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Death of guitar and youtube musicians - Tim and Pete show
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80s - The Smiths / REM / Stone Roses / Happy Mondays / Sisters of Mercy / The Mission
90s - Nirvana / Alice in Chains / Pearl Jam / Oasis / Blur / PANTERA
At midnight on March 22, 1994, Pantera launched the release of Far Beyond Driven with an extensive record store campaign. They travelled to 12 cities in almost five days with MTV documenting their progress. Band members signed autographs, met fans, and promoted Far Beyond Driven.
We live in an age of musical abundance. There are 100 years of recordings to sort through. If I want to listen to some jazz fusion it will be very hard to motivate me to go look for new stuff. Radios play OLD music which is really annoying. If you don't care about Twitter and gossipy bullshit between celebs, why would you even pay attention to new pop? The formula has been figured out, stick with what you know. Even something like hip-hop has 30+ years of recordings.
I often wish there was some way to bring scarcity back into music. Pre-recordings you had musical education as a common part of your education. It wasn't just rich kids either. Being a musician was a trade that passed down in families along with the precious instrument. After recordings you still had the price and availability of the pressings themselves. Growing up in Lisbon in the late 80s and early 90s, I saved up money for a couple of months before I could go to the shop and order a CD off a catalogue. A CD I never would have heard before making a firm commitment to buying. Once it arrived I would read the liner notes a hundred times, pore over every minute of it. Stick a track on repeat and listen to it without watching TV at the same time or doing other activities.
I would say that government/school support for music learning could be better, when I was at secondary school in the 1st year we were all offered free music lessons on most instruments and that's a fantastic way to get kids into music. I understand (and not having kids can't confirm this) but this is one of the things to go by the wayside as cuts etc are made.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
yup I think that's it, there are already more than enough guitars in the world for everyone who wants one to have one of reasonable quality at an affordable price. it's a simple product that's broadly unchanged for decades.
obviously there are plenty of mobile phones too, but they improve every few months so people upgrade and the old ones go in a drawer.
This.
I was going to reply with "who?" but StuartMac290 has nailed it.
Do we really have such a pessimistic opinion of today's youth?
I played a some nice prog rock festivals last year across Europe...
one thing we all noted and remarked upon was how refreshingly diverse the audience was..
young and old, male and female..
it was a really nice mix...
one thing I think we may forget is that there are a lot of people in the world, and they don't all like the same thing...
there's space enough out there for all of us to enjoy and do our thing..
On the other end of the scale with regular players is a very aware customer based that is more into modding and customisation than before. Although improved quality has made a difference to the cheaper end of the scale, that's been the case for a while now. The next step is variety/customisation, but with this comes some extra cost, which arguably no manufacturer is in a good place to stomach.
Take someone like Squier. Although the looks (colour schemes) and quality of the guitars have changed, have they really 'changed' in the way the play and options they offer in the last 20 years? With the majority of work being done by CNC with relatively low priced assistive labour costs, I'm really surprised we haven't seen more customisation options pop up.
Every time a new squier comes out, it's usually the standard body shape, standard 9.5 radius neck with usually the same C shape profile.
What would make things really interesting is if you could customise some options, say chose a neck radius, add some contouring on a tele body, hardtail a strat etc. It's not going to encroach on Fender or CS stuff, as there's an understanding that the parts are going to be cheaper and it's not going to have the level of detail that someone in California is going to do for you. I know all of this is possible with custom made stuff/partcasters, but arguably it's something I think brands should try to do more to offer.
However, the death of the guitar and the death of music have been foretold since the 1960s. It was bullshit then, and its bullshit now.
What is a fact is less people are taking up the instrument and less people are becoming famous because of their guitar playing. Thats probably because the chances of becoming 'rich and famous' as a result are far less than videoing yourself getting your head stuck in a fridge or some other 'stunt'.
Yes, you can make a living making music - especially if you don't mind whoring yourself playing the musical equivalent of wallpaper (been there... no thanks). But unlike the guitar explosion of the 90s, there aren't swathes of guys and gals getting amoungst it. I was there - it *WAS* a movement despite what some revisionists might tell you to prove their points. You saw band "x" and were moved by them, so you tried to emulate them IN YOUR OWN WAY rather than trying to sound exactly like someone else. You tried to get yourself noticed, you tried to get mass appeal and you tried to either be part of a movement or start one yourself.
I don't buy into this bullshit that these things start because of 'scarcity' or because of a lack of exposure. Thats a romantic notion thats not based on the reality of trying to make it back in the day - in fact, it was the total opposite. Getting your music to the most number of people was always the most important thing and it wasn't some kind of 'cool kids club'. The music papers sold 10,000s of copies per week (I don't know or care about the exact numbers) and so it wasn't some kind of dark secret of how you improved your chances - you needed to break into these if you wanted to get seen/heard etc. Some of us did, some of us didn't... it depended on many factors, including who you slept with, drunk with or took drugs with. Don't underestimate the power of it - now it's even more tricky...
YES, YT has democratised it all. But in so doing its created a problem. There are so many people now vying for your attention they just become 'noise'. For every Chappers, TGP or similar there are 100s of other guys who are trying to do similar - same as it ever was. Sadly, the cream doesn't always rise to the top - or as Jarvis says "shit floats". Likewise bands or artists trying to get exposure through these new channels are having to battle with dickheads with no talent, kitten videos, idiots breaking themselves doing stunts etc etc. And the music mags have dwindled to nothing.
Thats not to say there aren't bands making new music, or using guitars - just currently, there aren't a lot of mass-market breakthough guys using them. I'm not convinced that situation is permanent.
