I get flogged by anyone not in my close knit group of friends for my choices in music. Actually there are more people I know who don't understand it than do. So in many cases I can only confide in and talk with one or maybe two people in the world about the artists and how wonderful we think they are.
Some shrug it off as a niche thing and accept I've gone off some metaphorical cliff. They have no interest in listening. Some despise it. They can't get over the contemporary music that of the current day. They listen to what is of the now and move with the times, forgetting the past. They cannot digest the production styles of older generations of music. Although no can much explain why they don't like it. The analogue sound doesn't appeal to people these days. But they focus on comparing production rather than the actual music. "It sounds old, is it old?" Does it matter? Listen to the song.
Literally every artist worth their salt today, yesterday and before can name an influence that came before, and if you trace it back, they all stole from the same places. The one before them, and in some cases they skip some. Some newer artists listen to that of the 50's and 60's and sometimes even prior. Music in terms of a band was progressing at an incredible rate as at that time, rock was forming and the four piece band that is commonplace now was only starting to take shape. Electronics were only starting to be used in music. The electric guitar was invented, amplifiers, mixing consoles, left and right stereo imaging, guitar pedals, distortion, and overdubbing among a slew of other giant leaps in this time of music. Music was progressing at such an alarming rate it was standard to go to the record store after school and listen and spend your allowance on all the records coming out. There was always someone doing something new.
Artists of today are usually influenced by this generation of artists. You can clearly hear it in their music if you know what to listen to. It's the natural progression of the art. It's always changing; albeit slowly at times and quickly at others, but progressing nonetheless. As an artist and musician on some level, I'm always searching and looking for new things. Everyone likes their own kind of music. I do not criticize on another's music genre choices. But I begin having problems when people don't like my own choices. I can't choose what I like. When I began finding my way and developing musical interests, I leaned heavily on the popular music of the 60's and 70's. What was huge then. It's what the rock stations play nowadays. But I got tired of it, so eventually I began digging deeper into those artists' catalogs and this kept me busy for a while and still does.
But then something happened and I'm not sure where or when precisely. I began hearing about lesser known artists. Artists with a lot of success, but not what we'd all call stars of fame of the internationally known rollers of music. Instead of the Beatles, I was listening to Wings, Paul McCartney's band post-Beatle. They have some huge hits, but their catalog is so vast and full of unheard music it's incredible. I then discovered Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out with Him" while driving around in my early college days. I found him and his incredibly eclectic albums. I was hooked. One thing led to another and my tastes haven't entirely changed so much as broadened.
I was not on some quest to become "less mainstream" or different or cool. I wanted to dig and delve deeper into music itself. Past the surface of radio hits and the go-to artists of what I liked. You do not realize there are so many bands and artists out there that simply didn't make it or who didn't have the opportunities to get their music to the masses and disappeared or died off. I then discovered Badfinger, Nilsson and Big Star this way. Through my interests and friends and simply googling, I stumbled up a song and began realizing these guys were gold. I fell in love with them. Guided By Voices, the Knack, and more recently and to my surprise, Dawes. Not many people know the likes of GBV or Big Star or Badfinger. Then, you can delve into these artists influences and bands similar to them. The music is incredible.
So what makes me so different than anyone else? I'm searching. I'm always looking for that next fix after I've exhausted an artist's repertoire and spent days, weeks, months or even years listening to their albums as I go through that phase and onto the next, adding to my collection of music that connects with me and makes me feel a certain way. But in reality, it's no different than today's music. The word and notes are the same. It may sound different to the human ear, but not many tend to look any deeper into that. They hear the artist's voice and don't like it or don't because it sounds like it was produced in the 70's rather than last night fresh off Spotify. In a lot of ways, what I'm into is no different. So when people don't like what I listen to, or more so they don't even try or want to listen in the first place, it says a lot about a person.