An Old Music Lover

I am a music lover, I like to write music, and I like to listen
to music loud. I enjoy rock and roll, folk, Pop, progressive,
blues, jazz, Motown, Big Band, Classical...just about anything.

As a rule I do not "idolize" famous people, but I can say that
the Beatles were truly the greatest musical experience we have
seen yet. Their popularity with people is the result of
legitimately great and original music, combined with the
'charisma' and personality of the members themselves.

And, surprisingly, I find that even young people seem to
somehow find the Beatles and take an interest in them as well.
My thirteen year old daughter and her friends all seem to have
Beatles songs on their PC's and their ipods. I don't know how
they even know enough to search for them, unless they have
been influenced by adults. But however it happens, I often
hear my daughter playing Beatles music and singing along with
them.

Most of my favorite musicians were from the 70's and 80's...my
high school and young adult years. These include The Beatles,
Rolling Stones, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Creedence
Clearwater, Neil Diamond, Elton John (his older stuff), and
the various 'one hit wonders' from the 70's. Amazingly, a
great many of these artists are still around today, over 30
years later as I write this!

There are lots of talented singers out today, I can think of
some with absolutely beautiful voices, with dynamic range and
quality. The unfortunate thing is a lot of the songs they are
singing are just not good songs.

I don't hear many stirring lyrics, or exceptional melody lines,
and even the background music and arrangements on much of the
new music is bland and plastic, with synthesized drums and
unoriginal melodies.

I would much rather hear someone with a less than perfect voice
sing a good song with great instrumentation, then hear a great
singer wail and show off their range with a boring and
forgettable tune.

However, and this is interesting...as my daughter began to get
into the hip and popular music of today, I really had no choice
but to hear it...and I am now sampling new contemporary music
again! (I also hear a lot of new music at the gym when I work
out, as they have videos playing on all the monitors).

I have to say that I am finding that I really do like much of
the new music today! I still don't know the names of many of
the artists or the titles of their tunes, but it is kind of fun
to be exposed to new music again.

Now, if I may be so bold as to state, at the risk of
embarrassing myself...I have enjoyed...get ready now...Miley
Cyrus! Ouch, it hurts to admit that! She sings decently enough,
considering that most of these bopper females all sound
alike...but the music is well-produced and tastefully arranged,
the songs well-written.

What I am saying is that a group of very talented and
experienced musicians got together and wrote and recorded
some great instrumental tracks, and just happened to let Miley
Cyrus do the singing. Since she has a passable voice, it sounds
good to me.

Not to take anything away from Ms. Cyrus, but if it was any
other really great female singer putting her vocals on these
same recorded tracks, it would sound great.

I am less abashed to say that I really enjoy the music of Avril
Lavigne, and have even purchased several of her CD's. It is
impressive that she writes her own music, and she has many
different styles, all very tasteful to me.

I am happy to say that having a Seventh-grader around the
house is making this nearly 54 year old dude stay young!

Peace be with you.