Personally, I am too old to predict what the next craze will be, musically. And the same goes for ALL of you lot too. Accept it. There is a lazy generation, who sat about and had the world come to them via their computers, games consoles and phones - but as with every generation thats gone before, there will be a backlash. And who knows, we may see a rise in acoustic guitar stuff - or weird, abrasive, angular electric guitars over beats - or a return to ska - or a fusion of all sorts of music... either way, we won't be leading that charge. Will it come from YT or other Social Media channels - of course it will, possibly even a new Social Media that hasn't been launched yet. What's clear is there's no point in banging the drum for how it was somehow "better" years ago... it was just different.
As for the title of this thread and the video - clickbait. Nothing more. Nothing new. And by clicking on it, you are proving that fact.
To be fair the video is far too long and it could be summarised in a few sentences.
If I was 18 I wouldn't want to sit through that, and I'm 37 and I still could only do 10 mins.
Getting your stuff to the right people has always been a fight - but Social media is really helpful in this regard as people spread things they like. If you put effort in. you are not competing with kittens and stunts.. I don't think you are aiming to catch random views - you are trying to build a social media network that spreads your music for you...
Sales figures for new guitar sales are down - FACT - But they are down from a high - Guitar output levels have been far higher in recent years than at any time in the past - Certainly far higher than the 'golden era' days of the 50's and 60's - But there are various reasons for this decline including the following key points
1) New guitars are consistently better built than ever before, especially in the budget and mid end of the market, so maybe the need to upgrade is not as paramount as before - We've had many discussion on FB regarding the quality of MIM and MIJ models over USA models - Linked in with this is the fact that you don't need to buy a new guitar because your 10 year old quality model is now out of date
2) The big builders have built so many great guitars for so long, with no obsolescence - As a result, today's used market is loaded with quality used guitars - Used guitars are a big threat to new guitar builders, big or small - E-bay, forums and Gumtree etc offer the end user access to a global market to sell used guitars, so this impacts on used sales to dealers as well - It obviously means you don't need to buy new to find a nice guitar - As a result less funds heading towards any of the guitar companies, big or small
It has generally accepted for many years now that the biggest growth in the guitar market in the last 20/30 years has not actually been more customers, it is the existing customers buying more guitars - I've been round long enough to recall most gigging customers only having 1 guitar, - Now many have 5 or 10 and quite a few have 10, 20 or 30
I'm not sure what, when, who and from where, will lead the trend towards a fresh impetus of guitar hero's that are house hold names - But without it the guitar industry is in a slow down mode
I
I love guitar music. Specifically rock, metal, blues, punk and prog. That's all that matters to me and there will always be a scene and a subculture that revolves around guitar music and that is all I need.
As a matter of fact, I far prefer that the genres I am into aren't 'mainstream'.
Guitars will be made, guitars will be bought. Music will be made and enjoyed.
out of 30 in a class - 15+ played guitar, drums or bass. You were considered weird or uncool if you didn’t. It was a normal school (not a music college for example) and I ended up taking up the guitar to fit in with the cool kids and persuaded my parents to buy me an electric a few weeks later.
Salisbury was bit of a rock n roll city back then which had local gigs every Friday night in the local arts centre - a full line up of bands with members aged 16-21 every week.
20 year’s later - I bet the number of kids who play is nowhere near that, and the gigs at the arts centre stopped many years ago anyway. Sad times.
I think as well it’s the rise of tv talent shows...X factor and the like. The winner gets an Xmas number one guaranteed and over the course of the past 15 years or so, this has contributed to devaluing rock music. It dominates the charts and very few true bands get any radio AirPlay at all. It’s few and far between.
I used to love listening to “underground” bands and then would stop listening to them if they sold out and went mainstream.
Nowadays I wouldn’t care - would just love to see Rock n Roll in the mainstream.
also - as a teenager, I spent an absolute fortune on CDs and built a very impressive collection. I can’t remember the last time I bought an album.
most of it is free on Spotify/YouTube etc...
https://sixstringsupplies.co.uk/
Our YouTube Channel for handy "How-To" Wiring Tutorials
I think outside of Rock/Metal, there seems to be more solo artists now. Also where once music was made by a horny, or questioning, or even angry youth as a form of expression. Certainly in the UK, I almost think bands have had to fit into a series of slots defined by tastemakers. Maybe that's dying now. But certainly late 90's to mid noughties, what I saw in new guitar bands was almost a music devoid of passion and designed to appeal to journalists record collections.
If a band comes along now, then there's a £300K PR machine to make them "the band" of that moment. After that first album, the second comes out and Whoosh! They're dropped.
Remember Glasvegas? They were this weird shoegazing type band. But didn't have any links to the smaller bands around the Club AC30/Goonite scene. They got picked up by a major and after a whopping PR campaign, Album of the year 2008/09. Critical plaudits, Later..., festivals, sold out tour. Then the second album was slightly less successful and Sony drop them. Because they're core audience was just hip people, who basically buy what the press tell them to buy and move onto the next new thing.They didn't have any hardcore audience built up over years of smaller releases and touring. I think that's the trouble. There isn't a business model for a small band. Because live doesn't pay until you hit a certain level. So it's unsustainable, unless it's a hobby.
I think rock music will go the way of Classical recitals eventually. BIMM graduates in tribute shows, or just playing evergreen hits, perhaps like the Irish showbands of the 1960's?
but seriously this is a bonkers list. The Sex Pistols and The Clash for the 70's - massively influential but orders of magnitude less important in terms of record sales than Led Zeppelin! Or The Eagles. If you're going to start the list with Elvis, Beatles, Stones etc you've got to keep it at that level. Happy Mondays?? They only started selling records when they downplayed the guitar and hooked up with Paul Oakenfold. Even then they were small beer compared to Bon Jovi and tons of US stadium metallers.