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Yonge Street Revitalization (Downtown Yonge BIA/City of Toronto)

Well if you don't think anything on that list competes with what was going on in the 70s then you're not going to be convinced. Tool alone competes with what was happening then.
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Is there a connection between musical taste and Reading comprehension? I didn't say that.
And yea, I'm sure in 30 years, we will be arguing about who was the best rock band in history...Tool or Arcade Fire....we have long forgotten who Led Zeppelin, David Bowie or Pink Floyd was.

I guess I just assumed that since you put them on your teaser list you thought they were good.
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There is no need to assume...all you need to do is know how to read. Does it say a list of "good" bands from 1977? No...it says "debuts" in 1977. I haven't mentioned anything about what I think was "good" from 1977.

I always thought Kiss were weird white kids hiding under pounds of ugly makeup.
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Not a member of the KISS Army as a kid? KISS deserve a special place because of their relationship with kids. I took my 10 year old nephew down to the CNE a couple years ago to see a KISS cover band. He totally loved it. The little kids swarmed them after the show for autographs. And it's just a cover band!!!
 
I was indeed a Kiss fan. Saw them in Ottawa back for their tour of the first live album. But that's besides the point. Weird-looking white guys. Before that, I was into Cooper. Still am. I could listen to Blue Turk any old time.

As for cover and tribute bands, I've no time for 99% of them. Just would prefer to see acts doing their own original material.
 
As for cover and tribute bands, I've no time for 99% of them. Just would prefer to see acts doing their own original material.
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That's what I love about 10 year olds...they have no scruples!!


Weird-looking white guys. Before that, I was into Cooper. Still am. I could listen to Blue Turk any old time.
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Funny...just watching their performance from The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert from 1969 on Youtube yesterday. I can see why Zappa signed them to his label.

Weird looking white guys don't get much more weird and white looking than albinos. Edgar Winter man...I'm always blown away by their Frankenstein performance on the Midnight Special in 1973. They were like....the Arcade Fire of 40 years ago. ha ha
 
Edgar Winter and bro Johnny are both peculiar-looking lads, no question. Of the two, I think I prefer Johnny. His raw-boned, hard-@ssed blues are the real thing. Saw him once, too - again back in the early 70s.
 
1977 was also a pivotal year for Yonge St, with the rape/murder of 12-year-old Emmanuel Jacques, signalling the beginning of the end for the seediness of the Strip. Renewed protest for capital punishment, and unfortunately popularizing the misguided confusion between homosexuals and pedophiles.

It's also the year that I'm pretty sure Luke Skywalker was the lead guitarist for Heart.
 
I remember the Emmanuel Jacques episode very well. The press used it to cast an unsavoury light on the Yonge St. strip in general - and yes, the righteous homophobes came out of the woodwork. His sordid murder was used as a rallying flag for cleaning up Yonge once and for all. Trouble is, these cleanup efforts tend to get overzealous... and more hot air gets expelled than real change. Despite the pubic hand-wringing and angst, Yonge retained its rowdy carnival ambience for a good long while.
 
While it's possible that some year in music is better than all the rest, and you can prove that with a big effort, it's not what matters. People love novelty and new things. Really great music is being made right now, and we should enjoy it.
 
Despite the pubic hand-wringing and angst, Yonge retained its rowdy carnival ambience for a good long while.
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You're right....despite it being a big deal, nothing really changed directly afterward. Sex, drugs & rock'n roll lost its mojo and that is what fuelled a lot of the zeitgeist that was Yonge St.

The Eaton Centre also opened in 1977, and I'm sure that had as much or more to do with things on Yonge than anything else. People criticize the internalization of the mall and ignoring Yonge, but beside just simply being a wise business move, who could blame them...the reputation of the street was pretty low at the time. Like now, it brought crowds down there, but it didn't help the businesses on Yonge much.

I think Yonge is poised for a complete renaissance.
 
People love novelty and new things. Really great music is being made right now, and we should enjoy it.
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Is that why people liked T.Rex? There's not much new or novel going on right now...I think the trick is to, like Marc Bolan, just unleash your inner James Brown.

There is one novelty I find interesting....rappers who get shot.
 
Ugh. Not even in jest.

About music... the older you get, the more you tend to hear in modern music its antecedents (in stuff you used to listen to back in the day). Hence why so many middle-aged people complain that a contemporary so-and-so is a retread of band X that supposedly did it fresh the first time.
 
