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View Full Version : Classic soul music's new audience-the young folk????


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arrr&bee
11-04-2010, 01:10 PM
I'm feeling good about a trend i'm starting to see with some of our young music liseners[20-25yrs]they are grooving to our stuff[motown-sam cooke-the impressions,etc]there are many younger folks at my workplace and i hear alot of the classic oldies being listened to and in my conversations they all state that they dig the stuff from back in the day,which makes me very happy and says that the classics will live on,any of you see this happening where you are?

smark21
11-04-2010, 08:29 PM
I'm sure they like the music, but what are they listening to on their ipods and at home and when they're out with their own and not stuck in a workplace where you have to act with some decorum and not irritate the old people? I"m sure they're being very nice, polite and considerate and also know that playing what is popular today may not be the most appropriate music to play in a workplace with a variety of age groups on the premises.

tomato tom
11-05-2010, 06:35 PM
Gladys Knight & The Pips Midnight Train to Georgia came on the radio at work, and I said how much I loved the record and was a great fan of Gladys and the Pips. All the younguns said who? They had no idea who they were! I was horrified!!!.Well, next day, I brought in one of the Anthologies, and now their grooving to Friendshiptrain, heard it through the grapevine, and smooching to Neither one of us, make me the woman you go home to, and so on. AH, I feel my duty done. EDUCATE. These kids just dont hear this music anymore. It certainly isnt on the radio. NOW..Consider, it your DUTY to spread the word to the young folks..Paulo XXXX

soulster
11-05-2010, 06:58 PM
I'm sure they like the music, but what are they listening to on their ipods and at home and when they're out with their own and not stuck in a workplace where you have to act with some decorum and not irritate the old people? I"m sure they're being very nice, polite and considerate and also know that playing what is popular today may not be the most appropriate music to play in a workplace with a variety of age groups on the premises.

Yup yup! Until I see the young people playing it , I have to think that it's just a passing interest to them because most new stuff is the same tired mess.

splanky
11-06-2010, 07:17 AM
Jai, I'm not seeing that trend at all here in New York. All of the young people I know and meet are listening to the same
stuff, the current version of " R&B", some of which I do find listenable, BTW, and today's hip hop, 95 percent of which I
cannot stand. At the place I work in one area which is mainly staffed with kids 18-25 they have a radio which they periodically change the station on from hip hop to oldies to today's R&B to latin and back. That practice was instituted by
a former manager there and the kept it. Cool. Not as expansive as I'd prefer but somewhat democratic. The thing I've
noticed is the young guys merely tolerate the classic soul and Motown when it plays; nobody is singing along or grooving to
it and the volume level is just high enough to be heard around the room. When a Temptations song came on and I said aloud
that it was my jam back in the day they looked at me like I'd just told them about my bathroom routine. Now, the hip hop
station they blast and I mean really loud, too much for a work enviorment regardless of what music is played. Sometimes
when visitors are in the building on a tour they have to be reminded to turn the radio down. But nobody blasts My Girl or
Please Mr Postman. Never. It's "B*thces Ain't Sh*t or Real N****s Don't Give A F**k or whatever garbage spews from the mouths of Jay Z or Lil Wayne. And as far as other music, once I had to work in their room while a machine was down and they were on an impromtu break and I put the radio on a jazz station for myself, a couple of the kids passed through and they shook their heads like I'd lost my mind. I gave up a long time ago on trying to get youngins interested in our old folks
music. My nephew tolerates soul because his mother is old school but his ipod is full of that "straight thug sh*t" he lives off
of....

bankhousedave
11-06-2010, 03:21 PM
Speaking as a young person myself.....what? The fact is that young people now know a wide range of music - at least they do in the Uk and France [[maybe thanks to Radio 2, Heart, Jazz FM, Fun Radio, Europe Deux and RFM) -- and those that really know anything know about Motown and soul, just as they know about the Beatles and the Stones, the Beach Boys and Axl Rose. The biggest hero to all the kids I know is Leonard Cohen, already. Those who don't know anybody's name, are no more likely to know the name of Bellowhead than Gladys Knight. Rock music, R & B and so forth has come of age and the college kids are studying it the way they once studied classical composers.

arrr&bee
11-06-2010, 05:08 PM
Thanks for your views and keep em coming gang,were i work most of the public is gone when the music is played and i have to admit i'm pleasantly surprised at the youngsters grooving to the classis so there's hope on the horizen!

Kamasu_Jr
11-16-2010, 06:29 AM
Jai, I'm not seeing that trend at all here in New York. All of the young people I know and meet are listening to the same
stuff, the current version of " R&B", some of which I do find listenable, BTW, and today's hip hop, 95 percent of which I
cannot stand. At the place I work in one area which is mainly staffed with kids 18-25 they have a radio which they periodically change the station on from hip hop to oldies to today's R&B to latin and back. That practice was instituted by
a former manager there and the kept it. Cool. Not as expansive as I'd prefer but somewhat democratic. The thing I've
noticed is the young guys merely tolerate the classic soul and Motown when it plays; nobody is singing along or grooving to
it and the volume level is just high enough to be heard around the room. When a Temptations song came on and I said aloud
that it was my jam back in the day they looked at me like I'd just told them about my bathroom routine. Now, the hip hop
station they blast and I mean really loud, too much for a work enviorment regardless of what music is played. Sometimes
when visitors are in the building on a tour they have to be reminded to turn the radio down. But nobody blasts My Girl or
Please Mr Postman. Never. It's "B*thces Ain't Sh*t or Real N****s Don't Give A F**k or whatever garbage spews from the mouths of Jay Z or Lil Wayne. And as far as other music, once I had to work in their room while a machine was down and they were on an impromtu break and I put the radio on a jazz station for myself, a couple of the kids passed through and they shook their heads like I'd lost my mind. I gave up a long time ago on trying to get youngins interested in our old folks
music. My nephew tolerates soul because his mother is old school but his ipod is full of that "straight thug sh*t" he lives off
of....

