scare when we were kids. I can remember the drills in public school, taking us out into the halls and making us get down on all 4's and cover ourselves with our jackets. Bet most of you youngsters didn't know a cotton jacket was radiation proof

geoo
Maybe I need to just let go and write whatever spills out no matter what genre.

That's where the best music/writing/art always comes from.

Wasn't radiation they were trying to block with the jacket over the head, it was flash burns and flying glass. Right now I'm typing in a city that was widely reputed to be a first-wave Soviet target (Kingsport, Tennessee), and in my home town of Bristol I'd be in the outer part of the area of total destruction with an air burst over here from one of their 15 megaton warheads. A coat over your head isn't going to do much with that. What they lacked in accuracy, they made up for with big bombs. The Russians set one off just before the end of atmospheric nuclear testing that was supposed to go over 100 megatons, but fizzled and only yielded about 62 megatons. There's still a good sized hole in Siberia where that one went off.