stream of consciousness

[Jeff and Melanie House <jjthandmeh@juno.com>]

Brian C  "Perhaps. I'm just saying that in my opinion, he's right."

Okie doke.  I think that (gasp) Pete is wrong.

Brian C  "I think a lot of people get confused by what he's saying."

I think I understand what he's saying, but then again maybe I'm stupid
:-)

Brian C  "He's not saying rock is dead which is no more true than saying
jazz is dead. It's just that there's nowhere new to go. Here's an example
from jazz. Wynton Marsalis is a great jazz performer who comes out with
great music. But if you were to tell the story of jazz you could just
leave him out."

And piss off people who LOVE Wynton.

Brian C  "You can still come out with great rock records, but you can't
go past what was accomplished by the late 70's. The story of rock is
over. Now we are in the legacy years (and have been for 20 years now).

This makes me think of something Little Richard has been saying since the
late 60s.  That he and his contemporaries invented all rock and that
everyone who came after just copied and twisted the stuff they created. 
Of course, T-Bone Walker, Fats Waller, Muddy Waters and Mahalia Jackson
could argue that Richard copied them.  I think Pete's argument is just a
more intellectual version of Little Richard's fallacious thinking.  It
just depends on what era and artist you identify with most. Strangely,
Pete and Who fans identify most with the Moon years :-)

I don't think Pete is capable of doing anything that will revive rock in
his mind, but I am with keets in thinking that there are other streams of
music that can be brought into the pop-rock stream.  She (and others) may
not wish to call it rock once rap, electronica, contemporary African,
Middle Eastern,  US "Christian", Broadway, Salsa, ska, Reggae, bluegrass,
opera, big band, euro-minstrel, gospel, et al have been mixed in - but
there is still some mixing to be done IMNSHO.  

AND There are also technological breakthroughs that have not happened
yet.  Technology has been a great spark for rock as well - from the
invention of the electric guitar and synthesizers, through MTV and the
internet.  

Maybe we're just ready for a new word to replace "rock".

Jeff