I gotta agree. I'm not seeing this new audience for classic soul either.
I work with young musicians/students and it's a battle to get them to listen to or study anything that's classic. This year has been especially tough.
My new students seem to hate it with a passion, but admit there's nothing exciting happening in the music coming from their generation of artists.
I will tell you what many young people are impressed by is the amount of money made quickly by rappers like Lil Wayne & Drake. When we discuss someone like Joe Tex being an innovator, some of my students will say: "But did that old m--------ker make $30 million dollars off of his first album? Drake is making money!"

I'll reply: "But Joe Tex made music that is still around and he's dead."

But the young ones are impressed with the money, damn making music that lasts a lifetime.

My youngest brother is 20 now and he was exposed to classic soul, but he sneers and turns his nose up at it now. Maybe we forced it on him, because he can't stand it.

timmyfunk
11-16-2010, 08:42 AM
I get a somewhat 70/30 mix of opinions with regards to the music that I play when the youngins are around. Since a lot of the Funk that I play has been so heavily sampled, they at least identify with that aspect.

timmyfunk
11-16-2010, 08:43 AM
I wonder what kind of response old school rap fans get when they play their favorites to today's 18-25 crowd.

GeeTee(HPK)
11-16-2010, 07:14 PM
In my opinion,it really depends on the mind set of the youngsters. Not many of them have a open mind to appreicate other genres of music,as well as classic soul.

But then again, it's very rewarding to reach those that will show a liking and some respect to classic soul,as well as jazz,blues etc;. :)

positivesoul
11-22-2010, 11:02 AM
I kinda think it has more to do with social considerations than the actual quality of the music when it comes to our young folks with their often [[understandably) fragile and still-developing self awareness and self-images. GENERALLY speaking, in addition to sounding good, Michael Jackson is accepted by the young because he is still considered pretty current in the media, therefore among their peers.

The Temptations enjoyed a burst of popularity once thrust back into the hype machine when the NBC mini-series arrived. They were considered very cool by the young for a spell. Of course they retained us older viewers/listeners. Ain't No Mountain High Enough did wonders for Marvin & Tammi's version when Denzel Washington and then Julia Roberts showed that they thought it was super-cool too. Basically the young will LOVE what appears to be cool to others of their kind -and run away from what seems [[to them) to ONLY appeal to groups that they aren't trying to impress or join. ALL age groups are that way to an extent, but this is far more prevalent among the young. I think this is how things have always been for the most part.

In closing, I also feel that there is a HUGE failure among marketers of high-quality oldies releases. Of course they aren't going to make these equal to the first choices of youngsters, BUT they could do a MUCH better job of marketing to this group and in creating an expanded market WITHOUT breaking the PR bank. Tammi Terrell's beautiful current collection is a case in point. Being a marketer myself, and very much in touch with the young, I reached out to Universal with an offer to assist in promoting the collection. Especially in Philly, her hometown, much excitement would have resulted among old and young, with increased sales and notoriety.

Many know what a huge Tammi fan I am, so I would have happily assisted for free if necessary. Well I could have understood a "No", but I couldn't even get a response from Universal, and was treated like I was bothering them. This is not intended as a total slam of these guys because I greatly admire the good they ARE doing in preserving the sounds, at least for some. One day someone other than Suzanne DePasse will figure out how to make the great sounds of old appear hip to the young and then the young will enjoy just a bit more variety in their musical selections. Despite few true believers in this, it CAN happen... and it WILL.

smark21
11-22-2010, 09:56 PM
Has Motown made any attempts to partnership with a game like RockBand to expose a new generation to its music? Last year The Beatles were brought to a whole new generation when Apple Corps partnered with RockBand for a Beatles version of the game. George Harrison's son Dhani was instrumental in putting it together and convincing Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono and Ringo Starr it would be a win-win situation. The Beatles Rockband game sold 600,000 units its first week out a year ago. One of the big failures of Motown 50 was an inability to think outside the box. All people got were some articles, an American Idol Motown theme night, a Mary Wilson hosted PBS special showing old clips and a few ads and some CD re-issues of the old hits.

jboy88
12-03-2010, 01:34 AM
I understand just what everyone's saying! I too have hung around several people who wouldn't know good music from a crack in the floor.


A real problem that's overlooked in the black community, is allowing all of our icons to slowly fade away! While i've encountered several cacasiuns who can encorperate The Beatles, Elvis, Johnny Cash and other iconic rock stars with their Katy Perry & Lady Gaga, young blacks have the mentality of "that's not my generation" aand aren't even familiar with Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke or anyother black artist from that period. Indeed, the music of Motown is still revelent thanks to the masses. Meanwhile, While they claim that the music from the past is dead and gone, They constantly use the N Word which is even older and should be welcome among the younger generation! Surely if an old derogatory epithet from the 1700s can live on, so can a hit song from the 1960s