I feel sad for Generation X that they missed out on the best period for music circa 1964-1975

[DrLove]

I thought you would have taken that as a complement.

A reunion with your parents in your paradise

Why you gotta be such a butthole

 

[Hossfly]

About American Pie​

Jul 11, 2019
“American Pie” is partly biographical and partly the story of America during the idealized 1950s and the bleaker 1960s. It was initially inspired by Don’s memories of being a paperboy in 1959 and learning of the death of Buddy Holly. “American Pie” presents an abstract story of McLean’s life from the mid-1950s until the end of the 1960s, and at the same time it represents the evolution of popular music and politics over these years, from the lightness of the 1950s to the darkness of the late 1960s, but metaphorically the song continues to evolve to the present time. It is not a nostalgia song. “American Pie” changes as America, itself, is changing. For McLean, the transition from the light innocence of childhood to the dark realities of adulthood began with the deaths of his father and Buddy Holly and culminated with the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, which was the start of a more difficult time for America. During this four year period, Don moved from an idyllic childhood, through the shock and harsh realities of his father’s death in 1961, to his decision, in 1964, to leave Villanova University to pursue his dream of becoming a professional singer.
The 1950s were an era of happiness and affluence for the burgeoning American middle class. Americans had a feeling of optimism about their prospects for the future, and pride in their nation which had emerged victorious from World War II, setting the world free from the tyranny of Nazi Germany. Popular music mirrored society. Performers such as Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, and Bill Haley and the Comets churned out feel-good records that matched the mood of the nation. Sinister forces such as communism were banished, and serious folk groups like the Weavers were being replaced by the beat poets who, as members of the intelligentsia, were excused their lack of optimism.
The 1960s were the antithesis of the previous decade. The exuberant simplicity of the 1950s was displaced by a much more volatile and politically charged atmosphere. People were asking questions. The cozy world of white middle class America was disturbed, as civil rights campaigners marched on Washington, D.C., and Martin Luther King Jr delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The following year saw the 1964 Civil Rights Act become law. On the world stage, America’s leading super-power status was being challenged by the Soviet Union, and its military might was being tested by the Vietnamese. Even in music, America soon found itself overrun by a British invasion. The 1960s was a turbulent time for McLean’s generation. By 1971, America was still deeply troubled. The Vietnam War was out of control. The anti-war movement was gathering momentum and being listened to. On April 22, 1971, former naval officer, John Kerry, stated to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
“…In our opinion, and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam, nothing which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America. And to attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos by linking such loss to the preservation of freedom, which those misfits supposedly abuse, is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy, and it is that kind of hypocrisy which we feel has torn this country apart…”
Other events of the time, such as the successful launch of Apollo 14, did little to restore national pride. “American Pie,” in the opinion of the song’s producer, Ed Freeman, was the funeral oration for an era: “Without it, many of us would have been unable to grieve, achieve closure, and move on. Don saw that, and wrote the song that set us free. We should all be eternally grateful to him for that.”
“American Pie” was one of the last songs McLean wrote for the American Piealbum. He had started writing it in the gatehouse in Cold Spring, New York. Sitting in his office, aimlessly strumming the guitar, he started to think back to his childhood, the neighborhood where he grew up, and being a paper boy for the Standard Star. He remembered Buddy Holly. He remembered the day he cut open the bundle of papers that had been deposited on the doorstep for him to deliver, and there, on the front page, was the story of the death of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. It was a small column on the right hand side. He remembered being in shock while he delivered the papers on his route.
He wrote:
A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance that I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while
But February made me shiver, with every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep I couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside, the day the music died.
McLean would later write:
“Of all the unique oddities of my career, I am perhaps proudest of the fact that I am forever linked with Buddy Holly. I bet if you ask any guitar player, he will tell you that he looked at record jackets and guitar catalogs more than anything else while growing up and dreaming. I have heard it said that children dream in a different way than grown-ups. To them, the dreams they have for themselves are as real as reality is for grown-ups. With this in mind, I can say that Buddy was a huge part of my childhood dream. Long before I decided how I would use music or what kind of artist I would be, Buddy was there. When I listened to his music, a mood overtook me which was both happy and sad, and I often looked at the record covers while the music played.
Buddy’s music is so musical. The number of great recordings he made in his very short life places him at or beyond the level of any musical artist in almost any category. Elvis never wrote songs, while Buddy composed a huge number. In my opinion, looking back, no rock act, not the Beatles, not the Stones, nor anyone else, can top records like “Peggy Sue” or “Rave On.” They are rock mountains that nobody has climbed. The diversity of Buddy’s music is also profound. “Moondreams” and “True Love Ways” are musically as advanced as anything by the great popular composers. Gershwin or Berlin would have marveled at these compositions.
His electric guitars were raw, but controlled like bullwhips. They jingle and jangle freely in “That’ll Be The Day” and “Oh Boy,” and they snake around in “Words of Love.” The Beatles and the Stones became the behemoths they are on the back of Buddy Holly and the records he made before anyone made records or wrote songs like his. Aside from his geek image and his sudden and cruel death, his music is a wonder which still contains the potency of its original magic. Buddy was a genuine original. He was a genius.
Buddy’s death, for me, an impressionable thirteen year old, delivering papers, was an enormous tragedy. The cover photo of the posthumously released Buddy Holly Story and the Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2, coupled with liner notes written by his widow, Maria, created a sense of grief which lived inside of me, until I was able to exorcize it with the opening verse of “American Pie.” Through my relationship with Buddy, I was able to discover my peculiar writing talent and, much to my amazement, help bring Buddy and his music back from the dead. In a sense, “American Pie” contains the spiritual connection to Buddy Holly which was always in me. It’s as if we both gave each other new life.
Music is about many things which music critics and historians can discuss forever, but what I think interests an audience about any form of music is its excitement. Opera excites some people (not me). Rock is all about excitement on a sonic, as well a fashion and musical, level. Pop music carries a kind of emotional impact, and, in its day, folk music had a political and intellectual excitement. I have tried, without really knowing it, to practice my craft in all these areas at once. Buddy Holly did the same thing without the politics. Had he lived through the ‘60s, I’m sure he would have continued to grow and lead with music that was revelatory.”
Two months went by before any further progress was made. Then one day, again in his Cold Spring gatehouse, and “from God knows where in my head,” McLean came up with the catchy chorus:
So bye, bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee
But the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’ this will be the day that I die,
This will be the day that I die.
In the thirty or so years since the chorus was written, the term “Miss American Pie” has come under close scrutiny. An urban legend grew up claiming that American Pie was the name of Buddy Holly’s plane that crashed, killing Buddy and his companions. In fact, there is no truth to the story. Buddy and his friends were in a chartered plane. Don McLean created the phrase “American Pie;” it did not exist before he wrote the song. Like much of the song, McLean says the chorus is about America.
“I saw the implication of America going bye-bye, since by 1971 we were a horribly divided country with tremendous anger being directed at the government over the Vietnam War, whether for or against it. Death was everywhere. Spin control had not been invented, and things had spun totally out of control. Was America dying? My country is always reconstituting itself and being reborn.”
The notion of America dying had already been featured in a song on the Tapestry album called “Orphans of Wealth:”
And the rain falls, and blows through their windows
And the snow falls in white drifts that fold
And the tides rise with floods in the nursery
And a child is crying, he’s hungry and cold
His life has been sold
His young face looks old
It’s the face of America dying
McLean grew up as part of the American middle class society of the 1950s, and it was no accident that the only trip he took with his father had been to Washington D.C. His father wanted him to feel the grandeur, power, and history of his country. In contrast, the country that America had become was deeply upsetting to Don.
“To many of my generation, brought up on Norman Rockwell and Christmas and Hopalong Cassidy and the Lone Ranger, America must always occupy the high moral ground. We are heroes. As Roosevelt would say, ‘We face the future with confidence. We are Americans.’”
The image of America evolving from a savior of the free world during World War II, to a bullying military giant in Vietnam, meant to McLean, and to many of his generation, that his country was most definitely lost.

