The Next Led Zeppelin

[Nick Gerard]

Imagine yourself back in 1973, regularly listening to popular music on your radio that dated from 1933. I'm sure there were a few nostalgia programs that did this back then , but what is it about our music culture and radio industry that makes this kind of programming standard operating procedure in 2010?

This is an interesting observation and a great question. My loosely organized thoughts late on a Friday night:

In the 60's and early 70's, radio was still relatively fresh off the transition from network drama and comedy to locally programmed music and news. It was a necessary evolutionary step. Yes, there were the grown-ups' stations and the kids' stations, but the seed of the idea of tapping into "familiarity" of old songs as a crucial formatic element had yet to germinate.

I can't recall for certain, but I'd guess that in 1965, the MOR music played by WEBR and WBEN was somewhat current and perhaps went back a few years. From the little I remember, I can't say I heard Clint Buehlman or Bill Kimble playing music that sounded "old" - like 1930's and 1940's old. It was just music for Mom and Dad, not us. WKBW played the occasional "KB Classic", but those only went back a couple of years.

At some point in the 70’s (and I honestly couldn’t be specific) a significant step in the evolution of radio took hold. It was the concept of playing songs folks remembered well from earlier years. It was no longer a novelty or curiosity, but a paradigm-changing programming element. The concept of “familiarity” of old songs holding listeners to your station became de rigeur. God forbid you play something unfamiliar and have them tune out!!!

Just as the move away from network programs in the 50’s and 60’s, changed the game, so did this new emphasis on the past. It was simply another necessary evolutionary step for radio mandated by audience research and ratings.

This major evolutionary shift of radio to the “familiar” continues to be “standard operating procedure”, as Lee said, in 2010.

But 35 years have passed. Certainly, we are on the threshold of radio’s next evolutionary step. I read all the blogs…del Colliano, Ramsey, Fred Jacobs…but I still can’t get a handle on what it’s going to be.

Nick Seneca

 

[SirRoxalot]

I'm not sure about the "next Led Zeppelin", but I think it's demonstrable that the next genre has emerged.

In the '60s, mom & dad's MOR station was still playing Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, and Perry Como, and largely non-rock artists. The "cool" stations were playing current rock music - in a variety of rock genres from rockabilly to folk-rock to blues-rock to acid rock - all embraced by the kids and annoying the oldsters, who cried "That's not music!"

The '90s brought grunge, and the NBT - Next Big Thing - rap - into the musical spotlight. Let's see, it's been embraced by the kids, and annoys the oldsters, who cry "That's not music!".

Hey, P. Diddy may already be the "Next Led Zeppelin". We'll just have to wait about 30 years to find out.

 

[oak068]

Hi All -

Well, I'm 42 and have this perspective on the "next Led Zeppelin". Simply put, there isn't going to be one. Just like there isn't going to be the next "Elvis", "Sinatra" and "Beatles". Each made their mark in there respective period and that's it.

The music world has completely changed (just my .02...for the worse) and I don't believe you'll ever see a huge rock band like Zeppelin ever again. The closest thing I can think of is Greenday....and then name 5 other mainstream bands after that just as big. I really can't.

It goes back to earlier radio discussions here that WCMF, The Buzz, and a few others that only play the SAME CRAP day in and day out. Why not have a "new song" day, or something. How many times can we here "Layla" or "Angie" .....C'monnnnnnnnnnnn.

Moreover, I don't believe you can blame the channel for which the music is being passed through - 30-40+ years ago it was vinyl...then CD....now it's digital. If it's good stuff, people are going to buy it and the band will be successful.

Bottom line: There just isn't that much good stuff out there. Back when I was a kid in the early 80's and MTV was coming on board, everyone was saying that it was going to kill the radio. Not so. I believe the music of the 80's as a whole was so much better than what's out there now.....AS A WHOLE. It was much more "listenable". Think about the genre you had....pop, rock, metal, some hip-hop....but there were hits everywhere and everyone was listening to it.

You can't even get a good concert here anymore. Remember the days of "John Scherr(sic) Presents"?? You had great concerts every month almost.....Rush, Ozzy, Def Leppard, Triumph, Journey, Crue, U2, Van Halen, ....etc...etc.

Now we have Greenday.....and who else?

 

[chas108]

Fascinating thread...but as I read the Michele Catalano column that inspired it, I believe she draws a false conclusion from her observations. The smoking gun, to me, was the following:

"I think of the most popular bands today and I just can’t see kids 20 years from now walking around saying “Nickelback rules!” or wearing Paramore shirts."

