sometime between the end of high school and the end of college.

Also Gillian Welch's "Hell Among the Yearlings."

Though I think that "Bone Machine" was the best of Waits' 90's albums.

I keep going back and forth on whether the 90s were his best decade or his worst, though.

where I can imitate my grandmother more often, because I find myself becoming her......eeeeek.......

It died in '80 when the corporations bought every radio station in America.
Reagan and Meese finished the job.
1990's were a yearning for what once was, a remembrance of lost Atlantis.

...at that moment, you had Berlin, Porter, Rodgers, and of course Gershwin, all in their primes. Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Chick Webb, Jimmie Lunceford, and Louis Armstrong, on the African-American side of the ledger, were all at their peaks as well. In late 1935, the true Jazz Age, the so-called "Swing Era", began with Benny Goodman's appearance at the Palomar in Los Angeles...soon to follow were Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Glenn Miller, the Dorsey brothers, and a million others. Count Basie was putting his band together in KC, and Lester Young was about to hit his stride. American popular music reached an artistic plateau, in my opinion, that has never been approached since. In 1937, Gershwin died, a symbolic turning point. And like Mozart, like Charlie Parker, like John Coltrane, I often wonder what he could have accomplished given a long life...

The book was called "Taj Mahal Foxtrot" and is really cool. And speaking of that, 1936 was the year that the first all-black American jazz act played in India, which would revolutionize both popular and film music in India. Probably the most important American musician during the 1930s in India was Teddy Weatherford, an African American from Virginia, who was once quoted as saying "I love India; they treat us white folks really well here."

1. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
2. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
3. Mezzanine
4. Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life
5. Aquemini
6. Music Has the Right to Children
7. Super æ
8. End Hits
9. American Water
10. The Shape of Punk to Come

If Tom Waits had just pushed out Mule Variations four months earlier, it would have been perfect.

other genres since I haven't been listening to them as long, but it feels like mainstream rap and R&B began falling off after 1997 and after certain artists passed away. The record labels have been pushing more songs that are catchy but have less thought in the lyrics, and many fans around my age have still been eating it up.

Last edited Tue Mar 1, 2016, 04:12 PM - Edit history (3)

American Pop Music reached its peak with this song.

They foresaw it all!

So much amazing music out there, if you try to find it.

Turn off your radio and listen to public radio. A community station like my local KVMR (Stream at kvmr.org) or a national station like wwoz.org (new Orleans).... They won't play the bullshit music that's on the radio but bring you newer artists.

Back then, there was only a bit of music available, now it is everywhere. Just look at the incredible female musicians out there right now: Bonnie Raitt (Who's latest album is incredible and deeply personal) Amy Helm, Lucinda Williams, Ani DiFranco, Neko Case, Gillian Welch, Carolyn Wonderland, Susan Tedeschi (Who's band, The Tedeschi,Trucks Band, is the best band in the world), Grace Potter, Sharon Jones etc.......All of them at the headline spot in festival lineups.

back then there was Janis, Loretta Lynn, Aretha and Barbra. Yeah others, but nothing like now.

So many great bands out there. The Revivalists? Whoa, holy crap. My Morning Jacket, Wilco, Thievery Corporation, Primus, String Cheese Incident, Widespread panic, Dave Matthews Band, moe.,Galactic, so many more out there that just flat fry your face live.

And the Blues, well most people think that music is gone but so many incredible young musicians in the genre. Joe Bonamassa, Matt Schofield to name a couple. Women are becoming very much headliners there too with Samantha Fish and Grace Potter being top of the pops right now.

Even country music is listenable (Providing you are listening to the right stations) with artists like Shooter Jennings, Lukas Nelson (Willie's kid) Sturgill Simpson, and a whole host of others.

Then we go to what is the real stuff, the Americana genre, which didn't really exist back then and The Eagles would be in that classification.
Conor Oberst. Emmylou Harris (Who is bigger now than ever as far as concert draw goes) lots of women in this genre especially, thanks to Emmylou and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

And the way we can see music has changed incredibly. The festival, where you can see 50 bands for the same money as one. The overall vibe of the festival is much preferred to the concrete stadium shows. Or even the amphitheater shows. Yeah some bands still play them, but I prefer a festie setting any day over Shoreline or Any other amphitheater. When you do a large place though,the venues are better. Like The Gorge, which is an incredible venue on the gorge of the Columbia River and offers freek freely camping and the ragingest party ever.

Reggae, now (if you don't listen to classic rock that is) is much more than Bob Marley. Slightly Stoopid! Rebulution, Groundation, Midnite, Ziggy and the rest of the Marleys (It is an incredibly spiritual live performance if you get the chance to see them all this summer)...Sometimes it crosses into a mix of reggae, ska and hip hop which is very unique, like Michael Franti and Spearhead.

And most of the old bands are out there still playing away. The Grateful Dead has how many iterations? Now they are out with John Mayer (Who, from what I understand, is a big deal all by himself)! Phish, hell we ain't even talking about the best band in the world right now, not named the Tedeschi Trucks band.

everything after that will be on a downward trend...