^^^
Stating the obvious.

But the younger ones will keep insisting our experience is the problem. It's only a problem if you stay in the past.

The other problem is that the same thing can have a completely opposite meaning over time. As in "alternative" is the new mainstream. "Indie" bands are the new corporate slogan.

It's like how tattoos or piercing used to be how one stood out from the crowd....now it's how you fit in.
 
Lenser said:
Fair point that you don't have to understand a genre in order to dislike it. But the slams against rap by folks of a certain age suggest a certain malaise lurking within their detractors. As for "indie rock," beyond Arcade Fire, who are you talking about? It's just as absurdly bad as treating rap/hiphop as one monolithic block that has no variation or alteration within it. And can you be really be indie rock when you've sold millions of albums? This reminds me of another empty, catch-all term, "alternative." It was leached of meaning years ago. Now it's a marketing phrase for internet radio programming.

Finally, what are you objections to weird waifish white kids? Surely they deserve an outlet too? You don't have to listen to it. Hell, I always thought Kiss were weird white kids hiding under pounds of ugly makeup. But I was happy for them all the same - they beat the odds. Plenty of bands looked weird and happened to be white - both in the 70s and right now. I don't know what that has to do with whether or not their music was/is any good.
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Re Arcade Fire/indie rock (it is basically a sound now, as opposed to the past definition -- bands that aren't signed to major record labels). Basically bands like Broken Social Scene. I can't even name most of the bands I'm referring to because many of their names are too dumb to remember and they're too boring to investigate. There is such a plethora of hackneyed indie bands out there with singers that either can't sing well or are afraid of using their voices in a beautiful way because it's not cool to do so; same with singing about love. It's as if they try to sound as rough and bitter as possible because any purity in their voice would come off as sounding corny or too sensitive. And don't get me started on the guitar playing in indie rock. What happened to technical proficiency? I'm so tired of unadventurous guitar players that can't seem to play anything besides distorted riffs (your amp has a clean channel too) and excessive bent notes. There's such a lack of creative chord work and melodies in most electric guitar based music these days. I think punk rock is largely to blame for the dumbing down of music. Musically, it is crap and has influenced generations of musicians that don't understand musical theory, nor can they play their instruments well. Attitude and aggression seems to be a substitute for actual talent. Both feeling and technical prowess are imperative in making a great guitar player, or any musician. Punk and indie rock lack the technical aspect, and thus sound sloppy. I think the only indieish band I've ever liked is the Goo Goo Dolls (up until about Superstar Car Wash - A Boy Named Goo -- before they sold out and started writing generic pop songs). Also, Crappin' You Negative by The Grifters has some interesting moments.

I just get sick of people latching onto trends. Be yourself. Stop trying to emulate other people with your fashion sense. Just put on a sweatshirt and do your thing. You're right, there were a lot of weird looking white bands in the 70s, but unlike today, the music is what mattered the most. Too many musicians are fixated on how they look today and don't put their craft first. I really don't care how people present themselves, I just get sick of bands and their fans that place such a large emphasis on their image and making the music secondary. Image is completely irrelevant to creating good music. But our culture has brainwashed people into thinking that the way they look is of utmost importance. Imagine Van Morrison or Rod Stewart in their heyday trying out for American Idol. They have two of the most unique voices of all time, but they would most likely be rejected because they're ugly guys. This is why I get annoyed with trendy looking people. They worry too much about things that don't matter. They're probably trying to fill some void in their lives in the form of tattoos, piercings, funky haircuts, etc...That sort of stuff will never fulfill people. That reminds me of the song, 'Hole Hearted' by Extreme. As for your citing of KISS -- I've never liked them. They were/are a gimmick, but at least they are talented musicians. Gene Simmons' humility makes up for any shortfalls in their catalogue.
 
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Lenser said:
Edgar Winter and bro Johnny are both peculiar-looking lads, no question. Of the two, I think I prefer Johnny. His raw-boned, hard-@ssed blues are the real thing. Saw him once, too - again back in the early 70s.
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Wasn't Johnny Winter in The Eiger Sanction?

In all seriousness, he is an amazing guitarist. My old guitar teacher made me learn some of his songs. There's nothing like a 300lb East Indian man playing CCR tunes and shredding on an acoustic.
 
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