Extract from The Don McLean Story: Killing Us Softly With His Songs by Alan Howard Copyright 2007 Starry Night Music, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of any part of this work without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Used by permission

 

[Adrenochrome Junkie]

It was reported for the family reference. Verboten around here.

I’m willing to bet Michaelsherry59 is DrLove or at least one them trolls on here

 

[JOSweetHeart]

I eventually discovered Billy Joe Royal who got his first big song in 1965 as well as the solo material of Steve Sanders of the Oak Ridge Boys which started getting released in 1966, but sadly I didn't discover them until after their departures.

God bless you and their families and original fanbases always!!!

Holly (born in 1982)

 

[Michaelsherry59]

I’m willing to bet Michaelsherry59 is DrLove or at least one them trolls on here

You're accusing me and the other member of supposedly being a "troll" but yet you were insulting me about my parents? Lol my lord go and seek some.

I get the jealously you weren't alive throughout the 60s and 70s, you didn't exist in the 80s either but there's no need to take it out on us because you were born at the wrong time... Just enjoy your generation of music which is the Spice Girls or backstreet boys or hip hop

 

[my2¢]

One of the things I recall from my college freshman year living in a dorm was the music that filled the hallways from the rooms. Most often heard were songs from an album that had been out a couple of years, Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens.

YouTube is great for allowing all of us to experience music from any era within the last 100 years. Occasionally I enjoy pulling up tunes from the 1920s and 30s.
Miff Mole & His Little Molers:

​

 

[toobfreak]

Music wasn’t just great in the 60s and 70s. It was great in the 80s and 90s as well. It began to die at the turn of the century and has been dead for at least 10 years. It’s the millennials and especially gen z that I feel bad for.

More than the musical forms themselves died between then and now. So has the ability to enjoy it. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I used to stop in a Radio Shack every day on my way home from school. Nearly half the store was filled with stereo equipment! Now you can't even find a Radio Shack. Or an Olsons. Or a Lafeyette. Not to mention real audio salons. Go try to find a stereo section in a department store now! They look at you like you are nuts.

Growing up in the 1960s, every home had one of these in their living-room or game-room:

In the 1970s, every self respecting music lover had something like this in their house, probably in a dedicated room. From THIS:

To THIS:

Now kids are told music is bad for you and they have THIS to listen to music with instead, if they listen to music at all:

 

[Michaelsherry59]

More than the musical forms themselves died between then and now. So has the ability to enjoy it. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I used to stop in a Radio Shack every day on my way home from school. Nearly half the store was filled with stereo equipment! Now you can't even find a Radio Shack. Or an Olsons. Or a Lafeyette. Not to mention real audio salons. Go try to find a stereo section in a department store now! They look at you like you are nuts.

Growing up in the 1960s, every home had one of these in their living-room or game-room:

View attachment 534988


In the 1970s, every self respecting music lover had something like this in their house, probably in a dedicated room. From THIS:

View attachment 534990


To THIS:

View attachment 534991


Now kids are told music is bad for you and they have THIS to listen to music with instead, if they listen to music at all:


View attachment 534992

Don't forget the days when records use to priced in single digits as well, concerts were cheaper

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Y'know - I actually know a lot of Gen Xers and Millennials who listen to a steady diet of classic rock. But don't dismiss more recent artists. There's still a lot of creative/ great stuff out there.

‘Missed out’ can also mean they weren’t in high school or college during that time; it was the times that contributed to the music being great.

 

[toobfreak]

Don't forget the days when records use to priced in single digits as well, concerts were cheaper

I bought many a record as a Super Saver or The Real Deal for between 99¢ to $3.99, with even special pressings and half-speed masters only costing $10-$20. The lure of the CD was a false promise and though they CAN be made to sound good, over time, many have rediscovered LPs and are buying them again because THEY SOUND BETTER.

In 1975, I could go to a concert and tickets started at $4.50. The best seats in the house were $6.50. That is the most I ever paid in the 1970s to see some of the best bands in the world that ever lived in the best seats in the house. Then "ticket brokers" got involved as middlemen.

A concert that cost $6.50 in 1975 SHOULD cost about $32.00 to $35.00 today! Good luck finding them. You are lucky to get cheap seats in the rafters now to see some flunky has-been show for $80.00. I went that route ONE TIME several years back to see Rush live where they did their first concert and got the cheap seats for $80. The concert sucked. The show was poor and the sound disappointing, and I was right in front of one of the speakers. My friend who had better seats closer than me (I was pretty close), paid $250 for his seat and eventually came to sit beside me in an empty seat and said the sound where I was at was better. I have FAR better sound in my home.

And this is why music is dying. Like television, it is being gouged to death. People are simply sick and tired of having to pay $120 for a seat at a concert to see a band that is booked 9 months in advance, or paying $200 a month just to watch TV with 9 channels they like and another 109 channels they never watch.

 

[MisterBeale]

Like seriously Generation X have no idea what they missed out on. The older generation such as myself and many of you here who are 60+ we had the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Sly and The Family Stone, Queen, Laura Lee, The Doors, Elton John, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Frank Zappa, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, The Kinks, The Stooges and many more.

Is a shame they missed out on that beautiful innovative groundbreaking period for music.

Discuss.

That may be true. . . but. . .


