First, I feel pretty detached from whatever is going on in pop/rock music these days. I watched Rick Beato doing one of his videos on the Spotify Top Ten the other day, which I guess is how we look at whatever is Top of the Pops now, and really none of it was music I was aware of or would be interested in. 

I saw Bruce Springsteen last month and truth is, the guy still is pretty damn good live. I went to that show with an old high school friend and his daughter and her girlfriend. We went out to dinner before the show. The two young ladies were in their mid 20s. They just formed a band and are writing songs. So, we chatted during dinner about music. I asked how they listen to and find new music these days. Spotify was the answer. The girlfriend explained to me that Spotify finds and recommends music to you that sounds like the songs you are listening to. So, you can always find more songs that sound like the songs you like. 

I asked "What if you don't want songs that all sound the same as the songs you like? What if you want different songs that sound different?" 

It occurred to me that maybe this is why the top ten Beato was listening to all sounded somewhat the same. I mean, if your songs are being chosen for you by an algorithm then I guess the same beat and the same sound would be what you would get...and maybe this would program the listener to just want the same thing over and over. 

This was not the joy of music I experienced growing up, where variety was the spice of life and you found music just by listening to a lot of different records. Thankfully for me, my dad played all kinds of different music when I was growing up. Classical, jazz, blues, rock, R&B, novelty songs...it was a wide variety. 

My friend wants his daughter to hear the music we listened to when we were growing up. So, he has taken her to a bunch of concerts to hear people like Springsteen, Billy Joel, and others and wants to continue to do so. He is basically putting her through a course on older pop and rock songs. I asked the daughter while we were out which of the bands her dad has taken her to that she liked the best, she and her girlfriend said Billy Joel. 

On the way to the concert in the car we discussed names for their new band. They are fans of a band called Willis, and so we joked around about how to name your band. 

I would guess that David is correct about there being a lot of opportunity now for musical education that could lead to us getting a wave of great players. Now, do people still care about great players? I guess this is the question. I mean in the pop/rock realm, maybe not. I think in other forms of music though, great players are always in demand. 

In the pop and rock world, things seem to run in trends. In other forms of music though, I think it is always more about the players and the playing. I definitely find it odd watching an 8 year old Japanese girl rip through a complex piece of music like she is riding a bike with training wheels on it. I mean, how do you get that good, that young? It must be innate talent she was born with or they were playing her music while she was still in the womb or something. I have no idea.

So, the YooTubes are full of videos of people reacting to this or that song. Here are two that seem to have a lot of reaction videos and they both fall into the rock category. I'd be curious what you guys think of these two songs and the musicians:

So that is Extreme, a Boston band that's been around since the 1980s. I met these guys way back in the late 1980s. Now these guys are in our age range, born in the 1960s, so they are not new by any means. You can't call guys in their 50s and 60s new. They seem to have a lot of musician fans just based on their skill level. I have seen a lot of people raving about the guitarist and his solo in this song. They are calling him the guy that has now sits in Eddie Van Halen's throne. I don't have an opinion on that, but what do you think?

So, I would guess that everybody around here has heard of these guys. Greta Van Fleet a bunch of young guys playing rock music that has a very familiar feel. Now, I like these guys, the singer certainly has some pipes and seems to go back and forth between sounding a bit like Robert Plant at times and at other times sounding like Geddy Lee from Rush. They are definitely going for a retro vibe and it would seem their wardrobe in this video was all chosen from items in your closet...that being a bit of a mistake on their part I think. I mean, to me, it is just kind of fun to hear and see a bunch of young guys playing this kind of 1970s style arena rock. I guess they are a love them or hate them kind of band in as much as some people feel they sound too much like other bands. 

So, what do you think of those songs and musicians? I guess in terms of what is happening with rock music, these two songs are currently where things are at. They apparently are not in the Spotify top ten but they are getting attention.