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wrong time/wrong place?


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Anyone in a band who feels that they would have been more successful if they formed that band in a different era or place?

For example I would have loved to have formed a band in the late 80's/early90's New York hardcore era. Around the time that bands like Sick of it all, straight ahead, rest in peices, youth of today and agnostic front we're breaking through.

Just the energy and the spirit of being a part of something that people felt so strongly about. Right now it feels as if people couldn't really care less what your doing or attempting to create as everything has become so commercialised.

Reminds me of the H2o lyrics:

When it began, for those who don't know

it didn't matter how you looked or what you wore to a show

dress codes, FUCK NO! we didn't care

about the brand of your jeans and all that shit in your hair

But now the biggest part is all about the image and not the art

Fashion before passion!

And at nights, it makes me mad that I should have to ask:

What happened to the passion? (passion!)

What -happened to- the reason for screaming?

What happened the music and the message that I love?

What happened to the hard work? (hard work!)

And why does everybody look the same?

What happened the music and the message that I love?

So yeah, sorry if this ended up becoming a rant.

Do you feel the same way? If so what era/place do you wish you could have formed a band in?

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Good Point

I doubt if this band I was in at the time would have been more successful but its along that lines.

In the early 90's I was in a melodic rock band that had already established a good name for themselves before I joined. They won a battle of the bands thing at the Music hall and so on which was pretty good for a local band. I joined them and we got good reviews and press and headline gigs at the lemon tree regularly, we also got into the finals of some unsigned bands thing, but then grunge was at its peak and along came bands like oasis and the beginning of Britpop which changed everything . Not a lot of people were still listening to melodic rock after that and I was getting slated by my mates by playing in and listening to bands that weren't fashionable to be in or listen to.

I remember actually in the early 90's there were a lot of really good Aberdeen bands that might have had a chance of being signed up and big if it wasn't for grunge and britpop arriving.

I wish I could have formed a band in the 70's if I was a teenager in that era. Everything just seemed basic but raw back then where music was concerned and it wasn't about the way you looked or dressed as it is today with things like X factor and disposable pop stars. Also that was the birth of Rock, Metal and punk

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Time gone by are always a bit more fashionable years later. Replicating the early 90's seems to be the current fad. Heck, maybe nu-metal will be the craze in about 2020.

Hopefully not! I'd rather the "quiet is the new loud" movement made a reappearance than the music atrocities that Nu-metal gave us.

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In the early 90's I was in a melodic rock band that had already established a good name for themselves before I joined. They won a battle of the bands thing at the Music hall and so on which was pretty good for a local band. I joined them and we got good reviews and press and headline gigs at the lemon tree regularly, we also got into the finals of some unsigned bands thing

Who was that?

I remember actually in the early 90's there were a lot of really good Aberdeen bands that might have had a chance of being signed up and big if it wasn't for grunge and britpop arriving.

Interesting theory, not sure Messrs Cobain and Albarn are entirely to blame though tbh...

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Time gone by are always a bit more fashionable years later. Replicating the early 90's seems to be the current fad. Heck, maybe nu-metal will be the craze in about 2020.

What I was trying to find out is what era people would have liked to have existed as a musician in. I mean, come on, everyone has to admit that for whatever reason they like a certain type of music and that type of music had a heyday. Unless you only like modern music and have no historical background to examine, but even still most (not all, before the music nazi's jump down my throat) genre's had a peak on the back of which they are still either just existing or thriving.

And also your point about earliy 90's being replicated i don't think is right. I think most people who are in bands are influenced by the music they grew up with and that will show in the music they create later on. That's just how music progresses. I don't think people intentionally replicate what they listened to as a kid but it's just human nature to expand on your influences.

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This doesn't have to be purely concerned with a 'would i like to go back in time' debate it's also possible that people would like to be in a band now but don't think that Aberdeen is the right place. I can think of heaps of bands that wouldn't be given the time of day in Aberdeen but in other places would go down a storm.

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And also your point about earliy 90's being replicated i don't think is right.

Bands sounding like 90's American indie rock of various forms is very popular right now. My last band did it, and the band I'm in right now are doing it, shamelessly. Countless more are doing it too. Literally hundreds. So yeah. It is right.

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ok cool well that's your opinion. And that's fine by me if you view it like replication. I know quite a few people in bands who have sounds that are clearly influenced by earlier music but i wouldn't say they are just copying.

so going back to the theme of the thread, judging by what you've said about your band, would you have rather had the chance to form a band in america during the 90's when the bands your influenced by were emerging?

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I always wanted to be part of the motown era, there was just something exciting about it, Go back to say 1960 and be just part of it.

The idea of bands travelling around in cramped tour bus, going around town to town playing music halls and and people going crazy, just sounds so fun.

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Would love to have experienced various times. Now is a good time for playing music though, there are very few limitations on what you can do. Many people have a broad taste in music and if you are good quality people will come and watch you. You just have to do decent promoting for yourself.

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heh. My dad says at school him and his mates were outcasts because they really wanted to be Mowtown backing dancers/singers. The guys that always smile and basically stand sideways, sometimes doing jump turns , and clicking their fingers a lot.

To be in the Tempations, or a member of Earth wind and Wire. Or even to see little Richard in his prime.

Ah, dreams

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This doesn't have to be purely concerned with a 'would i like to go back in time' debate it's also possible that people would like to be in a band now but don't think that Aberdeen is the right place. I can think of heaps of bands that wouldn't be given the time of day in Aberdeen but in other places would go down a storm.

I think the band I'm in and the last band I was in both went down a ton better in Dundee, but that just could be because there is a lot of rowdy buggers down there. It's hard to guage an Aberdeen audience, because a lot of the time people here look pretty miserable. I'm not moaning though... it's just the truth! Sometimes I'll worry that we played shit, but folk compliment us after, confusing, but you get use to it. Just the way it is.

I don't know if there would ever be a chance of us making it so I dunno if any other city would make it any easier. Maybe though, I couldn't say for sure.

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I would agree with most of that, just also the size of different places, you might feelyou have attracted a lot more people in other cities, purely because there are more people! The ratio of people who attended the gig to people who didn't and people who enjoyed it and people and people who didn't in two different cities might be exactly the same, but just because one ity is bigger than the other it might have seemed a lot more people came to see you. If that makes a lot of sense? I don't i explained my idea very well...

Bigger population = more venues and more local bands that are more/less entertaining than you.

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I would agree with most of that, just also the size of different places, you might feelyou have attracted a lot more people in other cities, purely because there are more people! The ratio of people who attended the gig to people who didn't and people who enjoyed it and people and people who didn't in two different cities might be exactly the same, but just because one ity is bigger than the other it might have seemed a lot more people came to see you. If that makes a lot of sense? I don't i explained my idea very well...

I don't think any more people come down in Dundee, just the people who do like us and express it during the set as opposed to after.

I think an average Aberdonian gig would probably be above average compared to most cities in the UK, but lets not have this discussion again.

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