I remember reading an article in Billboard back in 1974, decrying the state of current music, how it was all so disposable and no one would remember the songs of today the way we remember the songs of the 60's...just one problem: the songs/artists they were railing against turned out to be Top 40's Power Oldies, then the foundations for Classic Rock/AC/Oldies formats and their offshoots.

Lesson: Hit music is rarely appreciated in the time in which it is produced. (See oak068’s comments re: 80’s music back when it was current)

Lesson #2: The stuff you think will fade away and never return...will return! I've only come to really understand this one over the last decade. I linked to another Michele Catalano column featuring "Ten Songs to Sing Like No One Is Listening". And what should come in at #3? Poison - "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".

The Class "B" Hair Bands from 1987-91 - Poison, Cinderella, Whitesnake, Warrant, Britny Fox, Great White, etc. - the ones who all pointed at Kurt Cobain and stated "Nirvana killed my career!" on those VH-1 "Where Are They Now" specials - if there were ever a genre of disposable music that deserved to be left on the scrap heap of history alongside Disco, this is it, and yet both Disco and Hair Metal have their devotees to this day. Even I’ve learned to like some of it.

Moreover, my two sons, ages 22 and 18 respectively, enjoy some of that old second-rate Hair Metal, while seeing no dichotomy with their tastes in Metallica, or Guns & Roses, or Nirvana, Foo Fighters or Paramore or The Devil Wears Prada. And a lot of their friends have similar tastes...and then will turn around and sing Lady GaGa or Taylor Swift. It’s all over the board.

Like many other posters, I too believe there will probably be no next Led Zeppelin. Sure if you want to simply compare sonic quality, Wolfmother has a few songs, but in terms of a new, imaginative sound having an impact of the industry or pop culture the way Zeppelin did…I think things have just gotten too fragmented and individualized. What I find encouraging, however, is it seems popular tastes have become more eclectic than, say, 10 years ago.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Some very good writing and opinions in this thread. If you're 45+, it's very likely there will not be another Led Zeppelin, or the Who, or Deep Purple. And there surely won't be another Beatles. If you're under 40, it may not matter. Whole Lotta Love is 40 years old. When you were toolin' down the Thruway in your VW Beetle or 67 Valiant, did you ever think you'd be listening to that song 40 years later, cuz I didn't... yet here it is... "You need coolin' / Baby I'm not foolin'."

It may be that 12-34s are song oriented more than album and group oriented. They also get their music fixes from sources other than radio. What'd we have? KB, WYSL, WNIA, WYSL-FM and WPHD. Today, stuff goes viral in minutes on phones and the Internet. Video games introduce customers to new music. Peer to peer sharing, torrent sites, videos, the Internet and cell phones are the transmitters. Last I saw, Classic Rock still puts up pretty numbers 18-34 Men but it's a Male 45+ format. On the radio. Yet any format that rotates music primarily from the 70s and 80s will eventually be a music of your life format. Very likely, I'll still listen to it.

Like a lot of people, I derided some of the music from the 80s. Guess what? I lied. There was some very good music recorded in the 80s. Hair bands? Yeah, they're fun to mock. But one of my favorite songs is Ratt's "Round and Round." I enjoyed the hell out of playing Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love" (when it was new and again as a classic) and Power Stations' "Bang A Gong." ZZ Top's "Legs?" C'mon, tell me that whole LP and video set didn't get your attention. Rush, Van Halen, the Police, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Peter Gabriel? 80s. Some legitimate hits and hit makers there. And the one hit wonders weren't too bad, either. Der Komisar, ATF or Falco; Girls Just Want To Have Fun; Electric Avenue. They too were hits.

Could be that our kids don't hear music the way we did or do now. It's not "part of a movement" today, as the Beatles, Zep, CSNY and other groups were part of ours. More likely, today's music is indeed part of a movement; but like our parents then, we not part of that movement now.

Oh, and the 90s? I hear "Come As You Are" on the radio, it goes to "11." Classic Alternative. The songs' 19 years old and it still rocks. To me. To somebody who's 23, it may just be another old song sung by a dead guy. No disrespect intended.

 

[J-Mark]

I have to think part of what's different now, compared to the 60's and 70's, is that the music now 40 years old still holds up from a technical/sound quality standpoint.

Music that was older than about 20 years back in 1970 would have been coming from 78rpm records that were worn-out and noisy. Not to mention, produced under very primitive conditions in the first place. It wouldn't have "fit" well sonically with the then-current stuff...and that of course was before widespread use of multiband compression and long before digital restoration/remastering.

I do distinctly remember WBBF, around 1970, would sometimes play something "old", and they also sometimes seemed to "bring back" recurrents/oldies and put them into what sounded like a current rotation for a time. My memories of this are hazy, as I was 7-8 years old at the time, but I definitely remember my parents reacting to some of those oldies when they were played.