I believe a lot of us, as we get older, tend to just listen to what we grew up with, or relive the music that went with our memories, and tend not to explore new music anymore. But, if you have a particular genre of music, or even if you like new and creative artists, they are still out there, exploring and creating.

I have a son, I guess he is part of the z-gen, or what ever they call them.

When he was young, a tween, I rented a movie about a garage band, a real band, from the 90's that formed in Ireland, that did soul music. He wasn't real familiar with this type of music, not a lot of bands that are popular after 2000 do it. But by the end of the movie, he was hopping off the couch, dancing around, etc.

Then he asked, why there were no musicians of his generation that did music so good. I told him, one of the reasons I had rented that movie, was a great singer, who had won Grammy's doing this type of music had just passed away. And? I am sure my folks, who are both Boomers, would have enjoyed her music, but. . . b/c they pretty much don't hear new music, had probably never really heard much of Amy Winehouse, because, for the most part, their attitude is pretty similar to yours.

 

[NoNukes]

Like seriously Generation X have no idea what they missed out on. The older generation such as myself and many of you here who are 60+ we had the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Sly and The Family Stone, Queen, Laura Lee, The Doors, Elton John, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Frank Zappa, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, The Kinks, The Stooges and many more.

Is a shame they missed out on that beautiful innovative groundbreaking period for music.

Discuss.

And they just wanted their own music and did not want to know about the 60s and 70s. There is a DVD set Music From Saturday Night Live. As you watch it the quality of the music gies down as you go from year to year.

 

[MarathonMike]

I've been a musician and songwriter for most of my life. I believe what is dying out is musical creativity and lyrics. It seems to me music since 2000 is largely 'formula driven' with very little originality. Everyone tries to sound like everyone else.

 

[Michaelsherry59]

I've been a musician and songwriter for most of my life. I believe what is dying out is musical creativity and lyrics. It seems to me music since 2000 is largely 'formula driven' with very little originality. Everyone tries to sound like everyone else.

Rick James said it at best when he once music has stagnated and that was in the 1990s when he said this... He wasn't wrong ever since, every artists and bands have tried to copy what was done throughout the 60s and 70s

 

[toobfreak]

That may be true. . . but. . .


I believe a lot of us, as we get older, tend to just listen to what we grew up with, or relive the music that went with our memories, and tend not to explore new music anymore. But, if you have a particular genre of music, or even if you like new and creative artists, they are still out there, exploring and creating.

True. There is always good new music out there if you look to find it. Still, we tend to also listen to music we grew up with not only because it is allied with memories of our youth, but also because people tend to use their best ideas first and there IS no modern equivalent of Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea or a Jeff Beck out there now really; they have already done it all, the opportunity for the same creativity and inventiveness just isn't there and what kids are exploring now is ever increasingly more like noise and general chaotica, so more than ever, good new music now tends to more likely be just new variations on an old theme with the occaisional flash of brilliance.

By the year 2100, all music will sound like this:

 

[MarathonMike]

Michaelsherry59 There are exceptions, but it is true that most contemporary music relies heavily on what was written in the 60s and 70s.

 

[Michaelsherry59]

True. There is always good new music out there if you look to find it. Still, we tend to also listen to music we grew up with not only because it is allied with memories of our youth, but also because people tend to use their best ideas first and there IS no modern equivalent of Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea or a Jeff Beck out there now really; they have already done it all, the opportunity for the same creativity and inventiveness just isn't there and what kids are exploring now is ever increasingly more like noise and general chaotica, so more than ever, good new music now tends to more likely be just new variations on an old theme with the occaisional flash of brilliance.

By the year 2100, all music will sound like this:

The difference is that our generation of music were done by real musicians who could sing, who could perform without having to lip sync their way throughout the show, played instruments, wrote their own songs, didn't have to rely on looking pretty and their music never had formula.

The 80s and later were awful

 

[petro]

You can look a pictures of people from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and tell what decade they are from.
But today's clothing and hair all looks the same over the last 20 years.

They all strive to be different, when in actuality they look like hair colored, pierced, tattooed clones.

 

[petro]

Even the 70's disco music is better than today's pop music.
They had real talented singers and real musicians.

Disco is back baby...I present the Dee Gees, aka Foo Fighters.

 

[petro]

There are newer groups I like on Alt radio.
Big Data
Glass Animals
Arctic Monkeys
Foals
Cage the Elephant
Chili Peppers
Foo Fighters
The Killers...
To name a few